So it's fair to say that if today didn't go as planned then I would be up that unpleasant creek without any device of propulsion. I don't think like that so I was just going to breathe and believe - I am copyrighting that slogan by the way because my ride has taught me that there are only 2 things that you absolutely have to do in life and that's "breathe and believe"
If the sleep was anything to go by though, I was in for a dream day as the broken bed just allowed me to sink in and I had probably the best nights sleep so far. Breakfast was from 8 till 10 and I intended to use the whole day so was sat downstairs at the breakfast table for dead on 8am. There was a lady setting up what looked an amazing spread
of pastries and toast and fruit so my mouth was watering with anticipation.
I couldn't see the lazy excuse of a hostel worker that I spoke to yesterday so I was guessing he did the night shift and this lady was my magical morning breakfast lady. I soon became aware that she wasn't Turkish and that she was actually staying at the hostel. This became present when her 6 friends came down from their slumber and started tucking into the breakfast and I asked her if she worked at the hostel and she said "no"
Great, well where's the guy that works here then. Mr Bleary-eyes had dragged himself out his room (which is opposite the front desk) at half 8 and when I said that I ordered breakfast he looked at me with a distant gaze of nothingness. "Another man, he come at 9, he make breakfast" right well my good sleep could've been longer then! And what does a hostel worker really have to do anyway? Clean the rooms and make the breakfast, and he has cleaners come in!
I got my breakfast at 9:20 and I've seen children leave more on their plate then I was given. A man didn't come in the end so it was left up to McDreary to cut me off 4 slices of cucumber, 3 cherry tomatoes, a chunk of feta and 6 slices of bread. I was hoping my breakfast was just a momentary blip in my busy schedule.
I was told then officially that i was going to get kicked out of my hostel due to building works but i didn't have to pay anything. (just the booking fee that i had already paid!) To be honest that wasn't my first major task to get sorted so i literally forgot i was even told that.
First on the list: get a box for Nigel. If they didn't have a box at the shop I went to yesterday then I had 3 more quite distant shops to choose from. If THEY didn't have a box then I would be hoping for some rather large TVs in the area or I would be finding some cardboard and putting my blue Peter skills to the test.
After this I had the small case of printing off my flight ticket, sorting my money out, buying new bike parts, sending some things home and now, finding a place to stay the night that can help with getting a taxi to the airport. Not a lot ay?
I walked to the bike shop and got there at 10am. The guy that couldn't really speak English was there again and with a little help from my translation App, I understood that there would be a delivery coming between 12 and 2. Ok, do I wait till then and hope the box is big enough or do I look for other shops? If the delivery doesn't come then I've wasted vital hours of my day...decisions.
I decided to go back to the hostel and unload the bike. The good thing about my hostel was that it had a large courtyard area that I pretty much took over and I was allowed to leave my bike there till I found another hostel. I took the bags off and went for a cycle around town to see if I could do any of my other jobs. I needed to print my ticket, typically my hostel didn't have a printer so I managed to spot an Internet cafe after around 10 minutes of riding through the busy Antalya streets. After 5 extra minutes trying to find the "i" key on the keyboard, I eventually had that sorted. I spotted a post office as I walked to the bike shop so I managed to send home some stuff and in doing these two jobs, got rid off some of the masses of change that I had accumulated over the last week or so.
I felt good, it was nearly 1pm so I stopped for lunch near the bike shop and would go and see if a box had arrived when I was done. As I sat on the bench overlooking the sea I noticed the rear rack didn't look perfectly straight. On closer inspection I noticed a crack in the supporting arm that had bent the rack inwards. I had spotted some rear racks in the shop yesterday so I wasn't too fussed, better to get it swapped now I suppose! Just another thing to add to the shopping list I guess!
I got to the shop just after 1pm and there it was in all its cardboarded glory! Even though I had done very well to stay in focused mode and not slip into panic mode (albeit not being able to log into hotmail was immensely annoying when you call it hotmalL due to that stupid "i" key) seeing the box was a massive relief! I was lucky, there was only one box mind and I did have nightmares of it being a box for a "my little pony's first ever bike" The box was big enough, I now just had to fix a new rack to Nigel to make sure it fitted then get Nigel, the box and the new parts back to the hostel which was about a half hour walk away through the busy shopping streets.
I had a laugh with the guy in the shop as I was there for a while tinkering with the bike. He let me use all the tools no worries and there were no customers so we maxed the music up and had a bit of a rave. I quite liked "working" in a cycle shop for the day, could I do it for life? Probably get bored after 6 months to be honest.
As I carefully balanced the box on Nigel through packed streets I can confirm that the peripheral vision of the majority of Turks is about as much as a horse wearing blinkers. Their spacial awareness/area of personal space also doesn't exist, either that or they just like rubbing up to or bumping into things. I was a man in a bright red t-shirt walking a bike with a 4ft by 3ft box on top of it and I had not one acknowledgement. I don't know the words for excuse me and not everyone was Turkish so I was trying to think of a universal way to say "watch out!" I couldn't resort back to my human horn noise so I just began to shout "Whooa" very loudly as if a train had just missed me. If I hadn't of done this, I would still be stuck behind the ambling mass of spaced out pedestrians.
With the box back, the most intense game of Tetris ensued. I had a lot of loose things and not many nooks and crannies to fit them in so packing it neatly and carefully was essential. I did it with efficiency and was just left with half a pannier of clothes and my handlebar bag for hand luggage. I wasn't going to risk putting a pannier on as regular luggage, not after what happened to Jorge.
I took a huge breath of achievement. Today's mission was almost complete, I just had to find a hostel and I had plenty of time, it was only 4pm. I walked down the road and tried a few, 50TL for one night! This worked out about £18 but I was only staying for a few hours as I had to leave at 6am the next day. I used my bargaining skills of "hey, I give you 30TL, 30TL is better than an empty room and I won't even have breakfast." It worked, just 150m from my original 4 bed dorm hostel I bagged a double en suite with a TV for the same price. Well happy with the fact I had felt that I had avenged the times I was stung by the money grabbers in Istanbul, I carried Nigel in the box on my head all the way to my new place. (Taxi driver was going to charge me for a 150 metres, can you believe that?!) On top of this flowing chain of events, the lady at reception said her brother could take me to the airport at 6am no problems.
I collapsed on my bed, I had done it. It was just after 4pm and I had done every task with just a slight bead of sweat on my brow. (Probably from carrying Nigel on my head 150m) At that point, that exact point I thought back to 2009 and a conversation I had with a friend Lee whilst coaching in California. We used to play a song called "Call me Ishmael" by a band called Get cape, wear cape, fly. The song is all about going against the norm, not conforming to the 9-5's we all seem to end up in and following that dream. Africa was a dream then, Africa was a crazy idea that the younger Chris Harding thought of, it had played on his mind for years but he always chose other routes or destinations to explore.
Now I was doing it. Now that idea my parents especially, thought was just another case of me pointing to a map and saying "There! Me go there!" like some kind of Neanderthal not really knowing what I was talking about. Now it was reality.
You could say my adventure starts when I step foot in Africa and in a way because I'm flying now, it does seem like one trip ending and another new one starting. We've had the warm up act, it was good, but now the main event is here! I think having Europe was perfect for me and I have learnt a lot. Just like life, you always wish you knew then what you know now. I will learn things in Africa that I have no clue could be learnt but for now, I'm going to enjoy and be proud of what I've done so far. The journey continues and I hope it will be just as exciting and adventurous as it has been thus far.
I left my room for a late dinner as England weren't kicking off till 10pm. I prefer Antalya at night anyway. Less people on the streets, better lighting (everything looks better in the dark) and just a nice feel to the place as you walk past fancy restaurant, bars and well displayed crap I mean "bazaars." That's unfair I suppose, some of it looks quite decent and that's the problem. I also saw the same frog that I bought in Indonesia that i was told back then in a similar bazaar that it was made from Indonesian wood and traditionally hand carved by Indonesians, they must've got them flown over.... I topped my impressive day with the best kebab by far and England did the rest with a good win.
I had a nice chat with a German couple whilst watching the football as Germany were playing on the screen next to England. I like the choice to be able to talk to people or not. You experience and notice different things when you're on your own then you do with other people. Whilst eating my kebab I noticed a stray dog look both ways for cars coming before crossing the road, then he only looked one way when he crossed the one way street. I impressed myself after the day I had just survived but if that dog did that intentionally well then that has just blown my day right out the water!
Tomorrow I continue my journey of new places, new people and new experiences. Am I ready?
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