Skip to main content

Into the rising sun

By

At Goreme we are awakened by a intermittent roaring sound. We instantly know what is. Yes, it is a balloon going right past our hotel. We can hear the "driver" talking to the passengers. By coincidence the hotel owns the ballon Company! 

 

We then hit the road as early as possible to head East to Malatya. 430 km of dual carriage highway with hardly a car in sight. It was all so easy. We later find out that today is a National holiday ! 

 


We stop for a break. A young Turkish man sees our bike and come to talk to us. He is from Maltya and is an environmental engineer. He want to travel and looks at our bike longingly. He is going to work on the Ivory Coast.  He was a delightful young man - the face of modern Turkey I think 


 

The countryside gets drier ( and hotter ) 

 

Then suddenly we are in Malatya  - the apricot capital of Turkey. And by the prosperous look of the town there must  be money in Turkish Apricots. Note to Hubbard Foods - negotiate harder on the price for Turkish Apricots!  There must be margin to spare. 

At our Malatya hotel we are near the flight path of a big Air Force base. We hear planes coming and going during the night. Delivering love letters to Syria?  Then suspicions are raised further in the morning when I talk to an Anerican staying at the hotel. " What do you do here?" I innocently asked ( as you do)." I not allowed to tell you but that means you can work it out for yourself " he cryptically replied. Clearly as I see it he was an American advisor or liaison person  at the airforce base next door. 

Then it is another longish day as we head to Erzurum getting closer to the Georgian border. Again lots of duel carriageway and hardly any traffic. We cross an 8,000 ft mountain pass and the temperature drops in a welcome fashion. 

.  They do seem to load the trucks rather precariously and I hope a sack is not going to fall off as I pass them. I think the sacks must be chaff - there is no way the truck could carry that number of heavy bags 

 
 
There was a lot of road surface  upgrades going on 

 



We stop for a midday break. The young men serving us proudly tell us they are Kurds. Not Turkish thank you but Kurdish! They are very pleasant with their limited English. Unlike many Americans we have met everyone on Turkey seems to know where New Zealand is. That is probably better than Donald Trump! Note to self - must find out more about matters Kurdish. I wonder if they have something in common with the Palestiniams - statelessness! 

We also note more military look out points  and more police road checks. However we always get waved thru the checks and have never been stopped 

Woops - something does not feel right with the back of the bike. Aha- I have got it - Diana is missing! 


 

We thus arrive at the ski town of Erzurum ( what a lovely sounding name !) We pass a ginormous ski jump being built on the edge of town. We stay at a ski lodge right at the start of the ski slopes with a nice view over Erzurum ( I even like typing the word !) Soewhere I read that Erzurum is considered to be in the top 10 ski fields in the world. I even go to bed with Erzurun,  Erzurum in my head ! 

 

Tomorrow - we get close to the Georgia border. I start humming a tune. I've got it - it is "Georgia on my mind" !  Wrong Georgia me thinks but it does not matter. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The last post!

By
How do you summarise a motorbike trip around the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles?. With difficulty!   Well we are not into record setting. But we believe we are the oldest couple in the world to ride a motorbike “ two up” ie with pillion passenger, right round the world on one season  Let’s start  off with the statistics for the little trip  -                                                                    Total mileage.        34,416 km *                                                        No of days travelling        165                           ...
2 comments
Read more

Chapters 1 and 2

By
WHY MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES ? I have always been interested in adventure. Over the years I have climbed mountains, parachuted, had my private pilots licence, dived, sailed and done various adventurous pursuits (with various degrees of success I might add!). Motorcycling has been one of the later activities. Why motorcycles?  Firstly it is all a bit easier on the body as one gets a little bit older. This is of course on the assumption that one does not inadvertently part company suddenly with said machine!  Secondly, it does also require a bit of brain power - intellect you might say if that does not sound snobby. There is also, to me, an element of "man and machine" about motorcycling. Then if that is not enough justification in itself there is  the scenery and the absorption into the landscape you are passing through. On a bike you see much much more than in a car, bus or train. You are aware of nuances in the landscape, you smell the smells and you become more than ...
3 comments
Read more

And a volcano stopped us!

By
What a day. First thing this morning it was off to check the rear tyre of the bike. Oh the relief !  The tyre was rock solid and the same pressure as after fixing yesterday.  So it is a pack up and first day on the road today. We get on the way with a just a little bit of nervous excitement.  On to the  Japanese motorway system we go. And what a delight. The traffic is orderly, calm not going to fast and not too thick. We track right in towards Tokyo itself before bearing West. Yes, there were lots of spaghetti junctions - It looks like The Los Angeles motorway system but it is so much easier (and slower). Japanese politeness really shows thru’. However there were lots of toll booths - we had chopped thru  about NZ$50 in the first hour and a half  Then we are on to the slow bit and off the motorways.  It was about a four hour stop and start crawl thru the urban sprawl of greater Tokyo. However I did find time for some serious reflection - I also saw a...
3 comments
Read more