July 31, 2009

Day10, July 27th 2009 – Room on fire…almost!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: — arun @ 2:14 pm

Route : Samsun, Turkey >>> Suemela, Turkey
Approx Distance : 420km

This morning was much more pleasant than the previous ones. We were closer to civilian settlement though…so got some curious stares from people around. Dink did his usual vehicle check including the engine oil level. We set off soon thereafter. We wanted to have breakfast in a restaurant this time and stopped at one along the highway. Rajesh had some special Turkish soup while the rest had a more traditional bread, egg and cheese combo.

About to set off...

About to set off...

Today’s aim was to drive along the lovely coastal highway till Trabzon (a popular tourist destination along the black sea coast) and then veer off inland till we hit Suemela, where according to pictures in the Lonely Planet guidebook, existed a stunning monastery/museum perched up on the sheer cliffs of the region. That was definitely something to look forward to.

We were making decent progress…it was a well laid asphalt highway comparable to the ones in west Europe. There were a whole  bunch of traffic signals along the way though. Nevertheless, we stopped to tank up when suddenly we heard Dink cursing loudly. It turns out that he forgot to put back on the engine oil cap after his morning check. And after an hour or so of driving, the oil was all over the engine bay…hmm…no big deal if we can find a suitable spare part. We made our way a couple of kms more until we hit what could be described as the auto repair mecca in that region. Dozens of workshops each specializing in different things. It was the place to be for anything to do with wheels, steel and grease.

We did not manage to find a spare cap but we did find someone who machined us a suitable replacement in no time. :) Costed 30TL. At this point, we thought…why not get the third seat (flicked from an Opel Astra from a junkyard in Karlsruhe, Germany the day before we left Germany), which we have been carrying with us all along, welded in place. Well, we have a Peugeot Partner for a vehicle and it happens to be a 2 seater utility vehicle. But since we were 3 in this car (and 2 in the Suzuki), we needed this third seat (which we now refer to as “Raja’s seat of honor”) in place. :) Anyway, we found someone (who was wearing an ADAC T-shirt btw) to do the job for us…he turned out to be a mechanic and had loads of friends (and one brother!!) in the surrounding workshops.

We had to remove the fuel tank to even get started with the seat. If we didn’t, in the words of the Turkish mechanics “Booom!”! So thats what we did after siphoning out the gasoline first. Then a couple of very cool dudes from a seat shop bolted/welded 4 legs onto the seat and in the end, bolted it in place in the car. A complicated piece of work in the end involving 5 people, 5 hours, some grocery shopping in the middle, a stint at the local beach and loads of laughs interacting with these guys. The mechanics were very friendly and were totally into saying “Masah-allah” and knocking each others pot bellies together. Strange as it may sound, there was this fraternal feeling to it all. And in time, one of them did it to me as well! :) Felt a bit weird…

Anyway, the seat was in place. A brief discussion ensued about trying to put in place holders for the 2 spare tires which we have in the cabin right now…but that went nowhere. Anyway, just when i paid the guy his 150TL and was about to walk out, it started pouring from the heavens…POURING! The sky was black with rain clouds and the sea was shining from the streaks of light escaping through the occasional gap among those stubborn clouds. At one point the Suzuki lost control for a brief moment when it hydro-planed on the highway…luckily nothing drastic happened. We made steady progress and made it in one piece to Trabzon.

Engine oil all over...hmm...

Engine oil all over...hmm...

Since the extra seat took the whole of 5 hours to put in, our original idea of taking a Turkish bath in Trabzon went down the drain. We carried on driving into the country roads towards Suemela. We had a bit of a adrenalin overdose when an oncoming van veered into our path…some quick maneuvering was required…handled. Driving in the dark is not that fun…not because its harder but because one cant see the region ones driving through. The bad roads slowly gave way to worse and hilly ones to top it up. We realized that we were working our way up…which was good…at least we knew that we were en-route to Suemela. But after some point, we started hearing really loud roaring of flowing water…we couldn’t see it though. And it remained with us all the way till the end…too bad we couldn’t see the water.

Since it was raining, our original idea of camping in the forest couldn’t really work out executed…and Lonely Planet to the rescue! It did say that there were some kind of bungalow available for tourists with included kitchenette etc. We called them up and confirmed availability. yay! But we sorta were looking for the Suemela parking lot and we kept driving…and driving…the road got unbelievably steep and twisty…coulndt go beyond first gear i couldn’t! Anyway, the just like that…the road ended! And we saw a sign indicating that one should proceed on foot from now on to reach the monastery. Apparently we overshot the parking lot and drove right up to the monastery! :)

It was all foggy, rainy, dark and damp. After a bit of retracing our paths, we found these bungalows…they were 2 room affairs, all wooden. The locals seem to make up any price they wanted once they see that we were foreigners…which was not done. But we haggled as much as we could and settled on the price. The kitchenette turned out to be a wooden stove with an integrated chimney. They did provide us some wood though…but nothing to kindle it with. We did have our grilling stuff…and we threw in some of the white camphor kind of stuff and tried to get it going…but to no avail. We still had some of that grilling liquid left…so that’s what we used now. It did get the flames going alright…but still nothing substantial. Meanwhile Rajesh went into the shower and Kristie was in the room. Dink and me were still trying to get the fire going…we were pretty much pooped and as time went on, our eyes started dropping and we were losing control of our senses…

Raja's seat of honor.. ;)

Raja's seat of honor.. ;)

One more shot with the liquid…nothing happened. Some more poured in, nothing. Hmmm…i thought i should probably pour more in at some other angle and did just that. But what happened next was something which was really scary! The liquid essentially caught fire all at once and burst upwards out of the stove and onto the bottle which i was holding. Suddenly everyone was awake again…Kristie ran out of the bungalow shouting “RAJESH RAJESH GET OUT GET OUT!!”, I ran out trying to drag Rajeshs bag (which was now on fire) with one hand while still holding the bottle flaming at the mouth in the other, Dink was trying to put out the fire which was now all over the room thanks to the droplets of fluid which splashed out as i jerked the bottle away!! I put out the fire in the bottle and ran in to help Dink. We managed to put out the small flames all over the place…phew. It lasted the whole of 15 seconds or so…and luckily nothing burnt or no damage done. I think this liquid has a very low combustion temperature…thank god. To think what could have happened if this had been kerosene or something with a cabin made of wood and carpeting to boot…wow…is even more scary!

People were frazzled now…Me and Dink exchanged looks of relief, Kristie was pissed off at me and my carelessness i think and Rajesh, of course, was still taking his shower! Anyway, no one really felt like burning the wood or drinking hot tea anymore…we just dropped everything and crashed off. What a day!

Route : Samsun, Turkey >>> Suemela, Turkey
Approx Distance : 420km

This morning was much more pleasant than the previous ones. We were closer to civilian settlement though…so got some curious stares from people around. Dink did his usual vehicle check including the engine oil level. We set off soon thereafter. We wanted to have breakfast in a restaurant this time and stopped at one along the highway. Rajesh had some special turkish soup while the rest had a more traditional bread, egg and cheese combo.

Today’s aim was to drive along the lovely coastal highway till Trabzon (a popular tourist destination along the black sea coast) and then veer off inland till we hit Suemela, where according to pictures in the Lonely Planet guidebook, existed a stunning monastery/museum perched up on the sheer cliffs of the region. That was definitely something to look forward to.

We were making decent progress…it was a well laid asphalt highway comparable to the ones in west Europe. There were a whole  bunch of traffic signals along the way though. Nevertheless, we stopped to tank up when suddenly we heard Dink cursing loudly. It turns out that he forgot to put back on the engine oil cap after his morning check. And after an hour or so of driving, the oil was all over the engine bay…hmm…no big deal if we can find a suitable spare part. We made our way a couple of kms more until we hit what could be described as the auto repair mecca in that region. Dozens of workshops each specialising in different things. It was the place to be for anything to do with wheels, steel and grease.

We did not manage to find a spare cap but we did find someone who machined us a suitable replacement in no time. :) Costed 30TL. At this point, we thought…why not get the third seat (flicked from an Opel Astra from a junkyard in Karlsruhe, Germany the day before we left Germany), which we have been carrying with us all along, welded in place. Well, we have a Peugeot Partner for a vehicle and it happens to be a 2 seater utility vehicle. But since we were 3 in this car (and 2 in the Suzuki), we needed this third seat (which we now refer to as “Raja’s seat of honor”) in place. :) Anyway, we found someone (who was wearing an ADAC Tshirt btw) to do the job for us…he turned out to be a mechanic and had loads of friends (and one brother!!) in the surrounding workshops.

We had to remove the fuel tank to even get started with the seat. If we didnt, in the words of the turkish mechanics “Booom!”! So thats what we did after siphoning out the gasoline first. Then a couple of very cool dudes from a seat shop bolted/welded 4 legs onto the seat and in the end, bolted it in place in the car. A complicated piece of work in the end involving 5 people, 5 hours, some grocery shopping in the middle, a stint at the local beach and loads of laughs interacting with these guys. The mechanics were very friendly and were totally into saying “Masah-allah” and knocking each others pot bellies together. Strange as it may sound, there was this fraternal feeling to it all. And in time, one of them did it to me as well! :) Felt a bit weird…

Anyway, the seat was in place. A brief discussion ensued about trying to put in place holders for the 2 spare tires which we have in the cabin right now…but that went nowhere. Anyway, just when i paid the guy his 150TL and was about to walk out, it started pouring from the heavens…POURING! The sky was black with rain clouds and the sea was shining from the streaks of light escaping through the occasional gap among those stubborn clouds. At one point the suzuki lost control for a brief moment when it hydro-planed on the highway…luckily nothing drastic happened. We made steady progress and made it in one piece to Trabzon.

Since the extra seat took the whole of 5 hours to put in, our original idea of taking a turkish bath in Trabzon went down the drain. We carried on driving into the country roads towards Suemela. We had a bit of a adrenalin overdose when an oncoming van veered into our path…some quick maneuvering was required…handled. Driving in the dark is not that fun…not because its harder but because one cant see the region ones driving through. The bad roads slowly gave way to worse and hilly ones to top it up. We realised that we were working our way up…which was good…atleast we knew that we were enroute to Suemela. But after some point, we started hearing really loud roaring of flowing water…we couldnt see it though. And it remained with us all the way till the end…too bad we couldnt see the water.

Since it was raining, our original idea of camping in the forest couldnt really work out executed…and Lonely Planet to the rescue! It did say that there were some kind of bunglow available for tourists with included kitchenette etc. We called them up and confirmed availability. yay! But we sorta were looking for the Suemela parking lot and we kept driving…and driving…the road got unbelievably steep and twisty…coulndt go beyond first gear i couldnt! Anyway, the just like that…the road ended! And we saw a sign indicating that one should proceed on foot from now on to reach the monastery. Apparently we overshot the parking lot and drove right up to the monastery! :)

It was all foggy, rainly, dark and damp. After a bit of retracing our paths, we found these bunglows…they were 2 room affairs, all wooden. The locals seem to make up any price they wanted once they see that we were foreigners…which was not done. But we haggled as much as we could and settled on the price. The kitchenette turned out to be a wooden stove with an integtrated chimney. They did provide us some wood though…but nothing to kindle it with. We did have our grilling stuff…and we threw in some of the white camphor kind of stuff and tried to get it going…but to no avail. We still had some of that grilling liquid left…so thats what we used now. It did get the flames going alright…but still nothing substantial. Meanwhile Rajesh went into the shower and Kristie was in the room. Dink and me were still trying to get the fire going…we were pretty much pooped and as time went on, our eyes started dropping and we were losing control of our senses…

One more shot with the liquid…nothing happened. Some more poured in, nothing. Hmmm…i thought i should probably pour more in at some other angle and did just that. But what happened next was something which was really scary! The liquid essentially caught fire all at once and burst upwards out of the stove and onto the bottle which i was holding. Suddenly everyone was awake again…Kristie ran out of the bunglow shouting “RAJESH RAJESH GET OUT GET OUT!!”, I ran out trying to drag Rajeshs bag (which was now on fire) with one hand while still holding the bottle flaming at the mouth in the other, Dink was trying to put out the fire which was now all over the room thanks to the droplets of fluid which splashed out as i jerked the bottle away!! I put out the fire in the bottle and ran in to help Dink. We managed to put out the small flames all over the place…phew. It lasted the whole of 15 seconds or so…and luckily nothing burnt or no damage done. I think this liquid has a very low combustion temperature…thank god. To think what could have happened if this had been kerosene or something with a cabin made of wood and carpetting to boot…wow…is even more scary!

People were frazzled now…Me and Dink exchanged looks of relief, Kristie was pissed off at me and my carelessness i think and Rajesh, of course, was still taking his shower! Anyway, no one really felt like burning the wood or drnking hot tea anymore…we just dropped everything and crashed off. What a day!Route : Samsun, Turkey >>> Suemela, Turkey
Approx Distance : 420km

This morning was much more pleasant than the previous ones. We were closer to civilian settlement though…so got some curious stares from people around. Dink did his usual vehicle check including the engine oil level. We set off soon thereafter. We wanted to have breakfast in a restaurant this time and stopped at one along the highway. Rajesh had some special turkish soup while the rest had a more traditional bread, egg and cheese combo.

Today’s aim was to drive along the lovely coastal highway till Trabzon (a popular tourist destination along the black sea coast) and then veer off inland till we hit Suemela, where according to pictures in the Lonely Planet guidebook, existed a stunning monastery/museum perched up on the sheer cliffs of the region. That was definitely something to look forward to.

We were making decent progress…it was a well laid asphalt highway comparable to the ones in west Europe. There were a whole  bunch of traffic signals along the way though. Nevertheless, we stopped to tank up when suddenly we heard Dink cursing loudly. It turns out that he forgot to put back on the engine oil cap after his morning check. And after an hour or so of driving, the oil was all over the engine bay…hmm…no big deal if we can find a suitable spare part. We made our way a couple of kms more until we hit what could be described as the auto repair mecca in that region. Dozens of workshops each specialising in different things. It was the place to be for anything to do with wheels, steel and grease.

We did not manage to find a spare cap but we did find someone who machined us a suitable replacement in no time. :) Costed 30TL. At this point, we thought…why not get the third seat (flicked from an Opel Astra from a junkyard in Karlsruhe, Germany the day before we left Germany), which we have been carrying with us all along, welded in place. Well, we have a Peugeot Partner for a vehicle and it happens to be a 2 seater utility vehicle. But since we were 3 in this car (and 2 in the Suzuki), we needed this third seat (which we now refer to as “Raja’s seat of honor”) in place. :) Anyway, we found someone (who was wearing an ADAC Tshirt btw) to do the job for us…he turned out to be a mechanic and had loads of friends (and one brother!!) in the surrounding workshops.

We had to remove the fuel tank to even get started with the seat. If we didnt, in the words of the turkish mechanics “Booom!”! So thats what we did after siphoning out the gasoline first. Then a couple of very cool dudes from a seat shop bolted/welded 4 legs onto the seat and in the end, bolted it in place in the car. A complicated piece of work in the end involving 5 people, 5 hours, some grocery shopping in the middle, a stint at the local beach and loads of laughs interacting with these guys. The mechanics were very friendly and were totally into saying “Masah-allah” and knocking each others pot bellies together. Strange as it may sound, there was this fraternal feeling to it all. And in time, one of them did it to me as well! :) Felt a bit weird…

Anyway, the seat was in place. A brief discussion ensued about trying to put in place holders for the 2 spare tires which we have in the cabin right now…but that went nowhere. Anyway, just when i paid the guy his 150TL and was about to walk out, it started pouring from the heavens…POURING! The sky was black with rain clouds and the sea was shining from the streaks of light escaping through the occasional gap among those stubborn clouds. At one point the suzuki lost control for a brief moment when it hydro-planed on the highway…luckily nothing drastic happened. We made steady progress and made it in one piece to Trabzon.

Since the extra seat took the whole of 5 hours to put in, our original idea of taking a turkish bath in Trabzon went down the drain. We carried on driving into the country roads towards Suemela. We had a bit of a adrenalin overdose when an oncoming van veered into our path…some quick maneuvering was required…handled. Driving in the dark is not that fun…not because its harder but because one cant see the region ones driving through. The bad roads slowly gave way to worse and hilly ones to top it up. We realised that we were working our way up…which was good…atleast we knew that we were enroute to Suemela. But after some point, we started hearing really loud roaring of flowing water…we couldnt see it though. And it remained with us all the way till the end…too bad we couldnt see the water.

Since it was raining, our original idea of camping in the forest couldnt really work out executed…and Lonely Planet to the rescue! It did say that there were some kind of bunglow available for tourists with included kitchenette etc. We called them up and confirmed availability. yay! But we sorta were looking for the Suemela parking lot and we kept driving…and driving…the road got unbelievably steep and twisty…coulndt go beyond first gear i couldnt! Anyway, the just like that…the road ended! And we saw a sign indicating that one should proceed on foot from now on to reach the monastery. Apparently we overshot the parking lot and drove right up to the monastery! :)

It was all foggy, rainly, dark and damp. After a bit of retracing our paths, we found these bunglows…they were 2 room affairs, all wooden. The locals seem to make up any price they wanted once they see that we were foreigners…which was not done. But we haggled as much as we could and settled on the price. The kitchenette turned out to be a wooden stove with an integtrated chimney. They did provide us some wood though…but nothing to kindle it with. We did have our grilling stuff…and we threw in some of the white camphor kind of stuff and tried to get it going…but to no avail. We still had some of that grilling liquid left…so thats what we used now. It did get the flames going alright…but still nothing substantial. Meanwhile Rajesh went into the shower and Kristie was in the room. Dink and me were still trying to get the fire going…we were pretty much pooped and as time went on, our eyes started dropping and we were losing control of our senses…

One more shot with the liquid…nothing happened. Some more poured in, nothing. Hmmm…i thought i should probably pour more in at some other angle and did just that. But what happened next was something which was really scary! The liquid essentially caught fire all at once and burst upwards out of the stove and onto the bottle which i was holding. Suddenly everyone was awake again…Kristie ran out of the bunglow shouting “RAJESH RAJESH GET OUT GET OUT!!”, I ran out trying to drag Rajeshs bag (which was now on fire) with one hand while still holding the bottle flaming at the mouth in the other, Dink was trying to put out the fire which was now all over the room thanks to the droplets of fluid which splashed out as i jerked the bottle away!! I put out the fire in the bottle and ran in to help Dink. We managed to put out the small flames all over the place…phew. It lasted the whole of 15 seconds or so…and luckily nothing burnt or no damage done. I think this liquid has a very low combustion temperature…thank god. To think what could have happened if this had been kerosene or something with a cabin made of wood and carpetting to boot…wow…is even more scary!

People were frazzled now…Me and Dink exchanged looks of relief, Kristie was pissed off at me and my carelessness i think and Rajesh, of course, was still taking his shower! Anyway, no one really felt like burning the wood or drnking hot tea anymore…we just dropped everything and crashed off. What a day!

July 29, 2009

Day9, July 26th 2009 – Turkish delight!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , — arun @ 11:44 am

Route : Cackraz, Turkey >>> Outskirts of Samsun, Turkey
Approx Distance : 440km

Woke up yet again to the unforgiving sun. This time we were surrounded by Turkish families who were camping as well. Some were very generous and offered us an entire tea pot. Another family had some cute kids and we had a nice time with them while they handled the handy cam filming us. Out came the lonely planet for some Turkish words reference and we had quite a decent conversation ;)

Driving out of Istanbul

Driving out of Istanbul

Anyway, we were kicked out soon thereafter and we found ourselves back on the road. Our plan for the day was to push all out and make it to Samsun. Even Though it was just about 400 odd kms, we expected the journey to be not very fast as it was almost completely mountain roads overlooking the black sea. Rajesh drove for most of the day today…hes not a very experienced driver but he did very well i should say. Dink was with him to coach him a bit while i was blogging away (offline of course) in the Suzuki with Kristie driving.

The route was one of the most scenic ones till date. Dense green forests on our right through twisting roads while the black sea was flowering to its full glory as the day went by and the sun climbed higher. Early in the day the line at the horizon differentiating the sea and the sky was hardly visible…the sky and the sea seemed to be one. It was a very profound sight to behold…atleast for me. Since we were on the edge of the hills, we could see quite a bit of the ocean too unlike an observation point at sea level.

Us and the cute kids at the camping spot

Us and the cute kids at the camping spot

There was a big scare when a couple of bloody buses came out of nowhere at an hairpin bend! The Peugeot’s tires squealed loudly as Rajesh had to turn hard and accelerate. Kristie coolly waited until the buses passed. Road was still being laid in many places and loose gravel dominated…which naturally resulted in some instances where the Peugeot lost its rear end…luckily nothing more than a brief adrenalin rush resulted. We kept seeing smallish towns all along the route…we were never really truly alone. The locals were very friendly and smiling. They didn’t have any “attitude” like their Istanbul cousins. There were some roadside urchins trying  to sell us some berries and a strange green colored fruit which looked like a cross between a pear and the guava.

The black sea coast

The black sea coast

I managed some shuteye once we got out of the really hilly part and the drive was uneventful. We thought we would take a quick dip towards the late evening and found a beach. It was quite crowded and was pebbled. The crowd made us wonder if we were really in a muslim country and the pebbles made us wonder if our feet would be pulp after a while! :) The dip was refreshing. We played with our ball a bit..some local kids joined us. Rajesh was in his element with his communication! :)

It was only later that Dink and Kristie told us that a cow sorta hit itself on the Peugeot while we were on this mud track heading for the beach. It was a bit funny as we passed the cow and didn’t feel anything on us…it apparently turned its head right into the car!! Poor thing must have been dazed…and i guess its a good thing that the Peugeot is built like a tank!

We carried on and I took over the wheel. We had an initial plan to buy some pasta and cook it by the seaside while we camped. So the search for a super market ensued. We found one in a small town enroute…and as usual, there was a marriage going on. We already passed many marriage processions along the way…and it looks to be a grand thing. It looks as if the whole town is invited for all these marriages. The procession is also cool…there is this estate/kombi car in front with the back door flipped open. There is usually a dude with a video camera inside who shoots the whole cavalcade behind him while a dude up front plays a musical instrument which could at best be described as a flute. Its quite a sight.

It got a bit too late and we settled down at the Kofte restaurant for dinner by the highway. Met a nice Turkish family most of whom spoke English! They helped us out with the orders while the waiter was terribly excited and was hospitality itself…too much of it in fact. I guess he doesn’t get much people like us (we ARE as foreign and eccentric as bunches go…imagine, me who looks like an African almost, Rajesh with his typical Indian looks, Kristie with her oriental looks and Dingeman the normal caucasian white male). We had our meatballs and fried chicken and discovered this amazing desert. Its called Sutlatch (erm…maybe the spelling is wrong). Its rice based desert prepared with sugar and milk and served cold! Yummy! We ordered a couple to try it out and eventually ended up ordering 3 more! :)

Stopped for a dip in the ocean

Stopped for a dip in the ocean

It was such a satisfying meal that when we got back into the cars, i went down the wrong lane. It took me a while to realise it and i asked Rajesh “Machi…something is not right…am i on the right lane?” and he goes “um…yeah, guess so!”! No wonder the indian driving license does not enjoy much of a reputation in most places. Anyway, back on track and on we pushed on until we hit Samsun. We started looking for a suitable beach but most areas were so thickly populated that we were forced to retrace our path out of the town until something suitable came across our way. Tents up, beer down, stars kissed goodbye and mr.sandman paid us a visit! :)

Day8, July 25th 2009 – The midnight party!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , — arun @ 11:38 am

Route : Istanbul, Turkey >>> Cackraz, Turkey
Approx Distance : 490km

Woke up in our air conditioned hotel room to the morning prayers of the city. Had a Europeanish breakfast served at the hotel with some Turkish tea. Packed up, put the stuff in the car and jumped into our faithful taxi. The taxi drivers name was Toofan and he lived up to his name. We know that Turkish drivers are a bit rash but this guy was awesome! He was racing literally everyone who looked at him!

He took us around Istanbul through some well known places. We were not complaining too much at what he demanded cos it saved us some time to have a texi show us around and the air conditioning helped to preserve us a bit before heading out later that evening. He took us to the CXXXXXX palace but we were not allowed inside for photos as there was an American “organization” shooting a vieo of some sort the whole day. We saw some guys wearing army fatigues…i only hope it was some kind of soap. Anyway, we carried on…saw the clubbing district, the posh parts of town and  drove along the Bosporus strait connecting the Mediterranean and the Black seas.

At the market place ?n Istanbul

At the market place ?n Istanbul

The conversation between Rajesh and Toofan was hilarious. The guy could  hardly speak any english and Rajesh was extra animated in his gestures. We have some of it on video! There was one real funny bit when Toofan described himself as “The Traffic Killer”!! We burst out laughing at that! :) He was cooperative enough in stopping wherever we wanted etc. We let go of him at the Grand Bazaar.

Istanbul is seriously the result of the confluence of west and east. This was so obvious at the Haghia Sophia, now an UNESCO world heritage site. This used to be a basilica built around 530AD before it got converted into a mosque in the 15th century when the muslims became predominant in the region. Since 1930 it has been converted into a museum and rightly so. The main hall of the place was amazing. The dome above was captivating in the image it projected onto us. All the murals and inscriptions on the walls and ceilings were beautiful. An Arabic inscription blended right in with a painting of Madonna and the child. It was quite a sight.

We continued on foot through Istanbul into the Kapalicarsi or the main market. Tons of jewelery shops! Almost reminded me of the ones back home in India. Did suggest to Rajesh that maybe he should do his marriage shopping here…he ignored me! :D We did spot a shop selling cheap guitars…thanks to Kristie’s good ear, we managed to tune one…but decided in the end not to buy it. We exchanged our Euros and dollars into Turkish Lira and carried on. We had some traditional Fasulye (broad beans dish) and cool drinks at the Tarihi Sueleymani Yeli Curu Fasuleyci.

After a brief stop at the Blue Mosque, we made our way back to the cars. We picked up our laundry. Interestingly the whole conversation between us and the laundry people happened using Google translator!! We also changed the front tires of the Peugeot to the ones which i picked up from the junkyard. They had a much better tread albeit being a bit bigger than the recommended size. We figured we might not have the best asphalt from now on. Anyway, back on the road again and we were headed to Ankara on the highway until a point where we wanted to veer off to the Black Sea coast and camp. We planned to stick to the black sea coast all the way to Trabzon over the next couple of days.

The Bosphorous...

The Bosphorous...

The drive was uneventful…nightfall happened and we got off the main highway and tanked up. One Turkish guy approached us with a grateful grin on his face and asked if we spoke German. He happened to be in marketing with a newspaper in Friedrichshafen! I guess hes one of those people who were born and brought up in Germany. One could say that he was very happy to see someone who spoke German! Interesting to see these people in Turkey…

The moon was quite attractive and Kristie went berserk trying to capture that with the tripod. We carried on…now the roads started getting worse…construction all along the way, no street lamps etc. We kept passing through one small town after another. What was interesting was…children were still playing outside and some towns even had quite obvious parties going on. We were pleasantly surprised when a fully pimped up HumVee with bull bars and chrome alloy 22 inch wheels passed us and stuck with us for a good half hour. It had a German number plate which itself made obvious that it was being driven by a Turkish guy because no self respecting German would ever buy a car like that (especially an American one) and pimp it up. One could see the value that people gave to EU number plates.

The blue mosque aga?n

The blue mosque aga?n

Talking of number plates, the number plates in Turkey were just like the EU plates with the blue strip on the side but without the EU stars. It shows us how desperate these guys are to become part of the EU. Wonder if it will ever happen though…

Anyway, after missing a turn for Amsara, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. We decided to ask for directions and we asked a guy how we could find the ocean. We were expecting a quiet beach with a couple of houses around at the maximum…but then we were blown away by what we saw! The town was called Cackraz…and even when we were on the road to the ocean we could see young girls dressed as well as Europeans staggering back with the help of their friends..heavy post party effects of course! Even old ladies were out on the street…it was midnight and here we were in a town which was in the middle of a big party at the black sea coast in the middle of nowhere in Turkey. We coulnt stop smiling at the scene… :)

We did attmept briefly to find a desolated beach to camp in…but couldnt. In the end we asked directions from a little girl who spoke english. Rajesh asked her “How do we goto the sea?” and she responded “Excuse me, but could you please speak in English? I dont understand you!” :) ) I couldnt stop giggling at that and Rajesh was stunned into a momentary silence. Then he started speaking in…erm english…and we found ourselves heading back to the party town. There was apparently a camping spot there…we were too tired to drive around more. SO settled in, got a beer and some bubblegum water, laughed a bit over what happened in the last few minutes, pitched tent and haya!!

Day7, July 24th 2009 – Team and Turkey!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , , , — arun @ 11:06 am

Route : Alexandroupoli ,Greece >>> Istanbul, Turkey
Approx Distance : 360km

We woke up to a nice and hot day. In fact we wake up to nice and hot days everyday. Since we have been camping by the beach till date, we never managed to find some shade to pitch our tents in. The heat is like our daily morning alarm! Anyway, we took a quick dip in the ocean. The sea floor was very rocky today. So was not all that comfortable…we had to always our step.

Istanbul - Blue Mosque

Istanbul - Blue Mosque

Anyway, this was the day we were supposed to pickup Rajesh from Istanbul. He managed to beg and plead his way to a Turkish visa! :) The catch being that it was a 3 day transit visa and that is definitely not enough time to drive/spend in Turkey…but luckily it turns out that if one overstays, one has to just pay a fine…a hefty one though. All of us were totally committed to this journey right from the very beginning. We are all quite grateful for having such a great team! :) So, no compromises on our stay in Turkey and Rajesh was willing to pay this fine.

Baklawa

Baklawa

We made a brief stop in Alexandroupoli to get online to upload snaps and the blog before heading out to the Turkish border. The drive was smooth and we made it in decent time. Kristie and Dink got visas at the border. I was given some extra stamps on my passport for reasons which could at best be described as “transit”. We met another rally team now….from UK launch they were. I think they called themselves “Blame it on Big Dave”. They informed us that there were around 350 teams at the UK launch. Wow! Compared to measly 15 odd cars and four Vespas from the Milan launch, the UK launch should have been quite a party!

The typhoon

The typhoon

Anyway, as soon as we crossed over into Turkey we saw a big 40 ton truck lying on its side…and we thought ‘uh huh”! Traffic was very  chaotic. People keep flashing their lights to pass and honked a lot as well. It felt good to be leaving Europe and being on the bridge between Europe and Asia. The following days will show whether its really true when they say that Turkey is a perfect blend of the east and the west.

We reached Istanbul easily. Rajesh was waiting at the Sultan Ahmet or the Blue Mosque. It took us a bit to navigate through Istanbul as few people spoke English and the city is a big sprawling metropolis. We did manage to spot a sign for the place and followed it till the end…and the team got one more step closer towards being complete! :) Out came the iced teas from the cool box and we toasted Rajesh’s successful entry into Turkey. We hope to have a similar reunion at Tbilisi, Georgia when Raja would be joining us.

The team...almost!

The team...almost!

Just when we were wondering where to stay, a dude walks up and markets his hotel. We checked it out and it was not too expensive and more importantly about 500m from where we were standing, right at the heart of the city. We took it, freshened up and headed out into the Istanbul evening.

I wanted a Nargileh badly and we walked into a lounge cafe sorta place. Was nice. Had some humus and bread. Awesome. Went to another shop for some mixed variety of Baklawa…took it “to go” was was wolfing them down all the way to Taksim. Taksim had some modern cafes and stores and was pleasant to walk around in. We bought the lonely planet for Turkey and had a nice cup of coffee/lemonade/juice before heading back. The taxi driver on the way back knew that we were a bit offbeat as far as tourists go (we wanted him to stop in the middle of the bridge to take photos while the perennial anglers were looking at us as if we were bait!) and he offered us a 2 hour tour of Istanbul the next day if we wanted it. We accepted! :)

To end the day, some night photography around Sultan Ahmet and the Hagia Sophia. A korean couple was going beserk with their cameras…and we joined them. :) We walked back to the hotel and lay down to a deep deep sleep.

July 25, 2009

Day6, July 23rd 2009 – LIDL and campfires!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , — arun @ 6:24 am

Route : Nia Mihaniana, Greece >>> Alexandroupoli ,Greece
Approx Distance : 390km

Hola! After all the morose midnight driving around last night in search of a camping spot, we did hit upon a beach of course…but it was only this morning when it became clear what a nice spot it actually was. It was very sandy…soft sand that too. It didn’t take too long for us to jump into the water…

I don’t know why but i always end up getting swimming lessons in the Mediterranean! And this one was good too. Kristie and Dink tried to teach me how to frog kick…i tried to learn. I still think i am afraid of breathing in water and sinking or something…need to lose that fear before i can really learn fast…anyway, we were swimming around for about an hour or so, packed up, said goodbye to our dog and left.

Plan for the day was to reach Alexandroupoli, which was a decent sized town quite close to the Turkish border. The driving itself was quite uneventful. We did take a couple of detours…some of them a bit pointless…like the one where we saw a sign for a hot water springs. The sign said that it was 3km away but we couldn’t really find it even after going double that distance. We did pass a huge herd of goats on the country road though…reminded me of back home. Kristie heard about this town called Xanthi en-route but when we got there, it was just any other town…in fact, it was so non-descript that we didn’t even stop the car…just kept driving. Maybe we missed something in there…but yeah, we are not complaining as the rest of the day turned out to be brilliant.

We did stop at a couple of beaches along the way to check them out…quite nice. Here in Greece, every beach withing a few kms of each other seems to have a character of its own…its own nature and feeling. And thats why i think it could take quite a while before one can find ones perfect beach…ahh…the search continues.

More driving…more driving…and we reach Alexandroupoli. But we didnt really go into town yet…we went to a LIDL instead. For those who don’t know what this is, its a supermarket chain. Dink had some lightweight grilling gear with him and we figured why not. Also we thought it might be cool to have some fruits, juices, bread and all that for breakfast. Of course, beer and wine for the night. We were so much into this that we bought stuff for 97 EUR!! Came out, bought a watermelon to make it a round 100! Bought some ice…took out the dormant icebox and brought it to life. yay! we were good to go…now the only thing left was the perfect spot…and we did find one, as usual, a bit late…but the wait was worth it i would say.

It was a smallish cliff, about 15 feet high, looking onto the beach below. Behind us were the city lights which was nicely cut off from the beach cos of the cliff and there were tons of dry wood around for a campfire. In fact, a couple was already at it…the guy was fishing and the lady was tending to the fire. They were kind enough to lend us their grill liquid to help the fire on! :)

The campfire

The campfire

Me and Dink quickly setup the grill, started a campfire and pitched tents later on while Kristie started work on making a nice Greek salad and preparing some veggies for the grill. It took its time but the coals were finally good to grill…and out came the beers…and the conversation flowed. By then it was pitch black, we ate by the fire and spoke lots of stuff…it was one of the most peaceful nights i have ever had. What with stars above not adulterated by harsh big city lights, smoking coals with some sausage on it, a nice cold beer…wow! As you can see, in this post i have already written a lot about that evening by the beach…it was quite easily the best night of the trip so far! :)

Anyway, Kristie fell asleep to the talk which me and Dink were having…and the beer ran out. Time to sleep. Bid goodnight to the universe and fell asleep a happy man.

July 24, 2009

Day5, July 22nd 2009 – The rendezvous!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , — arun @ 9:41 am

Route : Athens, Greece >>> Thessaloniki, Greece >>> Some random beach at Nia Mihaniana, Greece
Approx Distance : 580km

Air conditioned room in a small hotel was and will be the most luxurious thing on this trip i guess…woke up slightly late. Slept well. Shaved in a hurry and checked out of the place. I gave myself a couple of hours to spend in Athens…thought the Acropolis would do. Found myself in the metro and three stops later, the Acropolis.

I don’t know if its me…but somehow these ancient wonders don’t impress me so much when i see them in the stone. At least the acropolis was much better than Stone Henge…but still in spite of being not too impressed with it, i still felt a sense of history around the entire place. This small space on top of a hill overlooking Athens has been the place where tons of significant events have happened. Plato (am i right??) and what not. Maybe the feeling would have been different if there hadnt been a million and a half tourists clambering all over the place. Interestingly, i didn’t see a single desi. This surprised me as usually one sees a couple of them in very popular touristy places…hmm…

View of Athens from the Acropolis

View of Athens from the Acropolis

Anyway, headed back…had some of the best freshly pressed orange juice in the world en route to the Parkhaus. Overnight parking of my car cost me 15 bucks…not half bad i thought. Anyway, asked for some directions, and set off to Thessaloniki. Did speak to Dink and Kristie before and the plan was to meet up at Thessaloniki in the evening if they make it through the thousand countries they were passing through that day. My drive was relatively simple though…one road, one destination, but a long drive.

This drive was not as spectacular as the road from Patras to Athens…but at points was very beautiful. I stopped to tank up somewhere between Karavomilos and Ahladi. I could smell the sea somewhere…and walked behind the building and viola!! The sea! right there! I drove my car to the back and parked a couple of meters away from the waves! It was a bit unreal…there were mountains too and crystal clear blue water. Was so nice that i thought now is the time to have lunch…ice cream it was! :)

Anyway, carried on driving pretty much for 3 hours more and stopped about 61kms from Thessaloniki at this gas station. Kristie messaged saying they were 3 hours from Thessaloniki…that gave me a LOT of time to kill. Anyway, managed to strike up conversation with the gas station attendant…his name was Slava…of Greek and Russian parents. He apparently is passionate about Germany and was working there until last October when he lost his job. He was a nice guy and the conversation went well…until his friend walks in. and guess where hes from…..Backnang!! That’s maybe a couple of S-Bahn stops away from Esslingen. Was pleasantly surprised that i got to use my German here in Greece with random people…felt nice. This Backnang guy apparently had a girlfriend back in Stuttgart and was a bit sad about how things are going with them…ah well…long distance stuff…you know…

ahhhhh...

ahhhhh...

Anyway, i thought i would find a gas station further on and wait for Kris and Dink. Drove on..and on..and on..no tank station…and suddenly am in the middle of a street with a live concert, babes of the first order, parties and the sea to the right! Thessaloniki ladies and gents! :) Found a BIG hotel building somewhere and stopped close-by and let those 2 know where i am. Used this time to make some calls and catch up with people! An hour or so later, the rendezvous happened! :)

The Panthenon

The Panthenon

Those 2 were pooped beyond recognition…so we got some food and some beer to celebrate the reunion. Long walk by the seaside…and we thought we would camp out on the beach somewhere. This meant getting out of Thessaloniki and heading south to some village…after some confusion, useless diversions and aimless roaming after getting lost, we did strike upon the perfect beach to camp. But our happiness and relief was short lived…cos we realized that i drove the Peugeot too far into the sand…and it got stuck!

We tried pulling it out with the two rope and using the Suzuki…knot gave up. Tried another knot…worked better but still no results. A rather big but friendly dog walked in now and was watching the whole deal while roosters started crowing somewhere in the distance!! It was almost 4am and here we were burning clutch plates and tearing off ropes. Finally what worked was man power. Me and Dink pushed while Kristie gently reversed out…it worked finally! Phew…cool. 2 second tent out, 2 seconds later tent made. We bid each other good night and the last thing i heard were the gentle lapping of the waves, a random rooster crow and i closed my eyes to the stars above…

July 21, 2009

Day4, July 21st 2009 – I am more rustic than Greece!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: — arun @ 9:48 pm

Route : Middle of the Mediterranean >>> Patras, Greece >>> Athens, Greece
Distance : By Sea – 350km, By Road – 230km

Slept the previous night in a corridor between 2 decks…slept quite well actually. The rest of the kids were partying hard out on the deck..i was quite pooped from all the driving and lack of sleep. Anyway, woke up, had a nice breakfast before the ferry headed into Patras…quite a sight how the captain literally did the three point reverse parking with a ferry which was at least a 100m in length!

Patras Port

Patras Port

Landed at half past noon. Got out and stocked up with water, road maps and some information before heading out to Athens. From now on, no more navigation systems. Well, we could have prepared a lot better if only things had gone a bit smoother before the start…one problem with the lack of prep is, lack of info. I came in assuming that the signs would be in Greek…but guess what, there are Greek/English signs all over the place and many many people speak English as well. So it went very easily all the way till Athens.

The route was brilliant. For a good 120kms deep blue waters on my left as observed from the highway cut into the hills so close to the ocean. Was an awesome drive! Then after a point, i get onto another big portion of the mainland where the sea shifts to my right…just like that. Equally spectacular. Traffic itself was manageable…maybe its my indian road conditioning but i felt all the warnings i read about that Greek drivers are the worst in Europe didn’t seem that bad. Maybe they are the worst in Europe but so far its been ok.

Did land in town around 3:30pm. Quite a bustling big city Athens is. Since i had no idea where i was heading into Athens i figured i would find a place to crash in before heading out. Lemme tell you this…parking is a nightmare in Athens! So i was roaming around for a while before seeing a Parkhaus. Those things are not very conspicuous in central Athens. As soon as i parked, i headed out to the exit…double doors…and then i found myself in this short corridor. But then something odd happened…the door to the outside world was not really a door, but a piece of metal wedged into the wall with wood. Looks like the big red Greek lettering (no English here unfortunately) meant something! I couldn’t go back, those double doors were one way only! So yeah…i was locked in in this small space in a parking lot in Athens in the middle of the sweltering summer day WITHOUT my phone (which i duly forgot in the car). So…hmm…

View from road to Athens

View from road to Athens

I initially tried banging the doors a bit…but gave up after 5 seconds when i realized that no one will hear it through the double doors. And then i saw a dead cockroach on the floor…DAMN! I mean, dead insects is fine…but cockroaches are bad. Those things are survivors eh…and big too for us humans to spot when cleaning the place. So both of the aforementioned fundas made it clear that no human being has been in that space in a while and that i needed to get out by myself. :D

The door leading outside…it didn’t go right up to the ceiling. There was a 1 foot tall, 3 foot tall broad opening. This was 10 feet up from the floor. So sorta climbed through this…almost twisted something while twisting through this opening..but luckily no damage done. Dropped in onto the road to the reception of some incredulous looks from some passersby! Who blames them eh…anyway, managed to look cool, dusted myself off in the dignified way…and walked off around the block. The Parkhaus guy didn’t bat an eyelid when i walked in from the front again to pick up my phone from the car…ah well…

Interestingly i drove into the Bengali/Indian ghetto of the city. Shahrukh khan posters and mannequins wearing saris greeted me all over. Found a net center and after an hour walked out with no real lead. All hostels i called were full. :( Then started walking around the block in circles trying to find some hotel. I didn’t want to leave central Athens because of the ease of seeing the sights…and i didn’t feel like going through the whole process of calling a million people to find a camping spot out of town. Anyway, after a solid 2-3 hours of walking around, found a hotel who had a room…40 bucks for the night…phew! It was already 8pm now…and there went my evening in Athens! I was stinking and looked like shit (i know…based on the look the guy at Novotel threw at me)…so just piped down and thought i would update the blog and maybe throw in some pics as well.

Long post this already…

Btw, Rajesh is back in Oslo. He would have his russian visa by tomorrow…but the real question was Turkey. It looks like he will make that visa by the 24th…which is quite cool for us as he can sync up with us in Istanbul. As for Kristie and Dink, they drove through Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and are currently camped out on the coast in Montenegro. Rajas plan is as solid as ever…to join us at Tblisi around Aug 1. Lets hope it all comes together and sync.

July 20, 2009

Day3, July 20th 2009 – The ferry!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , , — arun @ 9:50 pm

Route: Pescara, Italy >>> Bari, Italy >>> Ferry to Patras, Greece
Approx Distance: On road, 490kms. By sea, 350kms

Pescara...

Pescara...

Managed shuteye for a coupla hours before waking up to drop Rajesh off at the Pescara airport. Headed back for an hour or so of sleep before Raphael duly kicked me out before he got to work. Rajesh was headed to London before taking a connecting flight to Oslo..he did manage to leave behind his Swiss army knife (which didn’t manage to make its way through the baggage check!), so i headed back to the airport to pick it up. But before that, i wanted to spend some time at the beach…so that’s exactly what i did.

Parking is a nightmare in Pescara…it looks like the houses at the beach side hardly comes with inbuilt garages…according to Raphael, its damn hard to find a parking place all day, all year! Anyway, i hit the beach…i was utterly overdressed in my jeans and T…people were ambling along and lazing about…relaxed atmosphere! Not too many young people out though…still early in the day i guess for them. Managed to catch some breakfast before sitting down to finally get this blog going…it is a nice experience get some writing done under an umbrella sipping on orange juice…didn’t overstay my welcome though. Picked up the knife from the airport and headed off to Bari.

En route...

En route...

Since i had quite a bit of time on my hands, i wanted to head off the motorway and into the real countryside. The fact that i was traveling almost exclusively by the east coast made it all the more interesting to head off towards the coast at random places and checking out the beaches. Did do that more than a couple of times in the next few hours…stopped for lunch at this smallish restaurant in this place called Cagnano Varano enroute to Vieste. The waiter was at sea with my communication skills…finally he decided to bring out some food which he thought i might like…i vaguely recognized the names he muttered, so obediently nodded my head along for it all. Finally it turned out to be a Risotto with shrimp and then a nicely cooked Spigola fish! He didn’t have Tiramisu unfortunately…so had to make do with a Cornetto. Did check out some beaches after that…i don’t know what it is with beaches…they attract me like bees to nectar!

The arse or the mouth? In any case, a ferry to greece...

The arse or the mouth? In any case, a ferry to greece...

Anyway, by then i have been loitering around for too long…so decided to head straight to Bari just to be on the safer side. Have never boarded the ferry with a car before, so thought it might be prudent to be a bit early. It went smoother than i thought. Did manage to find my way to the port with some local help…traffic was a bitch though. Anyway, the port at Bari was BIG. Ships even bigger. I have never seen so many big liners at close range before…my ship was called Blue Horizon. Drive the car into the open mouth of the ship and performed my tightest parallel parking in my life…funny that it happened to be inside a metal shell! Anyway, this was my first time in a proper ferry/ocean liner. It had all sorts of levels….from luxurious bars to common decks. I took my sleeping bag along just in case…but before that, found WiFi here and am blogging this right now…imagine, in the middle of the Mediterranean from a ferry bound for Greece!! Anyway, the crowd is very international and i loved the Gyros and Pita which was my dinner.

Arriving at Patras tomorrow at noon…excited!

Day2, July 19th 2009 – Bella Italy!!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , — arun @ 9:13 pm

Route : Chioggia, Italy >>>> Venice, Italy >>>> Pescara, Italy
Approx distance : 500 km

The campsite...

The campsite...

Woke up, found out that the Suzuki had almost no engine oil in it…so did the needful. Felt awesome to take a shower in the camping spot. We wanted a nice Italian breakfast (didn’t really manage it in the end cos of us missing the ferry by a whisker)..so set off to Venice which was some 40kms away. It was one of the places which Kristie always wanted to visit. Rajesh managed to reach the conclusion that his honeymoon will be in Venice. I mean, lets face it..the place is beautiful, romantic and charming. As opposed to driving to the island, We parked outside the city and took a ferry in cos the biggest party in Venice was going on apparently…something connected to all saints day. But it was relatively quiet when we got there…maybe cos it was a Sunday and most shops were closed.

Anyway, We were having a ball acting our parts in the video which Kristie was trying to make. This video will eventually be edited and made into the movie. It was a bit funny through when Dingeman and me sorta said our goodbyes to each other and even shook hands for the video! :) if you are wondering why, the 2 cars split up at Venice. Me and Rajesh were heading south through Italy, Greece and Turkey..Dink and Kristie were heading north through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and then onto Turkey. We would have liked to head north as well if we had time to do all those non-schengen but EU visas…anyway, we are not complaining. Italy is a beautiful country as i am finding out.

Venezia...beautiful of course.

Venezia...beautiful of course.

So me and Rajesh headed back after the final goodbyes and set off to Pescara. It is the location of a Schlumberger (Rajesh’s employer) base and he had a friend there who was willing to let us stay at his place for the night. So we drove all along the western coast…was beautiful country! We made good speed as we were not required to go at the Suzuki’s pace. No major hiccups along the way…a funny looking Italian did try to sell us a random laptop at a petrol bunk though…and in another bunk, the cashier girl was jumping around trying to swat a fly!! She was so excited that her math skills went through the roof and i had to eventually re-teach her how to subtract numbers! :)

We reached Pescara at around 9:30pm…met up with Raphael. Nice guy. Brazilian. He took us to the never ending beach of Pescara, was one of the most happening places i have seen…young people, clubs, discos, bars, pools, beach volleyball under lights…the works! We were sorta craving for some real Italian food as opposed to the random tidbits we were eating till date…managed to get some good frutti de meer, pasta and pizza. The mozzarella is exquisite in these parts! Rajesh got his fill of catching up with his friend.

The split up...errr...atleast in a clownish way...the guy walked right through this tragic moment btw!

The split up...errr...atleast in a clownish way...the guy walked right through this tragic moment btw!

I got my fill of some cold beer after a longish drive. Did manage to strike up a conversation with a Romanian security guard from the neighboring club…found out that there is a complete church in a cave in Romania and that the worlds second largest building (apparently the Pentagon is the first) is in Bucharest. Did manage to dream a bit by the seaside under the stars…was good. Headed back, booked tickets for tomorrows ferry, booked Rajesh’s flight tickets (hes headed back to Oslo to get his Russian visa stamped and to give a real good shot at his Turkish visa again), showered and slept.

Smooth day it was i should say…real smooth…

Day1, July 18th 2009 – The launch!!

Filed under: THE REAL THING — Tags: , , , , — arun @ 9:09 pm

Route : Esslingen, Germany  >>> Milan, Italy – Rally launch >>> Chioggia, Italy – Tomato beach club
Approx distance : 850kms

Well..here we were finally. Rajesh, Dingeman and Kristie rendezvoused at my place in Esslingen, Germany. Rajesh arrived a couple of days ago to give the Turkish visa a shot at Stuttgart…but didn’t really work out. We even knew the passport officer there through a friend (which btw is a freaking coincidence..i mean, how many bosses do you get who has cousins who are passport officers at the Turkish embassy in obscure places like Stuttgart!!)…but anyway, he was not too responsive. We had to rush around a bit in the raging rain for finding spare tires and Raja’s seat of honor in the next day but eventually we were all good to go. After a cool evening at Juleps cocktail bar on our last night, we woke up at 4am and set off.

The Rustics!

The Rustics!

The initial enthu was palpable…people were overtaking each other…shouting out loud…giving good competition to top gear magazine wrt car to car photography! Rajesh was getting comfortable with the DSLR cam. I didn’t have all too much sleep the previous day…but the enthu was keeping me going. Apart from a coupla hiccups at the swiss italian border, the ride was traffic jam free. We froze our asses off in a bit in swiss where we had to go through a mountain pass where it was snowing…but as soon as we got into the Italian side of siwss, sun sun sun all the way! Infact the italian side of swiss was so unlike the rest, we sorta thought that we were in Italy and did not tank-up the cars (fuel being a bit cheaper we thought in Swiss..!!). We used a navigation system to get to Milan…we had until 3:30pm to get there and we barely hopped in at around 2:30pm.

The launch was surprisingly a small and cute affair…around 20 cars including the Fire Truck from Team Dragon fly…interestingly i was in touch with this team as they happen to be from Germany. Tons of Fiat Pandas, as expected…made me feel a bit happy that i chose the right car initially for this. Kristie and Dingeman had to smuggle themselves in.. ;) Some totally clueless teams whose standard response to any question was “dude, we have no idea whats going on…”. But you know what, that was going with the spirit of the rally..so smiles all around.

The Party at Chioggia!

The Party at Chioggia!

Then we moved quickly to put up the stickers on the car…Kristie had our names and country flags printed out which was cool. Our car got the tricolors of India…looked cool in the green background. But at the end we could hardly cover up a fraction of the surface (um…there was a lot of it!) and our car looked decidedly plain compared to the rest…The Suzuki was looking mean, lean and uber-cool though. Since they are not officially registered with the rally, we thought they might not be let in…but no problems.  We also picked up a bundle of clothes from Soyombo, which was an Italian NGO interested among other things in humanitarian affairs in India and Mongolia. Anyway, the actual launch happened…and a Swedish team started following us to get to Chioggia. Most of us were headed to a party which the crazy team full of Vespa riding dudes were throwing…but Milan is not really an easy place to navigate in…we went around in so many circles that we lost the Swedish team! They were, thankfully, not too sore at us when we met them later in the day.

A nice drive through the italian countryside until we reached Chioggia, Santamarino Lido. Our italian language skills were obviously at its best…basically using ones hands to express oneself!! Yeah, we reached the place alrite…but the vespa guys were conspicuously not there…but the rest were around. Found a camping spot, walked around a bit…enjoyed the beach a bit. Dinner was served at around 9:30pm…meat and more meat! Got to interact with a bunch of teams then…was cool. Then i could have dropped right there and slept on the table…so we made back to the camp and slept off after a rather satisfying day!

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