Eastbound and down

For four days i was a student again, and do i miss that life when 11am is too early, washing up doesnt matter and the only plan for the day is jokes and more banter. Yes!!!! The last four days have been so much fun, my decision to persist with couch surfing has resulted in some of the best days i have ever had travelling. Emre and his friends in Erzurum were truly cool guys and showed me the real turkey. I cant thank them enough for that!!

But after I left you last time I believe I was about to do that most quitissential of capadoccian experiences the world famous balloon ride. After about 10 seconds deliberation i decided that i had to do it. And lets just say it was worth it. Despite the literally hundreds of balloons and the chaotic takeoff areas, it is just truly magical once you are up in the air. Drifting amongst the fairy towers and cave houses as the sun comes up is breathtaking. The colours kind of reminded me of the grand canyon in a way, just spectacular in the early dawn light. It really is something that has to be done!! The rest of my time was no less special, missing the fun of two wheels i rented a motorbike for the day to explore some underground cities that were at one time home to over 20,000 people, truly remarkable. Those were pretty cool to explore in the pitch black, climbing through holes in the cealing and dropping down through tiny shafts. Must admit its not for the faint hearted in places especially when you can feel your footholds crumbling away!! That day also saw we stranded in the middle of nowhere as the idiot at the shop promised the bike would do 80km on a tank. Rubbish 50km later in a deserted valley it konks out. FFS!!!! many many stronger words were uttered i can assure you. So 1/2 hour trek to a farm and some pretty impressive sign language later this legend of a turkish guy gave me a lift with a jerry can. Couldnt say thankyou enough. Especially as turkey has the most expensive fuel in the world apparently, and he wouldnt take a cent. You really do meet some great people!!

After that a swift pass back through ankara to collect my uzbek visa and then east to the slightly seedy black sea port of Trabzon and the traditional turkey I had come here to see. Two days in Trabzon was plenty believe me so I moved on to Erzurum. Where the fun began!!

The first day i arrıved was my birthday and maybe you saw on facebook it was my fırst proper attempt at hitch hiking or auto stop as they call it here. 10 hours it took to get from where i was staying near Trabzon to Erzurum. I managed to hitch for about 200km but the other 200 was on the bus :( Nearly everyone i have met here has been doing it and says its so easy, even hitchwiki the website goes on about how easy it is in turkey. To start it was, getting picked up after about 10 minutes in Trabzon but it was just downhill from there lol. I did get to go in a truck for the first time so i guess thats a small upside. I will persist with it but its kind of demoralising, everytime someone drives past its like they are telling you to F off. And when they stop but for a different reason is the worst haha you are all excited then massive let down. You just want to know whether they are not going the same way or they really dont want to help out the overladen, slightly unkempt englishman. Maybe a shave will yield better results??

But i did make Erzurum before nightfall and met up with my new host Emre a biology student at the university there. Emre lives with his mates Kubilay and Adem, but the flat despite the lack of furniture is the centre of goings on and for two nights a load of people from his course came over. First night was vodka time which very quickly led to a night of dancing to turkish music and lessons on how to click my fingers. A life skill which sadly still eludes me lol It is probably the first country i have ever been to where traditional music is the only order of the day. Despite their efforts i cant say that i am a fan however. It is all so sad, emotive and just about hurt and pain. The mood is just reflective to the point of wanting to end it lol, I was told you cant forget the bad stuff and move on. Im not entirely sure thats for everyone. Needless to stay we still had a good time and the banter was fun.

Theres not a great deal to see in Erzurum but Fatih and Emre showed me the mosques and city tower etc before heading through a slightly decrepit neighbourhood and on up to the castle which overlooks the city. The view is amazing with snow covered mountains all around. The city itself is a centre for skiing in the winter but for the rest of the year its stuck on a high plain miles from anywhere at around 2000m. Lets just say it was cold and the weather is pretty abysmal (anyone booking their holidays yet haha i should work for the tourist board) The first question most people asked was why are you here?? Im getting used to that most places i go now. If it wasnt for the uni ım ure it would die a death but the student atmosphere is central to everything and great to experience again. The other nights we tried some traditional turkish delicacies like Çig Kofte which is raw meat, barley and a mixture of blended vegetables rubbed together by hand for three hours!!! Tastes amazing but not great if your starving :) The perfect accompaniment to any meal here Rakı was brought out which just adds to the melancholy atmosphere. Vodka for party, Rakı for reminiscing. We werent drunk the whole time however and I did fınd time to watch aston villa get spanked, get thrown out of emres uni lab class apparently for health and safety lol and experience the highs and lows of the somewhat slightly confusing relationship dynamics between the various classmembers. Seriously ive read novels with easier story lines. Good times though and ones i certainly wont forget that in a hurry!!

Now today i sit 20km from Iran in a place called Dogubayazit which is a mostly kurdish village at the base of Mt. Ararat. The weather was rubbish this afternoon but tomorrow hopefully it will brightnen up to see the palace and the mountain. And Noahs ark if the stories are to be believed!! So i believe that we are all pretty much up to date. From here its onwards to Georgia the land of honey and the home of all surnames ending in dze!! Catch you later guys

Tucker

Turkey and the start of the road east

So here it is guys back by popular demand and several threats my blog is here.

I am now in Capadoccia maybe you have heard of it? but if you haven't you have definitely seen it in some amazing pictures :) I have just spent 7 hours hiking round the fairy pinnacles, valleys, gorges and abandoned villages. It is really really cool and tomorrow I have a balloon ride booked so proper excited now!!!!

Time is flying once again and I have been away for a week and a half wow. My plan is totally up in the air and now seems dependant on visas which i guessed at the start it might end up doing. I flew into Sofia and took the night train to Istanbul which is the final stage of the orient express and something i didn't do last time i was in the area. Lets just say i think the orient express passengers had it easier. First someone committed suicide in front of the train which was really sad and meant we had to wait for the police etc to arrive (not always the quickest in Bulgaria, have a word with your dad Tereza it was by your town). This meant we got to the border at 3am where the border police insisted on taking everything out of my bag which was not really what i wanted and then i was the only nationality that had to buy a visa. All the Germans thought it exceptionally funny. But finally i got to sleep and woke up expecting to see the ancient city of Istanbul on the horizon but the guy in the cabin next to me said we had been stopped for five hours pretty much as soon as i fell asleep because someone had stolen the cables. lol it happens here too. Anyway i wont bore you with the rest of it but i got to Istanbul 9 hours late but i got there. Anyway this is why you go travelling right?

I stayed in a hostel which i haven't done in a long time and to be frank the hostel was nice but so quiet. I did meet a few people to go out with at night (by the way Istanbul has amazing night life) and also to hang around with to see the sights. Had to properly get back into the swing of talking to absolutely everybody and there were some interesting characters. There is so much to see in Istanbul its crazy but i got to the main sights blue mosque, aya sofia etc which were really nice but its the small sights in the backstreets which are the best. The best thing is just pick a direction and walk and stop for coffee tea whatever. Its so big you can easily get away from it all, i highly recommend definitely for a long weekend.

But even before i did this i had a date with the Iranian embassy. Now i have already started the application process months ago and due to the fact there are no relations between our two great countries i wasn't expecting this to go smoothly. And guess what it didn't. I was let into the embassy which was great, they even had my paper work in order. Already too good to be true i thought and then they dropped the bomb! Ever so nicely the guy announced that on the 1st April for two months we have changed our policy, you now have 15 days on issuance of visa to get to Iran rather than 3 months. FFS. I wasn't going to be in Iran for two months and my schedule after one day has been blown out of the water. Its a good job i never book anything. So now i am doing two months travelling around Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan before flying back to Istanbul from east turkey picking up my visa and flying back. The guy was really apologetic and was like if you had been here 4 days ago it would have been fine so i thanked him, gave the thumbs up and left. (Later i found out the thumbs up is the rudest gesture you can do in Iran so maybe i wont even get any visa haha)

Anyway after that I was in the mood for a drink so after it being suggested at the hostel a few of us went to a random couchsurfing meeting in the evening. Already a member from years back i have decided to make a real effort this time and use it alot. I had a great evening out met some really cool people, learnt a bit of salsa and some other dance moves and got some great contacts :) Actually staying with someone on couchsurfing is something i never really tried before but i have already stayed with Can in Ankara for a couple of nights and it was great to see the city from a locals perspective, and also be able to stay in a home which believe me you miss alot. Although his exceptionally crazy cats meant i didn't get the greatest of sleep especially when it knocked down a load of shelves one night and then thought it would be great to jump from sofa onto my bed on the floor over and over again!! Fun times. Anyway Ankara doesn't have much for tourists being a largely administrative city and i was only there for picking up an Uzbekistan visa (more fun and games) and replacing items that have already broken like my shoes. I loved those shoes as well 40 odd countries before they gave up the ghost so not too bad i guess.

And then from Ankara i have a week to kill before i can pick up my visa so i have come to Capadoccia the land of fairy chimneys and where lord of the rings becomes real. All day i hiked exploring caves, sticking my head in random holes and tunnels and generally just enjoying exploring. There is none of this signage cluttering up the place like in the UK its just like here's a valley go check it out. So that's what i did, although meeting a local who showed me a few hidden treasures helped. Saw a few really amazing cave churches with ancient paintings was so nice. Anyway now i am absolutely shattered and legs are killing so heading for food and sleep (really boring i know) but the balloon ride is for sunrise at 5am so i do have an excuse.

Take care everybody and catch up soon

Tucker