Managed to sleep last night by just pitching the inner part of the tent and lying on rollmat with no sleeping bag! Not very shady this morning though, so I’ve woken up very early. James must have moved to the car while I was asleep. It’s already very warm, and not even 8am!
Waiting at the Turkish border now after a nice drive South up hilly passes, very green which is surprising for such hot weather. The road is pretty pot-holed and patchy, but very quiet too, we followed someone towing one of those soviet trucks for a while up the hill, but managed to overtake on the way down as it was just freewheeling.
Bulgarians at the exit customs seemed very friendly and thought it was very funny that we are driving to Mongolia “In this car!?” I’ve also just realized that the funny noise I heard on the road up to the border must have been our hubcap falling off. We’re down to two now!
Just stopped at a carpark off the motorway in Turkey for water and toilet and WOW! Turkey is amazing, it’s so different looking to everything I’m used to, looks like a giant almost-desert with a huge brand new motorway cutting right through the middle. It’s also VERY HOT! IF we stop and leave the car for even a minute, all the plastic (steering wheel, gear stick, etc) and anything on the dashboard is quickly too hot to touch. Despite the heat, I like it here. The border was quite quick and painless, not quite sure whether we’re supposed to have an insurance green card or not, but we’re in now, and don’t plan on crashing. We hope all the borders sell ice creams!
OH MY GOD! Istanbul is insane! First off, it’s HUGE, the city pretty much started when the signs still said it was 28km away! The biggest city I’ve ever seen by far! London might be close, but it’s so flat you can’t really tell. We drove around for a while too, which was absolutely crazy, you can’t go 10 seconds without hearing a car horn. People cross the road at the craziest times and it’s just so busy! We were looking for somewhere to park and not having much luck when James spotted a Holiday Inn with parking outside so we turned it. Oh my, it’s got five stars! We can never afford it (well, we could but don’t want to waste money, we only need a shower and some A/C) Anyway, we spoke to a doorman who was very helpful and suggested the place next door and sent us round with his friend “to help with price” So we went, and his friend spoke some Turkish then they asked us what we wanted (1 room, 1 night, 2 beds) The Room Rates board said 165Lira and we got it for 80. Now we’re just having some Turkish Tea (it comes in a small glass and is much nicer than English tea) and waiting for the key.
Got into the room no problem, the A/C works, just had my first shower in over a week (lovely!). There’s free wi-fi too, so I’m just going to check e-mails and things then head out for some food!
After a bit of a walk around the area, we found a nice place to have some kind of kebab, I can’t remember what it was called, James will know (it was doner meat, sauce and rice) which was lovely and pretty cheap too! Great night, lovely city. Bed time, Ahhh, Air Conditioning!!!
Photos from the day.
Waiting at the Turkish border now after a nice drive South up hilly passes, very green which is surprising for such hot weather. The road is pretty pot-holed and patchy, but very quiet too, we followed someone towing one of those soviet trucks for a while up the hill, but managed to overtake on the way down as it was just freewheeling.
Bulgarians at the exit customs seemed very friendly and thought it was very funny that we are driving to Mongolia “In this car!?” I’ve also just realized that the funny noise I heard on the road up to the border must have been our hubcap falling off. We’re down to two now!
Just stopped at a carpark off the motorway in Turkey for water and toilet and WOW! Turkey is amazing, it’s so different looking to everything I’m used to, looks like a giant almost-desert with a huge brand new motorway cutting right through the middle. It’s also VERY HOT! IF we stop and leave the car for even a minute, all the plastic (steering wheel, gear stick, etc) and anything on the dashboard is quickly too hot to touch. Despite the heat, I like it here. The border was quite quick and painless, not quite sure whether we’re supposed to have an insurance green card or not, but we’re in now, and don’t plan on crashing. We hope all the borders sell ice creams!
OH MY GOD! Istanbul is insane! First off, it’s HUGE, the city pretty much started when the signs still said it was 28km away! The biggest city I’ve ever seen by far! London might be close, but it’s so flat you can’t really tell. We drove around for a while too, which was absolutely crazy, you can’t go 10 seconds without hearing a car horn. People cross the road at the craziest times and it’s just so busy! We were looking for somewhere to park and not having much luck when James spotted a Holiday Inn with parking outside so we turned it. Oh my, it’s got five stars! We can never afford it (well, we could but don’t want to waste money, we only need a shower and some A/C) Anyway, we spoke to a doorman who was very helpful and suggested the place next door and sent us round with his friend “to help with price” So we went, and his friend spoke some Turkish then they asked us what we wanted (1 room, 1 night, 2 beds) The Room Rates board said 165Lira and we got it for 80. Now we’re just having some Turkish Tea (it comes in a small glass and is much nicer than English tea) and waiting for the key.
Got into the room no problem, the A/C works, just had my first shower in over a week (lovely!). There’s free wi-fi too, so I’m just going to check e-mails and things then head out for some food!
After a bit of a walk around the area, we found a nice place to have some kind of kebab, I can’t remember what it was called, James will know (it was doner meat, sauce and rice) which was lovely and pretty cheap too! Great night, lovely city. Bed time, Ahhh, Air Conditioning!!!
Photos from the day.
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