Monthly Archives: December 2007

final flowers

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I spent today mainly walking uphill: Luckily, temperatures seemed on the rise again, and at times I could take off my gloves for a few minutes. Really most of the day kind of looked like this: But initially leaving the city proved to be a bit of a hassle, since I was having a hard […]


the happy and the burning red

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Today was a good day: subzero temperatures, but good. I’d like to start off with this: “You make me ไฝ ่ฎฉๆˆ‘” – happy. …the friendly group of workers who insisted on buying me lunch, the policemen who waved me in to have tea together, the countless motorcycle dudes who stopped and wanted to give me a […]


sissy

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I’m not tough. I’m a sissy. …but I’ll tell you more about that later. First things first: I left Pingyao today, walking southwest on highway G108. Of course, behind the tourist sites, the city had yet another face: Sometimes I wonder what all of this must have looked like before progress demanded its toll. Anyways, […]


fast/slow

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I took a break today: Fast food, slow day. Time to leave I guess.


temporary

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These are the shoes I’ve been wearing during the last couple of days: 50rmb. I just couldn’t stand the heavy boots anymore. Not over Christmas. Anyways, Juli just went home, and I am left alone in all the plush and the lush of my hotel room: Damn.


lots of AAAAโ€™s

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I found Pingyao to be a large rectangle that is bursting with history to look at. We decided to pick out only the sights with a rating of AAAA, like for example, China’s very first bank: Rishengchang ๆ—ฅๅ‡ๆ˜Œ was established in the late Qing-dynasty. It’s part of what this whole part of the country is […]


a smile

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This post is about a day spent in the Old Town of Pingyao. It caters heavily to international tourists. And still there are Mao figurines. We spent Christmas hanging out in the Old Town of Pingyao: Officially it’s called Pingyao Ancient City ๅนณ้ฅๅคๅŸŽ, and it’s one of the few old towns in China that wasn’t […]


Santaโ€™s beard

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This post is basically just me saying Merry Christmas from Pingyao. Tonight is Silent Night, and I am planning to rest for a few days. Me and my fuzz are saying: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM PINGYAO. I hope all of you are well, and that you’re having a nice and warm holiday season. Life is good […]


Pingyao

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This post is about a 27km walk from Qixian to Pingyao. I rest between some graves, then some biker dudes insist on giving me a ride. There are several songs advising people to “get on the good foot”. It doesn’t always work out, though. Today was another day I started on the bad foot. It […]


camel #4

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This post is about a 23km walk from Dongguan to Qixian. I visit the famous Qiao Family Compound and wonder about some roadside graves. I woke up in the unholy smell of that hotel room this morning and thought: what a bad way to start the day. A bit of walking and the lungs full […]


the recipe

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This post is about a 24km walk from Taigu to Dongguan. I visit a university, the White Pagoda, and the Residence of Kong Xiangxi. I had a bowl of fried noodles the Agricultural University of Shanxi ๅฑฑ่ฅฟๅ†œไธšๅคงๅญฆ: People had told me that there were some foreign exchange students at that university, so I went and […]


sheepolution

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This post is about a 23km walk from Dongyang to Taigu. I see lots of sheep and visit the Chang Family Courtyard. I lose almost all my photos. It’s crazy how many sheep I saw today. I mean there were a lot of sheep. And they were everywhere – right when I walked out of […]


a breeze of anguish

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This post is about a 31km walk from Yuci to Dongyang. I spend a few hours in the old town of Yuci, then I see misery on the road. Yuci is well-known for its reconstructed “old town”: It’s also known as Jinzhong jin zhong, and nothing here is really old. A lot of Chinese production […]


power-off

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This post is about a blackout at an internet cafรฉ in Yuci. I decided to sit and wait until the power comes back. Nothing happened today. Or rather: not much happened. I got up late, brushed my teeth, and stepped into the hotel hallway. There was a poster of a handsome couple making love on […]


the wild

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This post is about a 32km walk from Taianyi to Yuci. Temperatures have dropped. I see canyons and young men repairing big trucks. The last 100km have gone by pretty fast. They were all about the patience of walking. Walking through several different kinds of landscapes: This part of China is called Shanxi ๅฑฑ่ฅฟ, which […]


empires

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This post is about a 25km walk from Shouyang to Taianyi. The road takes me to an altitude of about 1000m, and it is pretty rural. The world has two faces. There is the city: And there is the countryside: It seems as though more and more people are living in more and more populated […]


smell the bacon

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This post is about a 40km walk from Yangquan to Shouyang. I take a quiet country road and repeatedly run into angry dogs. Too much walking today. There was nowhere to sleep between Yangquan and Shouyang, so I had to pull off the whole distance at once. First I noticed this, though: And then, further […]


role-models

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This post is about a visit to the Dazhai Communist Model Village in rural Shanxi. I marvel at a toilet seat used by Jiang Qing. My new friends the Yang Brothers decided to take me to a place called Dazhai ๅคงๅฏจ in the south of Yangquan: I don’t think that a lot of young people […]


storytelling

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This post is about a hot pot dinner in Yangquan. I wash my socks, then I get taken out to dinner by the owners of a restaurant. At first it didn’t really look like I was going to shoot many pictures today, because the heating in this hotel softly convinced me to stay a bit […]


idols coming to town

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This post is about a 15km walk from Pingding to Yangquan. I comfortably walk from one urban center to the next. Here in China, the administration can sometimes look a bit intimidating: …even kafkaesque in a way. I was a bit grumpy in the morning, because AGAIN the night had been cold. So when I […]