Good Times in Taigu / 太谷太好

At last, my epic Taigu trip was realized, as has been promised for months.  Dragonboat Festival, our last holiday during the school year, gave me a convenient Monday off last week, so on Friday night I started what would be an over 24-hour adventure to get to the small town of Taigu in Shanxi province, where my beloved Obies and their friends work at the Shanxi Agricultural University. 

After train connections in Beijing and Taiyuan, Shanxi, I finally made it to Taigu on Saturday night, just in time to celebrate my arrival to the smallest, most rural Chinese town I've ever been to with Harbin beers and 90's music.

I spent the next two days checking out the kind of small-town-old-town scenery that you can't see in Dalian, starting with Taigu's own 古城 (Old Town).  We bought a ticket from this guy...



...and went up Taigu's Drum Tower to check out the view of the small portion of the Old Town which has been preserved. The new city has expanded in concentric rings around this quiet oasis, which I would have never guessed was hidden behind the choked traffic and blaring storefront music of Taigu's main street.



On Monday my hosts graciously accompanied me to the historical city of Pingyao, where they have been many times. It is basically the only must-see tourist site in the area because of its preserved city walls. I liked the fact that people actually live in the old section of Pingyao, which is a quiet step back in time when you get out of the touristy areas.





We ended the holiday with a Taigu Dance Party, which I had been looking forward to for so long! Thanks to DTC, Ally, Peiwei, Gerald, James, and Ray for giving me an awesome time in Taigu!