Night in Ankara I have spent with saviour Mehmet from Azerbaijan, who has accepted my last minute couch request. I hope he past his final exam and is now happy celebrating and planning some nice trips. In the morning I went to the city, took few pictures, ate a hearty kebab and made my way out of the city to catch a ride. Hitch-hiking in Turkey for seems to be a peace of cake I have never waited for long time. At night I was walking through city called Sivas where I was dropped by very talkative truck driver with whom I have had interesting conversation nevermind the fact that his English was not much better than my Turkish. I Sivas I first thought spending a night would be an idea, but after failing to find a hostel a being taken to the cheapest hotel and negotiated price as low as 25 Turkish Lira (1TL=0.43EUR(I do not think the hostel would be cheaper than this)) I decided to go further and try my luck but in the end just slept a couple of hours in my little tent outside of the city and as soon as the raised I kept going farther. Beautiful nature in the east of Turkey made me want to return, perhaps once when I will have a motorbike. I am strongly recommending Turkey. The variety in nature from north to south and east to west is amazing, while the distance is bearable. Near Iranian border next morning I have not missed the opportunity to meet closer with Kurdish 'terrorist' people, who have invited me first for çay, but then made me dine with them too, which was as tasty as funny. Fresh bread with withe soft cheese, yogurt, lots of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers finalised by collective picture.
Soon after I have been crossing the border to Iran. First city behind the border is called Bazargan, where I found an Internet cafe, sent few accommodation requests and tried to hitch a ride to Tabriz. There I knew it was not going to be easy because Iranians do not know the idea of hitch-hiking nor it is easy to explain it. So ended up on the so called mini-bus, which is a normal car, taking me to next village, where I was almost forced to take a bus. I did not want to argue and it was very hot, I decide to take this offer. In Tabriz we arrived late, and being dropped at the of this not so small city (2million people) I took a taxi, asking for the nearest internet cafe, the seemed to understand but later I have doubts when arriving to hotel. Fortunately receptionist spoken English and I managed to explain to him that I only needed internet. Using a pc in the office behind reception I found a number to Babak, who was able to host me instead of Amir who I have asked at first. Taxi driver then took me further to the destination where Babak was to pick me up(after getting his phone number, i called him and for better orientation receptionist negotiated the directions). Lots of fun started when the taxi driver started to ask for money, he asked for much more than he would ask the local person and I knew it and refused to pay whole amount, because I did not have that much in Rial. After a while I managed to gain my rucksack back and walked away from this gentleman with a smile on my face like this :), because I could already see my next host Babak. He and his friends took me to his place where I first in my life visited muslim family... to be continued, because now I am going to meet more nice people.
Soon after I have been crossing the border to Iran. First city behind the border is called Bazargan, where I found an Internet cafe, sent few accommodation requests and tried to hitch a ride to Tabriz. There I knew it was not going to be easy because Iranians do not know the idea of hitch-hiking nor it is easy to explain it. So ended up on the so called mini-bus, which is a normal car, taking me to next village, where I was almost forced to take a bus. I did not want to argue and it was very hot, I decide to take this offer. In Tabriz we arrived late, and being dropped at the of this not so small city (2million people) I took a taxi, asking for the nearest internet cafe, the seemed to understand but later I have doubts when arriving to hotel. Fortunately receptionist spoken English and I managed to explain to him that I only needed internet. Using a pc in the office behind reception I found a number to Babak, who was able to host me instead of Amir who I have asked at first. Taxi driver then took me further to the destination where Babak was to pick me up(after getting his phone number, i called him and for better orientation receptionist negotiated the directions). Lots of fun started when the taxi driver started to ask for money, he asked for much more than he would ask the local person and I knew it and refused to pay whole amount, because I did not have that much in Rial. After a while I managed to gain my rucksack back and walked away from this gentleman with a smile on my face like this :), because I could already see my next host Babak. He and his friends took me to his place where I first in my life visited muslim family... to be continued, because now I am going to meet more nice people.
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