Im in Baku now, its been over five years since I was last here and although the shape of the city is largely the same its appearance has changed sooooo much. I arrived in town at about 9:30 in the dark last night after a long drive in from Tbilisi.
The borders in from Turkey to Georgia and then over into Azerbaijan have been pretty easy going, half an hour into Georgia and then an hour and a half into Azerbaijan although I was invited into their cool offices eventually while they asked me questions and plied me with tea. Unfortunately they did tell me yesterday that while my visa was good for 30 days and I could stay as long as I didnt work the bike was only going to be allowed in for 3 days. At the very end there was some story about a German guy who came to visit who didnt have enough money for a deposit who had three days to get to Baku then get out the way he came. As I wasnt planning to stay much time anyway I didnt push it far, all I got told when I was asked about how much a deposit would be was (very evasively) that it depends on the value of the vehicle. This was on top of telling me earlier that there was no other way.
Ah well, on I went into a land that like Baku had changed greatly. Theres evidence (over and above goat and cow herding) that theres much more money available now. Much of the roads were in excellent condition and the last couple of hundred kms into Baku may well have been the smoothest roads Ive ever been on. When I worked here I had a trip out in that direction to see some pipeline pumping stations and the trip, the roads, the towns were unrecognisable.
Likewise, I had always heard Georgia was a very poor country and Tbilisi was a shadow of its former self. Maybe its the passage of time and theres been a lot of investment from somewhere but it didnt look bad at all, in fact I was really impressed with it too.
Perhaps the biggest thing Im noticing at the moment is that Ive had some fairly long riding days getting from point to point. Although Im seeing and feeling and experiencing an awful lot it does almost feel like Im city hopping but maybe other than spending much longer in each location, travelling much much slower and stopping at lots of smaller places Im not sure how this would change. I am getting to find myself in some fantastic places however and long may it continue.
Tomorrow hopefully my shocking attempts at Russian this morning will lead me onto a cargo ship headed to Turkmenbashi. Could be interesting...
One last point on the topic of Turkmenbashi is that in looking into arranging much of this trip Ive referred time and time again to HorizonsUnlimited.com which was set up ages ago by a couple who did a huge round the world trip. The sites been taken on board by lots of overland travellers and theres no end of information on borders, countries, where to find stuff, people to meet and well worth a look into, if only to whet your appetite. Grant and Susan who run the site have started producing DVD's about why to do a big trip and on other organisational topics. I got a couple and theres another one waiting with my mother now and they also are fascinating with all the different opinions on different topics and also with all the different people, reasons and bikes that have taken the step. If you have five minutes then give it a look.
Saturday 19 June 2010
Tuesday 15 June 2010
A day in the life
I actually wrote a copy of this entry two days ago and tried positing it yesterday morning but for some reason it didn't go up. I'll hopefully repeat the spirit of it in this rendition.
Basically, I've been posting little thoughts about what's been rumbling through my head on any given day with precious little about the bike and not much more about what's happening on a day to day basis, partly because the bike has been perfect so far. There was a lot that happened a couple of days ago and I thought it would be a good example day to write down progress from. So here's a posting about Sunday.
The day started out well, I had a good breakfast outside of the hotel. Soaking in the fantastic view of the mountains I enjoyed the eggs, olives, cheese, tomatoes and cherries. Chilling over my last chai for the morning I made it out toward the main road at the bottom of the hill with the fuel light blinking at me. It was fine as I knew that I had enough to get me back the way toward Khata.
By the time I got to the main road I guessed I had plenty of fuel to get myself moving on toward Tatvan, my destination for the day, and so I moved on. After a few miles there was a petrol station and as I pulled in it became obvious that they hadn't finished building it. Not to worry, still fuel left.
After another ten minutes I rounded a corner only to find the road go into water. Following the building of the Ataturk dam this part of the road was flooded so now there was a boat. I had arrived with good timing, the last vehicle there was being driven on and there was enough space left at the end for my bike. I drove on and tried my best pigeon German to find out how long the ferry took. The couple in a camper van who I asked had no idea about the boat either and we chatted about holidays over the 20 minute trip before setting off into the distance at the far end.
The next reasonably large town came before long and I stopped off to get fuel. As is quite often the case there were four guys who came over to fuel up the bike and we had a good long wavy arm blether about the trip, where I had come from and where I was going off to.
The roads were pretty typical for my experience of Turkey all through the day. Some points were really interesting two lane roads with twisty bits, much of it though was fairly long straight sections of dual carriageways. These were made a little more interesting by the fact that so many sections of them are still under some stage of construction meaning that I often had to swap sides or take a spell at riding through gravel.
I started to get a little hungry and as I passed through some small towns I didn't see much that grabbed me. There came a point that I decided I was going to stop regardless and on the edge of town there was a petrol station with a restaurant beside. Pulling up outside it became obvious that the place was still under construction but it was too late. I'd been spotted. The Turkish are incredibly friendly and interested in what's happening and I got shouted inside. Again there was some wavy armed banter with the guys and after a short while I left them to it.
Shortly after this I stopped off at the next town and had some ice cream and cold water because this was all I fancied, time was passing on and I wasn't too far from my destination and it was very warm. The bike display was showing 38C most of the day and hit a peak of 39.5C. This time it was the turn of the children to come and keep me company. Getting back on the bike I saw that the chain was very tight. Something to keep an eye on.
Moving on toward Tatvan I came up over some fairly high points in the road and again the fuel light flashed up. There was plenty of fuel left but on one of the more downhill sections the bike stalled on me, no stuttering, no warning, just stalled. It started again within a few moments but spooked me a little. As a repeat it happened again on the way into Tatvan just before I got to a fuel station. The dashboard still showed some distance left for me and I know that there's still 2 litres of fuel left after I get to --- indicated so I put the stalling down to the downhill sections and will keep an eye on it too.
Tatvan itself isn't much to look at although it's in a fantastic location at the south side of lake Van. Checking the guidebook I had with me a van stopped and I had a brief chat with it's passenger before some children turned up. The town of Van I think seems like it might be a better proposition and I ride off along the south shore, mixing it between lakeside and up into some higher mountain passes, absolutely beautiful.
Coming along the shore into Van it was obvious that the area was very popular with the locals swimming and chilling. None of the camp sites appealed to me as I drive past and nothing in Van grabbed me either. It was just after 6pm by now and I drive out of town determined to stop at the next place whether its a campsite or an hotel. It never comes.
I know the road I'm planning to take the next day up toward Kars and I pull off onto this road, taking a right into a town that looks on the map that it will be a reasonable size enough for a hotel. The fuel light is back on, it's getting dull now and as I pull up the headlight nearly falls out...
Before long one of the locals turns up who can speak English. We have a chat, I find out I'll have to backtrack toward the lake and keep going round while others are trying to find a way to secure the light. A couple of glasses of tea later I had managed to keep about ten kids and ten adults entertained and I drove off into almost darkness to take the left turn back to the lake.
In the darkness I had to keep stopping from time to time to get the light back in place and it became fairly obvious fairly quickly that I somehow had gone the wrong direction. I pull to one side, check the map in the light from the bike and marvel at how bright the stars are. Turns out that I'm on the right track for what I had planned for the next day and I'll hopefully get to a petrol station before too long though I'm not holding my breath.
Often on the outskirts of Turkish towns there's a jandarma (sort of military police) post. These usually have a stop sign at the side of a checkpoint and everyone tends to drive straight past. On this occasion I drive past and can see a row of cones across the road, a dark figure and he is holding a flashlight low. I stop, thinking this could be a pain but I just get a strange look and am waved on. As I drive off I remember I'm next to some locals and ask about where I might find a hotel. I try and get the idea across only for the soldier to ask if I speak German. We then have a brief chat about where the next hotel is and I think to myself how lucky I was to have been taught some German at school.
Crossing over what I think is a mountain pass Im confident that as long as the bike doesn't stall again I'll make it to the next town with some fuel left in the bike. At this point as I come downhill I see four lights come towards me. I know that this road is wide enough for the oncoming truck, the passing car and me as long as I hold right but it doesn't stop me muttering away to myself. It's just as I'm slowing down a little that the car driver spots me, obviously gets a fright and screeches to a near halt with a huge blast on the trucks air horn. Keeps you awake.
Before long Im in Dogubayasit, see a sign for a hotel and start to come alongside it. I drive slowly past for a good view and get shouted into a fuel station, why not, Im down to 7 indicated miles and it will save me tomorrow.
I pull up alongside a pump and greet the three guys who come to help. Leaving them to it to look at the next door hotel I hear a commotion behind me. Turning around I see a fountain of petrol, turns out that the joint between the hose and the pistol grip on the pump have split a little. The next fifteen minutes keep me entertained watching them near destroy another pump to get enough bits to make the pump my bike is beside work.
Once fuelled up I point to the bodged headlight and then sup a glass of tea as they try to bodge it further. One cable tie and another bolt later and Im good to go. On supping another glass of tea they point out another hotel across the road and motion that I should go there instead. I do so and spend the night in the Golden Hill Hotel, having a great view of Mount Ararat from the rooftop breakfast room.
The next day I make it to Kars over an even split of some of the worst roads I've yet seen and by far the best road up alongside firstly the Iranian and then Armenian borders. And so here I am, I'm going to check everything on the bike is tight, make sure that the chain is behaving itself despite appearing fine yesterday and check the headlight bodge after I failed to find some half decent bolts yesterday.
There will be time to get another wander round town, get up to an old castle for a wander around and finish repacking the panniers before making my way toward Georgia tomorrow. Turkey has been great, and Ill be back someday but there's a sense of anticipation about another new country.
Basically, I've been posting little thoughts about what's been rumbling through my head on any given day with precious little about the bike and not much more about what's happening on a day to day basis, partly because the bike has been perfect so far. There was a lot that happened a couple of days ago and I thought it would be a good example day to write down progress from. So here's a posting about Sunday.
The day started out well, I had a good breakfast outside of the hotel. Soaking in the fantastic view of the mountains I enjoyed the eggs, olives, cheese, tomatoes and cherries. Chilling over my last chai for the morning I made it out toward the main road at the bottom of the hill with the fuel light blinking at me. It was fine as I knew that I had enough to get me back the way toward Khata.
By the time I got to the main road I guessed I had plenty of fuel to get myself moving on toward Tatvan, my destination for the day, and so I moved on. After a few miles there was a petrol station and as I pulled in it became obvious that they hadn't finished building it. Not to worry, still fuel left.
After another ten minutes I rounded a corner only to find the road go into water. Following the building of the Ataturk dam this part of the road was flooded so now there was a boat. I had arrived with good timing, the last vehicle there was being driven on and there was enough space left at the end for my bike. I drove on and tried my best pigeon German to find out how long the ferry took. The couple in a camper van who I asked had no idea about the boat either and we chatted about holidays over the 20 minute trip before setting off into the distance at the far end.
The next reasonably large town came before long and I stopped off to get fuel. As is quite often the case there were four guys who came over to fuel up the bike and we had a good long wavy arm blether about the trip, where I had come from and where I was going off to.
The roads were pretty typical for my experience of Turkey all through the day. Some points were really interesting two lane roads with twisty bits, much of it though was fairly long straight sections of dual carriageways. These were made a little more interesting by the fact that so many sections of them are still under some stage of construction meaning that I often had to swap sides or take a spell at riding through gravel.
I started to get a little hungry and as I passed through some small towns I didn't see much that grabbed me. There came a point that I decided I was going to stop regardless and on the edge of town there was a petrol station with a restaurant beside. Pulling up outside it became obvious that the place was still under construction but it was too late. I'd been spotted. The Turkish are incredibly friendly and interested in what's happening and I got shouted inside. Again there was some wavy armed banter with the guys and after a short while I left them to it.
Shortly after this I stopped off at the next town and had some ice cream and cold water because this was all I fancied, time was passing on and I wasn't too far from my destination and it was very warm. The bike display was showing 38C most of the day and hit a peak of 39.5C. This time it was the turn of the children to come and keep me company. Getting back on the bike I saw that the chain was very tight. Something to keep an eye on.
Moving on toward Tatvan I came up over some fairly high points in the road and again the fuel light flashed up. There was plenty of fuel left but on one of the more downhill sections the bike stalled on me, no stuttering, no warning, just stalled. It started again within a few moments but spooked me a little. As a repeat it happened again on the way into Tatvan just before I got to a fuel station. The dashboard still showed some distance left for me and I know that there's still 2 litres of fuel left after I get to --- indicated so I put the stalling down to the downhill sections and will keep an eye on it too.
Tatvan itself isn't much to look at although it's in a fantastic location at the south side of lake Van. Checking the guidebook I had with me a van stopped and I had a brief chat with it's passenger before some children turned up. The town of Van I think seems like it might be a better proposition and I ride off along the south shore, mixing it between lakeside and up into some higher mountain passes, absolutely beautiful.
Coming along the shore into Van it was obvious that the area was very popular with the locals swimming and chilling. None of the camp sites appealed to me as I drive past and nothing in Van grabbed me either. It was just after 6pm by now and I drive out of town determined to stop at the next place whether its a campsite or an hotel. It never comes.
I know the road I'm planning to take the next day up toward Kars and I pull off onto this road, taking a right into a town that looks on the map that it will be a reasonable size enough for a hotel. The fuel light is back on, it's getting dull now and as I pull up the headlight nearly falls out...
Before long one of the locals turns up who can speak English. We have a chat, I find out I'll have to backtrack toward the lake and keep going round while others are trying to find a way to secure the light. A couple of glasses of tea later I had managed to keep about ten kids and ten adults entertained and I drove off into almost darkness to take the left turn back to the lake.
In the darkness I had to keep stopping from time to time to get the light back in place and it became fairly obvious fairly quickly that I somehow had gone the wrong direction. I pull to one side, check the map in the light from the bike and marvel at how bright the stars are. Turns out that I'm on the right track for what I had planned for the next day and I'll hopefully get to a petrol station before too long though I'm not holding my breath.
Often on the outskirts of Turkish towns there's a jandarma (sort of military police) post. These usually have a stop sign at the side of a checkpoint and everyone tends to drive straight past. On this occasion I drive past and can see a row of cones across the road, a dark figure and he is holding a flashlight low. I stop, thinking this could be a pain but I just get a strange look and am waved on. As I drive off I remember I'm next to some locals and ask about where I might find a hotel. I try and get the idea across only for the soldier to ask if I speak German. We then have a brief chat about where the next hotel is and I think to myself how lucky I was to have been taught some German at school.
Crossing over what I think is a mountain pass Im confident that as long as the bike doesn't stall again I'll make it to the next town with some fuel left in the bike. At this point as I come downhill I see four lights come towards me. I know that this road is wide enough for the oncoming truck, the passing car and me as long as I hold right but it doesn't stop me muttering away to myself. It's just as I'm slowing down a little that the car driver spots me, obviously gets a fright and screeches to a near halt with a huge blast on the trucks air horn. Keeps you awake.
Before long Im in Dogubayasit, see a sign for a hotel and start to come alongside it. I drive slowly past for a good view and get shouted into a fuel station, why not, Im down to 7 indicated miles and it will save me tomorrow.
I pull up alongside a pump and greet the three guys who come to help. Leaving them to it to look at the next door hotel I hear a commotion behind me. Turning around I see a fountain of petrol, turns out that the joint between the hose and the pistol grip on the pump have split a little. The next fifteen minutes keep me entertained watching them near destroy another pump to get enough bits to make the pump my bike is beside work.
Once fuelled up I point to the bodged headlight and then sup a glass of tea as they try to bodge it further. One cable tie and another bolt later and Im good to go. On supping another glass of tea they point out another hotel across the road and motion that I should go there instead. I do so and spend the night in the Golden Hill Hotel, having a great view of Mount Ararat from the rooftop breakfast room.
The next day I make it to Kars over an even split of some of the worst roads I've yet seen and by far the best road up alongside firstly the Iranian and then Armenian borders. And so here I am, I'm going to check everything on the bike is tight, make sure that the chain is behaving itself despite appearing fine yesterday and check the headlight bodge after I failed to find some half decent bolts yesterday.
There will be time to get another wander round town, get up to an old castle for a wander around and finish repacking the panniers before making my way toward Georgia tomorrow. Turkey has been great, and Ill be back someday but there's a sense of anticipation about another new country.
Location:Kars, Turkey
Saturday 12 June 2010
It's all too much
What is it that we need, really?
I've been living for just over a month out of a handful of bags. To be honest I've gone nowhere near 80% of the contents. The other day I arranged to get some laundry done instead of trying to hand wash my clothes. Im living it seems on remarkably little.
It's not just my trip either, I'm getting on with life and accepting a few different elements to life than I would experience normally. The flat I live in when I'm back in Scotland is too big, it's nice, it's comfy when its not freezing outside and I love it in a lot of ways. Yet here I am living out of bags. I don't need the half of it, though I'll admit I'm in no rush to change my standard of living when I return. It's simply a thought that I have an easy life yet felt the need to get away from it but I've spoken to lots of people who have made comments along the lines that they wish they had the same opportunities as me, and to be honest most of those come from having a British passport and being born into our less than perfect system.
At the end of the day, we need food, water, shelter certainly helps, while friends and family make things a lot better on a day to day basis.
Im typing this on top of my bed in a small hotel in Karaduc about 12km short of the summit of Mount Nemrut. Im listening to music Ive brought from home and I'm connected to the internet. Do I need any of it? Nope. Im happy to have it though. The connection side is strange, I'm really in the middle of nowhere yet connected, though I've been in the centre of towns with nothing near me and no sign of the outside world.
But I'm not herding goats, I am on a big journey and I am lucky. Im not lonely though. Between the internet, email and any number of people around me I've always had some form of company. Today is the quietest for a while though but its not a problem as I've quite enjoyed the peace to read books. Over the last few days vie spoken to Turks, Malaysians, Canadians, English, a fair few Dutch as well as Portuguese and Brazilians. I couldn't help but have a chuckle to myself while talking to Terry and June and it was all I could do not to think of the tv programme theme tune. Which reminds me about seeing a bizarre American version of Fabio Capello which in turn reminded me of someone else from work. I sometimes do have an overactive imagination. Some of the Dutch guys was talking to were out looking over routes for a big tour in the late summer when they are hoping to do an off road rally with about 60 bikes. Ill be keeping an eye on rallymaniacs.nl for more of that with my horrid interpretation of Dutch through O grade German similarities. Ill understand the photos at least.
Meanwhile I've managed to get a variety of messages across by making faces, speaking German or more normally people speaking English to me. It's such a lazy language for English speakers to fall back on and sometimes I feel ashamed at not being able to communicate better. It is quite funny on occasion falling back onto German as a means of communication though and seems strangely surreal in the middle of Turkey talking to truck drivers while sheltering from thunderstorms.
I have to say that Im not sure what's happening with the road construction here. There's a huge difference between riding along dirt tracks to perfectly smooth, perfectly straight roads. The only thing that drags the surface quality down is the apparent insistence to turn everything into a dull, straight dual carriageway. Great for the trucks Im sure but dull for the bike.
My last thought is about signs again. I struggled (more my fault than anything else) to get to Nemrut last night but in general the Turkish signage is really good. my task for tomorrow is to get some photos of signs showing warnings of cows with sore heavy backs and big udders, warnings of school kids crossing with nice pigtails and bows and also of roadworks where the level of detail is down to the man shovelling with his shirt sleeves rolled up.
I'll be working hard to keep on the road in the meantime.
I've been living for just over a month out of a handful of bags. To be honest I've gone nowhere near 80% of the contents. The other day I arranged to get some laundry done instead of trying to hand wash my clothes. Im living it seems on remarkably little.
It's not just my trip either, I'm getting on with life and accepting a few different elements to life than I would experience normally. The flat I live in when I'm back in Scotland is too big, it's nice, it's comfy when its not freezing outside and I love it in a lot of ways. Yet here I am living out of bags. I don't need the half of it, though I'll admit I'm in no rush to change my standard of living when I return. It's simply a thought that I have an easy life yet felt the need to get away from it but I've spoken to lots of people who have made comments along the lines that they wish they had the same opportunities as me, and to be honest most of those come from having a British passport and being born into our less than perfect system.
At the end of the day, we need food, water, shelter certainly helps, while friends and family make things a lot better on a day to day basis.
Im typing this on top of my bed in a small hotel in Karaduc about 12km short of the summit of Mount Nemrut. Im listening to music Ive brought from home and I'm connected to the internet. Do I need any of it? Nope. Im happy to have it though. The connection side is strange, I'm really in the middle of nowhere yet connected, though I've been in the centre of towns with nothing near me and no sign of the outside world.
But I'm not herding goats, I am on a big journey and I am lucky. Im not lonely though. Between the internet, email and any number of people around me I've always had some form of company. Today is the quietest for a while though but its not a problem as I've quite enjoyed the peace to read books. Over the last few days vie spoken to Turks, Malaysians, Canadians, English, a fair few Dutch as well as Portuguese and Brazilians. I couldn't help but have a chuckle to myself while talking to Terry and June and it was all I could do not to think of the tv programme theme tune. Which reminds me about seeing a bizarre American version of Fabio Capello which in turn reminded me of someone else from work. I sometimes do have an overactive imagination. Some of the Dutch guys was talking to were out looking over routes for a big tour in the late summer when they are hoping to do an off road rally with about 60 bikes. Ill be keeping an eye on rallymaniacs.nl for more of that with my horrid interpretation of Dutch through O grade German similarities. Ill understand the photos at least.
Meanwhile I've managed to get a variety of messages across by making faces, speaking German or more normally people speaking English to me. It's such a lazy language for English speakers to fall back on and sometimes I feel ashamed at not being able to communicate better. It is quite funny on occasion falling back onto German as a means of communication though and seems strangely surreal in the middle of Turkey talking to truck drivers while sheltering from thunderstorms.
I have to say that Im not sure what's happening with the road construction here. There's a huge difference between riding along dirt tracks to perfectly smooth, perfectly straight roads. The only thing that drags the surface quality down is the apparent insistence to turn everything into a dull, straight dual carriageway. Great for the trucks Im sure but dull for the bike.
My last thought is about signs again. I struggled (more my fault than anything else) to get to Nemrut last night but in general the Turkish signage is really good. my task for tomorrow is to get some photos of signs showing warnings of cows with sore heavy backs and big udders, warnings of school kids crossing with nice pigtails and bows and also of roadworks where the level of detail is down to the man shovelling with his shirt sleeves rolled up.
I'll be working hard to keep on the road in the meantime.
Location:Karaduc,Turkey
Monday 7 June 2010
Midnight Express
I couldn't come to Istanbul for a few days and not make a posting. For folks who know me from work theres a bad man there who provided me a bad Santa Christmas present of the movie Midnight Express and a tub of Vaseline in preparation for my trip here. Lovely people I worked with...
I'm pleased to announce that I'm not only not in prison but I've also not spoken to any police in Turkey at all. It turns out though that the now infamous Sultanhamet prison is just around the corner from my hotel and although I've not been in it there's been a huge refurbishment and its now a Four Seasons hotel.
Since my last posting I've made it out of Bulgaria down through some very unassuming roads to a fairly small border with Turkey. The ride along the motorway from there was pretty easy and then I descended upon Istanbul where I managed to get involved in what seems to be my standard two hours navigating a foreign city. It's a quick readjustment to driving styles here with a lot happening and a load of demands on your attention. I gave up on indicating because it's just a distraction and I just try to move predictably and smoothly. To be honest I've seen similar driving elsewhere in the world, I'm not spooked and got into it quite quickly.
Meanwhile, Ive not said much about the bike yet and I'm aware of that. I have to say that the main reason for this is that so far the roads have been in the main pretty good and the bike has just taken everything I can throw at it. Long may it last. Currently it's in at Borusan Oto for an early service before the off tomorrow and I'll see what it's like to ride knobblies on the road as the Metzeler Karoo's are fitted.
By the time I made it to the hotel I'd been bitten. There's something about Istanbul that struck me straight away. An earlier posting noted that I quite like cities with a little of a rough edge and there's a good few here. There's also an energy, some amazing history, fantastic architecture and the location by the Bosphorus is spectacular, both on and off the water. I'm also partial to a kebab so all the grilled meat is just fine.
In the city I've visited the Hagia Sophia, Cistern, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, had a fantastic experience (without Vaseline) at the Cemberlitas Hamam, been on the city bus tour, a Bosphorus cruise as well as eating and drinking to my hearts content. Another treat of mines is to have an open blade shave so I've managed a haircut and cut throat too (not literally).
Unfortunately the wet and dull weather that's largely followed me from Budapest has caught up with me here now. If you have a look at the flickr photos you'll see some clouds on the way although it's not been all bad.
Before I Ieft Aberdeen Alamo put me in touch with a guy called Hasan who he met on a California Superbike School session previously. On Friday I met up with Hasan, his friend Murathan and their lovely wives in the Balickci Sabahattin close to where I'm staying. Although turning up an hour early due to some brainstorm in setting my watch an hour fast I had a great night, very tasty food, a few glasses of raki and a load of good ideas about a route through Turkey. Murathan brought out his computer and showed me photos from a fairly recent bike trip he had almost to the Armenian border, they were fascinating and I'm looking forward to getting to post some similar ones on flickr in a week or two.
As a closing note for this post I'll wish Hasan all the best as he tears around the Pyrenees on his current trip. I look forward to hearing how this went.
I'm pleased to announce that I'm not only not in prison but I've also not spoken to any police in Turkey at all. It turns out though that the now infamous Sultanhamet prison is just around the corner from my hotel and although I've not been in it there's been a huge refurbishment and its now a Four Seasons hotel.
Since my last posting I've made it out of Bulgaria down through some very unassuming roads to a fairly small border with Turkey. The ride along the motorway from there was pretty easy and then I descended upon Istanbul where I managed to get involved in what seems to be my standard two hours navigating a foreign city. It's a quick readjustment to driving styles here with a lot happening and a load of demands on your attention. I gave up on indicating because it's just a distraction and I just try to move predictably and smoothly. To be honest I've seen similar driving elsewhere in the world, I'm not spooked and got into it quite quickly.
Meanwhile, Ive not said much about the bike yet and I'm aware of that. I have to say that the main reason for this is that so far the roads have been in the main pretty good and the bike has just taken everything I can throw at it. Long may it last. Currently it's in at Borusan Oto for an early service before the off tomorrow and I'll see what it's like to ride knobblies on the road as the Metzeler Karoo's are fitted.
By the time I made it to the hotel I'd been bitten. There's something about Istanbul that struck me straight away. An earlier posting noted that I quite like cities with a little of a rough edge and there's a good few here. There's also an energy, some amazing history, fantastic architecture and the location by the Bosphorus is spectacular, both on and off the water. I'm also partial to a kebab so all the grilled meat is just fine.
In the city I've visited the Hagia Sophia, Cistern, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, had a fantastic experience (without Vaseline) at the Cemberlitas Hamam, been on the city bus tour, a Bosphorus cruise as well as eating and drinking to my hearts content. Another treat of mines is to have an open blade shave so I've managed a haircut and cut throat too (not literally).
Unfortunately the wet and dull weather that's largely followed me from Budapest has caught up with me here now. If you have a look at the flickr photos you'll see some clouds on the way although it's not been all bad.
Before I Ieft Aberdeen Alamo put me in touch with a guy called Hasan who he met on a California Superbike School session previously. On Friday I met up with Hasan, his friend Murathan and their lovely wives in the Balickci Sabahattin close to where I'm staying. Although turning up an hour early due to some brainstorm in setting my watch an hour fast I had a great night, very tasty food, a few glasses of raki and a load of good ideas about a route through Turkey. Murathan brought out his computer and showed me photos from a fairly recent bike trip he had almost to the Armenian border, they were fascinating and I'm looking forward to getting to post some similar ones on flickr in a week or two.
As a closing note for this post I'll wish Hasan all the best as he tears around the Pyrenees on his current trip. I look forward to hearing how this went.
Wednesday 2 June 2010
It's a sign
I've had a few observations over the last couple of weeks, I guess increasingly so over the last week as I've moved from the relative familiarity of Austria. A lot of it's came from seeing signs and stickers and others from just thinking as I go. Ill note a few of them underneath;
In Austria there was a poster on the sign of a council gardening truck with a lovely wee picture of a dog and beside it was the phrase geld scheisser. Seems like a stark warning for you to pick up your dogs leftovers (geld means money and I'll let you guess what the other word means). Also close to the park was a sticker on a car noting "Glock - the safe pistol", so I'll get this right at some point but I'm not convinced that guns are necessarily all that safe.
There's a consistent sign across all of Europe so far with a blue square, inside a white triangle and a pedestrian crossing. Again in Austria there's a version of it which looks horribly like Michael Jackson dragging a child, bizarre. In Hungary there's three different versions of it, without Michael, and as you go there seems to be different versions of similar signs with varying levels of detail showing different shorts, hairdoos, hats, shapes of cows horns and so on. There's a refreshing uniformity about the UKs road signage and sign placing.
That's not the only thing that changes as you go. Although I've experienced what seems to be variations on different types of European landscape as I've taken these short steps there are others, from the remarkably good road surfaces in Romania to the markedly worse ones in Bulgaria, to Germany where it seems almost impossible to get yourself more than five miles away from a motorway.
Within cities the theme continues, Switzerland and Austria are almost too picture postcard perfect while France has a rustic charm and what I experienced of Romania was really just quite run down concrete blocks. Meanwhile Bulgaria (what I've experienced so far) is a little rough and ready, with it's own share of concrete, but has a sense of realism about it that I quite like. Oh and then the new money and amazing holiday developments popping up along the Black Sea coast.
On the topic of the Soviets, I never paid attention to it while working in Baku a few years ago but it's something I've picked up on in the last week. It's easy to think that the concrete blocks are nasty and faceless but they are often not simply square blocks, there's a variety of shapes and forms which is often repeated town to town but the variety in any given street is there. They were often also built so that every apartment had a balcony so each one had it's own little bit of outside space but what has struck me the most is the grand avenues created, so many wide open streets, leading onto other grand wide streets creating a sense of airiness. It's just a shame that so many of them have been left to rot like so many derelict factories on the outskirts of town
There's more to see as well, tomorrow brings Istanbul into my sights. Looking forward to a few days there, to having one foot in Europe and the other in Asia. I get the feeling I'll have my senses assaulted there and looking forward to taking it all in.
One final point for this posting is how easy travel is nowadays. I've never (so far) had it hard. I've driven from the UK to Bulgaria, been stopped on the way into Romania to have my passport checked, and on the way out to have the passport and bikes V5 checked. There's been absolutely nobody else at any other point to pay attention to me and I have not one single extra stamp in the passport. Makes for very easy travel but seems strange to cover so much ground so anonymously and the Euro up to Romania just helps that strange feeling too.
In Austria there was a poster on the sign of a council gardening truck with a lovely wee picture of a dog and beside it was the phrase geld scheisser. Seems like a stark warning for you to pick up your dogs leftovers (geld means money and I'll let you guess what the other word means). Also close to the park was a sticker on a car noting "Glock - the safe pistol", so I'll get this right at some point but I'm not convinced that guns are necessarily all that safe.
There's a consistent sign across all of Europe so far with a blue square, inside a white triangle and a pedestrian crossing. Again in Austria there's a version of it which looks horribly like Michael Jackson dragging a child, bizarre. In Hungary there's three different versions of it, without Michael, and as you go there seems to be different versions of similar signs with varying levels of detail showing different shorts, hairdoos, hats, shapes of cows horns and so on. There's a refreshing uniformity about the UKs road signage and sign placing.
That's not the only thing that changes as you go. Although I've experienced what seems to be variations on different types of European landscape as I've taken these short steps there are others, from the remarkably good road surfaces in Romania to the markedly worse ones in Bulgaria, to Germany where it seems almost impossible to get yourself more than five miles away from a motorway.
Within cities the theme continues, Switzerland and Austria are almost too picture postcard perfect while France has a rustic charm and what I experienced of Romania was really just quite run down concrete blocks. Meanwhile Bulgaria (what I've experienced so far) is a little rough and ready, with it's own share of concrete, but has a sense of realism about it that I quite like. Oh and then the new money and amazing holiday developments popping up along the Black Sea coast.
On the topic of the Soviets, I never paid attention to it while working in Baku a few years ago but it's something I've picked up on in the last week. It's easy to think that the concrete blocks are nasty and faceless but they are often not simply square blocks, there's a variety of shapes and forms which is often repeated town to town but the variety in any given street is there. They were often also built so that every apartment had a balcony so each one had it's own little bit of outside space but what has struck me the most is the grand avenues created, so many wide open streets, leading onto other grand wide streets creating a sense of airiness. It's just a shame that so many of them have been left to rot like so many derelict factories on the outskirts of town
There's more to see as well, tomorrow brings Istanbul into my sights. Looking forward to a few days there, to having one foot in Europe and the other in Asia. I get the feeling I'll have my senses assaulted there and looking forward to taking it all in.
One final point for this posting is how easy travel is nowadays. I've never (so far) had it hard. I've driven from the UK to Bulgaria, been stopped on the way into Romania to have my passport checked, and on the way out to have the passport and bikes V5 checked. There's been absolutely nobody else at any other point to pay attention to me and I have not one single extra stamp in the passport. Makes for very easy travel but seems strange to cover so much ground so anonymously and the Euro up to Romania just helps that strange feeling too.
Location:ул. Оборище,Burgas,Bulgaria
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