Macau
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This post is about a 25km walk from Cluj to Macău. The road is difficult at first with all the traffic, but it gets better with time.
There is no good way out of Cluj. I have been brooding over the map for two days, and I have talked it through with Mishu. The least suicidal way seems to be in the north west of the city. First I have to make it over a hill. Then there is an industrial zone, and then I’m on the road that leads out of town.
the road out of Cluj
It’s busy and loud and dangerous. In the beginning there is a sidewalk. Then it stops.
I walk on the left side of the road, seeing the cars coming in my direction, and sometimes, when there’s not enough space, I curse a little. Then I do something that I haven’t done in a long while: I stop for lunch at a restaurant. I order vegetable soup with sour cream and a hot pepper. It’s delicious. I drink Coke, not Pepsi, like a king. Then I eat mashed potatoes with grilled vegetables. And then I can hardly walk anymore. I want to fall asleep at the table.
Macau
The road gets better after about fifteen kilometers. And after another five, I feel as if I am where I want to be: on a quiet country road. I sit down and eat a peach. I’ve brought three peaches from Cluj. Now, two are left.
I can hear the cicadas in the grass. The sky is a bit overcast, but it doesn’t look like rain. Sometimes a car roars past. I find a place called Macău on the map and decide to camp there. Macau used to be one of my favorite places in China.
pictures
the walk from Cluj to Macău:
a bike lane!
the first hill
the least shitty way out of Cluj
bah
vegetable soup
roadside house
it’s difficult to walk here
construction works for a new highway?
a path through the hills
i think they make cement here
church in Gârbău
Caboose
Macău