The daily life of a traveller

While out travelling the world you know and your daily routines are literally turned upside down and then some. A new bed, a new room in a new city every other day or so, and I find myself in a constant circle of adjustment.

I just got back from the supermarket here in Lhasa without knowing what 2/3 of the groceries actually are. When going to the supermarket at home I don’t like to rush, so take my time to pick and choose exactly what I need and want. Reading between the lines, you might have picked up on that I’m not Speedy Gonzales. Needless to say, while walking thru the aisle in a foreign supermarket with a different written language, it takes me forever! There are so many different things to see and to try to figure out what is. There’s dried donkey meat, plastic bagged yoghurt, fried duck, glazed pig feet, vacuum-packed meat and swimming turtles in the fresh food section trying to get out of their glass cages. This alone keeps me occupied for a while and then I have to start buying my own groceries. When trying to find one out of hundred different kinds of pot noodles that doesn’t contain meat, you better not be in a hurry. Since I’m also allergic to all kinds of dairy, buying crackers etc in itself is like going on an expedition. I’ve managed to teach myself the Chinese symbol for milk, so it’s an adventure how many different types I need to read the ingredients on before I hit jackpot. Alas, not containing milk doesn’t necessarily mean they’re tasty thou. Anyway, today I got some cookies which I think, and hope, are green tea cookies. I found some orange juice, which turned out to be nectar (I’ve more or less gotten used to this by now). I eventually ended up deciding on some bread that looked good, which turned out to be sweet (not a shocker when in China) and I also got some instant coffee that did not what so ever taste like coffee (better of sticking to Chinese tea). I did on the other hand get some dried bananas and some laundry detergent, which both turned out to meet my expectations. Apropos laundry, whenever I’m staying somewhere more than two nights I pull up my sleeves, fill up the sink, put on some music (often enough pop open a beer) and get down to business. Specially after getting off a Chinese train where you have been stepping in urine and god knows what, it feels absolutely heavenly to clean all the filth and dirt of your clothes. Even the soles of my shoes get a scrub!

The places we’ve stayed so far have been close to western standards, which mean that all the little extras I find in my room are confiscated. Toilet paper, soap, shower gel, cotton swabs, toothpaste are all tucked away for when they might come in handy and they always do. Another routine I’ve allowed to spoil myself with is morning tea. There are always a couple of teabags provided in the room and with a water heater it magically becomes tea. I’m almost starting to feel like a Britt. The water heater comes in handy also when it comes to purifying water and making it drinkable. First of all it gets pricy when having to buy several bottles of water a day, and second of all it’s not very environmental when considering all the plastic that’s being wasted. I therefore boil water and refill the plastic bottles, and it tastes just as good. Impatient as I am I never have time to wait for that water to cool off, so I’ve gotten quite used to drinking warm water.

Another feature that has more or less grown attached to my body, is my money belt. Unfortunately there have been episodes where ppl have gotten things stolen from then, or have felt someone trying to get into their backpack or pocket. It’s extremely frustrating being such a visible target, needless to say we stand out quite a bit, but then it’s way better to take precautions and be safe rather than sorry.

Blending in as a tall, white, blond girl is absolutely not the easiest challenge I’ve been given. Ppl point, stare, take pictures, follow you around, giggle, and if their able to they’ll utter one or two worlds in English. Here in Lhasa I keep bumping into small kids everywhere who absolutely adore speaking a few words of English with you. They are the cutest and most adorable children I’ve encountered so far. Thankfully, I have yet to experience impoliteness, but have several times been discriminated against mainly due to being taken as an American. In the group I’m travelling with now, we have an exceptionally hard time not sticking out. Not only does our group have the blond, tall girl, but we also have a guy who has fully tattooed arms and two other guys what are 200 cm tall. We have become quite the attraction to say the least! Even my small ankle tattoo tends to draw a lot of attention. Once again ppl point, stare and take pictures. Today, even a group of monks passing me by stopped to take a closer look, giggling like crazy.

What I’m finding the hardest to get used to is not being able to make my own food; whatever I want, whenever I want it. Of course, this is a problem of luxury… “Poor little white girl who’s traveling the world for eight months and have to eat out every day.” I’m not going to disagree, and I still cannot fathom how lucky I am to be given this opportunity. Still it gets tiresome spending around 3-4 hours a day finding a place to eat, ordering, waiting and then eating. Hopefully I’ll be able to make some dinner when I get a kitchen or something similar to a kitchen available when I hit Nepal.

Better be off, dinnertime.