Christmas in Turkey and an unexpected present

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We woke this morning to a Turkish Christmas. Meaning there wasnt really anything going on. Being the good lads we are we made a few phonecalls home which warded off some of the home sickness.

Got on the bikes after a late start and headed towards Samandagi. And here we were accosted by the hill from hell. For our sins we were faced with a long, steep, winding, steep road. It was barely two lanes for the whole way and we copped many odd looks from the Turkish guys driving up and down it in cars- lucky buggers.

After the hill we were both a bit buggered and by now the sun was getting low on the horizon. We rolled into a little town and were encouraged by some blokes to go and chill with them in the tea house. Not having seen any good spots to camp I was a bit concerned about where to sleep for the night. But providence and the Christmas Spirit provided us with all we needed.

A bloke in the back of the teahouse came over to us and had a chat. He introduced himself as Mehmet and after a yarn said we could stay at a spare apartment his family had, score! We then went for a walk to his sister's house and had a sweet feed of spicy soup, chick peas, olives and some other stuff I cant remember now.

Then spent a few great hours playing the local Turkish card game, Pishli, in the teahouse and chatting with Mehmet and his homeboys. The teahouse being the Turkish equivalent of the Aussie pub, with all the local boys chillin and catching up on the local news. Mehmet told us that women werent generally allowed in the teahouses but they usually went arond to each others houses and had a good old chin wag there.

It was another great example of genuine Turkish hospitality that a mere three hours before we were about to start scratching around for a campsite in the dark; and now we were fed, our bellies sloshing with tea and had great shelter. Mehmet was such a good host that he seemed to feel a bit guilty that his place didnt have hot water. He even came back a few hours later to check that we were warm enough- what a guy!

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Photos

Antakya- its all Biblical and stuff
If only there was a McDonalds

Atop the hill of death
Whos feeling special?

On the top
Im still debating whether the view was worth the torture!