day 44: 东观 (dongguan) - 祁县 (qixian) = 23,8km

I woke up in the unholy smell of that hotel room this morning and thought: what a bad way to start the day.

A bit of walking and the lungs full of fresh air cheered me up a bit though.

Then I saw this goofball:

Can goats possibly look even more ridiculous than sheep?

I’m not sure yet, but I found someone EVEN GOOFIER than the two:

This is Camel #4. He doesn’t have a name. He’s just number 4 out of four.

And this is his buddy:

Camel #3.

They are all very kind (and intelligent, I thought). Before their careers in tourism they used to work as actors.

This is where I found them:

乔家大院 (the Qiao Family Manson).

Another wealthy merchant’s private estate from the Qing-dynasty (清):

Though smaller than 常家庄园 in 东阳, this place has a much bigger reputation throughout the country.

It even has its own TV-series, shot on location in 2005: 乔家大院.

I liked the fact that it seemed to have restored some of the actual living conditions:

A bridal chamber.

I didn’t like the yard at all though:

Seriously, compared to the massive gardens in 常家庄园, this place looks like it belonged to a needy man with little or no taste.

Well, what do I go off about other people’s homes - I live on the road, basically.

One thing that I have always wondered about in China is this:

Sometimes, out of nowhere - tombstones. Now I have never seen graves outside of a cemetery in any Western country before.

But the more I think about this, the more I like it.

I mean, are you particularly fond of crowds? Or do you rather appreciate the luxury of personal space?

Well, what about the place of your last rest then?

Ok, change of subject:

I have developed a very bad time management lately: I wake up early, can’t make myself get up, go back to sleep, wake up again (late), get up, start walking and finish walking late, then I eat, shower, wash some clothes, sort out pictures, come up with something to write about, get it written up, post it on the site (always late: it’s already 00:34 now) …

Anyways, what I actually wanted to say is this:

Hail metal!

Sometimes it is only my earphones filled with furious blasts of manly music that keep me going when it gets dark on the coal-covered highway.

Soundtrack: Shadows Fall - “What Drives The Weak”

—total: 704,1km