Today is my birthday! My 24th, for those who’re still counting.
Right now I’m laying – clean and warm – in the bed of the hotel room I decided to spoil myself with today. I’m just about to fall asleep but wanted to write a sentecte or two here before I do.
Today it’s one year ago since I posted this blog. I can still remember writing it, sitting in the house of my parents, trying to motivate myself for another marathon session at work.
Everything I did back then, was with this journey in mind. Early mornings and late evenings at different jobs. I was aware of that I had no idea what it really was that I was planning on getting myself into – but I had simply decided to believe that it in the end it would all be worth it.
And boy, would that turn out to be right.
I don’t think I need to tell you anymore that this mad adventure has given me the best experiences and memories of my life. In a way I guess she did, but it would be cool if 22 & 23 year old Fredrika also would have known this. That all the Fredrika’s to come would be forever greatful for the work that she put in to make this dream a reality.
In the post from last year I wrote something vague about me celebrating this birthday ‘somewhere in China’. A guess which on one hand was completely correct. But reading those sentences it’s so hilariously clear how totally clueless I was about what actually lay ahead.
Never in my wildest imagination would or could I have guessed what today would really be like. The first birthday in a while that I’m sure I will remember for the rest of my life.
I guess in a way it all started already a few days ago when – after an almost 2 000 km long desert crossing – the mountains finally made an appearance, far away in the horizon.
The last days I have been climbing. Slowly but surely I’ve once again been gaining altitude and after weeks of riding in a T shirt and having breakfast in my flip flops it was now high time to get dressed again.
Yesterday – after a two day constant climb – I pitched my tent and was camping a couple of hours from the pass. I was saving the actual crossing for this morning, as a 1st birthday present to myself.
This morning, at the top of the 3600 meter pass
2nd present was somewhat of a bonus one, as I was crossing into Qinghai – my province number 2 in this insanely huge country.
And lastly, to top of the celebrations – and as some kind of compensation for the – 8 ºC I woke up in this morning – I went out and got myself a hotel room for the night. A hotel in a tiny town with a name I have absolutely no idea of. An ending of the day which was far from a given as this place is both the first and last one I’m passing in days.
I have lots of Chinese stories to tell you. However, that will have to be some other time, because now I’m hitting the pillow. And something tells me I’ll be fast asleep within minutes.
But I guess that before I finish off this birthday, I should make a new completely clueless guess of where I’ll be spending the next one.
Well.
…New Zealand?
Nah. I don’t know.
We’ll simply have to wait and see.
Fredrika