Saturday 28 January 2017

The Simpler LIfe

As I lie here on a comfortable bed with soft white sheets, I can feel the embracing warmth coming from the radiator next to me. I also hear the distilled sound of traffic from the window and every now and then the dramatic noise of fire crackers from down the street. It is Chinese New Year today and this is day 3 in a hotel in Urumqi, a large city in the north west of China.

I don't want to be here though.

I want to be back out on the road where we're meant to be.

I was so glad to be in this amazing hotel on Thursday afternoon. Now however it's Saturday and this hotel in Urumqi couldn't feel more agonising.

It sounds so strange to be fantasising about waking back up in a tent, my sleeping bag would be covered in ice. Then Laura and I would heat up the water from flasks that had gone cold from the night before. We would drink a cup of tea as the sun would rise, then eat some sort of boiled food before packing up the tent and hitting the road.

I want to feel the pure pain when I finally warm my fingers back up in my gloves and feel the freezing air flow though my helmet while I am being stunned by the incredible scenery. I don't want to be in a warm hotel worrying about buses and trains...

One of the biggest underlying issues with being stuck in a big Chinese city is that we're blowing our budget. This is generally on sleeping and eating but we can't get a cheaper hotel because they must have a "special licence" to accept foreign guests. Hostels also tend close in the winter as we found out in Turpan earlier last week. I can only deduce that tourism reduces when it's -10 degrees Celsius. We also can't pack up and live in a tent because we have no fuel, so can't heat any water or food up.

I must exercise my ability to be  patient and just let life do its thing  and soon we will be back out on the road.

I can't wait!!


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