day 206: 武南镇 (wunanzhen) - 武威 (wuwei) = 18,4km

My night in the office had been short and repeatedly interrupted by people busting in the door and then standing there motionless, as if they had seen a ghost. Well, maybe it was just that - they had seen a ghost. A foreign one with swollen eyes, curled up in a blue sleeping bag, telling them to get the hell out.

…one last look at the town hall at 12:08, time for lunch with 王先生 (Mr. Wang):

Then I got on the long straight road to the city of 武威 (wuwei):

I walked along for a while, feeling sorry for myself, simply because I was so tired - then I suddenly noticed that I wasn’t alone anymore:

17-year-old 齐宇天 (Qi Yutian) had seen me walk by and decided to march with me for a day:

Today was a hot and lazy Sunday after all… At one point his dad caught up with us on his motorcycle and gave his son some money to take the bus home later.

It was nice to have someone to talk to, and I liked this kid who could talk so eloquently about the history of his hometown.

“I like living here,” he told me, “though I think there are probably some better places in the world than 武威, but this is my home - and I’ll always like it best!”

It didn’t seem to take us that long until we got to the city:

Naturally, and even though I was so tired, I got into a picture-taking frenzy:

It felt good being in a city again:

A real city with a large square:

…and a long pedestrian street:

I would be able to treat myself with some decent quality chocolate, yay!

There’s a video of me walking down 武威’s equivalent of the Champs-Elysées:

This pic made me particularly happy:

Eventually I checked into a good hotel, dropped off my stuff and took 齐宇天 back a couple of blocks to grab some good old fashioned junk food.

…that’s where another little friend suddenly appeared:

贾丽 (Jia Li) is four years old and can already say a couple of useful things in English, like “nice to meet you”, or “french fries”. A bit later her mom came to our table as well.

How nice to have some company…

Soundtrack: Tilt - “War Room”

—total: 2613,3km