day 356: 昌吉 (Changji) – 榆树沟 (Yushugou) = 16,6km

2010-09-02.kmz on larger map

I eventually dragged my sorry ass out from the castle and started walking again.

One thing about 昌吉 (Changji) that really surprised me was its cleanliness – very unlike some of the other cities I’ve come through on my way from the capital.

Apparently, this is due to an effort to transform 昌吉 into a tourist destination:

Me personally, I’ve always liked the colorful everyday life on the roadside better than any of the big monuments:

Here’s a part of today’s walk at 10x speed:

(Spoiler alert: you can hear me heavily curse at a driver at one point!)

…

The heat was even more merciless than the days before. It apparently climbed to about 37°C in the afternoon:

I was miserable.

Good thing my shoes didn’t give me too much of a problem, even with the blisters I already had:

I was cooling off in the shade of a tree, when 安老爷子 (Grandpa An), an old 回民 (Hui – the Chinese Muslims), ran into me and started a conversation. A little while later, we were hanging out at his place:

Tea and 馕 (nang), and some friendly people. What more could I ask for?

They put large chunks of rock sugar into their tea here:

At first I didn’t like the idea of spoiling a good green tea with this, but then I discovered that the taste was actually very good!

安老爷子 introduced me to one of his four sons, who all live in the same village:

And when I told them that I enjoy taking pictures of old things on the way, they came up with this ensemble:

(From left to right: Russian tea kettle, Arabian incense burner, Chinese tea kettle.)

Oh, and here is a picture of 安老爷子:

He lost one eye and three fingers when he was seven years old. This was in 1949, and the war had just been over for a few days, when the little boy found the remnants of a bomb outside and thought they were fun to play with.

…

I continued walking later in the afternoon, when some of the heat had moved on to scorch another part of the earth:

By this time, my feet were hurting pretty bad, so when I got to a small guesthouse on the roadside, I figured it was a good idea to call it a night.

Also, a large flock of what I thought were vultures circling over the road made this decision a bit easier for me:

Actually, I just learned that they were black kites.

When I got assigned a bed, I immediately crashed on it and fell asleep for an hour. I think I might have caught a cold.

I went out to find some food later, so I tried this average-looking Muslim restaurant:

“You can also sit in the backyard, it’s nicer there!” they said.

…I couldn’t believe how right they were:

They had everything – chickens, geese, ducks, cats and dogs, and even a few pearl chickens:

I don’t know if you remember, but being a rather silly person myself, I am always looking for goofy animals. I found a few of them here:

…they just started going nuts after my friend 马军刚 (Ma Jungang) had turned on the radio.

Maybe they didn’t like the song?

Anyway, this is 马军刚:

He is a very kind man. We chatted for a while, and I learned how he was planning to turn his roadside restaurant into a 农家乐 (country guesthouse), complete with food, lodging, and a karaoke-machine!

One thing that I liked particularly about 马军刚 was the fact that had the ability to be an epic goofball:

…like many of the best people I know.

Soundtrack: Chef – “Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)”
—total: 4697km