day 142: 泾川 (jingchuan) - 王村 (wangcun) = 17,2km

First of all, here’s my shoe after the repair (March 28th 2008):

Walking feels a bit weird now, but I guess I’ll get used to that.

Let’s just hope the glue and the stitches will last.

…

As you can see on the map, I’m slowly making my way through a long valley:

Walking here is actually pretty nice, but right when I left off I was still struggling with the grudge I had from yesterday (March 28th 2008).

This is the entry of the cave with the Buddha statues I wasn’t allowed to photograph:

“The thing is,” I had told the pencil pusher who was handling my case, “I want to take pretty pictures of your country, I really do. But if you don’t give me a chance to cover the cultural relics you got here, all that is left for me to shoot is the outside reality - and the misery you’re not taking care of.”

Take another look at the picture above, and you’ll see misery crouching in the dirt. She’s never far.

Yes, I was bearing a grudge with each step.

A grudge.

A grudge.

A grudge.

Then, after too many steps, I ran into these guys:

They gave me a great “hallo” and told me to follow them to the riverside.

We had to traverse large areas with tomato-greenhouses:

Then we all sat down by the riverside next to a fish pond, and they made a twig wreath and put it on my head, and we talked and talked and laughed and laughed, and my grudge was gone and forgotten:

“Is your sister pretty?” - “Do you really drink that much milk in Germany?” - “You are so tall - are you still growing?” - “Isn’t walking very boring?” - “Don’t you miss home?”

Children are awesome - and you know what? - most of them speak better Mandarin than the people I’ve dealt with in the administration.

We also talked about the problem with littering - “Müll” in German:

As this generation is growing up, things will get better. They must!

Anywho, walking was a lot nicer without the burden of a grudge to bear:

I enjoyed some more of the rosé blossoms:

And I had fun with 欢欢 (huanhuan) the dumb dog with eyes awry:

Sat down and had some cookies here:

And took another picture of the leaders of the new school:

Having hope for the future is always better than being mad at the present.

This is the courtyard of the hotel I’m staying at tonight:

…and here’s my suite:

I don’t know why, but I somehow really like this picture.

Looks so…lost.

Soundtrack: Jacky & Ben-J - “Les Enfants Du Soleil”

—total: 1840,4km