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 ran into a group of little boys I used the opportunity to vent a little. They provided an excellent opportunity.
little dudes
Three boys, all about 10 years old, standing on a street corner. I walk up, they notice me.
boy 1: “Look there! ็้ฃ่พน!”
boy 2 : “A foreigner ่ๅค!”
boy 3 : “Fuck! ๆ่!”
me: “Hey you, what you think you’re doing? Who told you to use foul language? ่ฏถ๏ผไฝ ่ไปไนๅไฝ ๏ผ่ฐ่ฎฉไฝ ่ฏด่่ฏๅ๏ผ”
boy 1 and boy 2 (pointing at boy 3): “It was him! He said it! ๆฏไป๏ผไป่ฏด็!”
boy 3: blushes and runs away.
Chris wins.
Fatality.
an icon
Later I somehow got into a better mood. I even found a picture of Mao Zedong ๆฏๆณฝไธ – the first one on this trip:
I like the way he tends to appear totally at random, sometimes overwhelming as a statue on a public square, sometimes just as a tiny button or something.
Mao can be anything, an icon or an accessory. Just not a mass murderer.
Often when I’m sorting out pictures at night, there’s this series on TV, it shows the young Mao puffing on cigarettes, looking very wise, and of course outsmarting everyone else. At the end of each episode there’s a song where they sing: “Missing Mao Zedong ๆณๅฟตๆฏๆณฝไธ”. I always wonder why they don’t use the expression Chairman Mao in that song. Maybe it’s more personal this way…
easy walking
Anyway today’s walk from Pingding to Yangquanย was easy as pie. I kind of just migrated within the city limits of two towns. And in between, I shot some artsy-fartsy pictures of a toll station:
…then I found myself in my destination, Yangquan:
Good weather made the place appear pretty nice. I kind of stalked all over town, from hotel to hotel, trying to find a place that offered good heating at a bargain price.
Somewhere between the sixth and the eighth hotel, I captured this scene:
This could have been one of my all-time favorites if the guy with the hood was just a big larger in the frame. Well, no way to plan for a picture like this. Next time!
Oh, and did you know that Santa Claus is coming to town here in Yangquan?
Good old Santa. What did he come here for?
He can be an icon or an accessory, like Chairman Mao in a way (just without killing millions).
Rubi
ich bin 50mm-fan geworden. macht voll bock, werde glaub ich bald auf das etwas größere 50mm von canon investieren, 200€, 1.4 glaub ich aber halt nicht so plastik-unstabil, das stört mich bei dem kleinen ein bisschen.
ich schlafe nachts übrigens auch immer ohne heizung. und MICH stört das nicht.
Hailey
hope you find a warm place to sleep tonight! The weather got really bad here; there was an icestorm that caused finals to be delayed yesterday. By the way, you were saying fuck around me all the time when I wasn't much older than those boys. ๐
Christoph
Rubi: 50mm ist super, ne? Ich glaube auch, dass das 1.4 besser ist. Der Punkt bei dem 1.8 ist der wabblige Fokus, den fand ich immer ein bisschen schwierig. Das mit der Heizung ist so ne Sache. Du wohnst in nem top-isolierten deutschen Haus mit doppelverglasten Fenstern. Naja, und wie hier teilweise die Hotels sind weißt du ja.
Hailey: I hope all you guys are well and maybe even using the opportunity for a friendly snowball-exchange! The F-word is totally beyond my conception, I would have NEVER EVER used that, ask Marvin, ask Wanda! ๐
ๅฐๆฌฃ
ๅญฉๅญไธ่ฝ่ฟไนๅ็๏ผไฝ ่ฆๆไบบๅฎถๅญฉๅญๅๅ็ใ
ๅๅๅ๏ผไธ่ฟไฝ ่ฟไธช่ๅค็็ฎๆ ๆฏๅคงไบ็นใ
Christoph
ๅตๅต๏ผๆไธๆฌก่ฆๅฐฝ้่ฏด่ฏ่ฆ็จๅพฎๆธฉๆไธ็นๅ๏ผ
Hailey
would be glad to throw snowballs if we had snow to make them with! we just had ice. and, haha, you don't think I remember? I remember. You told me that words like sucks and f… should be spelled sux and fux. I believe that was the first day I met you, when we were all in Tennessee for Marvin's family reunion. But surely I just made that up in my head.. you would never say such things! lol
Christoph
Haha, okay, you got me on this one!
Hailey wins.
I think Marvin will remember the episode of me singing "the roof is on fire" in the shower in Tennessee, too.
Anyways, that family reunion was really nice, I had an awesome time!
Would love to go again!
่ๅณฅ
ๆๆฏ้ณๆณไบบ๏ผๆๅจgoogle earthไธ็ๅฐไบไฝ ็็ ง็๏ผๆญฃๅฅฝๆฏๆๅฎถ้จๅ็้ฃๆก้ฉฌ่ทฏ๏ผ็ถๅ่ฟๅ ฅไบ่ฟ้๏ผ็ๅฐไบไฝ ็ๆ ่ก๏ผyou’re awesome. ^^
Jesse
Ha! My mom’s from Yangquan, so me and my family go back there quite often. Yangquan really is pretty kafkaesque, like those dilapidated dystopian cities you see in movies and games.