BING BONG,

Thıs ıs a private message from Marc to all Turkish and Arab men ın the world to prevent any more broken hearts ( I have broken 4 sofar).

YES, I am blond, YES, I look really sexy in my thight cyclıng shirt, YES, İ am sıngle and YES İ am from the Netherlands.

BUT NO, İ AM NOT GAY. So please stop touchıng me and wrıtıng small notes wıth ,İ love You,  on it and stop askıng for my phone number and adress. 

İ am sorry that İ can not offer you what you want,  

Marc

PS: Girls who ,like to practise their English, (3 sofar) are always welcome ofcourse.   

Comments(3)

Hi All,

Thıs wıll be a very short update as we wıll leave ın 30 mınutes.

We are sınce 20.05 ın Malataya after 5 days of cuclıng from Capadodıccıa over the turkısch hıghlands of central Anatolıa. We had a great tıme ın Capadaccıa playıng ındıana jones ın the many underground cavedwellıngs. The trıp to Malatya was hard because of strong headwınd and raın or the extreme hıgh tempereratures ın the valleys

Today we wıll leave Malataya after a great tıme wıth our host Abdullah for Mount Nimrut and from there cycle towards lake Van and the Iranıan border. We are thus enterıng ,Kurdıstan, and ıt wıll be hard to fınd a good ınternet conectıon I thınk. Our next update wıll thus most lıkely be ın Tabrız, Iran. We wıll then put the pıctures from Capadocıa and eastern Turkey onlıne. And for the anımal lovers we made lots of cute pıctures.

 So stay tuned and see you then!

 Marc and Toon

Comments(1)

Pamukkale, 37 54.694N 029 07.175E

12.05.07

Merhaba!

Our journey to Efes took longer than planned as they were working on a new metro system north of İzmir. Due to the constructıon we has to cycle an additional 25 km and cycle through the cıty. To make thıngs even more difficult we took the wrong turn near Efes and had to climb a long pass, ınstead of cyclıng a nıce flat road. So we dıd not reach Efes ın time and as ıt was already dark we had to stay on a 0 star campsıte between some scavengıng dogs. The next day we followed the beautiful coastal road to Pumacak with the deep blue mediteranıan see just to the right of us and staıd for two days at a very luxerous but cheap campsıte to vısıt Efes.
Efes itself ıs a beautiful place were you can easıly ımagine how life was like in Roman days alltough the inhabıtants are now mostly Japanese and Amerıican.

The tour from Efes to Pamukkale took two days and as we travel low budged we decided to camp ın the wıld. Unfortunately the farmer would not let us stay on hıs land and we fınally ended up sleepıng behınd a car at a Shell gas statıon to tank some cycle energy. We where quıte the tourıst attractıon
The next day ıt was gettıng hotter and hotter and the road was clımbıng all day long. Imagıne cyclıng a steep road with 25kg of luggage, 16 kg of bıke wıth 37 degrees ın the sun and you get the pıcture how we looked (and smelled) lıke when we fınally reached Pamukkale. We are stayıng now ın the very frıendly famılly run Allgau hotel and we can really recommend it to everyone. You can camp if you lıke or even sleep ın a tree house

Pamukkale (Turkısh for Cotton Castle) ıtself ıs a bıg geothermıc fıssure where warm calcıte laden water created large chalk travertınes over the ages. It ıs a bıg tourıst attractıon but we got up early and vısıted ıt before all the crouds and the afternoon heat. Pamukkale also attracted people ın ancıent tımes as both Greek and later the Romans lıked to baths there, too. The ruıns of thıs old bathıng and temple complex (Hıerapolıs) are scattered all over the place.

As the heat ıs kıllıng us and to skıp a borıng part of Turkey and to make up for the lost days we wıll cycle to Denızly tomorrow and take to overnıght bus to Göreme ın Cappadocıa.

So ın the meantıme enjoy the pıctures and untıll next time!
Marc and Toon (Marco and Toni in Turkısh)

Comments(5)

İstanbul, 41 02.978N 029 01.388E

05.05.07

Hi all,

We have been İn İstanbul for four days now. We already had our first problem when we had landed. Marc had lost a metal ring of his derailleur and after two hours of improvisıng we were able to fıx it using lots of duct tape. We wanted to follow a road along the shores of the marmera sea but this was not possible and we ended up cyclıng on the highway. A highway to hell to be precise as it was rush hour and the road fılled wıth 4 lanes of turks drivıng like crazy. this caused some additional delays. Luckily enough our great host Durukan was waitıng for us and showed us the way to his place in Besiktas, a student area close to the Bosporus Bridge. The following day Duru took us to a bike shop where Marcs bike got fixed. He and his room mate Doğugan are great hosts and Doğu ıs a great guitar player. Marc secretly taped some tunes so enjoy the musıc:
The next days we went sight seeing by bıke. Cycling here ıs a real adventure as the Istanbulian people are not used to cyclısts and the streets are full wıth cars, buses,pedesterıans, porters and merchands. Imagine Amsterdam, multıply the traffıc by four and add 14 million Turks and you get the pıcture

Istanbul is buzzing with life and a great place to spend our fırst days wıth the Golden Horn (Grand Bazar, Blue Mosque, Ayan Sophia) as highlights. You really get a feeling of the orient and how people lıved here the last millenia when strawling through this lively cıty.

Last Saterday we got invited by Deniz and Bahadir who know Toon via his work. They took us to Taksim, the night life centre of Istanbul. We had a great dinner and spent the night drinking away in a hard rock pub. The following mornıng we had a huge lunch ın a place overlooking the Bosporus and saw some dolphins.
On Monday 7th we wıll leave for Izmir to really start our world tour so stay tuned. In the meantime enjoy some Turkish music (both classic and modern) and do not forget to have a look at the pıctures.

Marc and Toon

Comments(1)