Tag Archives: walk🚶🏻

The backyard of the pharmacy I stayed at last night: They had two roosters there that started crowing their hearts out at dawn. This kind of made for an early start in the day, but that was okay; I had a lot of walking in front of me anyways. You know I’m navigating by GPS […]

My last day in Shaanxi, my first day in Gansu 甘肃. I’m excited. There’s a Tang-dynasty temple in Changwu, it’s called Zhaoren Temple 昭仁寺: It was closed when I got there, so I went to the market instead: Then I hit the road. One thing that is really noticeable about spring: People are creating homes […]

See the curve right at the start of the red line on the map? Now, that’s one long bad-ass bridge: Today’s weather was a perfect 10: Not too cold, not to hot. A blue sky with just the occasional pretty white puff lounging around. A beautiful day even for one-handed traffic cops: It was in […]

This part of the province heavily depends on coal mining – much like the areas of Shanxi I had come through a few months ago (definition of hurt, mountain temples): I wondered at this dude sweeping the ground in a world full of dust: But then there were also other things to look at besides […]

Okay, two things up front: I never walked 50k, but I came really close today. As much as I enjoy the wacky side of life, I’m always trying not to sound funny when I’m talking about serious things. So anyways, here’s the two versions of my how to walk 50k guide : Version 1, you’re […]

Chinese history has seen families rise and dynasties fall, it has seen aristocrats and barbarians wrestle for power, and it has seen many different Emperors from all over the country seeking to rule the land. But only one woman has ever made it to the Imperial throne: that woman was Wu Zetian 武则天 from the […]

“Traffic in Asia always looks so chaotic, but there hardly ever seem to be any accidents!” – have you ever had people tell you stuff like this before? If so, let me help clear this up for you: Bullshit. Freaky driving – lots of accidents. Simple as that. Well, but then I’m just walking and […]

Today was a warm day – what am I saying – a hot day! So hot indeed I first took off my jacket, then my sweater, then my shirt, and at some point around noon I was laying down taking a siesta under an apple tree, trying to get a tan. As sexy as bearded […]

Oh yeah, I’m finally doing what I had originally set out to do: walk! The last three days had seen me looking outside my window like a sick dog (time can what time doesnt) – but today I packed up, went out, and walked down that road I had been staring at for so long: […]

I don’t exactly understand how, but my computer died on me because of the Internet connection in my hotel last night. So I reinstalled the operating system and then took a walk over to another hotel. On the way, I noticed a lot of people standing around a pair of shoes: Well, they weren’t exactly […]

It has taken me quite a while to come up with this post. No need to worry though – computer problems. Well, like I announced in a post before, I got my boots strapped back on today in spite of the foot rash and started slowly moving out of the city: I accidentally came across […]

Today saw me and my tour guide run around Xi’an looking for a hotel with better Internet access: I was in desperate need to upload a huge amount of pictures I had taken over the last few weeks, and none of the hotels downtown seemed to have network facilities that were really up to the […]

The first thing in the morning – lazy cats on the roof: They were bathing in the sunlight while I was leaning over a dirty sink brushing my teeth. When I got on the highway to Xi’an though, the sun was shining upon me too, I had a can of cool herbal tea in my […]

I was going to walk to Xi’an today, but in the end I didn’t make it. By far. Instead my mind got corrupted by the lifestyles of the rich and infamous: This is Huaqingchi 华清池, the legendary hot springs resort of the emperors. This place has apparently been in use for more than five thousand […]

When I woke up in my PLA bed, I noticed something was going on outside: By loading the video, you agree to YouTube’s privacy policy.Learn more Load video Always unblock YouTube Morning music – now that’s something different to a regular hotel. I decided it was time for me to get going as well, because […]

Another night of the elevator-symphony had gone by, and so there I was, not suffering anymore, and on the road again. I guess it’s too easy to forget about real misery unless it’s in your face: Where do they come from, all the unwanted and lost? – Every place in the world seems to have […]

I told you it had been pretty hot the last two days, and also that I was staying in a hotel with no heating last night. Because it had been so hot. Well, it wasn’t so hot at all when I woke up and stepped outside to have a look: Not that bad? Okay, how […]

Today might have been even hotter than the day before; I’m not wearing my long johns and my sweater anyways, and I’m definitely not cold. Anyways, warm or not, it seemed like it was going to be another boring day on the road at first: Somewhere after the railway tracks I came across a couple […]

Not much happened today, except for one thing: temperatures were rising, and it definitely got a bit warm on the road: At some point, I came through a large working unit 单位 (a kind of government-owned company from the socialist era): This one was so big it basically formed a village by itself, complete with […]

I finally crossed the Yellow River and made it into the province of Shaanxi 陕西 today. Yay!! The last steps through public traffic before the river were hasty and confused though: But then I got to the bridge: What a sublime feeling to be crossing these massive waters… The Yellow River 黄河. Slowly winding its […]