Glorified Construction Site

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Geo: 39.9199, 32.8543

So again….lots has happened.

Before leaving Istanbul we did the tourist thing, we had moved up to the Black Sea and stayed in a camp ground called Mystik.. which got 3 Stars because it had lots of kittens and a shady place to rest.

Getting to Istanbul was easy via the Metro bus and underground train…. once we understood the system. On Friday we went to the China embassy only to arrive at 1:15 and they closed at 12:00… bugger, well at least we knew where it was located. So back to camp where we bumped into a young couple from Germany who were doing their first overland trip. Only short, going no further than Turkey this time. Interestingly they had become inspired after ready in a book by another crazy German who we travelled with whilst in Africa… kind of cool.

We also met an Australian couple who had some years earlier purchased a respectable mobile home and had been travelling everywhere. These guys were International Grey Nomads whom had a base in Italy and would basically drive and see the world. When it got cold they would fly to India, kerala in the mountains for some well earned relax in true Indian fashion.

So as I started to say we went to do tourist things Saturday, went to the Grand Bazar, Bastilica Cistern and then Aya Sofia…. Far our man these turks were crazy back in the day… fantastic stuff.. that night we had dinner with Moris and Terresa the Aussie Grey Nomads who cooked a fantastic pasta and we chatted until it was well and truly dark. Like all good Nomads these two were so organised they put us to shame. (Refer Photo of Dinner) Fantastic.

BTW there was an anti China protest in Istanbul, apparently a large group of Turks were not too happy with the treatment dealt out to the minority people in Western China who actually speak Turkish, something about not being able to participate in Ramadan. So a large group of protesters arrived chanting stuff and the police also arrived along with water cannon vehicles and some military looking people. When they started chanting we got spooked and took off, looked like the stuff you see on the news. Fine from the comfort of the coach but not fine in a country we don't speak the language and don't know what is going on… apparently after we left some of the group attacked a group of Koreans who they thought were Chinese. Some tear gas got released and some windows of a restaurant broken no blood spilt.

So Sunday morning, lisa decided to google anyone else's experiences with the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul… and to our horror discovered one post that simply stated it was not at all possible… freak.

So a hurried pack and of we went to Ankara to the actual China embassy. Arrived in Ankara and found a fantastic place to camp, even had a pool… a bit cold but very welcome.

Bumped into a chap who introduced himself as an Italian born living in Switzerland who had an IT job.. His name is Patrick, after a short chat I discovered he was actually doing an overland motorbike trip for 3 years and his bike had suffered a buggered starter motor 500mtrs short of the Georgia Border… Humm.. so he had to get the bike back to Ankara which was the closest town with a Triumph dealer to get parts (only 900kms).. luckly for him a second hand unit could be dispatched from Sweden and it will get here tomorrow (Tuesday) and the bike ready to go Wednesday… poor bugger he had been stuck in this hotel with no one else speaking English, Italian or Swiss or German… until we arrived.

Shared food, stories and beer and it was good. Interestingly Patrick had taken a liking to a Turkish drink called Aayran which is a type of yoghurt drink. It looked like milk and tasted like slightly sour greek yoghurt in a runny fashion…. Lisa noticed the label looked the same as the milk we had purchased earlier that day, so we checked and alas it was the same…. Lucky… that would have been a shock in my morning coffee.

Anyway so we went to the Chinese Embassy and they, with a smile, said if you are not Turkish resident then they cannot help…. WTF…WTF.. so off we go…WTF

Off to the Australian embassy, the Chinese Consular official indicated we would also need a Letter of No Objection from our Embassy. So we go in, do we have an appointment… No….We are Australian with Australian Passport we want to talk to someone… this got the chap at least on the phone… the person on the phone said flatly NO… hang on we are Australians and in need of Embassy support.. okay we got an appointment for the following day… I think the conversation will be interesting… we may have to remind them they get paid with our Tax money and technically they are there to assist Australian who are in need…

So long story short, we did not get arrested as security was pretty tight around the embassy, cars were being scanned for bombs and Lisa had forgotten to remove her knife from her handbag. Anyway once she disgorged the contents of her bag and passed her knife over they offered to hold it at the door for us. Up we went and the helpful Consular Staff informed us she could not write a letter for Iran but did give us details to try the Aussie Embassy in Iran. So no visa, no letter of no objection but the security man did hand Lisa back her knife on the way out with a big smile so all was good.

We drove south to the Cappadocia.

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Photos

MYSTIK Camp site owners hard at it
The old chap is the owner and the who looks like a pirate is his son

Ayasophia
Ugly from the outside, fantastic on the inside. it was have some restoration hence scaffolding can be seen

Comments

[Rosemary]

Lucky there was a spare place to park. Looks busy :)