Passing Mt Ararat near Dogubayazit - just got a flat tyre.
Typical, first flat tyre of our journey and the car is too low to get the jack under. Had to flag down a passing local, and with 2 jacks and a lot of swearing we're back on the road.
Eastern Turkey
Hello from Eastern Turkey, we're in Dogubayazit near the Iranian border at the moment, a large dusty town not worth stopping in except for internet access - but with a Turkish keyboard - arrrrgg. It's been a bit of a slog through Turkey the last few days. The roads are mad at times - main roads suddenly come to an…
A Dogubayazit Haircut
Today I went to a genuine Turkish barbers. I know it was genuine because it was actually in Turkey, in the far east of the country, in a little town called Dogubayazit. Although it's close to the Iranian border and in the shadow of Mt Ararat, I doubt they see many tourists. I was long overdue a haircut, and while…
Made it to Tehran :-) mobiles are not working so updates will be few and far between. Car playing up a bit so will get it to a garage in the morning. V. tired so off to bed - bigger update coming soon. (stop worrying mum, we're fine)
Stuck in Tehran
We're having a few problems with our car. We crossed into Iran on Monday and can't get a mobile signal even though Vodafone said we would :mad: so no mobile updates for the time being. We arrived in Tehran last night about 7pm and hit rush hour. The car then decided it would be a good time to die on…
Broom Broom
Just got the car back from the garage - the old starter motor was dead beyond repair, but they worked a small miracle and found us another one - it now starts better than it ever did. It's still running a bit rough though - probably down to poor quality petrol. Mechanic also said not to drive too fast because the…
Forgot to say - Full tank of petrol in Iran is 2 quid :-)
On The Road Again
We were back on the road again yesterday - it felt good. Got our transit visas from the Turkmen. embassy and headed for the Caspian Sea. We got pulled over by the cops for overtaking where I shouldn't have — I helped them practice counting to ten in English and we were back on the road :lol: Then we got…
Made it to Ashgabad in Turkmenistan with team marco polo. Border crossing was 4 hrs of stupidity - sweating buckets - mob working again yey.
Met up with 4 other teams for tea & beer in Ashgabad. No Englishmen for years & 10 turn up at once. I have pillow #764 at exSoviet hotel - it's 12am night night.
24 hrs, 400 miles & 15 police check points later we are now in Turkmenabat. Pushing on to Uzbek tomorrow before visa runs out. Petrol is 30p for a full tank :shock:
Lack of signs have us driving round in circles trying to find Uzbekistan border.
Uzbeks let us in (fools) Now in Bukhara - just washed sun tan off in shower :-(
Relaxing afternoon in Bukhara - think Marrakech but less touristy.
Hello Nic from Samarkand, didn't think I'd forget did you? Cant stop though aiming for Tashkent tonight.
Uzbek policeman danced with joy and whooped loudly as we drove through his check point :lol:
Made it to Tashkent. Car starting to rattle from all the bad roads - turning music up helps.