into the black mountains

…riding the cake knife again:

I was getting pretty weary, counting every milestone next to the road, hoping for the number to get smaller…

…until finally, at “0”, I would be in a place to rest my head and take a shower once again.

An agonizing countdown, really.

Then suddenly two black SUV’s stopped on the curb, and a bunch of smiling uncles with cameras appeared:

They were on a photography-trip from the Province of Guangxi 广西 to the Chinese West, and when they saw me walking out there it was one big hello – and a picture-taking frenzy!

When they had left, there were 12 little fruit thingies and 1 melon left as presents on my Caboose.

Thank you, smiling uncles!

I could see black mountains in the distance…

…slowly drawing closer:

At first I thought they only appeared black, maybe because the clouds cast a shadow on them, but when I got closer…

…they really were black:

“Into the black mountains” – like a cliché from a late-eighties heavy metal song.

…

I thought it was nice that the road finally made some little twists and turns in the end:

And then I even noticed a little heart on one of the mountains:

Can you see it? It’s definitely there.

When I finally got to the highway crossing of G215 and G312, I realized I would have to walk 5km to Liuyuan, only to have to walk the same 5km back when I wanted to get to Xingxingxia 星星峡 later:

Well, to each day its own worry. But I needed a shower today.