Off to Iran, at last

They offered you cay instead of petrol? According to Google " Full Definition of cay. : a low island or reef of sand or coral.". If I were you I would have accepted the offer, as long as it remained above the surface during high tide. Nevertheless, I was relieved that you at long last got the benzin.
 
Aha, spotted the word 'çay' in the window behind the men. Upon further investigation I see the word, like the British word char, and the beverage, originates from China.
 
Simon, from the look of those high, rolling hills around Tatvan and the wide expanse of Lake Van I am guessing that this is not a very comfortable place to be in winter; I'm sure your timing for this trip is just about perfect! Thanks for sharing.....
 
Yes it was a cold day yesterday, up to 2300metres. And an unexpectedly long one...


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And Johan I haven't found 'c with a squiggle under' on my phone keyboard yet!


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Apropos of nothing, Lake Van (pronounced Wan) is apparently endorheic ie water flows in but not out
 
Shame about the ferry. It supported two communities at it's terminals and in good weather a very pleasant 45 min cruise ........ mind you, on closer inspection the lack of lifejackets or any other aids made one's arrival quite keenly anticipated!
 

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Ha Ha. But to prevent further confusion between being offered a tropical island or tea, press and hold on the c, or e, or a and the č, å or œ will apear next to your finger on the keyboard. Just slide to the required curly letter and click. A neat trick if you are writing a letter in Norwegian, as one has to do from time to time.
 
Seen on the road to Tabriz, Iran today.
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Crashing out now but will hope to update my ride report tomorrow, my first day off since leaving home.


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Greetings from Doha, Qatar.
I'm not from the UK nor do i ride a GS...but I have registered on here solely to say to you "Good luck!"
I am very interested in getting to and through Iran on my bike, so am looking forward to all the excessive details surrounding your travels!

cheers,mate- reading this at work so keep em coming haha
 
Seen on the road to Tabriz, Iran today.
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Crashing out now but will hope to update my ride report tomorrow, my first day off since leaving home.


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I spent 2 years in Iran.
On my way back from Shiraz, very late at night, I saw my first and last camel.
It was upside down, 4 legs in the air, and extremely dead.
The lorry which had just hit it was upside down in the adjacent ditch with the wheels still spinning.
Myke
 
they were probably saying "Chaii Mikhai??"

Strong black and drank with lots of sugar very sweet unlike Chai of india which is milky and sweet normally

"IF" I remember correctly "Bahlee Mamnoon" is "Yes please!"

and "Nah Mamnoon" with a lift of the head is "No thanks!"

"Do you want Tea?" I had many great business dealings over Chaii, Not really just signing off on orders and suppliers,

One MUST "try" to follow traditions in this country its almost offense to not take chaii, but folks will know you are in a hurry if you illustrate distance and darkness falling :-D They're not daft


My french arab boss learned the hard way about not trying to ! I had been at customs for half a day just waiting on a signature from the inspector when he invited me for Chaii. I had sat down drank my tea and conversed for the mandatory 10 minutes and he was poised with his pen over the document ready to sign, just as my French Arab twat boss "Farez" burst in and shouted "Have you not got the paperwork sorted yet? With that Mister Tarkashvand looked at Farez with a glare, folded all the papers that he was just about to sign into his folder, and calmly said to me in Farsi (which Farez did not understand at this point) I am sorry for you Mr Johnston, but because of this man you will have to come back tomorrow!!

I took great joy in explaining the twat lack of productive work was all his fault for that day!

Wonderful people and IMMENSELY proud of their heritage

"Respect" will open many doors for you
 
Lake Van

This was to be a nice leisurely day, touring the north (and supposedly more beautiful) shore of the lake, ending up in Dogubuyazit after lunch for a chill out before the Iranian border.

The hotel staff base me farewell- it's the Dinç not the Cinç by the way!
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It was a beautiful day and the Ahlat Seljuk cemetery was magnificent, and I was the only person visiting.
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The guardian of the cemetery had an MZ motorcycle so we had a bit of a chat about that. He then invited me to have breakfast with him and his mate - I accepted çay (see what I did there, Johan) but declined anything more.
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Both chaps were interested that I was Irish and told me about this Irish boxer who had had a bit of a dust up in Istanbul

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OLVeOWrVYe0

I came up on a slow moving truck which I
beeped only to discover it was an armoured car.
It was Getting progressively colder and higher, and I reached 2200m on the way to Dogubayazit. I was careful to Fill up at 109m and that turned out to be a good thing, again.
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There was a group of young kids on the main road who spread out across it and forced me to stop, but having heard of stone-throwing incidents in the area I was not about to hang around.

I was already thinking of how I would spend my afternoon since my destination was only 40kms away. Then I noticed a lot of boulders across the road, and some rather ragtag old soldiers barring the way. A local delivery van pulled up alongside and there was lots of shouting and gesticulating. What was clear was that we weren't going to get through - and I had no wish to be caught up in military operations against PKK.

Once I got the map out the guys relaxed and shook hands and showed me how to get the 40 Kms to Dogubuyazit. Basically it involved a 300km circuit which was 3 1/2 sides of a square (!)

So much for my early day. But I found my hotel which was superb and empty, other than the first tourist I had met since leaving Greece which was remarkable.

This was Gøran who was driving his 1930 Ford Model A around the world. We decided to join forces for the border crossing the next day.
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Simon, Such splendid occurrences (or........you could have stayed at home and watched someone else's documentary on TV!). Imagine the ambition, to see the world - all of it! - in that Ford Model A .... (Well done with minding the full tank this time, by the way). So, what of the boulders and the detour?
 
Ended up spending the last 24 hours in my bed withIMG_5107.JPG major 'Delhi belly'. Will spare you the details but hope to recover tomorrow. Even managed to source rehydration salts in a Farsi only pharmacy although could hardly


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Simon, I hope that Monday morning finds you feeling much better....it's miserable getting ill in a foreign land. Toast may help. Keep up the rehydration/slightly salted water, whatever you do. And keep the loo roll handy!
 


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