Tag Archives: China 🇨🇳
speaking of which
It’s always hard to leave a good place, knowing that there is only that much more walking through the nothingness ahead: I had picked the hotel I was staying at simply because of its name – Journey To The West Hotel 西游酒店, and it had definitely been the right choice. Everyone was so friendly to […]
desert Caboose 1.1 (new & improved)
Mr. Luo 罗先生 had agreed to give the Caboose a general makeover today: But first we had to go to a bike shop… …and get a new set of wheels: I asked for old steel frames with thick ball bearings, and I think we managed to find something durable this time. Then Mr. Luo got […]
tea & cookies
The first time in 48 hours that I see the light of day – and it is so bright that I might have to put these glasses on: I went all over town today, looking for a repair shop to give the Caboose a general makeover: When I finally found one, me and the owner […]
the problem with chopsticks
Here is something I should have done a long time ago: Stop using those disposable chopsticks. I remember reading about this problem in Mandarin class before: people use disposable chopsticks too much, thus putting a large part of the country’s wood resources to waste. The solution is as simple as it is obvious: Get your […]
feet of steel
After one year of walking, my feet will be hard as steel, and I will be able to WALK LIKE A WARRIOR! Those were my thoughts last winter, when I had just set out on this trip and my days were filled with blistering pains (health points +10, good news). Well, not much has changed […]
what will they say?
There are oilfields here in Shanshan: Guess who’s drilling? Right, the ladies and gentlemen from Tuha Oil City (crude oil). We didn’t get to know any of them though, so we weren’t able to find out what it feels like to drive 300 kilometers to work. … Vincent from Taiwan 台湾 was riding his bike […]
is this the end?
The Yu family I was staying with was very friendly, and they wouldn’t let me go unless I had breakfast with them: They told me that the largest stretches of Gobi desert now were behind me, and that I could look forward to walking through more populated areas from now on. The end of the […]
it’s all in the family
The night had been good. No filth, no noise. All I could hear was the wind blowing outside, which made for a very cozy feeling in my little room. …but still, I really didn’t feel like walking anymore, so today it was all about the road signs: …another 100km through those empty spaces… Sometimes I […]
oh, what a good thing!
Hongshankou – a crappy little place full of bad food, dirty beds and cheap hookers: So happy to leave that place! There was another stretch of nice fresh highway I found right after I started walking though, and that really cheered me up: Here’s part of my diet during these days: Nang bread and cucumber. […]
blown away
When I got up and looked out of the door, the other guys were preparing to go to work, and the wind had come: …the wind that everybody had been talking about. You see, it’s what they call a wind gap 风口 – the area between two mountain ranges where the winds have a natural […]
Mozart, please help me with your violins!
Oh, had I only known about my friend Uncle Shen’s snoring habits before! Last night the man fell asleep right away, and then he went at it like a gang of chainsaws in the virgin forest, making it virtually impossible for me to get any sleep at all. When I got up I felt like […]
out with Uncle Shen
I got back on the long red line going west today: There was some pretty crappy weather out there – strong winds and rainfall – and the distance to the next town seemed somewhat overwhelming, but I had Uncle Shen with me, who was slowly riding his bike along… …so at least it didn’t get […]
choo-choo
How come my feet are so dirty? Well, we went to the place where they offload coal today… …and that’s where we saw… her: 8195 – what a boring name for such a beautiful old locomotive: I think they should have named her after a girl, or some big old lady. Not just a number. […]
fire in the hole
If you’ve read yesterday’s post, you know that I came here with basically no expectations at all. …that being said, now please allow me to present to you the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at: Doesn’t look like much, does it? That’s exactly what I thought at first, and I’m not going to make too […]
mixed signals
The last one of my three new tires started acting up in the morning, and I knew it was about to become a very hot and miserable day: Oh, how I envied this dude on his carriage that I saw – there he was just dozing off while the donkey was getting the job done: […]
sabotage
Finally a decent night spent in the outdoors. Not too warm, not too cold. Not too windy. I made this video time lapse of my morning routine: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube Note the two friendly dudes showing up for a chat. … There […]
4-0-0-0
When I woke up, I knew I was going to have to dance. But before, I first walked a bit through the residential areas of the oil city: …often, when I’m looking at buildings like these from the outside, I can’t help but wonder what might be going on inside. Are the people in there […]
crude oil
The wheels I had bought didn’t stand a chance out there. After investing a considerate amount of time and energy in the futile attempts to fix the damn problem ourselves (my friend Abdu and me, that is), we finally hauled the whole thing over to a bike repair shop and had him readjust the spokes: […]
getting ready to leave
I fixed my Caboose today: All three wheels were screwed up and needed replacements. Cost me almost half as much as I had originally paid for the complete Caboose, but whatever, it had to be done. Then I went to the post office to mail some of my pictures home: You remember how enjoyable that […]
müslüman
My friend Abdu (walking from Beijing to Bad Nenndorf) decided to take me out to see some of the city’s most famous sights today. One of those sights, and a very important place for Muslims in China, is the tomb of Gess Anzari Kaziyallahu: Remember I told you about the tomb of Wuaisi (overlooked & […]