Butcher's Bill

This travel journal has always been about our experiences as we travel along and through the countries that make up the fabric of the ancient Silk Road. We want to bring to you, in living color, the sights, smells, cultures and characters we encounter as we wander…and for that reason we have worked hard to avoid the politics of the day as we weave our way though Turkey and on through Central Eurasia.
This last week I have written and deleted thousands of words expressing our thoughts and feelings after the cowardly attacks against Turkish families and children in Istanbul on Sunday evening. 17 people were killed after two explosions rocked Istanbul, 5 of the dead are children. After letting this simmer for a few days to try and keep my “tone” somewhat bearable… here is the view from our corner of Asia.
The terrorists that committed this crime used the bait-and-blow tactic, setting a small but loud explosion to attract a crowd, and then detonating a powerful, nail and ball-bearing laden explosive that would rip through those who ran to rescue.
One of the stories we heard from Sunday evening was that of a 12 year old girl who heard the first explosion and ran to her balcony to look down to the street…she died moments later when the second bomb was detonated. Another image indelibly burned into our memory is that of a mother whose feet had been blown off, ignoring her own life-threatening trauma to tend to the minor injuries of her children.
As I have said before experience is the best teacher…no degrees, university course work or eloquent discourse can impart some of the lessons that life has to offer. 3 days later Istanbul is still somber and shaking the bone chips, blood, and images from its shock-waved senses.
I have been besieged this week by my Istanbul friends and family to both write and refrain from writing about this hate driven attack. Some are concerned that standing for what we believe would endanger us, others say that if we ignore this, we are ignoring the people we love. I agree with the latter, if we won’t stand to be counted now, will there ever be something worth standing for?
Our bottom line? Turkey has shown amazing restraint against the almost daily acts of terror against its core, beliefs and people. At the urging of our own country and others in the EU, Turkey has had to tread a fine line to defend their borders. They should be praised for their calculated, patient, and careful response. Once again Turkey pays a costly butcher's bill in the search for peace.
Those who should be condemned are the hate-filled and terror-driven cowards that have to resort to targeting the young and defenseless because they lack the strength of conviction in their own beliefs to engage in reasonable and peaceful discourse. Fear will work for a season, but you cannot live by it or enact lasting change through it. Fear is the weapon of the weak.
Today along with our Turkish brothers we stand as family and friends in the face of those who hate. We grieve with you.

Working in the Dark

Yep, I have been neglecting you again. Sorry. Things are still crazy with the Visas and car registration and we have been busy holding it all together while we wait for news.
This last week some "improvements" have been made in our apartment building. As a rule, you can count on all Turkish apartment corridors to be pitch black with the light switch on a short 3-10 second timer...just enough time to make it to the next stairwell where you can hit the switch again, so you can look back and see what you just tripped over.
Yesterday Turkish ingenuity showed up in the form of an old candle that the electrician was propping up against the gas lines to use as a work light. He just moved it, his tools and ladder from spot to spot until he had installed all 18 fixtures in the building.
I found him when he had just started working and offered him my flashlight, but he just smiled and said that his candle was easier to work with and didn't need batteries.
Six hours and one candle later he finished up and headed off to his next job...nailing 50 feet of 220V electrical cable to the sidewalk outside to put in walkway lights.

Knots of Knowledge

Making do with what you got is a big part of our lives. This last week Elle & Stanley had a several-day marathon Monopoly game in play. As they were cleaning up yesterday I laughed when I saw the money pile neatly stacked and held together with a rubber band that had been repaired by tying a knot in it.Yes...we can get rubber bands here if you know where to look for them, but Elle's experience with living on the far side of the world has taught her to go with the flow and exercise a little ingenuity. A little knowledge of living cross culturally has served her well. It seems having crazy parents may have an upside after all.
Please don't send us boxes of rubber bands in response to this posting...we still have a spare in case Elle's repair fails.

Turkey Bleeds...Again

The American Consulate in Istanbul was attacked a couple of hours ago by terrorists...3 Turkish Policemen are dead, 3 terrorists are dead and others are hurting. The attack took place at the main gate to the Consulate which sits some ways back from the road.
Turkey guards the entrance to our Consulate and paid the full price of today's butcher bill...for that we are humbled and grieve along with their families and children.
Shortly before the attack, and 1000 miles east, 3 German climbers were kidnapped by 5 terrorists as they camped with their 13 member climbing party on the slopes of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey.
After all that is said and discussed about the "war on terror", it really boils down to being grateful for friends like the great nation of Turkey who stand alongside us.

Home is Good

Waiting for the Ferry

We made it back home to Istanbul last night....got up a 5am and crossed the border around 12pm. Once we got across and were waiting for the Turkish Immigration Police, Stanley wandered away from the bus and I saw him kneel down and put his hand on the ground...he looked at me and said "Ah, Turkey, it is good to be home!"
We are hoping to have the truck ready to roll by August with the new registration and requirements completed and then we will be off on our Silk Road Expedition-08 II.
Today, paperwork, grocery shopping and catching up with the neighbors.

Unexpected Decompression

Ok, maybe having to hit the road wasn't the worse thing that could happen. We bought the cheapest bus tickets we could find that would get us out of Turkey and jumped off at the first stop the bus made in Greece. We found ourselves in a little town that is so hot it is almost deserted, but the hotel rates are really low compared to the high-season rates.
As we left Turkey the Custom's Police told us we couldn't return until at least Friday so we are forced to sit and wait...not too bad a place to do that though. We are enjoying an unexpected "decompression".

Wandering in Limbo

Closets...Steward Crew Style

A few years ago I made a comment about living out of my backpack, and while that is not the case in toto, everyday there seems to be something that I need to get out, or put back into it. The rational for that was evident again yesterday when we realized we had no choice but to leave Turkey...again.
There is still no word on our Resident Permits, so we are forced to leave the country for most of a week and will (hopefully) be returning to Istanbul next weekend...If we are granted new tourist visas.
With just a few hours to go until our current visas expire we are ready to bolt and have spent the last few days scrambling with trying to find a place to go to while waiting for the "5 day clock" to run out. Right now it looks like we will bus into Greece and stay just 20 kilometers from Turkey in Alexandroupolis. However, since our plans are last-minute, we aren't quite sure if we are going to end up when or where we intended.
Wandering Again

We had really hoped that our Residence Permits would have been approved this week and that we could could have avoided the expense and hassle of a Visa Exit, however, this type of travel seems to be the norm for our crew...we will be doing what we do best, flying by the seat of our pants.
We will do our darnedest to keep you in the loop once we find a place to sit for a few days.

Turkey Goes Wild

Despair Before The Tide Turns

Euro 2008 has been a fabulous fillip for rousing the Turks and sending them to the streets full of national pride. With Turkey's National Futbol team in the semi-finals the streets of Istanbul are in full party mode.
The recent match against Croatia on Friday night was looking pretty bad for Turkey until the last 5 minutes of the game when they made an amazing comeback. We have watched the last few matches with our Istanbul-family and had as much fun watching them as watching the game.
Stanley & Elle React with Their Friends

Ercan and Crew

Turks Celebrate on the Streets

Our Friends out at 3am

We are still in limbo with our Resident Visas...but the good news is that we were able to get the Police to return our passports to us today. Our current Visas expire in 4 days so we will be on the road to Greece until next Friday.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

San Diego's UPI Office at Jack Murphy Stadium 1980-ish

I realize that some people thrive on Melodramatics but I don't have the knack for it, and yet, in looking back at my postings over the past year I was amazed to see emotive tinges woven through my words. Maybe its age? Anyhow, for that I must apologize, I will try to keep the carbonated dross of our lives from overflowing onto this blog.
We will give you something sweeter to eat today and step back a few decades to give some space to friends that have put up with my rough edges.
This past year some crazy pictures have been sent to me from a friend of almost 30 years...they are not flattering, but given the grief I have put you through this last month...I deserve the humiliation.
Over the years we all go through phases of friends and relationships, some friendships feel like they have some depth but are really just based on the commonalities of the season. At the surface it may even appear to be a best-type-of-friendship until one day you look back and realize that you have simply drifted apart and all parties are now relegated to the "Christmas Card List".
Working Mid-Town Division 1990-ish

Other friends don't have quite the depth of those above but the friendship is long term, maybe even lifelong. You aren't connected in the day to day, or maybe even week to week events...but you are friends nonetheless. Those are the friends you see at the mall or annual events and enjoy catching up with--but still you keep the relationship compartmentalized and maybe for no real reason, you don't grow too close.
Then there are a few, a very few, who last for the ages. I can think of several at the moment who we find, due to distance, schedules or other factors impossible to be involved with in the day to day shards of each others lives...but when we hook up, its like the distance and season between us had never existed. We simply fall into step as if we had been inseparable our whole lives. Those are the friendships that are melted into the place where the rubber meets the road.
This last week I have heard voices...from my past. Some from Ohio, some from SoCal and Oregon and another from Kyrgyzstan that have reminded me that I have friends, kindred spirits, who have my back covered. Who can whine about the small stuff when you have friends like these? Sorry for bringing you down this week. After stepping back to see the forest I have to say that in spite of the little things this week life is pretty sweet when you look at it from our corner of Asia.

Points of Light in Dark Days

The Planning Session
This was one of those days where you didn't know whether to laugh or cry...on one hand we had an entire community turn out to help us navigate our way through this increasingly messy Visa and Registration snafu, and on the other hand the fees and penalties rose higher and higher.
Once the news of our predicament worked its way through the neighborbood we were overwhelmed by offers of help and advice from neighbors, shop keepers, friends and even strangers. Our phones and doorbell rang well into the midnight hours last night.
The key players in all of this were, once again, Kemal, Levent and the Colonel-Murat Bay. Throughout last night and this morning they had been meeting and had finally reached a decision--it was worth the effort to try and get the government to see their way to reducing these amazingly high fees.
Kemal, My Go to Guy

Today, once I hit the street I found out that my day had already been planned for me. My retired Turkish Colonel was waiting to go with me to the "Tax Office" to wage war on my behalf. Without a chance to hesitate we were off and into the central office for the processing of taxes and motor vehicle fees.
Murat Bay didn't mince words as he explained our problem to the clerks behind the desk, in fact his diplomacy and reputation quickly won them over to our side. We were ushered into see the "Cheef" who also agreed that we were not at fault for an error in the computer system. Calls were made, documents stamped and signed and within 3 or 4 hours we were told that there was just one signature left that was needed to wipe out the extra fees and lower our debt to just a few hundred dollars.
The Cheef called Ankara and after a lengthy and heated discussion (of which I only understood the epithets) he hung up with bad news. The Ankara office refused to lower the penalties and fees and had, in fact, increased them. They attributed it all to a "suit" sitting in a windowless office.
Murat Bay's Game Face

So, we leave you today spinning around the news that we are about $5000 in the hole on just the vehicle registration, and another 3k-4k deeper on the Resident Visas. All in all it has been a cheap lesson.
Are you still with me? Wake up and listen to at least this line...here we are foreigners living in a country on the far side of the world whose religion, customs and culture are not our own. In fact, I come from a country today that is not as well thought of as it used to be. But in the face of it all these amazing Turks have stepped into the gap for us and have done all that was possible to rectify a problem that was ours--not theirs.
Yep, we are broke and the next few months look pretty dark and uncertain. But today we saw some light poking through the darkness from the hearts of a people who have accepted and loved our family as if we were one of their own.
I may be newly "poor and needy", but I feel as if I am king of the hill with the wealth of friends Turkey has given us. All in all...not a bad lesson for a few thousand bucks, when it all goes to hell its amazing to see who steps in to throw you a rope. From our perspective, all is well when you live with a few million Turks who have your back covered.

Grounded

I just didn't have the uummph to come up with a picture that describes today's news...so work with me, Ok?
We are still waiting on the Visas with news that they will eventually arrive, we hope it is before our current Visas expire in 9 days...that would put us in a bad place if they were later than they are now.
Just in case we didn't have enough to occupy our thoughts, today we were renewing our vehicle registration when the clerk discovered an error in the "Code" used to calculate our particular make and model. It seems that the Department of Motor Vehicles have undercharged us almost $3500 in vehicle taxes the last few years. Even though we have been on time with all the billings, the formula used to figure our taxes was out-O-whack. Being a foreigner owning a 4x4 seems to be a contributing factor.
Although it really wasn't any one's fault other than a clerical-programming mistake we now have to figure out where we are going to find an additional 3500 USD on top of the nearly 7k the Visas are costing us.
Morton's Salt comes to mind, "When it Rains, it Pours". More from the edge after the lights come back on.

Lingering in Limbo

We are still loitering in limbo looking for news regarding our Visas. To date, nada. We have begged, borrowed and have finally stolen away to linger on our balcony until we hear. Even bureaucratic besetments have an upside in Istanbul...its hard to be glum when balcony weather comes calling in Kadikoy.

Cyber Love

You hear about bad computers happening to good people, but until you have been there it’s hard to sympathize. We have been through a few computer crashes in our day, but none more catastrophic than the one that came a knocking this week.
We had ordered a new laptop to replace my road-weary Dell. After years of being on the road, the sand, dust, heat, cold and some amazing flirtations with bashing and banging have taken its toll and I have been holding my breath that it would last until we could afford a new one. Once we knew my parents were heading this way we scrambled and saving our pennies ordered a brand new shiny Dell XPS.
I can't praise my old Dell enough though, it has traveled in my backpack through 37 of our United States and on to Lebanon, Germany, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Greece, Turkey, Iran Iraq and through some of the roughest terrain in Asia Minor. It has served me well, but its inability to handle my growing files and its slow and aging processor had me looking to upgrade and holding my breath that it would keep processing until I could replace it.
My parents hand delivered a shiny new one in April. While all the new features were cool and its 320GB of space gave me a new found freedom, I missed my old computer's small shape, the solid feel of its heft, and the tiny keyboard with the cracked frame where I have tapped out hundreds of thousands of words.
The familiar crack, the result of being not too well balanced on a rock while trying to upload a column from the Iranian border via sat-phone, was a way-point that kept my palms in the perfect orientation to expound ...a little Norah Jones, a scalding glass of çay, our balcony, a pile of books and maps along with my old Moleskine diary open to our latest adventures and life was good.
I had just completed the transfer of thousands of pictures, hundreds of musings and all the stuff that I need to bring our wanderings to you in print when I finally put away the old, and embraced the new. My shiny new XPS now sat on the shelf next to my bed, but I kept my old Dell just below it, unplugged and for all intents just sitting there waiting to be passed down through the crew.
I waited a few months to see if the new XPS was working as it should before I wiped my old Dell clean and passed it off to the kids. Last week I felt that I had finally made the transition and the swap was complete.
Tuesday morning when I started work and turned on my shiny new XPS-- I got nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Just an error code that Dell said was a complete HD failure. There was nothing they could do...the HD in the new shiny XPS was “irretrievable” and a total loss. In fact, once I passed the error code on to the Dell tech, he said it was the worst possible scenario. They quickly dispatched a new HD to some friends who are heading our way and were confident that they could restore the shiny new XPS to top notch condition, but all my files were lost.
Feeling a little guilty, I picked up my old Dell a few days ago and turned it on, it took its usual 8 minutes to fully boot up, I reactivated my E-mail settings and had to enter all my passwords by key instead of the cool fingerprint reader on the shiny new XPS, but it came back to life and we picked up where we left off.
Once the new HD arrives I will swap it out and get it all working, but it won't be used by me. I will pass the shiny new XPS off to Ann, whose old laptop only has half a screen and I will stay in the Stone Age with an old friend. Mercy is a big deal in life, I am glad my flirtations with something faster, cleaner and newer have been forgiven. The crack under my palms is reassuring and it is good to be back to work with my little laptop and its quirky ways.

Culture of Time

Your Author and His Tools

A month or so ago we were interviewed by Lonely Planet on our nomadic adventures (LP Interview), one of the interviewer’s questions asked what was the single most valuable piece of travel advice that I had received? Remembering my role model, a nomadic adventurer (CPO now long dead) who had stirred our passions to wander Asia…I quoted his favorite phrase—The Flexible shall not break.
This month I have been stretched to live that out. While we have never experienced culture shock as some do, we have occasionally been put to the test to adapt to local culture, or break paths and be the “foreigner” living among the locals-- something that is not an option for our crew. We've been able to meld into Central Asian ways without too much discomfort and have embraced the confusion of being a third culture family.
Learning the language is key to understanding culture, but often just making time for people can speak more clearly than linguistic fluency.
With many of the locals taking advantage of the weather and making for the islands or coastal resorts this month I had looked forward to a few weeks of uninterrupted work, language study, and a list of projects, planning and research that I needed to finish.
As most adventurers can attest to, if you are going to wander the backwoods of the planet you have to have some ingenuity to fall back on in order to survive. I remember the blistering hot asphalt of Missouri’s back roads as I replaced the worn out springs on an old trailer we were towing as we roamed the states, and sucking mouthfuls of gasoline out of our tank after a station attendant had accidentally filled our diesel vehicle with the wrong fuel in a border town near Iran.
I have changed out flat tires by the score; lain under 50 year old houses cutting through cast iron pipes with a hacksaw, and (being the cheapskate that I am) have now learned how to survive while tampering with the 220V electric system in Asia.

You’re right; it takes no great intellect to accomplish these chores, just a stubbornness to forge ahead without having to rely on anyone else and the willingness to make mistakes or burn the tip of your finger off by touching the wrong wire.
Those meager skills haven’t gone unnoticed to our neighbors, and while I usually enjoy spending a day or two a month doing some odd handyman jobs as a gift for the locals, this week the orders came in fast and hard. I have spent every day this week dealing with one small crisis or another. Bad electrical switches, installing new outlets, tidying up electrical lines, re-caulking kitchen counter tops and trying to find “where that bad odor is coming from”...etc..
All that to say that today I finally made it over the hump and past my frustrations. One of my elderly neighbors has wanted me to go with them to a new produce store they wanted me to see. For weeks I had heard about the quality and convenience of this new shop, and for weeks I have had to decline due to the lack of time. Finally today, after repairing an outlet and a broken light fixture, he looked at me and said “S-tan, when will you go with me to see the new market?” Realizing I was beat I gave in and agreed to go at once.
With the promise that it would take only a “few minutes” we took off walking south towards the Sea of Marmara and then west towards Kadikoy. As we walked along our friend continued to stress how close and easy it was to shop at this market, “the produce is so fresh and it is so easy to get to.” After 20 minutes or so we veered off the street and took a flight of stairs down and underneath the railroad tracks, traversed another block via the underground walkway and then two flights of stairs to come back up to street level.
We dodged thru gridlocked traffic and around a corner, down two more flights of stairs to find a delightful little market, full of the same produce we purchase each week at the Pazar just outside our front door.
After politely browsing and commenting on how fresh and bright all the goods were, we purchased a few things for the sake of our friend and left. Our guide, now content that we had finally seen his gem of a find was happily leading us back home. His eyes sparkling with satisfaction he continued to praise the convenience and quality of the little market.
As we approached the apartment block we both live in I asked him how often he visited the little market that he was so taken with…his reply stressed the flexibility needed to live in another culture. “Oh no, we never shop there…it is simply too long a journey to make when we can shop at the weekly Pazar just outside our door.”
I waited for the “snap”…but felt the gentle stretch of a flexibility learned through years of living abroad. Anxious to get back to the books his next words hit home and caused me to laugh, “now S-tan, can you come in and see what is wrong with my bathroom light, it will only take a minute.”

Ticks and Tricks

Tick season is in full swing here in Turkey. A week or so ago the local Istanbul hospitals were overrun with people who had picnicked in some of our parks and open spaces over the weekend. Finding ticks latched onto their bodies later that night and Monday morning they fled in mass to the doctors and hospitals. Read this article.
With a strain of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever associated with tick bites in recent year there was some genuine panic, 10 people have died of the disease this year alone.
However, there are some schemers out there. If someone knocks on your door and identifies themselves as City Tick Health Care workers and ask you to remove your clothes, place your arms over your head and twirl slowly. Don't do it, They are scamming you and just want to see you naked.

I wish I had known this yesterday. I feel stupid now.

My thanks to John W in Winesburg for providing the humor to this posting. I can still see you dancing around your front porch!

Scents of Asia

Any doubts that summer is here to stay have faded in the heat of the Aegean sun this last week. Meetings in Smyrna (Izmir) and the few days of travel between here and there gave us the chance to see the western coast of Turkey at its finest.
Fields of wild poppies and artichokes, blue skies and breezes that can only be described as "delicious" with the scent of jasmine and cherry saturated our senses with the enchantment of the orient.
We are back to work now and waiting, still, to see if our Visas have been approved.
A Village Home Near Smyrna

Turkey's Famous Poppies

Working Hard Laying Down

You know you are in the right corner of the world when you can appreciate a culture that loves something as unique as ceiling-art. Think about it...what do you have to do in order to study and absorb the beauty in a work of art on a ceiling? Repose. A Safronbolu Ceiling

Ottomanesque architecture features elaborate ceiling art and design. The longer we live in Turkey, the more I wonder if there isn't a rouge Turk in my ancestry because I have learned to enjoy the process of pondering...Turk style.
You see, I have to think about things for a long time before putting pen to paper. Here in our corner of Asia I seem to fit right in because I choose to make like an Ottoman and ponder my perceptions laying flat on my back. An ideal location to enjoy the art of Turkey.

Road Trip with the Steward Crew

Responding to slew of wanna-be-wanderers we have decided to open up this fall's Silk Road Expedition to a few adventure-driven readers. If you wanna hang with the Steward Crew for a week or two in the outback and borders of Asia Minor this will be your last chance before we head back to the states for a gear-up in early 09.
Not a trip for whiners or the finical we will be sleeping in some rustic climes and our days will be long, dusty and full of adventure. But if a working-vacation floats your boat then this trip could be the trick to turn your armchair adventures into reality.
If you join us you could find yourself sleeping under the stars near Haran, pitching rocks into the muck to give us traction or lugging your backpack to the 5th floor of an elevator-less hotel.
While we don't promise this will be the trip of a lifetime and we are sure to be a bad influence on your 9-5 mindset we know this will be one experience you won't soon forget (the bruises alone last for months).
If bedraggled, bitten and bruised sounds cool...follow the link to the right and drop us a line.

Summer of Rubble

We are still on tenterhooks waiting to see if our Visas will be approved...but in the meantime we are trying to work thru the financial rubble of the last few weeks and get back to normal with work and study. If our situation was a construction project, we would be in the demolition stage.
Summer in Kapadokia

Summer has blown right past spring and this week the projected highs will be near 100 degrees. The last few days have been balcony-weather, the locals are out late, eating, smoking and chatting over glasses of tea, all of which has prompted me to move my office back out to the balcony for the season. The shoes and winter wear have been packed away and we are back in the routine of taking our late night strolls.
When we first hit town two years ago Stanley and Elle loved sitting on the terrace of the little cafe down the street. As the weather changed the last few weeks they have been anxious to spend some evenings on the cafe's terrace playing games with the owner, Fikret. We will keep you up to date as the Visa news trickles in...
Stanley, Elle and Fikret

Treading Water and Grinding Grist

We've been a bit scarce around these parts the last week or so. I have been busy with trying to swing a way to get our Resident Visas to stay in country. Once we come up for air we will get back in the groove of grinding grist for your updates. For now we are treading water in the pool of politics, payola and persuasion.

Kidneys and Rice

The Machinations of Wandering

Some changes have come down the political pipeline the last few months that are forcing us to apply for long term Resident Visas in order for us to keep doing what we do. We probably should have jumped this fence a few years ago, but the expense and process has always kept us at bay.
When it is all said and done we are looking at 6k to 7k in cash that we will have to pony up in the next few weeks...all of it unexpected. In the long run it will be the best and least expensive route and allow us greater freedom to travel along the Silk Road, but today it is a bit of a bummer. What's a kidney worth nowadays? (Our kids each have two of 'em, and we'll make you a sweet deal).
How will this affect you? Our SRE's for this season will need to be curtailed some and you will (hopefully) see a more fit looking guide on your armchair adventures. I have suddenly decided that I like rice.
No worries...we will find ways to bring some adventure and exploration into the mix.

Wrapping Up and Winding Down

Mom & Dad in Kapadokia

We are wrapping up the final few days with my folks. We have been together for almost 5 weeks...it still seems far too short. Dad has settled into a routine of getting out and about, and as always, no matter where he goes he ends up knowing most of the comings and goings of those around. Even though he can't speak a lick of Turkish he has some amazingly animated conversations with the locals. One of our neighbors just stopped by to take him for a walk and spend an afternoon with him.
With just a few days left we are looking back over this year's first foray to the east. In spite of the downside of traveling with an expert on driving habits, it was a blast and I am not looking forward to the wrap up of this trip.
Antakya Mosaic Museum

Near Samandag with their Tour Guide

In the Underground City of Derinkuyu

The Back Country from the Back Seat

Hanging with the Locals in Hasankeyf

We got home a few days ago and to my astonishment, I have discovered yet another nasty element of my personality...I don't travel well with elderly men. Especially those who sit in the back seat and drive "out-loud" when it is time to brake, turn, decelerate, accelerate or perform any other activity related to the operation of a motor vehicle.
Dad and Elle

While some people can afford their own personal-shoppers, the best I could drum up was my very own personal-driving critic. I love him...but thank God this road trip is in the can, you would have thought we were driving on two wheels the whole time from his gasps, sighs and snorts. Next time (if there is one) we will use sedation and install a fake brake pedal in the back seat as a pacifier.
We cut the last three days off due to some hotel problems and the fact that we were all pretty wiped. We did have a chance to check in with a few of the villages and touch base with some friends along the way...but most of the villages are still inaccessible due to the mud and snow.
Back in Istanbul we are trying to catch up on life and enjoy the last two weeks with my folks before they head back to Grants Pass and a new career as expert motor vehicle accident statisticians.
Below, a few vignettes of our two weeks in the outback of Turkey and parts east.

Cliff Homes on the Tigris

New Grapes on the Syrian Plains

Leaving Dad Behind

Ibrahim Tepe

Safranbolu Salon

Amasya Portico Dome

City of a Thousand Churches

Highlights of the Low Points

8000 Foot Chalk Pass

Just a quick recap while our wireless is still up...we tried to reach a snowbound village yesterday a few hours north of Erzurum and off the pavement and got stuck on a sludgy dirt road that was blocked by snowdrifts. Dad's pile of rocks, mom's prayers, a little horsepower and an hour later we broke free and decided to wait for summer and drier ground.
At first we tried to back our way out of the mess until I heard the backdoor open and dad say "I'm outta here". I guess even the chief of the backseat-drivers have a point where they just can't take any more. For my dad it was about the time we were getting a running start in reverse to try and jump the deep trench our wheels had dug. The view out of his window of the drop off to our right made him realize that he would have more fun as a spectator. He spent the next hour pitching rocks into the muck to give us a footing to grab onto.Digging In

Back on Terra Firma

The Recap

A few hours later we gassed up and washed down the muck. Heading east towards Ardahan we passed this village bridge that the kids begged to cross. Made it to Kars before sunset and got settled in for a couple of days of exploration. Today Ani and tomorrow south.
Crossing Village Bridge