smell the bacon

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 down the same road:

I guess the red papers might have something to do with some sort of celebration. Maybe they had been part of a wedding ceremony?

The walk from Yangquan to Shouyang led me down a quiet country road next to G307 for a while today:

This was much better than the highway.

It was there that I made this friend:

Filthy and happy at the same time.

I like pigs.

Then I had lunch in a small restaurant on the curb and got to know Doudou 豆豆:

Doudou knows his name and will holler back if you call him.

Doudou!

– “Meow!”

I like cats.

The next thing I saw on today’s long march was a rural display of winter sports:

These kids were having a blast sliding around on a creek that was partly frozen over.

See the hole in the ice on the right? I told them to be cautious and stay safe, and I hope they will.

I like kids.

Ok, I like this and I like that. Boring. Here’s something I don’t like:

Mad dogs.

the dog problem

I got chased after three times today. I’m sorry there is no picture, but I was just too scared to mess with the camera.

Imagine furious bastards that resemble German Shepherds come running across the highway to run circles around you and do a bark & growl routine. They seemed to think I was a slice of bacon or something.

People say you’re not supposed to run from an angry dog. Well, here’s the thing: even if I wanted to, with all my gear on I physically cannot run.

So I just walked and walked, and I kept mumbling “easy, eeeeaaasyyyy” and what else I could think of to calm them down, and eventually they would lose interest every time.

No harm done.

Anyway, you might imagine that – also given the early sunset – walking just wasn’t so nice that way:

I have to say this though: a lot of friendly people stopped their cars and offered to give me a lift. Even the police.

Then, at some point, when the end was near, I saw streetlights appearing:

It was then that I knew that the city was at hand.

I didn’t have to take a car. I could just walk it off.

And put the dogs in a pot.