day 172: 三角城 (sanjiaocheng) - 定远 (dingyuan) = 18km

I had spent the night in a trucker motel right next to the highway:

…and when I woke up, I could see what was on the “window blinds” in my room:

“看看老外怎么养狗” - “Let’s take a look at how foreigners raise dogs”.

The author focused mainly on the USA, and seemed fascinated by all the different things many people go through when raising a pet: veterinary check-ups, vaccinations, puppy school, special nutrition, electronic collar tags, and so on. “Buying a dog means buying responsibility” - I couldn’t have agreed more.

…

I had lunch in a small noodle restaurant where 3-year-old 程景玉 (Cheng Jingyu) was hanging out doing what 3-year-olds do:

Play.

Pure sunshine, this little one:

Well, I got delighted there for a minute, but I wasn’t such a sunshine anyways - knowing that I had to walk another two days in those unforgiving shoes:

The high mountains in the distance didn’t seem bothered at all by my pains…

I even got a stupid sunburn in the heat:

So I sat down in the shade of a hideous piece of art, thinking:

Objects incorporated in the public domain always never have any artistic value.

Or maybe that was just me, or my pains.

…

There’s some sunshine almost everywhere, though:

We played with my trekking poles for a little while, then I had to go.

…and another even more hideous thing (I didn’t even waste time getting any closer):

Does this make any sense to you?

Certainly not to me it doesn’t.

Not in a place with streets like this:

…buildings like this:

…or this:

…and shepherds, and sheep, like this:

Well, maybe it’s only my pains grumbling and mumbling away.

…

I’m staying in a fairly large hotel with about twenty rooms and no other guests:

No shower here either, and I think it’s seriously about time I get to the city.

Soundtrack: R. Kelly - “I Believe I Can Fly”

—total: 2249,3km