Sick in a spa

Dear all,

When we noticed we were starting to become part of the furniture in our Istanbul hostel, we decided to head out. Our bodies were plump from the kebab, beer and nargile and our spirit had taken a blow. Even though our consulate kept giving us a warm "Hi, how are ya?" every time we visited them and sent us on our way with faith in our hearts, they still left us out to dry in the end. There is something structurally wrong with the communication between Istanbul and Iran and it cost us our time, money and effort. On top of that, this city drove us mad. The weather wasn't doing us any favor either as we did not have óne day of great weather in Turkey.

Just as we were about to take the ferry to Yalova (a big village just by the coast, 60K south of Istanbul) I got ill, but we still decided to push on. After filming the other interior we took off once again. Under a spectacular sunset, we raced across the Galata bridge, dodging fishing rods left and right to end up in the rush hour of the largest city in Europe. I got attacked by three dogs averaging 1.1M in height but a perceptive cab driver intervened and maneuvered his car in between the dogs, putting steel and rubber between us. Literally three minutes before the last ferry was scheduled to leave, we arrived in the harbor and were just in time to get aboard. The engine started, night fell and we were back on the road.

In Yalova we deemed it wise to pick a cheap hostel because I had a slight fever and my asthma lungs were starting to play up. The next day we started out slow but I still barely managed to cross even a speedbumb because I was so short of breath. Some guy had pointed us in the direction of a camping site which of course turned out to be imaginary, so we called on a sloping grassy field where a farmer was tending to his cows. No problem, he said, or at least that was what me made of it. Just as we had finished taking our bags of our bikes, three cops came barging onto the field, forcing their boots through the mud. They didn't speak a word of English but with the help of our phrase book they made it clear that they considered us to be a bit weird. They suggested a better place to set up camp and without asking, pushed me in the back of their car. As we were speeding across mountain tracks and I tried putting on my seatbelt, a cop put his hand on mine and exclaimed:"no problem, no problem". What had we gotten ourselves into? after a minute or two we arrived at a spa called Termal, where the entire parking lot (huge field) had been made available to us. Drinking water, fire place, toilet, shops everything was at a stone's throw they said. "No problem, no problem!". I persuaded Duncan and an hour later we were sitting by our own handmade campfire.

Next day afternoon, Duncan went out to get the groceries for the following days while I drank a cup of coffee in a nearby restaurant. When I got back to the tent a little later, his bike was still there but I couldn't imagine him walking all the way to the shops as we had agreed they were at least a couple miles don the road. Submerged in the story of my book I was awakened by the honking of a police car. A cop I hadn't seen before got out of the car with a wide grin on his face and told me Duncan had unfortunately been eaten by a wolf. When I suspiciously walked around the car, Duncan stepped out of the vehicle holding a bag full of groceries. They had seen him cycling up the hill and even though the shops were literally just around the corner, they couldn't bear to see the poor boy cycle all the way there. They even offered us coffee at the police station. Today, day three in Termal, they came to check out how my lungs were doing. I've hear different stories about the Turkish police in the past...

f we still haven't heard from the consulate by the time I get better, we will possibly throw ourselves at a completely new plan. Being idle and waiting is more tiring than riding up a 17% hill for 10Km, that much we've learned.

Check out our Youtube channel and and our Picasa album! Both of them have exciting new content :)

Ciao,
Yur