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| From Plymouth to Sydney on a Bus - Volume 2
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When local artist Jane Davarian was given an opportunity to join the passengers aboard "Ozbus 4" she jumped at the chance. The prospect of travelling from England to Australia aboard a bus, was an adventure that could simply not be be turned aside. This is her travelogue, written specially for InPlymouth.com, accompanied by her own photographs and sketches. |
Volume 2: Turkish Delight |
After 3 hours at the border we entered Turkey and Eastern culture, the people changed almost immediately, cheerful, prosperous and more welcoming than in Eastern Europe. As we approached Istanbul the domes and minarets beckoned, arriving late in the evening we stopped near the Blue Mosque to soak up the atmosphere and take photographs, we stayed for three nights in a hostel allowing us time to relax and explore this vibrant city. I experienced my first Turkish bath, scrubbed, buffed and polished, I was squeaky clean refreshed with delicious apple tea and ready to take in the sights; the stunning Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya, a boat trip along the Bosphorus the divide between Europe and Asia and the Grand Bazaar, this was enormous, colourful and provided an opportunity to purchase some extra pieces of clothing suitable for Iran; we awkwardly haggled for our goods; a skill that would prove useful in the weeks to come. Spoilt for choice with bars and restaurants, good food, textiles, carpets and whirling Dervishes; all part of the experience, Istanbul lived up to my expectations and I would not hesitate to visit again.
We had an early start out of Istanbul after another delay, the bus was locked in an over night coach park, I couldn’t help wondering why our drivers were not aware of this! The landscape ranged from cultivated fields and dry barren hills as we made our way to Goreme, the weather was now predictable and would get much hotter and drier. We arrived at our camp site which resembled a very dusty car park and made camp; the restaurant was closed so we set about preparing our dinner. Goreme was a strange and fascinating place where ancient cave dwellings carved out of the pinnacle rock formations littered the hilly landscape resembling a fairytale scene; we had a bird’s eye view from the peace and tranquillity of hot air balloons at sunrise the following morning, another first for many of us. I took myself off to enjoy the scenery, explore and do some sketching while others relaxed by the pool.
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The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul
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With our kit now covered in dust we left Goreme and headed for Sivas, detouring to a salt lake we met women and children preparing a meal while the men were out in the fields working, their home was a make shift camp of canvas and plastic sheeting, they had so little but were friendly and very welcoming . Our cooks prepared lunch under the trees while we strolled out onto the dry white surface of the salt lake, we beat a hasty retreat when we learned of the PKK on the other side of the lake in the hills and the possibility we may be fired upon. To add to the tension our eldest traveller was suddenly taken ill and collapsed during lunch and caused some alarm, lunch ended hastily we packed up and headed for Sivas and medical facilities. It was several hours later when we arrived in Sivas our friend was checked over by a doctor and deemed to be fit to continue on the journey.
The bus also required some attention before we could move on and find a place to camp, we were free camping for two nights, and I think that meant arrangements had not been made for us! Finding somewhere to pitch our tents proved to be a challenge, we were offered a space at the rear of a petrol station, but the fumes were overpowering and as the area was frequented by drunks and individuals of a dubious nature, we insisted on finding somewhere more suitable. We continued on for some time until we found a camp site here we were greeted less than favourably by the men and asked to move on, it was a Muslim site and we were not welcome. It was quite late when we found a restaurant beside a lake with a large car park and a grassy area, I think they took pity on us and allowed us to pitch our tents for the night and left toilet facilities unlocked for our use throughout the night.
In the morning we woke to the sound of bird song and frogs on the lake, the second toe nail incident occurred here, which meant another hospital visit and another removal procedure when we found medical facilities. The first sickness had struck Ozbus in Turkey and was spreading on board at an alarming rate, the hygiene on the bus was blamed for the sickness and we were detailed to remove all our kit at the end of each day, the bus was swept and disinfected every day by the cleaning team as dictated by one of the Ozbus crew. Disinfecting the bus did nothing to prevent sickness spreading, we really needed some infection control measures and high standards of personal hygiene, isolating the sick to one area of the bus may have helped to slow the spread but there were no contingency plans if you got sick it was unlucky! I was surprised at the number of people who were still passing nibbles around the bus for everyone to dip their hands into and aid the spread of infection, I suggested this was not a good idea, I didn’t indulge in taking food in this manner and fortunately I avoided the sickness that was going around.
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Turkey
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As we moved further eastwards we passed through some amazing scenery, vast plains, lakes and rivers, in the distance we could see mountains streaked with snow. A military presence was more in evidence as we drew closer to the Iranian border, we saw armed soldiers and armoured vehicles with weaponry guarding various instillations of importance and large military camps, we were stopped at one point by the military and they checked all our passports. We arrived at Erzurum where we should have been free camping again but after the previous experience we were offered a trade off; if we bought our own dinner we could stay in a hotel for the night, what an easy decision to make! We found a lovely traditional restaurant, the service was great, we didn’t have a clue what we were ordering but we were happy, and as we left our hands were sprinkled with cologne by our waiter.
We were now heading for Doğubayazit and our last overnight stop before Iran, on the way there we stopped to pick up bus supplies in Ağri and had a little time to look around and stock up on personal shopping for the road. We drew quite a crowd when we stopped here this would become routine as we passed through Asia, I suppose we were a fairly unusual sight in so many small towns and out of the way places that we were fortunate enough to visit. We left the town and found somewhere to stop and make lunch, naan bread, cheese and salad followed by melon; delicious, the simple meals always worked best as the equipment on the bus was just not up to catering for 40 people.
As we headed for Doğubayazit we took another detour to some hot springs, the sulphur was pungent and the water boiling as it bubbled to the surface, a few people went to bath in the segregated baths, while the rest of us wandered or drank tea, I took a photograph of a beautiful young woman after requesting her permission, she appeared so young and I wondered if the children she was with were hers. I caught glimpses of other women as we walked around they appeared to be ushered into hiding by the men as we got near. We left the hot springs minus a pair of flip flops that could not be retrieved from the depths of the hot mud, but we did rescue the wearer whose feet were not too badly burnt!
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Mount Ararat
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Mount Ararat soon came into view causing great excitement on the bus and another photo stop, a stunning sight as Mount Ararat was so prominent in the landscape. We arrived in Doğubayazit spending a short time in the town before making our way up a very steep road to the camp site where some of us decided upgrading to a room would be a very good idea, that evening brought traditional Turkish dancing by some local men, it was not long before Ozbusers joined in so our final night in Turkey was a lively one.
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