Why are you so petrified of silence? Here, can you handle this….?
Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines, or when you’re going to die? Or did you long for the next distraction? Honestly, everything of that (okay apart from the deadlines, they currently don’t exist for me), and much, much more has crossed my mind in the 10 days I’ve spend in total silence.
The heat sticks to my skin, like one of those fleece blankets I love to snuggle myself into during dark, cold winter days in this time of the year. Except that the blankets stayed in the Netherlands, and certainly would be a misfit in temperatures like this. It doesn’t fully resound in my head that I hear Christmas songs all around, while some of the palm tree leaves gently wave at us and we are gently melting. Are we sure we’re not somewhere in the middle of August instead of at the very beginning of a brand new decade?
The subcontinent of India, as people so wisely call it. We’ve entered it, and left my 60th country, which Pakistan was as I recently discovered, behind. We’ve left new friends behind, met, held and waived goodbye an old friend. For Ruben it was a coming back here, with endless gushes of recognition. His first big out of Europe trip brought him here. And now we get to discover it together. This country, of which I’ve expected the absolute worst, this big, weird but beautiful, chaotic but captivating, extremely polluted but deeply spiritual country, it embraced us.
I have expected many things of this journey in the time leading up to it. Much involved me or Ruben badly crashing or one of our bikes breaking down beyond repair. It all pretty much scared me I believe, all this unexpected experiences and how hard life on the bike might be. We’re in it for a little over a week now. Traveled from the south of France to somewhere above Zadar, along the beautiful…