Monthly Archives: January 2008

a boy’s night out

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There’s a park up here: They told me there was no road down the south flank of the mountain. Who cares if they don’t have roads like THIS over there? thought I, expecting today’s distance really just to be a walk in the park. When I got about halfway up, things changed though: By loading […]


on the flank

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No people around: I got up around noon and explored the skiing resort I was staying at. For example, this is my hotel: Except for the service personnel, there seemed to be absolutely nobody here. No tourists, no people skiing, no foreigners, no Chinese, niemand. I walked over to the only restaurant up here: Looks […]


Chris in hell?

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I arrived at the weird thing today, but before that, I had to go to this place: Hell 地狱. Now that’s pretty neat, thought I, fearlessly opened the door and went in. And on the inside, hell looked something like this: Interesting place. It’s behind a small prayer room in Dongyue Temple 东岳庙. Judging from […]


others too

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Many people I see ask me why I don’t take a bus or at least ride a bicycle. But there are others walking through the white as well: These two guys are wandering musicians from the province of Shandong 山东. They are walking north, while I’m headed south, and neither of us is going to […]


massive Buddha, heavy snow

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There’s a site in Jishan that’s called Dafo Temple 大佛寺: The name means “Buddha Temple” – and it was pretty big, this 1142 A.D. earthen statue of the seated Buddha: I’m in the top left corner of the photograph, kind of like in those frustrating Where’s Waldo books. I forgot to mention the best thing: […]


I bislike the iron road

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Jishan is actually more than 30km from Xinjiang, but someone had told me that the railroad was a more direct way to get there. So I walked the iron road: You know what sucks about this: the distance between the horizontal boards is just too small, so you have to make tiny little steps if […]


oversized intruder

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Usually I try to do a bit of research before I get to a place, but Xinjiang somehow didn’t really seem worth bothering. The first time I heard about it was in Houma – and I was very surprised. One of the greatest guys in Chinese philosophy might actually be from here: There are three […]


encounters

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Today was another walk through the cold and white: Here’s something for the horticulturists: Garlic. A good friend once told me that having a few of these with every meal is the best way not to get stomach-sick. I’ve been having lots and lots ever since. Now maybe it was because of the aroma that […]


a shillyshally rat

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When I’m moving, I’m moving slow. And sometimes I’m not moving at all. It’s procrastination. Shillyshally, as my online dictionary tells me. Well, the frosty countryside kind of held me off today, making me feel like I needed another day in the warmth of the city to get myself ready to venture out and find […]


who’s got the ding?

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I’m on the move again today, zooming in little by little on the weird thing that some have identified as being: – a mountain, – a molehill, – a volcano crater, – a HUGE hole. Well, I guess we’ll see later on what it really is. Today’s walk, even though it felt like there was […]


time and the radiator

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Someone asked me which of all items I’m carrying was the single most useful. Well, I think there are a lot of things that I can’t go without. But if I had to name only a single one, this would probably be it: The cable tie. Light and small, yet reliable and strong. Can be […]


my wet shoes

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My down filled sleeping bag kicks some serious arse. I actually woke up because I was feeling uncomfortably warm in that unheated frosthole they called “hotel room” in this tiny strip settlement on the highway: Of course my poor shoes had no way of drying out in a place like that. So, after a long […]


the crane

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Yang Fusheng 杨福生 was a very well-respected man, and head of Dingcun village for many years: Many people came to his funeral, including one foreigner – me. I asked the Yang-family whether it was okay if I stayed and took pictures, and they very kindly allowed me complete freedom. Obviously I tried to make myself […]


1-0-0-0

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This is me after precisely one thousand kilometers: Feels good, I can tell you that. A time to celebrate, a reason to get down: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube Okay, it’s stupid. But the very last bit when I’m trying to pick up my […]


a day in the life

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sleep 08:00 – Wake up from alarm clock. Open eyes, extend arm from sleeping bag, touch radiator. Feel the cold, close eyes again. 09:06 – Get up. Turn on computer and write up yesterday’s post. Check map. Look at total kilometers. 10:04 – Write “25,7” on back of left hand: that would mark kilometer no. […]


within city limits

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My friends know: I’m a lazy pig. But I left my hotel this morning: My friend who works for a local news station was going to shoot a tiny feature about me. So we went around and I did what I do: walking and taking pictures and asking for the way. We also tried to […]


the most dirtiest?

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I just remembered something: a while ago I had read in a German publication that Linfen was supposed to be the dirtiest town in all China. Polluted, that is. It seemed so intriguing to me… what would it be like, this ultimate degree of pollution? Now that I am here, it’s just amazingly un-amazing. Okay, […]


washing my socks means polluting the water

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I’m hanging out in the city today, feeding off fast food and taking care of some stuff. My mental and physical shape has returned to “normal” I guess: The only drawback is that I’m busy washing dirty socks again: See the water in the sink? That’s the SECOND rinse, the first one was even darker. […]


putting on the gaiters

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Very friendly people at the hotel: It had been a much better night than the one before, I guess you can tell that from the picture, eh? I stepped out into the white: Snow had been falling all night and all day, creating a soft whiteness that made the few colors I could see so […]


snow anthem

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What a terrible night: some dude started yelling for the maid at about 1 am and woke me up. I listened to that shit for a couple of minutes, then I burst out the door. Thinking about it now, I’ve come to realize that screaming at the top of my lungs that he should just […]