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Ready for Iran
I thought that I would write one more entry before we enter Iran. After leaving Ankara we had a couple of days solid travelling days during which we visited Nemrut Dagi and Lake Van on route. Nemrut Dagi wasn't really anything special (it's head sculptures are the top of a mountain.) It was overcast and rained all night so not a good day to see the sun rise which is one of the main reasons for going. That night in my wisdom I thought I would air my trousers as we hadn't been to a campsite for almost a week to do any washing. They were completely socked in the morning so I had to walk to the truck in my pink thermals to get another pair of trousers. That entertained a few folk! Ah well. But it was so cold at the top their was snow. About 10 people slept out in the Cafe and more slept on the truck. Being hardcore I camped out! Surprisingly I didn't find it that cold but to be fair was did wear my thermals and do my bag right up to the top. But no ice on the tent this time! We then had another long drive day about 12 hours to get to Lake Van (this included a short ferry crossing over a lake.) The ferry was tiny but managed to cram on our truck, a few mini buses, a proper truck and 3 RV Vans without sinking! As we headed towards Lake Van things became more rural. We stopped for lunch in a small town Pazarcik and were practically mobbed by the school kids (we did park outside a school). They had never seen anything like us, when the kids started going back into the school their chatter was overheard by the English teacher who then invited Rachel, Polly and Lorna into the school. They had tea with the headmaster and put in an appearance in the next English class. We camped on the shore of Lake Van and the views in the morning were amazing. The mountain range behind up was so pretty all covered in snow!
Yesterday we travelled to the town that we are currently staying it sounds very much like 'Doggy Biscuit'. We stopped for a lunchtime snowball fight as there were shed loads of snow on the lava flows. It was mad to be throwing snowballs in May! But bloody good fun! We are currently 30Km from the Iranian boarder (apparently at one point we were 150Km from Iraq!). The campsite that we are staying in is very small and a little strange. The cars that pull up are mostly SUVs. We haven't seen many posh cars and when we have they have been in the cities. We went for drinks in the bar last night and were chatting to a few of the locals. According to one of the them "many cars go into Iran empty and come back full" and another (supposedly a Science teacher) had a cheque for 1mıllıon lire (about 400K!). We are all quite convinced that they are smuggling drugs across the boarder. Anyway.......
Tonight is our last night in Turkey so we need to empty the truck of all alcohol and potential inappropriate images. This includes girly magazines (we managed to pick up Hello, Star, Glamour and Company whilst ın Ankara) and even book covers may need to go. Should the truck be searched on entry we can't have anythıng that is illegal ın Iran. It seems a bit extreme but we want to be respectful and not cause problems.
I really really really have fallen ın love with Turkey. It has so much to see and the landscape ıs ever changing. I really didn't expect so much from Turkey, corny I know but it really has blown me away. I will definitely come back. (Sarah and I are all ready planning a reunion tour ın 2009).
On a random note I think I'm starting to talk a little funny! I've noticed that I'm going up at the end of sentences and using words like wee for small. Think I'm spending too much time with Scots and kiwis!
So that's Turkey done. I think I have time for one more Kebab!
Love from Nicole xxx
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