I've whirled my dervish and I've donated my Kebab.
Turkey has been a blast and I should probably never leave.

The border crossing at Bazargan, from Iran into Turkey, was straight forward, although I did get a little nervous at one point when we were stopped by a member of the authorities who appeared reticent to allow us through. “STOP! What country you from? Where you going? hm. You like Iran?”. When Torb answered “yes” we were allowed through but the man's tone made me think that if we had answered no we would have been in big trouble. “You not like? You not go. You stay until you like!”

No-mans land at this border is a long and tiresome walk up a big hill before arriving at the Turkish immigration post. Though we did get back a bit of that old feeling of crazily riding between trucks like we loved to in India. Though this time on foot :(

A half hour dolmush (minibus) ride took us passed the twin peaks of Mt Ararat

and into Dogubayazit where I quickly developed a stupid grin on my face from enjoyment of the new country. Women with hair (as opposed to cloth in Iran), children playing on the streets, hotels with signs that said “hotel”, internet cafes on every corner, supermarkets, variety in food (as opposed to just kebab), and icecream that doesn't melt. Believe it.

With no Lonely Planet for Turkey we quickly realised how much we rely on it – for finding the part of town where hotels are, for reading about which sites to visit (cheaper than asking a tour agency), for basic language tips. But what's important here is that I bet Torb 50000 Rial that it would not be available at the first town we arrived at in Turkey, and he disagreed. Hello 50000 Rial!

From Dogubayazit we bussed 5 hours through delicious countryside to Erzurum which is a reasonable sized city scenically parked on the side of a hill with views up to the snowfields and down to a fertile valley. To me it had quite a Russian feel (though I've never been to Russia) and I really liked the atmosphere. Here we had planned to hire a car for our time in Turkey (as I didn't think I could handle making a big loss on buying and selling a motorbike again for just 10 days in the country. Sorry Horizons Unlimited – does this make me a bit of a rogue blogger now?) but seeing that petrol was at or above 3 lira a litre (AUD$2.30), I didn't think the budget could handle that either. So Torb bought himself a motorbike and I jumped a night train to Kayseri (11pm, 15 hours, 30 lira) in Cappadocea. Night trains are great! Especially because I had the whole four berth cabin to myself!

From Kayseri buses regularly run the 1.5 hours to Goreme for 10 lira. Goreme is a touristy little town set amongst crazy rock pillars that have been dug out as homes and hotels and it was perfect for me!

I had been feeling like I just wanted to be able to communicate easily. I wanted to be somewhere where I could speak English freely, walk into a shop and ask for water and be understood, maybe even make a very witty joke and have someone laugh at it because they could understand the words that were coming out of my mouth – that kind of thing :) “Well why don't you go back to your own country then Cameron?” good point perhaps.. but not yet, it's beautiful here.

So when I walked into Flinstones Cave hotel and took a dorm room with free internet, breakfast and swimming pool for 15 lira I was very content.

I am the kind of traveler who will typically arrive somewhere nice and say “oh, it's so great, I could stay at least three days here!' but by the next afternoon I am ready to leave. Goreme was different – I had planned to stay two days and ended up staying five, which could have easily stretched out even more.

Each day I would say to myself “Tomorrow I will go and see the sites. Really I will”. But then I would end up sitting by the pool.

After moving every day for the previous two weeks, with three nights on trains (though I love them) in the last week, it was time to relax. And I was ably assisted in relaxing by two funny funny Brits, Rosie and Selina. We did the occasional stroll down to the town for food

hitchhiked out to the fair chimneys

and bused to the underground city of Kaymakli (well worth the visit and the 15 lira entry fee)

where we acted out ancient scenes to the amusement of those passing by

But the day always began with a lazy relax around Flinstones.

Leaving Goreme it was a choice between continuing by myself towards the coast, or sticking with Rosie and Selina for an overnight bus to Istanbul. And with funny memories like this in the making, the decision made itself.

We bought sleeping pills for the bus and rued the fact that the instructions were in Turkish. I really wanted to be one of those success stories: “oh I'd never taken sleeping pills before, but I took one on my 15 hour flight from A to B and it completely knocked me out. The flight stewards had to physically carry me off the flight because they couldn't wake me”. Oh how I wish that was me. Instead, I took two and felt tired. Took a third and felt very tired but unfortunately did not slip into a coma. But I guess the upside of this was that I was awake as the bus crossed the Bosphorous, taking me into Europe for the first time.

I've spent more than a week in Istanbul by now and have done very little. The city is almost dauntingly large and despite having a good public transport system I have not felt the desire to venture beyond Taksim, Beyoglu and Sultanahmet. My first hostel was World House Hostel at 12 euro a night for a 14 bed dorm (thankfully upgraded to an 8 bed dorm because the 14 was full) and I was seriously missing $5 hotel rooms in Nepal :( But it was well located in a quiet part of a busy street, with a view out the window of the Galata tower.

Nearby Istiklal Caddessi (main street from Taksim square) is a pulsating throng of people and sounds no matter what time of day or night, and the entire surrounding area is full of lively cafes, pubs, nargili (water pipe) bars, restaurants, et. al.

A cute little tram runs down the centre of the street and in the evenings it pulls a stage cart behind, blasting out brassy upbeat numbers that add to the party atmosphere of the district.

Ah, that's about it for Istanbul for me. Iran gave me enough blue mosques to last a lifetime, so when I stood between the Blue Mosque and the Hello Sophia and had to ask which was the blue mosque (because it didn't look to blue to me) I wasn't too impressed. But machines in the street from which you can take a photo and email it to friends, and free wi-fi in the park – that was impressive :)

After four and a half months the time has come to farewell Torb who has spent his fortune on fine carpets and must go home to work them off. He's been a great companion, someone to talk and laugh with, and we will share many memories of crazy adventures until the next time. Already I miss our regular near-death experiences on the Enfields in India and one day I'll convince him to go back for another crack (even though I was SO ready to leave when we did!!) and to just lash out on a stupid carnet (I think he's been won over on this one already). Here's one of my favourites

Sad to part with a great travel buddy, but I have booked a flight down to Johannesburg where I will jump a bus to Harare for a month-ish with my Zimbabwe-born Australian friend, Richie, and his family.

So for now, sleep well Turkey.