day 63: 赵城 (zhaocheng) - 广胜寺 (guangshengsi) = 18,8km

Not much to talk about.

I’m currently headed a bit east off the track, walking a detour that’s going to cost me a day’s time and hopefully reward me with a nice mountain and a temple on top. Maybe even a pagoda, who knows.

Well, today it got really cold again, so I just kind of lowered my head and stuck to the road.

Interestingly enough, the highway has two faces - this is one:

…and this is the other one:

Same location, opposite directions.

The only difference is where the cars are going.

With the dusty air and the sharp cold wind, there wasn’t that much joy in today’s walking.

It snowed very lightly though at some point, making the whole thing better-looking at least:

With the road under my feet all day, and all kinds of vehicles on that same road rushing around me, I was really only looking forward to a hotel.

There’s these little bikes everywhere here:

They come single or in swarms, and they can get annoying as hell if they think you’re blocking their way.

Too give you a more precise feeling of the road, I have produced, directed and starred yet another classic:

The dude in the white car had been staring out his eyeballs at that foreigner coming his way. When I stopped and turned around to walk after him, he probably thought I was going to hitch a ride or something.

Little did he know I was only trying to retrieve my cell phone.

On the last bit of the way the air got really bad, absolutely miserable, the worst air I’ve walked through so far. They’re into coking here:

Smells like a huge leaking gas oven.

For miles.

Well, I’ll go mountain climbing tomorrow, maybe the air is better up there!

Soundtrack: Sporty Thievz - “No Pigeons”

—total: 909,4km