Wednesday, February 15, 2017


Subject: World walk blog 4 China written out of sequence
Date: 3 December 2016 at 03:17:25 GMT+8
Saturday, I spent hours looking for a new pair of shoes and had a problem getting my size. I had to settle for a Eu 44 when 44.5 or 9 uk is my size. It seems my size, which is normal in the western world is considered an oversize here. That done it was time to celebrate my recent 10,000 kilometres with my favourite extra large supreme pizza 😀🍕
I mentioned in the last post about some hassle getting a backpackers hostel. Some of you may have been wondering why I didn't look for a hotel. Well, I badly needed to have my clothes laundered and backpacker hostels almost always have a washing machine. I should have mentioned also that I stopped the police to see if they knew of the hostels location. They didn't and when I got so fed up I asked them if I could pitch my tent behind their police prefab right in the middle of the city! The friendly officers brought me inside and I slept there last night. In the morning I was given a new China police hi-viz belt. I got to meet some of their SWAT team too, one of them telling me it was his childhood dream to be in the special forces. These officers work a 24 hour shift and then have two days off.
Because of all my errands it was almost 4pm by the time I left Datong. The smog was so bad I wore my bandana over my face and was still choking on it. The constant stream of trucks also polluted the air. Recently I read a report that the government is going to add a further 10% tax on high-end so-called 'super cars' Ferrari, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce etc. Cars costing 200,000 euro or more. Yes I wonder how much that will reduce the emissions, draw your own conclusions as to what that's about!
I walked on a wonderful four-lane divided highway with a paved shoulder for most of my 30 kilometres. Sometimes trucks drove down the wrong to make a convenient turn without making a u-turn! I thought that only happened in India!
Just north of Huairen I walked past a cafe. A woman came
out to invite me inside. There were three young people there and one of them wrote out this kind note for me.  They also own a hotel and generously gave me a complimentary room for the night.

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