HI Everyone
So one moment I was sleeping in bus stations and the next I was being entertained in Tehran with a whole 3 bed appartment to myself - I mean 3 toilets should be enough for any self respecting traveller. This was all courtesy of an Iranian family I met in the desert and very kind of them it was as well (it is normally rented out but it was between rentals). And there was a swimming pool, saune, jacuzzi and steam room in the basement as well but no-one else used it so I had that to myself as well. So a bit of luxury living - but of course nothing is permanent and so after dodging the traffic for a few days and admiring the anti-american murals on the walls of the old US embassy (now Iranian occupied - remember those hostages) I realised that the days remaining on my Iranian visa were well into single digits and so headed NW towards Turkey.
That was not without incident - how could it be. I had just stopped in a town for a night to see what would have been the most important tomb in Iran ... except that they didnt actually entomb the guy that they were supposed to in it. Not that it was a mistake - the tomb was meant for one of the Immans (Shiite followers of Mohammad) but during construction the guy who financed it converted to Sunni Islam and so the deal was off so he was buried in it himself. It is being restored but in what is one of the largest domes in the world there is currently (probably) the largest collection of indoor scaffolding in the world - so I got to see not-a-lot. It was while I was planning my way out of this town that some guy on a motorbike comes up to me says he is a police officer (not in uniform) and asks to see my passport. I didnt believe him and my passport was held by my hotel reception in any case. So I was on the point of telling him to sod off but first I asked to see his ID - he didnt bother showing me any. Instead - and I thought rather cunningly cos this was not something that I had expected - he just whistles up a few uniformed officers who escorted me, by the arm, rather briskly in to a nearby police station reminding me that Iran is not a free country in any sense of the word. The room was packed with police; the plain clothes guy seemed to be in charge and he was intent on looking through all my stuff - although what he was lookiing for I have no idea. Fortunately the only suspicious thing I was carring was some green tea in a small plastic bag - and it did look suspicious. But clearly he wasnt looking for green tea and after a quick listen to my walkman they let me go and even gave me a tourist leaflet for the surrounding area! I left pretty soon after that.
So after a month in Iran I headed into Turkey. En route I saw Mount Arrarat where Noahs Ark was said to have come to rest yeah yeah yeah. But let me tell you that it is one impressive mountain (actually it is two volcanic peaks (the highest one at just over 5000m)) and all covered in snow. Between the peaks is a beatiful curve which is almost exactly boat shaped - Wow what an incredible coincidence that is.
Now we all know Turkey is a hot country. I wish! Eastern Turkey is not only nowhere near the Med. but it is bloody freezing as well. When the sun was out it was ok and having packed my boots at the bottom of my bag I wasnt gonna get them out again for a walk around town. So there I was in my sandals pretending that it really isnt that cold and walking up the hill to the fort in Kars when it hailed really heavily and everything turned white - including my feet which were so cold I couldnt walk down properly - and I was soaked - great fun; yeah, I love Turkey!
But at least after 2 months of being in no alcohol countries (in Iran it is illegal (though I was given alcohol a couple of times) and in Pakistan you need to get a licence to buy the stuff) they serve stuff called beer here. But it is cold and my feet are already freezing, so attractive it is not. About as attractive as most of the Eastern Bloc style blocks of flats which themselves are indistinguishable from the clouds on a very grey, damp and drab day. You get the picture - I'm not staying here long; in fact I was just about to leave when a local guy shouted through the freezing wind 'You know this is the coldest city in Turkey'. Yeah, thanks.
So after visiting the few interesting sites in Eastern Turkey which werent closed due to the weather or lack of tourists, I headed west to Cappadocia in the desert of central Turkey where the temperature swing between summer and winter in about 70 C (-30 to +40) so the people sleep in caves, fairy chimneys (cones formed by erosion of soft volcanic ash around a hard stone causing a cone with the hard stone on top protecting it) and in deep underground cities (the one I visited went down 8 floors). It was hot during the day and at night I slept in a cave where the temperature was a pretty constant 'not too cold'. From there to the even warmer places of Pamukkale (white terraces formed by hot water depositing calcium over thousands of years). The Romans built a big city at the top of the terraces and used them responsibly for thousands of years. The Turks exploited them during the 1970s and 1980s and virtually ruined them - the Turkish mentality is not quite up to that of the Romans. Then to Selchuk and Ephesus - more fantastic Roman ampitheatres, libraries etc etc. And the Temple of Artemis/Diane which was one of the 7 Wonders of the World - these days there is just one column left of this wonder and unfortunately it is made much more interesting every time the stork which nests at the top of it returns. Ancient Wonders just arent what they used to be! Maybe that is the point.
And then Istanbul. A city split into 3 parts (by water) which spreads into 2 continents and once the centre of a huge empire. It isnt as bad as I though it might be - the centre is neat clean and touristy (and most of the rest I havent seen). It has marvelous mosques, old churches which were converted into mosques until they realised that they could make more money by calling them museums and charging people to go in. Anything that is not over 500 years old is 'new'. Nothing is ordinary and the dome of Aya Sofya makes St Pauls in London look pedestrian and the work of a conservative architect, despite St Pauls being built over 1,000 years after. There is plenty of magic here - not a place to ignore. And they do do great kebabs!
Unfortunately not everything runs smoothly as it did in Roman times and more than once I have felt that the Turks really are not responsible enough to run their own country. I expect disorganisation as standard in places like India but Turkey is relatively rich with high prices and loads of infrastructure including the cleanest buses I have ever seen - but they cannot organise a queue to save their lives unless they personally are making money out of it - I am only glad I am not here in high season.
So after suffering the shock of arriving in Turkey to find prices 3 to 5 times what they have been for the first 6 months of my trip, and having now adjusted, I am heading to Eastern Europe in a bid to get back to London via Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary ... etc.
So changing the subject slightly ... long time addressees will remember travel teds Tiny Ted and Short Giraffe who have kept me company for these travels. I will leave them to explain in an excert from their own travel diary:
'On the way to Turkey we saw Nose Peaks which are two peaks shaped like ted bears' noses. A long time ago it was such a popular picnic place for teds to go that they built an ark there which was a wooden building teds could sleep in at night. Then one day it suddenly started to rain really heavily when everyone was picnicing and all the teds had to rush inside - but there was a design fault in the ark, they had made the doors too small, so they could only get in two by two and some teds got very wet. It was fixed by next morning but it became known as the rains of the Faulty Day and Faulty Night. Next day the sun came out and they celebrated with a huge picnic of biblical proportions and they dove into a small pool that had formed, swung from branches and ate olives. It was very famous and the teds wrote about it, but a sliver of marmalade got stuck to the paper and it came out as 'great flood' instead of 'great food' and many people got all confused. And that's the real story of Nose Ark.'
In fact Turkey is Tiny Teds 49th country he has been to and we are going to have a special picnic when we get to the next country cos it will be his 50th! - and he is not even 5 years old yet. We think it will be Bulgaria which is good cos we have a Great Uncle called Bulgaria (who now lives in Wimbledon).'
Me again - So I have at least made it back to Europe and might make it back to England in about a month ...
Love
Ankur/Pete
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