OnTheRoad

Well, Cappodocia is great, the most insane terrain I've sighted on this trip to date. I think Sapa wins on beauty, but Cappodocia is a close second and definitely a winner on the novelty front. Photos have again arrived in the standard location, if you care to peruse them I assure you that they shall not disappoint. I've got a few to stitch together into panoramas as well, it's hard to really get the full scope of the thing with normal size photographs. I need me a panoramic camera!

So it was with a little regret that I skipped out of Goreme after only 2.5 days (and the .5 of one of those, being involved exclusively with sleep deprivation, barely counts) as I could easily have spent much more time and seen many more things... But the snow was calling to me, and I had to continue onwards.

I almost got shafted by the Turkish transport system when I tried to leave though (and would almost have been grateful for it); my bus from Goreme to Kayseri, where I was to catch the train, was due to leave at six, or so I thought. Not so, it turned out it was six thirty. And then it was 15 minutes late. And then it took 15 minutes longer than it should have to get there. Landing me in Kayseri one hour later than intended, in the rain, at a semi-unknown location to get to a train station half a kilometre further, 20 mintes before the train was due to depart... I was pointed the direction to go to the train station (I hoped) and covered it as fast as a man carrying 30 kilograms of luggage (damn snowboard) has ever covered such a distance, and arrived in perfect time for the train.

Phew! Unfortunately my lira were running low, I'd planned on splashing out on a sleeper, but instead had to take a chair. To be fair, I haven't actually taken a sleeper on any train since being in Europe and it hasn't bothered me too much; I sleep far better on a train than on a bus and last night was no exception. With a cup of top quality instant Nescafe to wake me in the morning, it was a great trip. Once dawn broke, I was able to see the terrain we were travelling through and very impressive it was indeed. I'll have to find out what range we were travelling through, but we were in steep valleys, sere grass and snow drifts to either side and huge mountains vanishing into thick cloud above us. Almost no signs of humanity, just the occasional cut of a road, a small hut here and there and once a shepherd, with dog, horse and flock. Perhaps it would be bleak to live there, but it was beautiful to see first thing in the morning.

And so I have now arrived in Erzurum. On the recommendation of two Aussies I met who have just left here into Iran (I met them back in Sofia, Bulgaria) I've found a good cheap place to stay. The owner immediately invited me next door for some tea and some broken English conversation; I ended up drawing a map (very badly) in order to explain where NZ was. I doubt they're any clearer really, but hopefully they grasped south east of Australia (which they do know).

A huge kofte izgara and some ayran later and I'm feeling fully restored after a night trip. Tomorrow I hit up the Iranian Embassy (why do they keep such short hours, damnit?) for my visa; fingers crossed. The Aussies I mentioned before were denied first time around, but managed to scam it by going through a travel agency. I'd rather I didn't have to wait so long, I'm dying to have a look at Iran.