Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 1:42 PM
Subject: World walk blog/ China 14
To: myworldwalk2016@gmail.com

Touch wood, I have dodged winter this year! I put in big distance waking days across Russia to get through Siberia before the weather became uncomfortable. I was specifically concerned about Mongolia, a country where even cattle have died from cold extremes. In all I only had a couple of real cold days.  My biggest climatic problem was pitching and wrapping up my tent, about a dozen such occasions. Almost always, once I started walking I was okay.
The current seven day forecast in Dublin is much colder than where I am in southern China!
Chinese people continue to impress. I love them so much.  Saturday I walked 41 kilometers and finished at a construction site where the security guards allowed me to pitch my tent. They assured me they would guard me too!
Monday night I was between towns, I arrived at a petrol station and asked to pitch my tent at the side. They gave me a couch in a store room to sleep on. I also had access to a hot shower. Back on the road I became a pied piper for about fifty children. We laughed and joked for about half an hour. After 36 kilometers I arrived in a town which I can't find on my map. The first person I saw I just asked him to help me find a hotel and he did. I walked across the road and had a street food Valentine's dinner!  Delicious😀
However, once again the cops were standing over me and wanted my passport. Eventually, I handed it over. Then they went to a late night copy shop, made a copy and wished me a good night. It was a bit irritating. One needs to accept this if walking across China. That's about six times on the road and about the same with hotel visits. However, that happened in the USA and Canada too. I have to make a ' visa run ' more than likely to Vietnam before the end of the month. For those that don't know, a visa run means leaving a country and returning just so as to 'acquire' a fresh visa I have a multi-entry Chinese visa and each entry is valid for 60 days. I  last entered the country on New Year's Eve, so I gotta leave and return to my route with the next two weeks. I reckon I need five more weeks walking to reach Vietnam. In such a country I have to worry about having my visa revoked. So, I have to be careful also what I write, I want to be respectful.
 I may be walking on a single engine, but it is fueled by Chinese love. When I returned to my hotel the lovely proprietors had decorated my room with luvvy-duvvy decorations.
Happy St. Valentine's Day.