To say I regretted not just leaving the tent and taking my sleeping bag to the prayer would be an understatement. I regretted it after the first time of waking up and my leg muscles had seized up. After the third time however it was like that night in the car park of the closed ski resort all over again. The wind was howling, the rain hammering it down and my tent was hanging on only because I was in it, I just hoped Nigel was o.k. I weathered the storm and managed to get a little shut eye until something stepped on my head. Luckily it wasn't a cow otherwise I would probably be dead. I shouted out and listened for a bit but there was no noise so I dropped back to sleep. This time I was facing the other way and got woken up again but a foot step very close to my nose. What the? Can they not see the tent I thought? Absolutely freezing still and tired I went back to sleep.
About an hour later at 9am. "Hello? Chris? Come! Come!" Still cocooned in my sleeping bag I really did not want to get up. "1 hour" I said. Selma understood time really well. I thought about going back to sleep as the wind was still giving it some and I hadn't really got any during the night but I thought even though I wasn't in his house, I was still a guest and sleeping in would be very rude. I put on my warm clothes as they were in the bag with me and a "fresh" pair of socks, well lets say different pair of socks. My trainers were in the porch section of the tent absolutely soaked but they had to go on, and i wandered around to the front of the petrol station where Selma's lounge is.
Selma is 21, he says he has 10 brothers and sisters but I've only seen 1 brother so not sure about that and I have no clue if he has any parents. He lives and works at the petrol station which is not closed down its in the process of being changed. I entered the kitchen and Selma had bread, eggs and tea waiting for me. There were also 3 dishes that I had no clue what they were at first but when in Rome I thought, ay? They were all for dipping your bread into so I ate my fried (had a hint of cheese on I could taste also) egg then went in for the kill with the bread. Dish 1: plain yoghurt, yup, strange with bread but wasn't going to kill me. Dish 2: Honey with pineapple in, I liked the sweetness to be fair, out of all the dishes, that one was most dipped! Dish 3: The strongest cheese you have had in your life. Imagine blue cheese ground up and extra blue added to it. 3 very different flavours but a very welcome surprise in the morning so I definitely wasn't complaining .
I finished my food and was nibbling away at my last piece of bread and Selma stood to pack away the fried egg pan and said "your mutter?" I thought he must've been learning overnight! Selma had a Turk/English dictionary that helped us a bit yesterday. "Yes" I said "I have one mother and one father and you?" I repeated myself a few times as Selma didn't reply then eventually,"Your mutter ok" he said and he turned around to the hob. Maybe he didn't understand me I thought, so I just turned and carried on pointlessly watching the Turkish soap on tv. Two minutes later two eggs got put in front of me again, "Oh, for me?" I said, Selma nodded then rushed off outside to help the guys with the petrol tank. I sat there for a moment then when it clicked I burst out laughing. I double checked the dictionary to be sure, yeah I was right, "yumurter" means "egg" in Turkish. Classic error ended me with two extra eggs! Bonus!
I walked back to my tent to find a pregnant dog standing there looking at me, ah so you're the lazy beast that stood on my head twice then! As I packed away, the same two ladies watched me but this time from the window of their house, must've been too cold even for them this morning!
I said goodbye and thank you to Selma, he just said goodbye back and waved me on my way. I pedalled off into the freezing wind, FREEZING wind, what was this all about? I did not sign up for this! I worked the dates so I should get good weather and this wind was coming from the Arctic! It was a no music day which gave me a bit of time to think about the events of the last 24 hours and how I'm almost taking hospitality for granted. So I cycled slowly past Selma's window to start. What would the majority of people do? Maybe a curtain twitch then sit back in their chair and carry on watching tv or wait until I had cleared off. What did he do? he came rushing out to greet me. Then I asked if I could camp around his house, I did this once in England and the man said, "no sorry that's not possible" and he had acres of space!! Here I was offered a warm room. The next day I'm cooked breakfast and given seconds and then offered everything Selma had in his cupboards, this wasn't a lot which makes it even more amazing. The best bit for me is how he just said "goodbye" like that was it. As if he normally invites random bikers in and cooks them breakfast and then asks for absolutely nothing in return! Astounding, really does go to show how kind some people can be. I have met a lot of people so far that have changed me and at the age of just 21, Selma, I will always remember.
After a couple of hours of riding and marvelling at the goodness in the people I have met I had to stop, my fingers were like icicles and not even marvelling keeps them warm. I have realised how particular the Turks are about cleaning the front of their roadside restaurants or shops. They get very annoyed when Englishmen attempt to prop their bicycle on the front pilar/flower box after they've just hosed everything down nicely.
Yesterday the bloke almost sprayed me and today I could see a group of them talking and looking at my muddy shoes as I locked Nigel up outside this very strange restaurant/supermarket combo. I walked in to find some lunch in the supermarket section and all the lights were off. Strange I thought, maybe a power cut with the wind or the manager is cutting costs. As I continued to walk around I was getting some dodgy looks from workers but nobody said anything. The food in Turkish supermarkets is basically the same as in the petrol stations. All they eat is biscuits, crisps and chocolate bars and if you're lucky you might see some cheese for sale. I am yet to see bread for sale and I tell you what, when they discover sliced bread then they will be open to a world of possibilities if they use their kebab making knowledge.
I picked up some biscuits for pudding later and went over to their fast food section for a kebab. Then it dawned on me, the place wasn't even open yet! Luckily I only had to wait an extra 5 minutes. Kebab was good but I've really got to find a proper in town supermarket and stop buying lunch out. As I went to leave I could see one of the workers from outside still looking at my shoes. I looked down and clocked it, a big piece of clay mud hanging from the arch of my shoe. If I shuffle my foot I can drag it out the door I thought, I don't want to be the dirty Englishman twice in a row. I went for it quickly but it was no use, I felt it flick off behind me and I wasn't going to stop and pick it up so I just looked forward and sped up. I think I have been successful in muddying our good nation's name, especially in this part of Turkey anyway.
Back on the road and back with the wind. This time it was going my way and for the first time in a while I was in a mood for a war cry!! The sun came out for a bit and as I flew past a dog that didn't even get the chance to get a woo out let alone a woof I let out a massive WWWWAAAAHHHOOO! A good war cry adds to the feeling of being alive and keeps reminding me why I am where I am and to enjoy what I'm doing.
I decided I had had enough for the day and that just over the crest I would stop in a field by the side of the road. I got to the crest and looked over the other side to find a vast expanse of flat land with no place of cover or shelter at all, but there was a road leading to a tiny village that I decided to head for instead. As i cycled up to the first house full of confidence, happy with the days work I had already planned where I was going to pitch up and the thought of not being able to camp there had never come close to my mind! I got about 5 metres away and forget any dog encounter I have mentioned before, as this one topped the lot. I had almost came to a stop, he must've heard the slight squeak of the brakes. I looked up to see bolting around the corner Satan's very own guard dog, foaming at the mouth with spikes around his neck from his collar that could joust children like chicken shish! My "happy go lucky face, expecting a pitch no probs" combined with "Marco's throw the bike down and show them whose boss" soon got thrown out the window let me tell you. I put the foot down and did not look back!! I must've woken him and he was working the night shift on the gates that day because he did not look happy and I was not going to wait for the typical bent over old lady to come out and save me from him!
This impromptu cycling lead me into the middle of the little farming village where there was a bent over old lady collecting water. I tried to ask which one her house was and then consequently ask if I could camp near it. This was impossible with the walls of language between us although she did point over to a house and gesticulate that sleeping there was ok, I thought it was her house at first but it wasn't as it was derelict and had no windows. No tent to bother with I thought, and the ground will be warmer, yeah let's do it. I managed to get Nigel in the one door that would open and we situated ourselves in what I would've guessed would've been the lounge. I had a look around first, no signs of current living, no glass bottles and no blood or bodies so felt pretty happy that I was safe.
The darkness came in pretty quickly and with that the wind and the freezing temperatures followed. The lack of windows didn't help and despite me hiding myself in a corner I was still getting attacked from two directions so the sleeping bag was soon in cocoon mode. I lay there looking at the front door. I had stacked some rocks in front of the door as a security alarm if anyone wanted to join me during the night. As I lay there in the corner of a derelict house in the middle of mainland Turkey I could hear a noise every 2 minutes that sounded exactly like the clicking you hear when going upwards on a roller coaster. I was trying to work out if it was an outside of noise or inside noise, that's quite hard to do when you have no windows then all of a sudden BANG!!! Bolts of shock zipped down my spine, as if hell's dog wasn't enough! I've really chosen a village here haven't I! I lay back down absolutely freezing, the same thing happened again and again, constant clicking then banging before I realised what it "probably" was. The wind was moving a very creaky door then every now and then the door would slam and cause me to poo myself. (That situation is still ongoing, it's been a few days and I think the way is shut!)
I tried to close my eyes and sleep but it was just too cold and with the banging every few minutes, I knew that I was in for yet another sleepless night. On top of this, the loud speaker from the mosque came on and it was village prayer time so I had loud chanting for a few minutes. It was then, for those few minutes, I looked at where I was and thought....weeeell its something to tell the Grandkids!! I was in a completely different world. It's hard to write all my experiences down as they happened and what I'm actually thinking at the time but at this moment in time I really was thinking, this is one heck of a story!
Freezing, chanting, creaking and banging in a house not even the locals want to stay in, in the middle of nowhere!
No comments:
Post a Comment