day 160: 静宁 (jingning) - 界石铺 (jieshipu) = 24,5km

I finally left 静宁 (jingning) behind:

Before, I had to fill up on water and soft drinks in a small shop, and it was there that I found something to share with you:

I have a standard answer when little Chinese kids get big eyes and say: “好高啊!” (”So tall!”)

It goes: “喝牛奶!” (”Drink milk!”)

Cuz that’s what we do in the West. We drink milk (see pic above).

Today I don’t need to drink any more milk though, since I’m already tall enough:

So I can have ice-cream instead.

…

Walking was peaceful today:

I didn’t really talk to anybody.

Once, there was a group of cyclists that rushed by:

They didn’t say a word, and neither did I.

Then there were some more beautiful landscapes:

I kind of just walked from here to there and took pictures of flowery blossoms, breathing in the beauty and the air of a perfect spring day:

My allergies had somehow disappeared.

There was a lake:

And then the cyclists rushed by again - this time from the opposite direction:

They had a dude in a car with a bullhorn following them, and they looked tired and stressed out. Being on the high horse of someone who was walking everywhere, I pitied the poor cyclists.

They are just rushing through these places, it’s like they haven’t ever really been here, I thought.

Realizing at the same time that I was wrong.

Walking is walking. It doesn’t constitute anything else besides that. One can walk and still be a ignorant - a walking idiot. Not even a hard thing to do.

Like, what do I know about power poles?

Everybody needs them, everybody knows them, and there they are, glaring in the sun.

When I was taking this picture, I was so obsessed with getting the moon in the right place in the composition, that I didn’t even notice one important detail: the poles were naked - there were no power supply lines.

There were construction dudes getting off work everywhere:

…but I didn’t try to make any sense out of it.

Instead, I got obsessed with shooting a night scene at a gas station:

When I finally arrived at my destination, it took me a while to find a tiny hotel in the dark streets:

The place was full of people who already seemed to know me.

“It’s you” they’d say: “the dude who was taking our picture before!”

That’s right, the construction workers were staying in the same hotel, and we decided to sit down for a nice and friendly chat.

About power poles. China. Germany. Politics. History. Food. Nature. Development. The future. The past…

Later that night, when everyone had gone to their separate rooms, and I was trying to clear my mind from the tobacco smoke, I realized something:

Walking doesn’t make head good.

Instead, it makes feet bad.

Soundtrack: Erick Sermon - “Music”

—total: 2052km

Posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 10:15 pm ;Filed under walk.