day 14: 保定 (baoding) = 0km

Today was a day of leisure, and today was the first time I ever had my own personal business card:

…in Chinese and in English…

I decided I needed this because I always found myself scribbling on little pieces of paper whenever I had taken someone’s picture.

You wonder what I have done to my fingernails on the picture above? Well, the hands on the photograph are obviously not mine, they belong to my new friend 姜华 (jianghua):

She had a day off from college today and decided to take me out to play. On this picture she’s holding up a pencil we won in a gaming hall playing 曲棍球 (shuffle puck):

I was quite confused: The undisputed king of airhockey plays (and wins) several games – and all we get is a pencil? Well, it was fun to rule anyways…

We didn’t only play games, we also looked at other people play:

In spite of the glacial temperatures and because of the arctic wind, some old guys had decided that today was a perfect day to go outside and fly their kites.

A kite like this is purely made by hand. I guess that’s what they do when it’s not cold and windy outside: they like to build kites.

More than 30 sections made of a bamboo structure – what do you think: will I ever be able to build my own kite and fly it when I’m old? I better not make any assumptions on this question…

Oh, lest I forget: 保定 (baoding) is renown for donkey meat, I am not sure if everybody outside of China is aware of this fact, at least I wasn’t:

It looked and tasted like any other meat to me – and it might have very possibly been a hinny or a mule, who knows. Here’s the only thing that I can offer as proof:

…the unhappy donkey!

Today was the last day for me here, it’s been almost a week now, and I am continuing my walk tomorrow. The wide angle lense isn’t going to be there with me for now.

Soundtrack: Madball – “It’s Time”

—total: 189,8km