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Hi all! Currently in Dogubayazit, 50kms from the Iran border. I really want to say something positive about this little town...but it's hard! Oh, there is an awesome snow capped volcano called Mt Ararat just next door! It's a pretty poor town with some strange goings on! Lots of dudes driving around in flash cars....some of whom we were dancing w?th last night in the campsite bar, before we discovered they were drug dealers!?
The last week has mainly involved hangig around in Ankara(Turkeys capital) trying to obtain our Pakistani visas...which are now safely tucked away in or passports in Trevor(the name of our safe). Ankara did prove to be a bit of a pleasant surprise, besides being an unexpected stop. I think we were the only tourists in the sprawling city and it was actually quite nice to be away from well worn trail! There were very few english speaking people in the city...so I tried my hand at a little Turkish...lots of strange looks from folk...reckon I'll stick with sign language! Rachel has a friend in Ankara who was kind enough to take us out for a night on the town turkish style! Tervik took us to the trendy student bars and then a rock club....my ears are still ringing almost one week on! I had the most exciting taxi ride ever as 7...yes 7 of us piled into one car as the taxi driver didn' think we needed 2 taxis!!!!! It was like twister in a confined space! I attempted to find a Hamam(Turkish bath) with Rach...the only female one was on the other side of the city next to the slums....and I thought Easterhouse was bad! Anyway...we walked in and promptly tried to walk out....it was like a womens refuge and the 'ladies' in there were rubbing their hands together as we walked in! A Hamam involves being washed and scubbed by someone else...I think me and Rach would have had about 8 women each! So instead we managed to score a shower in a random gym for nothng...though we paid 5ytl anyway! Rach, Polly, Des,Ave and I got lost on the way back to the truck and ended up climb?ng the biggest hill I've ever seen in a city! What a waste of a shower that was, though it was made up for by the stunning views of the city!
Leaving Ankara was nice though as it was a little manic. After a bush camp by a dam we headed for Mt Nemut. We stopped in a little town called Pazarcia on route and were mobbed by millions of school children! Word spread quickly that we were in town and the headmaster invited us in for drinks! The school english teacher then invited us into her classroom and we were recived like celebrities...wolf whistles and cheering! Surreal! Mt Nemut was a little on the chilly side so when we were offered the use of the cafe floor we jumped at the chance. Unfortunately we were awoken at 3.30am by a bus load of australian tourists who found it very amusing as we clambered out our sleeping bags half asleep! After a lovely jaunt up the hill for sunset we had a very soggy stroll the next morning. Mt Nemut is apparently the tomb of some crazy king though his remains were never founf during excavation!
Have to abandon....off to Iran....2 weeks with no alcohol.....yipee!
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