Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Eastern Europe
Entering from Turkey to Eastern Europe was immediately a change: the scenery and the people. Gray flats, green hills, roundabout with big statures and short, shorter, shortest skirts and trousers!! Kiki felt very uncomfortable in her long skirt. Time for the big change; summer-dresses came from far from under her back-pack. Sjoerd and Marcel adapted by un-dressing their blouses and t-shirts. We also started a new statistic: men with naked belly. Within one day this statistic entered the first place!! What a result!
After one night in Bulgaria we continued to Bukarest. Sjoerd wanted to see Ceausescu’s Palace. The moment we entered Bucharest Marcel’s nicotine-plaster kicked in big-time. Which resulted in Marcel with more adrenaline than ever (and normally he already has plenty of it). Like a truck-driver on speed he screamed his way through the center and jams of Bucharest. Kiki and Sjoerd laughing in the back of the car, because what else can you do with this maniac behind the steer?! After 5 hours and still no hostel we decided to treat ourselves with a nice 3-stars hotel 10 minutes from the Palace. Next day we went to the palace (which has almost the same size as the Pentagon!! Crazy dictator!!!!). It was not our lucky day: we were not allowed to enter the palace because there was a race-game planned next day. In the afternoon we moved in to Brasov, famous for her skiing possibilities in winter and bears tracking in summer. Brasov is around 150 kilometers from Bucharest but it took us 5 hours to get there. Jam, more jam and more jam. Reason is that now these days Romania is working on all its roads. Marcel’s theory because the big truck of money came from the E.U. One way or another, it results in to many vehicles and to much road-blocks.
That evening in Brasov we went to the nicest restaurant in a long time. Enjoying a glas of wine and good food (for good prices!). After dinner we went in a taxi to see the bears that come every night to the city to steal food. Romania is not happy with tourists spotting these bears, because last month 3 tourists were killed. We didn’t care about that and went anyway. After 10 minutes driving we arrived in a area with lots of flats near to the forest. We couldn’t find the bears eating from the garbage and went a bit dissepointed away. That moment Marcel saw a bear and went out of the car. We made some nice pictures (although not clear because it was too dark).
Last days we spend at Kiki’s friend Oma. Kiki lived in Romania for 3 months some years ago. Oma took care of her that time. Oma was not very happy with Kiki’s plan to live in Uganda and very worried about the fact that Kiki was driving all through Africa. When Kiki arived at her door she almost got a heart attack (it was a bit of a surprise). Immediatly she gave Kiki, Sjoerd and Marcel a big lunch and for 2 days we were very very spoiled by oma.
Today we made it to Poland. Here we visited the 2 camps from the WW2, Auswitch and Birkenau. Very impressive! Tomorrow we will do some nice shopping, sight-seeing and cappucino tasting in Krakow.
After one night in Bulgaria we continued to Bukarest. Sjoerd wanted to see Ceausescu’s Palace. The moment we entered Bucharest Marcel’s nicotine-plaster kicked in big-time. Which resulted in Marcel with more adrenaline than ever (and normally he already has plenty of it). Like a truck-driver on speed he screamed his way through the center and jams of Bucharest. Kiki and Sjoerd laughing in the back of the car, because what else can you do with this maniac behind the steer?! After 5 hours and still no hostel we decided to treat ourselves with a nice 3-stars hotel 10 minutes from the Palace. Next day we went to the palace (which has almost the same size as the Pentagon!! Crazy dictator!!!!). It was not our lucky day: we were not allowed to enter the palace because there was a race-game planned next day. In the afternoon we moved in to Brasov, famous for her skiing possibilities in winter and bears tracking in summer. Brasov is around 150 kilometers from Bucharest but it took us 5 hours to get there. Jam, more jam and more jam. Reason is that now these days Romania is working on all its roads. Marcel’s theory because the big truck of money came from the E.U. One way or another, it results in to many vehicles and to much road-blocks.
That evening in Brasov we went to the nicest restaurant in a long time. Enjoying a glas of wine and good food (for good prices!). After dinner we went in a taxi to see the bears that come every night to the city to steal food. Romania is not happy with tourists spotting these bears, because last month 3 tourists were killed. We didn’t care about that and went anyway. After 10 minutes driving we arrived in a area with lots of flats near to the forest. We couldn’t find the bears eating from the garbage and went a bit dissepointed away. That moment Marcel saw a bear and went out of the car. We made some nice pictures (although not clear because it was too dark).
Last days we spend at Kiki’s friend Oma. Kiki lived in Romania for 3 months some years ago. Oma took care of her that time. Oma was not very happy with Kiki’s plan to live in Uganda and very worried about the fact that Kiki was driving all through Africa. When Kiki arived at her door she almost got a heart attack (it was a bit of a surprise). Immediatly she gave Kiki, Sjoerd and Marcel a big lunch and for 2 days we were very very spoiled by oma.
Today we made it to Poland. Here we visited the 2 camps from the WW2, Auswitch and Birkenau. Very impressive! Tomorrow we will do some nice shopping, sight-seeing and cappucino tasting in Krakow.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Lost purse in Turkey!
Turkey started already a bit difficult. Sjoerd had forgotten his pillow in the hotel, so we needed to drive 20 minutes back. Kiki and Marcel not very happy, but since it was only 20 minutes Marcel decided not to make a fuss about it. He did make it clear this was the first AND LAST time!! After a smooth border-pass (where it was not necessary to stamp our Carnet anymore, but Marcel demanded it) we drove into Turkey; holiday country of Europe and Russia. After handling the first shock (benzene is very, very, very expensive) we decided to camp to save some money. Late with a very empty stomach we entered the camp and asked the German-speaking owner if it was possible to have some food. Of course! Later it turned out camping was around 3 € but food around 15 €. So far for saving some money……
Next day Kiki woke up with stomach-pain and fever, but demanded to drive all the way to Istanbul. Cappadocia she could see laying in the car from the window (very beautiful, moon landscape). After 20 minutes she hurried to the toilet to get rid of her breakfast. What a relief!!! Feeling better and smiling again the journey continued.
Two hours later our next toilet-break came and Kiki asked the question-of-the-day: where did I put my purse? Sjoerd answered: maybe in the toilet? He meant this toilet, but Kiki realized she forgot it in the toilet 2 hours ago. Somebody from our trio went mental!!! No need to name that person. End of story: 2,5 hours and 230 km (back and forth) later the purse was back. We didn’t make it to Istanbul that day……
Next day Kiki’s bacteria was almost gone and Marcel’s smile was back again, journey continued to Istanbul. First we stopped by to visit a college from Marcel (Sadin) who lives in Istanbul. He got us a very nice lunch. Marcel got the opportunity to show how well he can handle babies when the youngest boy was on his lap. It took him just 2 seconds to make that poor boy cry!
We asked Sadin about the camping we wanted to stay-over in Istanbul. Internet said it was a bit far from town. He looked at the directions and smiled. A bit far? Very far!! Still, it seemed like a very wise idea to us, so we went anyway. That evening we arrived at the camping that lays around 70 km from the center!! CRAZY!!! But luckily the camping had a very useful facility: a real Heli-port. Very useful for all those campers, cars and bicycles who usually stay at the camp-side. It turned out that the owner had his own Heli. You need to be creative and BMW’s and Mercedes’ are not that special anymore in Turkey.
Next day Kiki and Marcel made it all the way by public transport to Istanbul. Kiki was very impressed by the Bazaar. She had to admit: Turkish people know how to make fake look very real. It is almost “goedkoper dan Zeeman” and surely “allemachtig prachtig”!!
Today we reached 2 big goals!! Our, dirty, red and reliable Toyota made it to the E.U.!! After driving MORE than 10.000 km. If we weren’t on rehab this journey we would have ordered a bottle of Champagne!
Next day Kiki woke up with stomach-pain and fever, but demanded to drive all the way to Istanbul. Cappadocia she could see laying in the car from the window (very beautiful, moon landscape). After 20 minutes she hurried to the toilet to get rid of her breakfast. What a relief!!! Feeling better and smiling again the journey continued.
Two hours later our next toilet-break came and Kiki asked the question-of-the-day: where did I put my purse? Sjoerd answered: maybe in the toilet? He meant this toilet, but Kiki realized she forgot it in the toilet 2 hours ago. Somebody from our trio went mental!!! No need to name that person. End of story: 2,5 hours and 230 km (back and forth) later the purse was back. We didn’t make it to Istanbul that day……
Next day Kiki’s bacteria was almost gone and Marcel’s smile was back again, journey continued to Istanbul. First we stopped by to visit a college from Marcel (Sadin) who lives in Istanbul. He got us a very nice lunch. Marcel got the opportunity to show how well he can handle babies when the youngest boy was on his lap. It took him just 2 seconds to make that poor boy cry!
We asked Sadin about the camping we wanted to stay-over in Istanbul. Internet said it was a bit far from town. He looked at the directions and smiled. A bit far? Very far!! Still, it seemed like a very wise idea to us, so we went anyway. That evening we arrived at the camping that lays around 70 km from the center!! CRAZY!!! But luckily the camping had a very useful facility: a real Heli-port. Very useful for all those campers, cars and bicycles who usually stay at the camp-side. It turned out that the owner had his own Heli. You need to be creative and BMW’s and Mercedes’ are not that special anymore in Turkey.
Next day Kiki and Marcel made it all the way by public transport to Istanbul. Kiki was very impressed by the Bazaar. She had to admit: Turkish people know how to make fake look very real. It is almost “goedkoper dan Zeeman” and surely “allemachtig prachtig”!!
Today we reached 2 big goals!! Our, dirty, red and reliable Toyota made it to the E.U.!! After driving MORE than 10.000 km. If we weren’t on rehab this journey we would have ordered a bottle of Champagne!
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Syrıa
After Jordan we went in 1 day to Damascus. The decision was made in the evening when it was hard to find ourselves a cheap hotel in Jordan (camping’s are rare to find in the Middle East). Damascus is one of the oldest, still existing cities in the world. When you ask the locals how they find Damascus they seemed to be very proud of this city; and why shouldn’t they? The old city is very beautiful. The bazaar’s are nice to get lost in and everywhere you can buy fresh juices. Yes!!! My urine-infection was gone in an minute by drinking 4 x 0,5 liters a day, any fruit you wishes (strawberry is good!).
Because Marcel and Kiki are die-hard museum fans Sjoerd came wıth the surprise of the day. Visiting a stamp-museum. We wouldn't have mıssed ıt for the world! The nicest thıng was that you could look at your birth-year and find the partıcular stamps of that year. We are still argue-ing which year had the best stamps.
Unfortunately money is not on our side lately. So we didn’t spend too long in Damascus and went straight to the coast (after a visit at one of Syria’s high-lights Crac de Chevaliers). Lattakia is a modern city. Loads of women are walking at the streets, ready to do their shopping. Finally, women, in this men’s Arabic world!
According to friendliness Syria has to share her place with Sudan. Most people are interested, helpful and hospitable. At the beach we got grapes and tea, from a family sitting next to us. Although also here communication is an issue, we always succeeded asking directions or other questions.
For many years we went to paradise beaches in Thailand, Zanzibar etc. You never get bored of the beautiful white sand and the blue/ green sea. Syria’s coast (Mediterranean Sea) is not white sand with green sea. sThe sand is dark, the public beach a bit dirty and the ea is dark. But it offers something all 3 of us didn’t experience in years and years. Big, big, big waves! Yahoooooooo!!!!
After spending only 5 days we went on our way to Turkey. Country with the most expensive petrol ever (2 euros a liter). Hopefully our wallet will survive ISTANBUL.
Bye! From a campside near ISTANBUL (to be precisely 80 km from Istanbul. Accordıng to ınternet the camp was a bit far from İstanbul. A BİT FAR???!!!
Because Marcel and Kiki are die-hard museum fans Sjoerd came wıth the surprise of the day. Visiting a stamp-museum. We wouldn't have mıssed ıt for the world! The nicest thıng was that you could look at your birth-year and find the partıcular stamps of that year. We are still argue-ing which year had the best stamps.
Unfortunately money is not on our side lately. So we didn’t spend too long in Damascus and went straight to the coast (after a visit at one of Syria’s high-lights Crac de Chevaliers). Lattakia is a modern city. Loads of women are walking at the streets, ready to do their shopping. Finally, women, in this men’s Arabic world!
According to friendliness Syria has to share her place with Sudan. Most people are interested, helpful and hospitable. At the beach we got grapes and tea, from a family sitting next to us. Although also here communication is an issue, we always succeeded asking directions or other questions.
For many years we went to paradise beaches in Thailand, Zanzibar etc. You never get bored of the beautiful white sand and the blue/ green sea. Syria’s coast (Mediterranean Sea) is not white sand with green sea. sThe sand is dark, the public beach a bit dirty and the ea is dark. But it offers something all 3 of us didn’t experience in years and years. Big, big, big waves! Yahoooooooo!!!!
After spending only 5 days we went on our way to Turkey. Country with the most expensive petrol ever (2 euros a liter). Hopefully our wallet will survive ISTANBUL.
Bye! From a campside near ISTANBUL (to be precisely 80 km from Istanbul. Accordıng to ınternet the camp was a bit far from İstanbul. A BİT FAR???!!!
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