Day 413: 伊宁 (Yining) – 66团 (Regiment 66) = 26,6km

2012-09-03 show on larger map

Today we started to walk. I was happy that the Caboose seemed to get along quite well with my good friend Dario:

(It would have been hard if I had to choose between them.)

We took a different way out of 伊宁 (Yining), and we passed by something that looked old:

I’m saying that it “looked old”, because I don’t know much about these things, and I am easily fooled.

Then there were sunflowers:

We jumped around in them for a while:

Feeling that walking was good:

It was good because the road was ours:

…at least that’s what we thought until we saw the dead snake:

And the other one that was very much alive:

So was this snake country?

Well, not only that.

It was also corn country:

There was corn everywhere.

In fact there was so much of it on the roads, that sometimes the only thing we could do was walk right over it:

So is it fun to walk on corn?

From a walker’s perspective, I think corn makes for a mixed walking ground. While the crackling sounds are nice as hell, the surface is a bit too unstable and tends to shift under your feet. So I don’t recommend walking on corn for longer periods of time.

Anyway, we had lunch in a small Uyghur village:

And that’s where I had the honor of introducing Dario to one of the finest things in these lands:

Zamzam Cola. It’s a sort of Uyghur soft drink. I don’t know if it is in any way affiliated with the Iranian brand that goes by the same name. Anyway, it is very tasty!

We passed by some farm houses that could only be described as optimistic:

And that’s exactly where we ran into this guy:

Like a boss!

…

The rest of the way was nice and easy:

We passed green fields:

And more corn:

And rice plantations:

Then we reached 66团 (Regiment 66), the place where I had stayed a few days ago on my way to 伊宁:

We got a room. For some reason, there was no electricity. And for some even more obscure reason, there was no running water either.

But we didn’t care. We punctured some blisters, then we had dinner.

Then we talked through the dark.

Soundtrack: Manowar – “Battle Hymn”

-total: 5425,8km

Posted on Monday, September 3rd, 2012 17:44 ;Filed under Dario, Video, Walk, Xinjiang.

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