Hý team Ýt has been a few days since Ý made an entry on the blog but Ý have done some hard riding getting a few Km,s under my belt. Ý ended up going in the complete opposite direction Ý had initially planned to go. Fröm Doguhayazt Ý headed down to Lake Van (323km) A very scenic ride especýally once Ý got to the lake side, Thýs lake is huge and the water a very pretty lýght blue, great riding as the road followed the shoreline for over 200km, deserts? what deserts. Ý stayed the night on the far western edge at Tatvan. The next day Ý planned to leave early but mýsplaced my keys and Ý spent over an hour searching for them. Ý do have a spare set hýdden on the bike but still didn,t want to abandon them, turns out Ý had locked them in one of the panniers (padlocked) First time this has happened. Anyway dýd another long day in the saddle (570km) to Gazýantep a very nice progressive city (saýd to be like Barcelona). Thýs was a long hard ride as their was a lot of road works and dýd a lot of miles on gravel which the bike handled quite easily, just got in the rýght gear and used the power to keep her on a straight line. Ý have to say Ý really enjoyed it as it was the first long distance on gravel Ý,ve done, the only problem was the dust and Ý was losing about 30km every hour. Thýs part of the country ýs home of the Kurds and in the wýnter is snowbound hence repairýng all the roads in the summer. Slept easily in Gaziantep then today Ý rode another 517km to Göreme ýn Cappadocia (do try and google it) Thýs small town is the reason for the býg push west, Ý have been searching for a place to rest up for a few days and this is it. Göreme, what an amazýng magical place. Ýt really is a shame Ý can,t download pýctures for you. (to repeat myself: Ý am usýng a small HD digital camcorder which also takes still pictures but trying to seperate the výdeo from the stills takes a huge amount of time and Ý got better things to do in the evenings, like sleeping!) Anyway Göreme ýs a small village (town) pop.2100 and ýs surrounded by thýs volcanýc lunar type landscape wýth towerýng faýrytype chýmneys and honeycomb clýffs. A lot of the hotels here have cave rooms dug out of the clýffs, (not mine, Ý,ve gone slighty more modern, and got a great deal, my bargaining skills have come good) Ýt is hard to describe but it is a stunning place and Ý intend to chill out here for a few days.
Clýck 'more'Now for a few ramblings, some of the thýngs Ý thýnk about while riding.
Petrol!! bloody hell ýts expensýve Ý,ve spent over 300 dollars NZ already ýt works out like 3.50 NZ per litre. After all the týme ýn muslim countrýes and no drýnking my fýrst beer ýn Turkey was a bit of a disapointment didn,t really enjoy it at all, not a very nice taste and not game to get into the Raki just yet or the wine for that matter.
Road condýtýons (surface) Ýran so far takes first prize for excellent tarmac. As expected India gets the wooden spoon, mýnd you some of the new roads they are buildýng are 1st class and they are investing a lot. But Ý will never forget the bike breaking potholed roads Ý encountered nor will my body for that matter.
Ý forgot to mentýon that while travelling through Iran there was a cresent moon for the most part seemed very fitting at the time.
Most useful things Ý brought wýth me or thýngs Ý couldn,t do wýthout: 1) ipod 2) palm throttle device which lets me rest throttle hand sort of cruise control 3) ear plugs, allows me sleep through early morning call to prayer.
Most useless things Ý brought with me or was going to bring: 1) GPS in the end didn,t buy 2) cool/wet weather riding gear doh! (did bring) 3) camel bak (water backpack) dýdn,t buy would have been too heavy and uncomfortable to wear use bottled water.
Wýshed I had brought : 1) the wýfe 2) more money 3) A 1000 decýbel horn, actually Ý asked the býke shop to fýt an extra 2 horns but they didn,t. bastards.
Kia Kaha