no lake at west lake

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What a lovely night, spent with an approximate 1 billion million mosquitos that all seemed to have just barely survived from a famine.

There I was in my tent – a sirloin steak for them, a large serving of kungpao chicken, their own personal party-size pizza with everything plus extra-cheese:

camp

What a horrible night – for me not for them.

The day after wasn’t so bad though:

fields

My feet hurt (new boots plus the fact that I’m just not used to walking anymore), but there were a lot of nice things to look at:

countryside house

The wall was still there:

Great Wall ruin

And I kept running into people selling melons next to the highway:

melon vendor

At one point I even saw my first melon field ever:

melon field

Funny, I would have liked them better to grow on trees or something.

Well, too bad.

I was somehow astonished when I arrived in what seemed to be a fairly decent-sized village in the middle of nowhere:

Xihu village

The place is called Xihu, meaning “west lake” – although there is no such lake around.

“Did there use to be a lake around here?” I ask an old lady.

“No lake, we just call it that because it’s like an oasis between two stretches of desert!” she explains and seems to be looking for some kind of indication that I’ve understood what she just said. I nod, then I make an aaah-sound.

Later in the afternoon, I find a dude to fix some stuff on my Caboose:

welder

The latch for the lock was broken and I wanted the whole thing to be able to stand horizontally when I put it down.

Once the caboose was taken care of I got something to eat and a small room in the only place resembling a guesthouse around here.

Here’s the theory: if I’m going to walk 4 days to Liuyuan anyway, I better spent as few nights outside as possible.

Give the pizza a break.



  • tan cheng

    Glad to see you back to your "longest way".

    继续努力! 旅途顺利!

    Reply

  • Momo

    Wie gesagt, nimm ne Flasche Essig mit. Die Viecher kann man damit nicht verjagen, aber wenn man die Stiche damit einreibt, jucken die nich mehr so arg. 😉

    Reply

  • Hermann

    ich dachte immer, mücken gäb's nur in der nähe von wasser. man lernt eben nie aus.

    Reply

  • Achille

    haha, bro. u were served as a partysized pizza.
    that is soooo funny…
    I am learning ur german style humor. it's fantastic,dude.

    Reply

  • Barry aka Ba Lli

    Mach doch beim nächsten mal einfach das Zelt zu. 😉
    Uns hat das in Schottland ungemein geholfen.
    Auch nicht schlecht ist das Viehtriebs-Schild. In der Wüste! Müsste doch eigentlich ein Kamel drauf sein. Auf Rügen habe ich das erste mal eins mit einem Otter drauf gesehen.

    Reply

  • basti

    so ein krasser dude… ohne sichtschutz! aber er wird es ja wissen.

    Reply

  • NONO

    呵呵
    祝你一路平安了

    Reply

  • Freddy

    the place looks better. at least there is something green growing…

    Reply

  • Anonymous

    …Du hast wirklich gedacht, die Dinger wachsen auf Bäumen haha?

    Hast Du schon mal Citronella vs. Moskitos probiert? (gibts als Einreibung, Kerzen, Räucherkerzen….der Zitronengeruch vertreibt die Biester zwar nicht komplett aber doch ziemlich gut…)
    Das erste Bild mit Deinem Zelt find ich gut.

    Reply

  • Momo

    Zitronengeruch vertreibt Stechgetier? Guter Gedanke, das probier ich beim nächsten Lager aus. Was ich von anderer Seite her gesagt bekommen habe, dass der Geruch von Teebaumöl Stechmücken verscheucht… meiner Meinung nach werden nicht nur Stechmücken davon verscheucht, ich selbst hab dabei auch immer den Drang mich zwingend duschen zu müssen. :/

    Reply

  • Anonymous

    …das ist natürlich die andere Seite…. ;o)

    Reply

  • oneday

    for your knowledge,you can take bus or train to beijing,and take a plane to jerman,is faster and save too…….no , is not funny.

    ps. beware the mosquito, i was almost dead by malaria because of mosquito when i was camp beside a lake.

    Reply

  • Steven

    蚊香
    or
    电子蚊香
    !!!

    Reply

  • oneday

    dank means thank you ,right?
    i leare this word when i was young ,from the tv serious call [combat], second war between u.s and jerman .and u.s is good guys and jerman is bad guys…ha ha ha

    i like this word …[dank]

    how do you say [oneday] in jerman?
    [一天】in chinese.

    ps Soundtrack: may it be
    [is the best backgroud music for your story,imagine you walk alone in the desert.
    [May it be when darkness falls
    Your heart will be true
    You walk a lonely road
    Oh! How far you are from home]

    May It Be
    Enya

    May it be an evening star
    Shines down upon you
    May it be when darkness falls
    Your heart will be true
    You walk a lonely road
    Oh! How far you are from home

    Morni? ut¨²li? (Quenya: Darkness has come)
    Believe and you will find your way
    Morni? alanti? (Quenya: Darkness has fallen)
    A promise lives within you now

    May it be the shadow's call
    Will fly away
    May it be your journey on
    To light the day
    When the night is overcome
    You may rise to find the sun

    Morni? ut¨²li? (Quenya: Darkness has come)
    Believe and you will find your way

    Morni? alanti? (Quenya: Darkness has fallen)
    A promise lives within you now

    A promise lives within you now

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hitAHKGqJZI&fe

    Reply

  • Willi

    Wenn Du so weiter machst kommst Du rechtzietig zum Eintritt in die Altersrente zurück nach Deutschland! Vielleicht aber auch vorher, denn die Flugverbindungen nach Deutschland sind erstklassig.
    Gruß Willi aus Bad Nenndorf

    Reply

  • Christoph

    tan cheng: Thanks!
    Hermann: Das is ne Oase…
    Achille: Oh I wish you could understand the German language, I think most of the time its humour really lies in its lack of humour!
    Barry aka Ba Lli: Was für ein Tipp.
    oneday: That malaria-thing is scary!
    Willi: Nenndorf vermisst mich, was?

    Reply

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