day 19: 定州 (dingzhou) – 承安铺 (cheng’anpu) = 24,7km

The sky was azure and looked like Indian summer today:

I was thinking, is this the last day before winter? I opened my jacket and I opened my sweater, then I let in the warmth…

…and then I slowly limped through the town gate, out of 定州, southwest on G107:

Sometimes thoughts have their twisted ways. Like today I was looking at something here, thinking: Man, that looks weird! – then I realized: Yeah, of course it looks weird, it’s supposed to look weird, it’s EXOTIC, you are a German in an exotic place!

Or is it me who is being exotic?

Weird thought.

Oh, did I just say I LIMPED out of town? Yes, my foot is messed up again. Enjoy looking at other people’s misery? Well I gotta admit I do sometimes, so this one is from me for you:

Beautiful! This has been kind of spoiling my fun today. But apart from this, it was all good. Like I said, the weather was fine, the sky was a clean shade of blue, and I peacefully limped along the highway.

Some people were busy working:

(Lots of places along today’s road were in the sand-business, I wonder where they get all that sand…)

Other people were taking a time off:

(I don’t know what business this guy was supposed to be in, but for a brief moment I thought I had seen him before in the movies playing all the dudes that die driving…)

Most people just kind of rushed by me honking their horns, some as a greeting, some in surprise or disbelief, others just to let me know that I better get my exotic ass out of their way, because the street got quite narrow at times:

I made it to the next settlement by the time azure was turning into rosé:

承安铺 (cheng’anpu) is a fascinating place. Basically only consisting of one strip of houses (mostly shops) flanking the highway, it kind of seems almost like an old settlement in the Wild West. It’s got the dusty air, too. But no cowboys.

I had a good bowl of 白面 (baimian):

…then I went up into my hotel room.

Then I noticed that they’re going to turn of the heating here, too, after midnight.

Then I had a look at my right heel, took a picture for you and put some ointment on it.

For me, to ease the pain.

Soundtrack: Ringworm – “The Promise”

—total: 283,3km