out like a soldier

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This post is about an 18km walk from Shijiazhuang to Luquan. I am back in the countryside, and I see my first mountain.

I walked west today. That’s a good thing, because west is where my home is.

There shall be no more walking south for a while.

On the way out from the city I found out something I thought was interesting. It was the answer to the question as to why there were so many sex workers in this city.

The answer was because Shijiazhuang was a major military base.

Taking pictures of the military is forbidden in China (as in many other places). So I tried to keep a low profile and walk by as fast as I could.

Then THE FIRST street sign caught my attention:

This sign said that Taiyuan 太原 was another 235km ahead.

Everything is alright, I thought.

Well, what do you know, I keep walking for two hours, and what do I see? THE SECOND street sign:

This one said that Taiyuan was now 312km away.

I didn’t understand what was up with that. Maybe there was a highway bypass or something.

Here are some more colorful impressions from the road to walk from Shijiazhuang to Luquan:

I have this thing for bridges lately. The light situations are often particularly enjoyable.

This shop sign spoke to me:

漫步一足 basically means “take slow steps”. I didn’t go in, though. I just kept doing what I was doing: taking slow steps.

Then I entered some semi-countryside:

Now if people called the city “civilization”, then this had to be “the wild”, right?

I was weighing this thought in my mind when I looked up and…

…saw my first mountain!

So far, the road has been at a very steady altitude of about 50m above sea level.

Taiyuan sits at a sky-high 1500m.

There is a lot of countryside ahead. And a lot of mountain road.

I am nervous.