Haven't finished Korea yet, but it will happen, I promise.

Am in Beijing and have had some amazing adventures already. However have tried every day to get my train ticket from Beijing to Pingyao. Completely sold out for the 22nd so now I have to leave on the 23rd, on an earlier train, hard sleeper top bunk. Am not a happy camper right now.

The tourist season is not over in China, for domestic travel, despite what I was told.

The good news I get to stay an extra day in Beijing, the bad news, I miss a day in the water towns.

Tomorrow I am going to buy all my plane tickets, I don't want any more surprises.

The unedited photos from Korea are now linked to my blog.
Nywoman.blogspot.com

Glad you arrived in Beijing, hard sleeper top bunk wouldn't make anyone happy, (I'll tell you our story in Europe when we GTG) I wonder how you are going to climb up with your bad leg? See if someone might be kind enough to switch with you, or plead with the conductor for help. Good luck!

How about just getting to Taiyuan? There are two overnight "K" trains that will have soft sleepers. K601 and K611.

Or take the day train K609 in soft sleeper or soft seat, and overnight in Taiyuan.

Pingyao is only 120km from Taiyuan. Switch to a seat on the same or different train; or take a bus.

I can't help you with specifics.

I'll just send go-o-o-o-d thoughts. Go NYwoman!

The quickest (and cheapest) way to Taiyuan from Beijing is by bus.

Luxury buses (Volvo, and similar) leave every few minutes from the Lize Qiao bus station on the southwest third ring road. No need to book in advance: just show up. It's under six hours to get there, and the minibuses to Pingyao leave from the same station in Taiyuan where the big buses arrive.

Prices are ¥139, ¥161, and ¥170 getting more comfortable as the prices go up. It's not overnight, so the time may not be regained, but you'll be travelling in daylight and can see the scenery, and you'll be there more quickly.

Any taxi driver knows Lize Qiao, but if you need to check anything, get someone at your hotel to call 6340 2408.

Peter N-H

Good advice.

I was in Pingyao last autumn, but came from the other direction, flying from Xi'an to Taiyuan. Our hostel arranged for a driver to pick us up there as we wanted to stop at one of the famous courtyard homes on the way to Pingyao.

From Taiyuan to Datong, and Datong to Beijing we took express buses. They were very comfortable and clean. I would not hesitate to take them again.

As for the trains, even in the soft sleeper cabins the upper bunk requires you to put one foot on a small metal hinge coming out of the wall, and hoist yourself up. I can see this being a problem for anyone not able to support their own weight and pull themselves up.

I really enjoyed Pingyao. Don't let this glitch spoil your trip.

I seem to remember that it's actually easier to get into the top bunk in hard sleeper than soft - there was a fixed ladder at the end of the bunks. But still not a great idea with a bad leg! Peter's advice looks good.

Thanks everyone for your concerns and for the advice. Since the train ticket has already been bought and the hotel reservations changed I may have to stay with this plan.

As for my knee, that is, the good knee with the torn a meniscus. So far the cortisone shot has worked wonders and no problems. The bad knee, the one I fractured a few years ago, is status quo.

I managed to climb up and down on a sleeper bus in India a few times so hopefully this will work too.

Am going to check with the hotel if the ticket can be returned and if they have a room in Pingyao available. Whichever way it goes it will be fine.

Up until the time of travel you may return your rail ticket with a loss of 20% of the value. All stations have a ticket window for this purpose.

Peter N-H

Hope you are enjoying Beijing despite the glitch, and good wishes on the leg of your trip to Pingyao.