day 33: 柏井 (baijing) - 平定 (pingding) = 18,4km

…of course the radiator didn’t work. The coldest night so far. Arctic.

I woke up with a grudge and couldn’t get rid of it for the rest of the day.

The landscapes weren’t bad…

…but I somehow didn’t seem to be able to find the right angles. Maybe it was because I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in some days.

On the road, some of the trucks annoyed me so much I was actually kind of happy for a moment as I noticed this:

Yes, I thought, there you go with your reckless driving and your inconsiderate abuse of the horn!

Then I noticed a character next to the street:

This 力 (li) is most easily translated as strength. That’s what I was missing today.

I had a grudge, but no strength.

Then I noticed someone REALLY miserable:

This poor fellah was just kind of staggering along the highway, chewing on a 馒头 (mantou - Chinese kind of bread) and staring into the empty space. He couldn’t be talked to. Now I’m no expert but I don’t think this guy was necessarily mentally unfit. But I do think he was having a hard f…ing time.

That’s the greatest unfairness of them all: Some people are that unfortunate they even lack the opportunity to be angry.

- No strength to bear a grudge -

I decided to re-evaluate my situation and get my act together:

Taking this picture cheered me up a bit somehow, and before I knew it I had walked off the day’s march and was there:

This is not my hotel, but I liked the banner and the phone numbers on the wall.

Now you know you’re in some kind of a major settlement when there are pedestrian bridges arching over the streets:

Nice feeling, because big city meant big hotel meant big radiator and very possibly meant a night spent cozy and warm.

…but then the grudge came back:

I’m sitting in this small restaurant having double cooked pork slices (回锅肉), when some guy turns around and snarls at me in his most bad-ass dialect:

guy: “Whatchu comm e fo?”

me: “What I came here for? I’m traveling through here!”

guy: “Travln, eh? Spenn lotsa mone?”

me: “What? No, I’m trying not to spend too much actually.”

guy: Llika hunndrd aday?”

me: “You want to know whether or not I’m spending 100rmb a day?”

guy: “En.”

- and that’s where the grudge comes in -

me: (raised voice) “Now what kind of a matter to talk about is that, huh??”

guy: looks lost.

I feel bad for him, but the damage is done.

Some friendly dudes helped out though and explained that in my country asking about money would be considered impolite. I had a chat with them and then I said good night and went up to my room.

…

Later that night, I am going through today’s pictures, thinking, not every day is a day spent well, and I have just found out that the heating is not quite as efficient as I had thought, and the grudge is back with a vengeance - that’s when I get this message from the dudes from the restaurant:

“Hey, wanna go out? We’re going to do Karaoke, the hookers are really cheap - 50″

Sing love songs with dirt-cheap prostitutes and a bad temper?

Tempting, really tempting.

Soundtrack: In Flames - “Dial 595-Escape”

—total: 487,7km