We’ve reached Day 3 of our China Travelogue. Today, we would enjoy our second day in Pingyao Ancient City before venturing deeper into the lesser-known places in China. The next destination – Linfen City – would serve as our base for visiting the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall.
Check out these earlier posts for a chronological story flow. Once you are done, head to the next section as we kickstart our China Day 3 itinerary.
Pingyao Hanfu Experience (Chinese Costume & Photoshoot)
(10am)
To be honest, I was half-hearted about going for the Hanfu Experience in Pingyao Ancient city. Two reasons held me back – time was tight as we would be leaving for another City by early afternoon. Also, I could experience Hanfu in Xi’ An city as well.
In the end, I decided to embrace the “just do it” mindset. By 10am, I was at a selected studio in Pingyao Ancient City, having my makeup done.
Hanfu Experience in China: How much?
Of course, price would vary from studio to studio. The shop I chose quoted ¥198 for a Hanfu package that included two outfits, 20 photos (of which 10 would be professionally edited).
HANFU TIP: When enquiring price, remember to ensure no add-on costs. That is, all costs such as eye lashes, double eye-lid tape, hair accessories etc are included. Also ask how long you can have the costume for, e.g. 12 hours or 24 hours?
Makeup & Photoshoot (Hanfu Experience)
The makeup and hairdo was completed within 40 minutes, during which I was a sitting duck for mosquitoes. Itchy – remember to bring an insect repellent if you are visiting Pingyao.
Makeup-wise, it was quite natural. The makeup style here in Pingyao is to make the eye area pinkish for “extra cuteness”. But my partner said I looked like a drug addict. Haha!
HANFU TIP: The makeup artist just layered makeup on top of my existing layer (which I didn’t mind). If you opt for more expensive package, maybe they would do a proper cleansing and makeup routine.
When makeup was done, I changed into the first set of costume (Missy Style) and had my photo taken within their premises (the shop itself is an old residence, similar to probably many buildings here in Pingyao).
Here’s the second set – a stronger colour costume that is normally meant for the “Married” (少奶奶) style. For info, “married” style would come with fan-shaped fringe, which I couldn’t appreciate. Haha.
Here’s a photo grabbed online to show you the fringe (or watch more from douyin here).
Photo Selection: A Lousy Experience
Right after the shoot, I was brought into a room to select the photo on-the-spot. A young male staff flashed the photos one by one and asked me to tell him right on the spot which I like to shortlist for editing.
If you can recall, the package only included 10 edited photos; additional ones would cost ¥20 per piece.
I asked if I could control the mouse so that I could shortlist 10 out of the over 30 photos taken. But the staff didn’t allow me to. He just quickly clicked and ran through the 30+ photos taken and expected that I could remember the photos to tell him which 10 I liked.
In fact, he told me all photos were nice, and urged me to select way more than the 10 entitled in the package.
Right from the start, such photography session wasn’t a top priority for me (I’m not as vain as I used to be when I was younger :)). So I was hesitant to go for more than what’s included in the package.
Out of my expectation, the male staff explicitly showed his unhappiness, and urged me not to cut down the selection. LOL! He even told me that he tended to react when customers filtered out too much. Huh?
For this reason, I would not recommend this studio. I didn’t get such a response from another studio in China (Xi’ An). I believe this guy enjoys a hefty commission, and he’s not someone who can hide his emotion when money is slipping away.
Hanfu Experience Completed in 1.5 hours
Right from the beginning, I’d told the staff that I didn’t have much time to spare (2pm train ticket already booked). So it was nice of them to speed up the process for me.
By 11.30am, I’d changed out of my costume, with my hairdo undone. Actually, one of my deepest regrets was not being able to walk around Pingyao Ancient City in the costume. I really wanted photos taken with the real Pingyao Ancient City serving as my backdrop. Sigh!
For most people, this wouldn’t be a good ROI. So if you have more time in the city, do enjoy having the costume and hairdo on for the entire day. That’s what most people here do, k?
You can have your friend take photos of you at the various ancient spots and attractions in Pingyao Ancient City. Though, I have to warn you that it was pretty hot with the costume on (they just layer the costume over what you are wearing). Hence, it’s probably good to visit during the cooler months.
Edited Photos Ready in a Few Days
I received the edited photos after a few days. Not too bad for ¥198 huh? I got to keep all the 30+ raw photos too. :)
Quick Lunch at Pingyao Ancient City
While I was having my Hanfu experience, my partner waited for me at a random restaurant to have his breakfast.
He was quite disappointed with his food experience (both today and yesterday) and asked me to meet him at KFC for lunch.
Can you spot KFC – I would have missed it if I was just passing by.
So yes, I met him there and enjoyed a not-too-local lunch at Pingyao Ancient City. It’s nice and peculiar to see KFC serving bubble milk tea. Guess I did get some “local” experience. Thanks, KFC!
INFO: Based on our experience, touristy places normally aren’t the best places to serve good food. Is Pingyao Ancient City touristy? Yes, it is.
Linfen City – Here we come!
(1.15pm)
From Pingyao Ancient City, we returned to our hotel to collect our luggage before heading to Ping Yao Ancient City Railway station (by taxi).
TIP: I’ve earlier shared tips in taking high-speed train rides in China. If you’ve missed it, check out 12 China Travel Tips for ease of travelling across China cities.
There, while waiting for the “boarding gate” to open, we bought some drinks and a Green Bean ice cream. It was cheap and nice – always love potong. :)
How to buy train ticket? You can buy directly from 12306.cn (website or mobile app) or do so through Trip.com.
Arriving in Linfen City: Base for Yellow River Waterfall
(3.20pm)
The train ride was short and we reached Linfen West Station within an hour from Ping Yao. Our business here in Linfen City (临汾市) was to visit the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall tomorrow morning.
We’d already booked the bus and admission tickets online, and would return to the same spot here for our transport to the waterfall.
As for today, we would just R&R. Let’s head to our lovely hotel in Linfen. Psst – this would be the nicest hotel in our entire 2-week China trip.
INFO: High-speed train from Ping Yao Ancient City to Linfen cost ¥43 (via 2nd class seat).
Where is Linfen City in China?
Linfen City (临汾市) is located in Shanxi province, further south-west from Beijing (Google location here). As shared in this post, you won’t find much China info on Western map platforms.
Hence, do consider using Baidu map to better plan your China travel. See Linfen location on Baidu map.
Did you know? Linfen City has a population of close to 4 million, and is known for its coal mining industry. In ancient times, Linfen was known as Pingyang (平陽).
Orange Hotel (Lifen City): Most “Atas” Hotel in our 14-day China trip
(4pm)
Orange hotel is a chained hotel in China. We’d stayed in one in our previous trip to Teochew City and liked it a lot.
This Orange hotel in Linfen City was equally amazing. We could help ourselves to the free drinks and snacks at the lobby.
Room-wise, it was spacious and well-designed, closely following an “orange” theme. For example, the toiletries were orange-scented and of good quality. Same with the orange tea and cookies provided.
We took a quick shower to freshen up, did some laundry and then ventured out to a mall in Lingfen.
INFO: Most China hotels in this region (or probably in the entire China?) provided free use of washer and dryer.
Shopping in Linfen City
(6pm)
With the help of Baidu map, we found a rather popular mall in Linfen, known as 生龙国际店 (translated to “Shenglong International Plaza” – see location). It’s a pretty good mall with lots of food options.
The man craved for mutton – so we ended up at a Xinjiang Restaurant (疆遇新疆菜) located on Level 7.
Our orders ranged from stewed mutton on “pizza”, mutton skewer, chicken skewer and some blanched romaine lettuce (bill: ¥110).
We then did some shopping (don’t expect trendy items here) before searching for food again.
SHOPPING TIP: Sales assistants in this part of China would follow you around as you shop. Even when I told them my preference to browse on my own, they would still follow (even when I was buying socks).
So be prepared – I wasn’t and ended up empty-handed most of the time.
Great Food Experience in Linfen City. Yummy!
The basement (B1) of Shenglong International Plaza was a treasure trove of food and seemed to cater more to the masses than the restaurants on the upper floor. It was so fun exploring the variety of options at the different stalls and casual eateries.
Our first try – Yoghurt Frozen Cubes were so yummy. You can choose from a wide variety of flavours – five flavours at just ¥15.
And know what? These yoghurt cubes that tasted like ice cream contained real good ingredients like fruit pieces and nuts. Oh, I miss it so much!
I also tried a Green Bean “Sandy” Milk and absolutely loved it. You can taste the sandiness of the blended green beans – all packed with real ingredients for just ¥14.
The Beef Fried Pastry was good too – one of the best we’ve tried, and we couldn’t stop praising it while we ate, despite being darn full already.
This savoury dish with a hint of spiciness was packed full of vegetables within. A generous serving costs just ¥19.
We also browsed an interesting store selling “mooncakes” of unique flavours. It’s not the real mooncake we have during Mid Autumn Festival – more like a pastry with varied fillings.
I chose “Beef” and “Salted Yolk” and they were good.
China Taxi Drivers Like Singapore :)
While heading back to our hotel via cab, the taxi driver (a young chap) kept praising Singapore. He was also eager to find out more about Singapore.
In fact, we got that a lot in China during this 14-day trip. Many drivers were super keen to find out about Singapore. This chap even gave us a bottle of his own alcohol as a “welcome gift”. What a friendly chap! :)
That’s all for Day 3 in China. Tomorrow, we would wake up early to visit one of the key places I was so looking forward to – Yellow River Hukou Waterfall. Stay tuned to the next post, because we would be thrown into an unfortunate situation!
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- Day 1: From Singapore to Beijing’s Temple of Heaven
- Day 2: Step back in time at Pingyao Ancient City (UNESCO Gem)!
- Day 4: Yellow River Hukou Waterfall: Travel Mishap & Most Stressful Day in China
