There comes a point in travel that you hit what I call "fatigue point" where you'll just chill out without an alarm to start the day, not worry about time and laze in the courtyard because the weather is just so darn fantastic.
Today is such a day. You sit back and reflect quite a bit. I got to get out a while during the ungodly hour of lunch time to (1) walk to the bank to change some US Dollars and got introduced to more silly rules of the Ministry of Finance of the PRC, (2) meet more riot police / soldiers that marched around the city trying to look like meano beanos, (3) walk some more to China Post only to be relegated to the only branch that was closer to home in order to send stuff back home, and (4) walk again back to our street after saying bugger it, we can mail it another day, and tuck into some really nice local ice cream.
It was also one of those days that I got to see a bit of my neighbourhood, soaked in the "them and us" (still quite difficult to connect on a soulful level with the locals but you can only try) with the vegetable stalls, carpenters, metal workers, clinging and clanging, haggling and dodging, plenty to stand back and watch. A truly amazing feeling because I would never have thought that a year ago, I'll be standing right here, in the middle of a crazy intersection and I would be avoiding a Vespa and some donkey carts while saying "rehmat" to thank the old chap selling me his usual cup of ice milk treat.
A cool summer breeze brushed over us mildly and this really couldn't be a better day. I walked further down the lane and looked around for my contact lens solutions. First shop was a bit dodge - one side of that tiny sardine can sold some really cheesy sunnies, the opposite lane, a glass panel filled with Ukrainian looking models in weird, compromising, un-PG rated positions and tiny bottles of pills of wonderment. An old man shook his like he's about to break into some La Cucaracha while someone in that stuffy, hot room farted. I smelled preserved onions and 3-day old garlic. It was time to move on.
A cool summer breeze brushed over us mildly and this really couldn't be a better day. I walked further down the lane and looked around for my contact lens solutions. First shop was a bit dodge - one side of that tiny sardine can sold some really cheesy sunnies, the opposite lane, a glass panel filled with Ukrainian looking models in weird, compromising, un-PG rated positions and tiny bottles of pills of wonderment. An old man shook his like he's about to break into some La Cucaracha while someone in that stuffy, hot room farted. I smelled preserved onions and 3-day old garlic. It was time to move on.
Anyhow, by a stroke of miraculous intervention, I stumbled onto a decent optical shop. Heck, they even got my exact prescription for lens and solutions. Back home I got to come back after leaving an order! That arvo we chatted with another inspiring pair of cyclists who had been doing the long road from France to here. That night we went out with another pair of cyclists from UK / Australia. My friend Sayaka-san gave me a new hair ribbon when my only one jumped ship on me. We got a really weird arrangement with an incognito American contributor for the Lonely Planet visiting the lakes with us tomorrow. Francis the helpful retrieved Travis's laptop and pack. Amee the German will hitchhike and bring it up to him in Kyrgyzstan. We got our tickets for the 22-hour journey after some really helpful people at the bus station came to answer our prayers. Everyone was helping and swapping advice, suggestions, and loaning out books and just jokes and drinks.
The better part of travel, if not the best, is really the camaraderie you form with really inspiring travellers who will tell you that you can do it. Only the Germans are lovely crazy bikers who go too fast (we mean well!) but it doesn't take a lot to join the group. Yes, some basic fitness and bike technicalities, but give in your heart and do it. We can't wait to start. That will be for our to-do's when we get to Australia. Meanwhile we're trying our best to make good time to finish off the remaining of our six months around our leg and trying hard to get Iran into the picture.
Pakistan and Afghanistan will just have to join the Great Big North America and Africa trips - next time in the future. Our heads are already turning to think that perhaps Azerbaijan and Armenia could be a nice inclusion? I don't know. These are all such wonderfully frustrating distractions that just make you want to get out there into the big unknown and do more.
I think I may have been bitten by the real travel bug. It actually exists!
ps: Hubby, if you're reading this, I love you and you're the best travel partner a gal can ever want. Without your diligent nose between the bridge of the borrowed LPs, I think I would be still sitting out my visa's allowance and probably only leave a country when the immigration throws me out! Thank you for clocking up those plans and we've come a long way. The trip will not be the same without you. I'm so glad we're doing this! Here's to more and two old prunes with one tooth left cyclists camping around the world some time in the future! (You'll know what I mean)
Love you long time! xoxo
