Today i ate a doner kebap off the street in Amasra.

Amasra's a sleepy little town on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, where the locals go to for their vacation. So there's a beach, beach bars and pubs, quaint little streets with quaint little shops, great food, and AMAZING CLIFFS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN TOUCHED BY CLIMBERS. Man oh man this place would be like Krabi if anyone found out. And its only 4 hours north of Ankara. The cliffs are not as extensive as Krabi though, so its not worth it for Singaporeans, but there are some cool 2-300m babies 2km from town, and some great looking 3 pitchers next to the sea just 5 mins away. ah, what i'd give for shoes, rope and some pro...

Anyway we've been on the road for a week plus, but only covered less than 500km... that's seriously pathetic, considering I thought I was slow when I did Sing to KL's 444km in 4 days... There have been an amazing amount of hills (Alex sez he's had more hills in the past week than the whole of Europe) and we've been pretty slack, having drinks and ice cream and taking our time to eat and enjoy the views (that's what its about) and fixing Dan's bike a lot. Dan's this Englishman cycling from Bristol to Sydney and joined us in Istanbul, and has a
total knowledge of Zero about bicycles but knows basic german, so we help each other out. he's real fun and him and alex are constantly jibing each other and currently i'm refereeing their farting competition (2 points if in the presence of locals. so far england's leading 22-21, i think)

Every town we get to, we're treated like pseudo celebrities, and the kids would prod at our bikes and ask us questions in turkish that we can only smile at, and the people would buy us tea or give us fruits and such. the turks are very friendly (outside of istanbul, at least) and small town Turkey is just amazing. the beautiful hills and vales, the sunset over the black sea, the smile and 'Merhaba!' from a farmer as we cycle by... ah this is the life. many a time the people ask us why we are doing this, we're qutie lost for an answer. and frankly i doubt at the end of the trip we'd have one, either.

Anyway, Alex and Dan are swimming in the sea, its a beautiful day out so i really shoudn't be stuck here typing this. laters.

Johann.

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