OnTheRoad

From my last update back in Yazd, it's all been something of a rush. After bolting back to Tabriz on another overnight bus we were once again stuck cooling our heels near the Iran/Turkey border. This time the culprit was the Turks; for some reason the Consulate in Aleppo can issue visas on the same day for Thais, but the Embassy in Tehran takes an uncertain period of time somewhere between two or three weeks...

Luckily we had Farhad and Sohrab to keep an eye on us and keep us entertained and informed in Tabriz. Farhad had helped us out getting into Tabriz from the border when we first entered, and he and Sohrab made sure that we got the most out of Tabriz.

We actually gave up one afternoon and attempted to book tickets on AirArabia.com, but were thwarted when their credit card payment system rejected cards from New Zealand, Australia and Thailand. It turned out to be good luck, as the visa came through the next day and before we knew it we were back on the road for the hardest slog of the trip. Up at five to catch a 6.30am bus from Tabriz to Maku, near the border, then on to a taxi for the last 15km to the Bazargan border itself. We worked the foreigner magic to get bumped through the lines and were through the border in record time, onto a dolmush (shared minivan, leaving when full) to Dogubayazit, another 35km from the border into Turkey. I was sick of pulling out my passport all the time for the repeated checks, so I just left mine sitting on my lap... where it was forgotten as I jumped out of the dolmush on our arrival in Dogubayazit. I didn't realise it then, of course, that would be easy. Instead our driver pointed us down the road where we could get a bus onwards to Van, where we planned to rest for the night.

After grabbing a few simit (tasty chewy bread loops) to keep us going, we had our tickets and loaded ourselves onto the next bus. The scenery is great en route, with spectacular views of Mt Ararat and some impressive volcanic rocks, mountains and lakes. Around an hour and a half out of town I suddenly realise that the last time I saw my passport was back on that goddamn dolmush... At least my timing was right. I ran up to the driver to ask what time services ran back from Van to Dogubayazit - apparently there would be one at 3pm, which I should be able to catch. However, before I could even make it back to my seat he started honking his horn and pulling over; he'd spotted the Van to Dogubayazit service coming up in the opposite direction right then!

We quickly switched our luggage over and piled into the already overcrowded bus back to Dogubayazit, where I befriended Ostoy, a high school student in Van returning to his family in Dogubayazit for the holidays. His English was good enough for me to explain the problem and he and I set out to the dolmush station to reclaim the passport as soon as we arrived. After a somewhat anxious half an hour, the passport was located and driven back to the station where it was returned to its grateful owner 10 minutes before the next departure to Van. A quick run around to locate a functioning ATM (the first was broken, the second out of cash - third time the charm) and we were finally safe on our way to Van.

From Van, there are two ways east towards Gaziantep, our next transit point. One goes around the north of the lake, and is much slower than the southern route. On booking our bus, the friendly lad told us that it would take 11 hours to Gaziantep, which is how long it takes on the southern route. Unfortunately the friendly boy was an idiot. The trip was 14 1/2 hours, from 9am to 11:30pm - not my favourite time to arrive anywhere. Given the late arrival and our already exhausted state, taking an onward bus to Amasya (leaving at 12pm, in theory, and taking three hours) seemed like less effort than arranging a taxi and rocking into an unfamiliar town at midnight looking for hotels, so we headed on out without seeing anything. Actually, I had the best sleep I've ever had on a bus; it was so empty I could stretch my legs across the aisle and take up four seats!

A strong morning coffee (Amasya is close enough to Syria that the coffee starts to get good again) and some tost (toasted sandwhich with cheese and sausage) gave us the energy needed to board the next bus to Aleppo (aka Halab, aka Halep, just to make things confusing). I resented paying US$60 for the tourist visa, especially when we were returning for only a few days, so this time I managed to get a three day transit visa - it's free for NZ citizens, although I've no idea about other countries. The plan was to try to extend the visa (I'd seen a sign in a visa office that led me to believe it was possible) or, failing that, to cross the border to Lebanon, then turn around and come back on a new transit visa.

Join next time for further information on our trip back through Syria to Jordan. Some time today or tomorrow we'll head across to Jerusalem - I anticipate an interesting crossing as they quiz us on our Syrian and Irani travels...