Oct 2007

With visions of curries dancing through our heads, we jumped on a bus from Balikesir to Istanbul to get an Indian visa. In Balikesir we had carefully arranged with many grunts and pencil sketchings to leave our precious bikes stuffed in a closet at a hotel.

We had also looked up information about all documents needed to collect before applying for this most elusive visa. Documents from three different embassies were nessicary. Yes, it looked like an impossible task. We braced ourselves as we traveled by tram around Istanbul searching for the Belgian and American embassy. Any moment we expected the dreaded,"I´m sorry sir, we only issue this document on the third Thursday of the second month of the lunar calendar from 2pm until 2:05pm" or some other typical embassy scheduling. However, by noon of our first day, after five hours of inter-city travel, we had managed to get the two letters from our home governments inviting the honourable Indian embassy to give us a visa. We went out for lunch to celebrate this near impossible achievement. One embassy to go and we were set!

Soon we arrived at a crappy little apartment labeled "Indian embassy" with an obnoxious little man standing outside the door telling us that the office was only open for visas in another five days. After a lot of discussion, we were allowed to go upstairs, only to learn from an important looking man that the Indian embassy probably wouldn't accept the paperwork form the american embassy. One of the sentences was incorrect and it would be impossible to let Amy into their country. After lookıng at the paperwork we realized that the American embassy had written in nice diplomatic language, "Dear Indian embassy, you requested a stupid paper, screw you". We discussed and discussed and the man thought and thought and squished up his face a lot and then thought some more, disappearing every once in a while to talk with some other important guy. Soon the answer came back. They just could not accept the incorrect american paper, and the american embassy won't provide the correct one.

At this Wim began to dramatically exclaim that India was CLOOOOOOSED. Each time that he proclaimed this, along with exagerrated gestures, the important guy´s face contorted in greater and greater agony and we really thought that we were getting somewhere. But in the end India was indeed closed for Amy (the photo above shows all countries that are not possible for Americans to travel in without visa problems). The best advice from the Indian embassy was that we fly to Saudi Arabia and try again there. But since we are not filthy rich and famous, we just made other (and perhaps more exciting!) travel plans.

Endless invitations for tea, brown teeth, ocean views, steep climbs, gorgeous ocean views from high up in the mountains, delicious mediteranian food with interesting new flavours, fantastic arabic music, relaxed socialable people. Turkey is a place that we are glad to slow down and explore!

We didn't know really what to expect from Turkey when we first got here. Honestly, I thought that it was an underdeveloped country, maybe a bit dirty, maybe a bit unsafe. As we road through our first village our presumptions were confirmed as we saw endles rows of grumpy old men outside cafes, just sitting, not drinking, not eating, just sitting. Apparently they couldn't even afford something to sip on to pass the time.

As we past through one little town, we decided to stop and have some tea. As we slowed down, we were suddenly approached by a huge group of men, who were just coming out of the mosque. The Iman came rushing to us, along with all of his curious followers, demanding to know about us and our trip and of course if we were hungry, thirsty, tired, in need of anything. We had just eaten, so we tried to convince them that we were completely self-reliant and independant, no help needed. Well, the Iman was eager to show us his mosque, so we headed in, took off our shoes, and treaded in with our stinky feet over the beatiful rugs, to see our first mosque. It was beautiful inside! Ornate paintings, soft rugs, and lots of light coming in the windows.

As we were leaving, they ask us to follow to a small building on the side of the mosque, and before we knew it, one of the farmers had brought in a feast! A huge tray of fresh salads, filled peppers, cheese, turkish coffee, and yogurt. They all sat there eagerly watching to see if we liked what we were eating. The same people that we saw sitting sadly in the cafes, with not a penny to spend on something to drink were feeding us like kings!

That is when we found out that it was the month of Ramadan. The month where Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours. How silly of us! And how open minded of them to want to treat a bunch of infedels to a juicey turkish feast, when they were probably starving. After finishing our feast, another one of the farmers disappears and came back with some Turkish baklava to end our meal. When all was said and done, they packed up the extras and sent us on our way with many handshakes and smiles. Since our first day, I have to say that we have been really impressed with the great openess, enthusiasm, and acceptance of us as foreigners that we've seen in the Turkish people.

We are now really excited because Ramadan has just ended and we don't have to hide so much when we eat during the day (just out of respect for the really hungry people). Now, we spend a lot of time drinking tea with old guys, and our teeth are also getting that nice golden brown tinge. We are so enthusiastic about it, that we even bought our very own turkish tea making set. Amy learned to count to 100 (Wim is also trying hard, and has mastered 1, 2 and 5). As you can see, we are quickly becoming Turkish.

Apart from the great people, Turkey is a beautiful country. We've been riding so far in zigzags along the coast, in between the vineyards (Turkey has great wine) and olive trees. The steep climbs and dry mountains to one side and ocean on our other side, make for dramatic gorgeous scenery

and great wild camping opportunities! There's nothing like waking up in the morning and having breakfast on a lonely beach as the sun comes up, or having a romantic dinner on a deserted pier.

Over the past few days we've taken some serious time off to relax and enjoy this place. A break from biking for a few days feels great, and we have been enjoying the more well known touristy side of Turkey, with a big resort, yummy buffets, and belly dancers. However, the road is calling and we will soon be happily off again to explore a bit of the mountainous interior.

By the way, thank you to all of you who have left comments. It always boosts our spirits to hear that you're following our progress!

So far, our little chicken legs (Amy stopped hoping Wim will ever get Armstrong-legs) have carried us this far :

We're now in Bulgaria and it's a lot more modern than we expected! It is like Belgium, except that everything is a whole lot cheaper and the roads aren't busy at all.

The highway for us alone!

We just past over our first mountian range, and we're really proud of ourselves, and also quite tired. It has been beautiful along the route with the varied landscape of mountains, valleys, and now a drier hilly landscape as we approach Turkey.

People are still as friendly as they were in Romania, only now we don't have a farmer milking his cow for us, but instead the hotel manager who drove us to town and treated us to dinner.

Our plan now is to spend October in Turkey, working our way down to Izmir. One month is way too much time for this distance, so we are going to slow down, try to stay on a farm somewhere, find some nice little sea-side towns to relax in, and just enjoy being in Turkey. Then we are planning to take a boat to Egypt and spend the month of November biking down the Nile in between camels and pyramids. After that we plan to take a boat to India. But, as you've probably gathered by now, our plans change daily.