6 months on - what happened
Well, what happened? A lot.
As I told you already, this blogging is getting a bit tedious, hence why it took nearly 6 months for this update. I post on Instagram nearly daily and I prefer the platform to blogging because of the direct feedback an ease of use, anyhow, here's the story...
In januari, I entered Turkey, had some good times around Marmaris , only to have gearbox problems stop me dead in my tracks. I will be short on this story, as it was a bit frustrating, in 3 weeks I had 2 different gearboxes fail, and 2200 euro's later I was finaly on my way to Iran, arriving just before my visa validity ran out.
Iran was a blast, and also a bit of a culture shock, the country is poor, but the Iranians make up for that in spades, some of the most friendly people around. Everybody was just curious about the car, what you were doing in Iran and always ready to help out.
I spend most of my time on the island of Qeshm, where in february, it was nice and warm. So many other overlanders had the same idea, so it was a nice meeting of all kind of nationalities. I think Qeshm was the highlight of the trip.
Then I went North , visiting the Kalut desert, but one week later the gearbox was becoming noisy again. Noisy enough for me to decide to head back for the Turkish border, as in Iran there where no spare parts, if I was to break down again. And with an embargo on spare parts, it got me truly scared. Once I was back in Turkey, I was only one phonecall away from help, as by now I was friends with the gearbox guys in Ankara.
This had big repercussions, Mongolia was off the list (should change the name of this blog) , as were the Stans. As it turned out, the gearbox became quiet again and performed well to this date (touch wood). I visited Cyprus for one month, as Turkey was still a bit too cold in March. Cyprus is another surprise on this trip, and highlight nr 2. The interesting political situation and 3 national parks are a reason to visit this most Eastern part of Europe.
By now it was April, and I was going back to Ankara, visiting my (gearbox) friends, but not before stopping over in Cappadocia. I'm not gonna explain, if you haven't been, put it on the bucketlist. Highlight nr 3.
Now, with so much of my trip scrapped, I had the luxury problem of what to do with the rest of my time. By now it was spring, and so I had one option left. Go North East, to Georgia and Armenia. And that's where I am now, just entered Armenia today. Both these countries are gems, waiting to be discovered by mainstream tourism, and a good way to end this trip in a way.
There's about 3 more months in this trip for me, but that is going back through Georgia, Turkey and spending summer in the mountains of Bulgaria & Romenia. Or at least that's the plan, and plans change ;.)
As I told you already, this blogging is getting a bit tedious, hence why it took nearly 6 months for this update. I post on Instagram nearly daily and I prefer the platform to blogging because of the direct feedback an ease of use, anyhow, here's the story...
In januari, I entered Turkey, had some good times around Marmaris , only to have gearbox problems stop me dead in my tracks. I will be short on this story, as it was a bit frustrating, in 3 weeks I had 2 different gearboxes fail, and 2200 euro's later I was finaly on my way to Iran, arriving just before my visa validity ran out.
Iran was a blast, and also a bit of a culture shock, the country is poor, but the Iranians make up for that in spades, some of the most friendly people around. Everybody was just curious about the car, what you were doing in Iran and always ready to help out.
I spend most of my time on the island of Qeshm, where in february, it was nice and warm. So many other overlanders had the same idea, so it was a nice meeting of all kind of nationalities. I think Qeshm was the highlight of the trip.
Then I went North , visiting the Kalut desert, but one week later the gearbox was becoming noisy again. Noisy enough for me to decide to head back for the Turkish border, as in Iran there where no spare parts, if I was to break down again. And with an embargo on spare parts, it got me truly scared. Once I was back in Turkey, I was only one phonecall away from help, as by now I was friends with the gearbox guys in Ankara.
This had big repercussions, Mongolia was off the list (should change the name of this blog) , as were the Stans. As it turned out, the gearbox became quiet again and performed well to this date (touch wood). I visited Cyprus for one month, as Turkey was still a bit too cold in March. Cyprus is another surprise on this trip, and highlight nr 2. The interesting political situation and 3 national parks are a reason to visit this most Eastern part of Europe.
By now it was April, and I was going back to Ankara, visiting my (gearbox) friends, but not before stopping over in Cappadocia. I'm not gonna explain, if you haven't been, put it on the bucketlist. Highlight nr 3.
Now, with so much of my trip scrapped, I had the luxury problem of what to do with the rest of my time. By now it was spring, and so I had one option left. Go North East, to Georgia and Armenia. And that's where I am now, just entered Armenia today. Both these countries are gems, waiting to be discovered by mainstream tourism, and a good way to end this trip in a way.
There's about 3 more months in this trip for me, but that is going back through Georgia, Turkey and spending summer in the mountains of Bulgaria & Romenia. Or at least that's the plan, and plans change ;.)
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