Cultural Excursions in Beijing: Cuan Di Xia（爨底夏） and Ping Yao（平遥）

We went on two cultural excursions during our 6-week program. They were both very enjoyable for me to see other parts of China.

First we went to the countryside- Cuan Di Xia. The city is small and old-fashioned, with courtyard-type homes and pictures of Mao still hanging in the bedrooms. The city's main source of income is tourism.

Me n' Mao in one of our "bedrooms"

Amazing mountains.

Awkward family selfie

View from the top of our hike.

Sweaty and loving life

View of our dinner tables, the courtyard in the center of surrounded bedrooms. It could sleep like 30 people (5 on each hard long bed)

Best food I have ever tasted. Honestly.

I found the food in the countryside to be more fresh, less greasy, and with more vegetables. It reminded me of how my momma cooks. So delicious.

I loved this first cultural excursion. The second was equally cool - in Ping Yao. We went for 3 days at the end of our program. We got to see a lot of historical sights. The town is pretty well preserved. All the streets in Ping Yao are narrow and dirt. And all the houses are low. It feels like you're in a cat and mouse maze.

This statue's mouth is shut symbolizing how women shouldn't talk? WATCHME

Good luck if you rub his belly

Cool wooden dragons that looks like they're about to fall apart

Cool shot from outside looking into a famous Chinese man's home (HUGE, he did export goods)

Little feet and a big umbrella.

Ping Yao is known for their noodles. Notice most of the dishes are some sort of noodle.

This man's genealogy- SOCOOL right? I thought it was fascinating.

Good luck if you kiss the lion. Notice a trend?

Beautiful garden

Me n' my closest friend Mary Christina

To appease all my family members who thought I'd get married in China, I started dating this handsome Chinese warrior. We got pretty serious.

selfie in our "cart"

Our "hotel" in Ping Yao - one of my favorite places we stayed. All very ancient looking and also super cheap. Less than $100 USD

This restaurant had photos of all the famous communists. Notice any? Ha ha.

We went to this place where you can have all these little fish eat the fungus off your feet. It was the worst feeling ever. I was surprised at what a whimp I was. I couldn't keep my feet in there for more than 2 seconds, literally. It was so gross!!

The fish swarming. *eew*

Ping Yao night life. No edits. One of my favorite pictures and such a cool atmosphere. Everyone was out and about and I especially loved the lanterns.

Okay. If you say so.

At Ping Yao's "great wall" around their city.

You can kind of get a feel for what the city looks like here. Tons of people, narrow streets, and ancient-style houses.

We also toured the city's political center offices, which included too much details about ancient forms of torture. It was disturbing.

And learned how to shoot bows and arrows

Great shot of our group.

We took an overnight train back to Beijing, which I absolutely loved. It was so comfortable. Oh besides that large Chinese man snoring up a storm with his belly hanging over the side of his bunk . . . ha ha.