Pianguan was a sprawling, medium-sized city nestled in a mountain valley, and although it left a bit to be desired, we had a nice hotel that had hot water for part of the day, and outside they were building a plaza and sprucing up around a hilltop pagoda. 

It took me completely by surprise to see that the leaves were already changing and Fall’s here.  Even as hard as this journey has been, it seems like summer absolutely flew.  Well, now that it’s behind us, that is.

We saw quite a bit of Wall and fort remnants on the way to Ping Lu.

Behind this wall inside a fort was a sprawling village. 

I even had a great view of the wall from the toilet.

I think our fans on this break were after our Pabst Blue Ribbon water.  I’ll bet the folks at PBR make a killing in royalties.

It took a while, but I finally caught up to these guys (Ig had went ahead, as it was the day he was sick in the morning and I was hit that night).  In their wake they left a minefield of poo (really, it’s astounding how much these guys poop), and so I’d switched to the other side of the road.

It’s harvesting time, and the villagers don’t hesitate to spread their crops in the middle of the road, where cars just whiz right over ‘em.

The day Ig was sick, he headed into Ping Lu for a bit, then came back out to hike a few more kilometers.  By the time we’d finished we couldn’t find a bus, and so we caught a ride with a couple guys in a flatbed truck.  Here’s Ig coughing up a lung in front.

After we recovered enough from our colds, we went back out and finished our hike into Ping Lu.  We thought hiking through the tunnel would be kinda cool.  Once we were inside, however, the dust just got heavier and heavier.  That did wonders for our colds.

Upon strolling into Ping Lu, we were treated to views of ceramic animals in the otherwise beautiful park.