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Saturday 2004-02-14 - Groningen, the Netherlands
Documentation needed
Today, we went into town for some shopping before the planned birthday dinner. There’s a very good travel bookstore here in Groningen, and I popped in (dragging my parents along) to see what they had to supplement my set of maps and travel guides for the trip.
I have a good set of guides and maps for Central Asia, but nothing for the Middle East, and nothing for China east of Xinjiang. I couldn’t take a decision about travel guides, but ended up with three maps: a very nice one of Syria, an absolutely huge one of Turkey (there don’t seem to be regional maps of the country any more, and this was all they had) and a “Silk Road Countries” map covering Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia: that one will be a handy to take with me (although the bit of Turkey it also covers isn’t very detailed). I’ll keep looking around for more, but I’ll at least take the last map with me.
Tuesday 2004-03-16 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
From clothes to music
Coming back from the market, I drop into Barry’s bazaar, a place where many people peddle their second-hand wares, often quite fun to browse around. This time, I’m browsing with a purpose: I’m still looking for an Iranian outfit. I soon see there are practically no clothes here (never was much, but it varies); certainly not what I’m looking for.
Suddenly I remember I’m also looking for music from Turkey and Iran: I have nothing from Turkey and only on CD with music from the Lor people in Iran. I’ve seen CDs here with arabic script - so who knows? I start talking with someone who obviously doesn’t have music, but when the man (from Turkey) asks what I’m looking for he says he can try to get something. He tells me to come back tomorrow. He also offers me coffee but I have no time for that now; that makes me feel impolite…
Wednesday 2004-03-17 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Turkish music
Back to Barry’s bazaar; the Turkish music seller soon sees me. Alas, he explains, he wasn’t able to find anything on such short notice. But, he has a tip: there’s a Turkish video store in the Kinkerstraat that also sells music. He gives detailed directions for where to find it. That’s great! I’d never have thought to look for music in a video store! This time I stay for a cup of coffee, and tell him about my trip. He also tells me there are Iranian stores on the Rozengracht; at least one of them should have music. I should have realized: with so many nationalities in Amsterdam, there should be an Iranian store somewhere.
Off to the video store then; I find it easily with his directions. Once there, it takes some explaining what I’m looking for (traditional music, not pop) but the man is incredibly patient, comes with all sorts of suggestions, and lets me listen to everything. One CD has a nice picture of a shaded pool on it that reminds me of Labi Hausz in Bukhara: it’s in Urfa, he tells me; the CD title also has Urfa in it. I buy three CDs, all very nice, and all different in style.
When I get home I do some googling and find that Urfa is actually the same as Şanlıurfa: I’m delighted I actually found music from one of the places we’re going to visit!
Tuesday 2004-03-23 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Passport and visa
I got a phonecall from Sander (from Koning Aap) today - just after I was back home from mailing a photocopy of my brand-new passport to Aap. They needed the new passport data for informing their local agents; he just talked me through the data he needed.
He also told me to send the visa papers to the visa agency (here in Amsterdam) as soon as possible — like today: all those visa take a long time to arrange; no form is needed for Syria anymore: we’ll get a visa on arrival. Since that’s also true for Turkey, the agency will have to arrange the visa for “only” five countries.
Wednesday 2004-03-24 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Jabs - do I need any?
I searched the internet for what vaccinations are currently needed for all those countries we’re going to travel through (Syria, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China). It appears that DTP is needed for all, and mine has expired. Typhus is listed for all the countries, too, if your stay is longer than two weeks. Well, apart from Iran and China it isn’t; but adding it all up is of course considerably longer than two weeks. Malaria should be considered as well for some areas of Turkey and Iran; and hepatitis everywhere (but I already have antibodies for that).
Then I needed to find a phone number for the AMC vaccination clinic (the most convenient one for me: in Amsterdam, and easy to get to with tram and metro); finding their phone number was (still) not easy. When I finally had a number it was late; I tried it anyway to check if it was the right one.
(For those searching for the phone number: last time I looked it was 020-566.38.00 to make an appointment, or 0900-95.84 for information.)
Wednesday 2004-04-28 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Documentation complete
I’d seen a Lonely Planet guide for the Middle East; there’s a nice one for Iran, too, with more extensive information about that country, but I can’t bring a pile of books. This one covers Syria, Turkey and Iran (and more for later trips). I went to one of the travel stores in Amsterdam, the JoHo Company, and was glad to find they had this book. I got manageable maps of Turkey and China as well: not too large so I can actually use them during the trip and leave my huge (but very detailed) map of Turkey at home.
My travel documentation is complete now.
Sunday 2004-05-09 - Damascus, Syria
Relaxing in the mosque
After a nice breakfast in the hotel we (two travel mates and me) first walk to Martyr’s Square where there is a money changer’s office — which turns out to be closed. We decide to go to the old city first, after the “advance” we got last night we still have enough cash for a drink and entrance into the Mosque. When we cross the street, a young man coming from the other side nods at us, and says: “Welcome!” — a nice sign of how friendly people are here in Damascus.
The old town isn’t far, and we get in at the Souk entrance; the Souk al-Hamidiyeh reminds me of the big bazaar in Istanbul, with its high vaulted streets, and endless shops along them. When we get out at the other end, skipping all the side streets for now, we see the Umayadd Mosque before us, through remnants of what looks like an old Greek temple, Greek architecture, anyway. Entrance to the Mosque is 50 Syrian pounds, and us women get a hooded robe (freshly washed and ironed) loaned to us for free. We visit the shrine first; people get very emotional there, moan, and even cry. We see some drying their tears when they get out, and whole families sitting together on the floor in the front room, eating apples, chatting, relaxing.
When we get to the mosque proper, we find same relaxed atmosphere. The inner plaza is very big, beautiful with lots of marble, and at various places people sit around, resting and enjoying the place. Inside the prayer hall this continues. Everyone mixes (no strict separation between men and women here, families sit together). Near the shrine of Prophet Yahia (St. John the Baptist) a group of women sit together, listening to what a mullah is telling them. A woman walks round and hands out sugared almonds (delicious!); some people try to chat with us. We end up staying here a long time, a wonderful experience. We see many other interesting things today but this is definitely the best.
Everywhere, people are very friendly and helpful. We all agree: this is a very, very nice city to be in — and one to come back to. And a great city to start our 65-day trip across Asia from.
Saturday 2004-05-15 - Antakya, Turkey
A thunderous welcome
Today we cross the border to Turkey, where the city of Antakya is our first stop. Crossing the border (where we get our Turkish visa) is no problem but just after we are in, I see dark clouds on the horizon. Indeed, more rain is awaiting us, and soon we’re driving through a big thunderstorm. This one isn’t over quickly however, and when we arrive at our hotel it’s still pouring. We want to go out for lunch and then go to an Internet cafe but think we’ll wait a bit until the rain gets a bit lighter; one look out of the window a few minutes later tells us otherwise: not only is it still pouring, but the street has turned into a river! People pulling up their trousers to wade across the street, a cat making big jumps trying to get home without getting wet (unsuccessfully), bottles, crates and even a chair floating by.
When we finally go out we find a little restaurant for lunch and an Internet cafe on the way there where I am sitting now typing this — struggling with the layout of a Turkish keyboard where the ‘ı’ (i without a dot) is in the place where on our keyboards the i is, with the i somewhere else entirely — listening to the hum of people (this is a large room and it’s busy) and the clatter outside of the rain which has started again.
Eating out in the middle of nowhere
Our driver, Ali, and two guys (one is called Mehmet but I didn’t catch the other’s name) from the hotel are invited by our tour companion for dinner. Ali knows a restaurant somewhere outside the city of Antakya. Thom, Carla and I are coming, too. With the bus we drive out of town, to a little village that doesn’t look like there would be a restaurant — but there is, and it’s packed. The owner welcomes us, obviously pleased they’re bringing tourists. The meal is excellent, the company even better. This afternoon I bought a little dictionary and I barely lay hands on it: Mehmet and Ali use it all the time to communicate better with us since they don’t speak English. Joking and chatting, eating shish and köfte, three kinds of salad, bread, three kinds of humus; drinking Yeni Rakı, a kind of beet wine, and water: a great evening in a place where tourists never come — I wouldn’t be able to find it back either!
Sunday 2004-05-16 - Antakya, Turkey
A mosaic of history
In the morning we go to St. Peter’s Grotto: the natural cave high above Antakya where St. Peter preached and founded the Christian community, later made into a church, and designated by the Pope as a holy place. Interesting historically, but there’s not really much to see. Somewhat more interesting is a huge sculpture of the face of Maria carved into the rocks near the cave; the face has been removed by Muslims later, since their belief forbids making images of humans but the outline is still recognizable. It can be reached only by clambering up rocky paths (or not-quite paths) but it’s worth the effort, and from up here the view over the city is even nicer.
Then on we go in the bus, to visit Antakya Kalesi: the original spot of old Antioch on top of the mountain. The stronghold commanded the whole river valley below. Up there, about 665m high there’s only a crumbling tower and parts of the walls left but still it gives a good idea of the size and importance of the city and the walls that girded it.
In the afternoon, after a quick lunch, we first visit a small mosque in the “new” old city, with a lovely quiet courtyard shaded by trees. Then on to the museum. The Hatay museum has a superb collection of well-conserved Roman mosaics from the second and third centuries, as well as some sarcophages, one very detailed, in which also gold ornaments and the skeletons of a man, a woman and a young woman were found. When Syria was captured by the Romans in 64 BC, Antioch became the eastern capital of the Roman empire; the museum gives a good impression of the splendors of the city in Roman times.
Monday 2004-05-17 - Şanlıurfa, Turkey
Tea near the holy carp pond
After a ride through a beautiful landscape of rolling hills with vineyards and orchards, grain and strawberry fields we arrive at two in Şanlıurfa (or Urfa for short). The three of us go looking for the tourist office first, because (of course) I want a map of the city. Two boys approach us, wanting to help and practice their English: they offer to walk us there. They’re very nice, and their English is surprisingly good. Chatting all the while, we end up in the pleasant park around Abraham’s cave where there is a small office of the tourist police; they’re friendly and give me a nice brochure of the area, but they don’t have a map; the friendly officer writes down the address of the real tourist office for me, so we can go there later (or tomorrow).
We invite the boys to share a tea with us near the pond with the holy carp, and they tell us a little about their life. We’d estimated them about 18, but both turn out to be only 15. Both have a number of brothers and sisters and come from outside the city. One, whose parents are separated, stays with his grandmother; the other lives in the school’s dormitory where they both study mathematics. Life at the dormitory is “boring” but both boys are obviously quite serious about their studies and practicing their English.
It doesn’t matter that we haven’t found the actual tourist office, because now we know the way to the park, overlooked by the citadel (yet another one), where some of the main sights of the city are. We decide we’ll come back here tomorrow, and the boys take their leave. A while later we walk back to the hotel, with a very nice impression of the friendly people of Şanlıurfa.
Tuesday 2004-05-18 - Şanlıurfa, Turkey
Medieval atmosphere
This morning, Carla and I first roam through the curving alleys of the old town of Urfa with its medieval houses. It’s a veritable labyrinth, no right angle, no straight street, beautiful bow-windows and some houses actually built right over the streets, and — not suprisingly — a lot of interesting doors for my photographic collection.
We end up near the river (an open sewer) where Kurdish people have a market of second-hand clothes. It’s quite obvious the Kurdish people are among the poorest in Turkey, even though we’re here in Kurdish territory.
On we go along the vegetable market and through the bazaar until we end up near the carp pond where we meet Thom.
“We nice to meet you”
First we (Thom, Carla and I) have lunch together, and while we chat a little afterwards, one of three girls next to us asks if she can practice her English with us (a question we’re to hear more often). Of course she can, and she immediately joins us at our table. At first the words come hesitatingly but gradually Döne gets over it and starts talking better; the other two girls, Songul and Esin, join us, too, and since they don’t speak English, Döne starts translating both ways. All three girls have several older sisters and study biology here, like one of the boys we met yesterday staying with family in the city; they have a small grant from the government, dad pays the rest and though their families are well off, they don’t have much money to spend. Tomorrow they’re going on a tour to Mardin and Diyarbakır: they spent the last of their savings on the tickets.
We talk a lot about various subjects. The European union (Döne, with an obvious strong sense of identity, isn’t enthusiastic about joining, and also — with some justification — seems worried Europeans look down on the Turks), relations between Kurds and Turkish people (Songul is Kurdish and the three girls are the best of friends, but surprisingly Döne says she doesn’t like Kurds - a strange contradiction we’re to encounter more often), are we rich? (depends), music (they know European stars, why don’t we know Turkish singers?) and so on.
We offer them a drink and chat on. Döne also writes down a lot of useful Turkish words for me in my little notebook. When we finally separate, we find we spent all of four hours just sitting near the pond chatting - and practicing Döne’s English. In my notebook she writes: “We nice to meet you. Thank you for everything. We love you too.” We had a great time with them.
A visit to the mosque around Abraham’s cave and the citadel overlooking the park complete our visit to Şanlıurfa.
Wednesday 2004-05-19 - Harran, Turkey
Beehives
Our first stop of the day is at Harran where there still are “beehive” houses: mud brick houses in the form of a beehive: the steep round roof allows warm air to rise up so air at ground level remains cooler. Unfortunately our visit is rather disappointing. The architectural aspect is interesting but there aren’t very many original beehive houses left and most families live in newer houses (the classical box model is not as cool!) and use the beehive houses only as stables.
The place is also obviously spoiled by tourism, with children running around trying to sell their handiwork but not taking no for an answer. There is a castle which is probably interesting in itself - but after the impressive castles we’ve already seen on our trip, Harran’s small castle doesn’t really pique our interest. We all agree that the planned 1.5 hours (originally even 2) is too long for a visit to this “museum” village; an hour is plenty, even if you want to have a look inside the crumbling castle.
Wednesday 2004-05-19 - Mardin, Turkey
Early Christian history
Our final destination for today is Mardin but to get there we have to go back to Şanlıurfa first: there is no other road. Once on our way out of Urfa again, the landscape gets gradually greener and after riding through the beautiful valleys we arrive at Mardin, an old city built hugging a mountain side. It’s now a little after 2 in the afternoon, and we have somewhat empty stomachs. Asking around for directions, we find out that our hotel is not in the city at all, but in Kızıltepe, 20km back! If we go there first, we won’t have time for our goals in Mardin, so we decide to do the tour before going to the hotel - and skip lunch.
That was a lucky decision: when (after quite a bit of searching through the confusing narrow streets of the city — all curving to follow the contours of the mountain) we arrive at the Antioch Syrian Orthodox monastery outside of the city at 3:10, we find it closes at 3:30! The monastery (Deynulzaferan) built like a fortress on the top of a mountain is interesting, but we cannot even see all of it any more — and the place is packed with day trippers: unfortunately we picked a holiday to arrive late… Still, we do get at least an impression: enough to want to spend more time on exploring this interesting complex and its history if we ever get back.
From there we go to the Antioch Syrian Orthodox church in the center of Mardin. Here a priest who speaks passable English gives us a nice lecture about the early history of Christianity and and all its different branches. The Antioch Syrian Orthodox and Alexandrian Orthodox churches were early branches, like the two Catholic ones, one of which became the Roman Catholic Church, the other Greek Orthodox. The Armenian Orthodox church (of which we visited a small church in Damascus) is a later branch off of the Syrian orthodox church. I hope I got all that right… The church building itself is very nice — and old — with many paintings, icons and embroidery, some of it obviously made by children of the community. The effect is almost homely.
Thursday 2004-05-20 - Diyarbakır, Turkey
Kurdish capital
The ancient city of Diyarbakır, situated on the banks of the river Tigris and inhabited for over 5000 years, is the Kurdish capital in Turkey. We arrive already at eleven at our hotel within the old city walls after a trip from Mardin through a gradually more green landscape with rugged mountains and some agriculture.
After a short visit to the mosque (essentially closed to us since a prayer service is starting) with market stalls in the courtyard and lots of noise around, we decide to walk along the inside of the city walls on the way to another Christian church. We end up walking through the poorest, and not the most pleasant quarter of town. 90% of inhabitants of Diyarbakır are Kurds, and while Kurds are among the poorest in Turkey, the poorest of them in Diyarbakır live here in tiny houses below the old city wall.
The children are quite irritating, constantly begging for money, grasping your hands and clothes. Apparently more naive tourists have taught them that if you keep asking, ultimately they will give money — just to get rid of you. That’s a good way to create beggars out of children. We try instead to just ignore them but that isn’t all that easy: they also like to jump in front of the camera when you want to make a picture — not to be in the picture, but just to get in the way.
Luckily the grown-ups are mostly friendly, especially after you greet them first. A small group of women is baking bread in an outside oven, and they invite me to have a closer look and take a picture. Farther on, a girl sits in a doorway with her friend crocheting a fringe for a shawl. She’s quite happy for me to take a picture of her. I compliment her friend about her shawl and she tells me its fringe was also made by the other girl who then shows me her samples. Obviously she does this for others who can pick a pattern from the samples, a way to make a little (extra) money. Mother also wants a picture, and a small boy writes down the address.
A young man who’s accompanied us uninvited since the mosque turns out to have a small shop with carpets and jewelry; he invites us for a cup of tea in his shop. On the way, he tells us he’s half Kurdish - something not very common here.
More history
After we take our leave from the carpet seller at the mosque nearby we try to finally find the Christian church we were looking for — which we succeed in doing only with the help of another crowd of children and some friendly older people. The church, another Orthodox Syrian church, is obviously for a small community only. Three families live in the buildings surrounding the church proper within the church grounds. The priest speaks some English, another man some German, and together they lead us around their small church with many beautiful and very old paintings badly in need of restoration. We leave a donation for the church.
Our next goal is the old city wall: an enormous wall built of black basalt stone, still surrounding the whole old city and 6 km long; the top of it provides a good view of the city of Diyarbakır and its surroundings. At several places there are stairs where you can get up the wall; we climb up via stairs inside one of the gates and immediately attract another crowd of children. These are friendly and try to play guide (though we’d rather walk without them). Of course we don’t give them the money they obviously hope for when we leave the wall after a nice walk. But these somewhat older children don’t seem to mind too much: they had a good time with us, apparently.
A Kurdish evening out
Our tour companion met a Kurdish man in Diyarbakır today; he knows about a cafe where there will be live Kurdish music this evening. We all gather to go there after dinner. It turns out to be a very nice and also interesting evening. The cafe is in a cellar - and quite open; only three years ago, Kurds here could not publicly play their music here, and had to meet in secret. At least the situation of the Kurds has improved somewhat now.
The singer of the band seems to be quite well known locally, and the cafe fills up: middle-aged and young people, but also whole families with children. The music is a mix of modern songs and traditional music, and whenever a traditional is played, a group of students next to us start dancing. We chat a little with them: the boys have learned the Kurdish dances since they were boys, the girls only last year. With other well-known songs they sing along. During a break a small boy comes to the stage and is allowed to sing a song. It’s obvious the Kurds cherish their own culture and keep it alive through meetings like this. The students are poor; they only share a bottle of water (they pay their share for the band, too) and can afford to do this only once a month.
We end up dancing with them, much to the amusement of the other customers, since the steps of their dances aren’t all that easy to learn. When the show is over at eleven, we get some group pictures taken, both with the dancing students and with the band, and finally are offered a drink by the cafe management. All in all a wonderful evening with an interesting little peek into Kurdish culture.
Friday 2004-05-21 - Silvan, Turkey
Peek into the middle ages
Today is a travel day: we go to Van. The landscape upon leaving Diyarbakır is getting more and more mountainous, and we seem to be climbing gradually as well. The mountains are beautiful, and there are many spring flowers — sitting in the bus and looking out is no punishment.
Just after Silvan I notice some holes in the rocks high up in the mountains on the left just when others shout “stop” for a picture of the beautiful view over the valley on the right. I walk resolutely back to get the holes in the rocks back into view and to take a picture. It turns out my hunch was right: these were rock dwellings, dating back to the middle ages. A few of us walk all the way up to them and manage to look inside one of the holes but (as expected) they’re completely bare. Building rock dwellings so high up inside a steep mountain side must have been a form of defense, I think — though simpler than building a citadel on top of a mountain. Maybe they were farmers rather than city dwellers here.
Somewhat farther on there is a big dam on the left of the road; on the right is a large bridge with one very high arch, built in 1147; it’s well-preserved: you can walk over it (no other traffic allowed though). The size of the bridge is impressive, and it has some nice decorations in the stonework as well. The water below is a beautiful blue-green, cows are drinking and bathing in the water below. We spend quite a bit of time enjoying the view here, before we go on to Van, passing over the highest mountain pass in Turkey, Kuskunkıran, at 2235 m high. The view of the Lake of Van we soon get is stunning: blue-green water, surrounded on all sides with snow-capped mountain ranges.
Friday 2004-05-21 - Van, Turkey
Soup and Internet
When riding into Van we’d spotted an Internet cafe on a corner, just before turning into the street where our hotel is. When we set out to go there though, we find there’s another one right next to the hotel, in the basement of an office building. We do a quick inspection: It’s a nice place, with not just workstations: they also sell books, software, a few small accessories, and drinks. The price is OK, too, but we want to have some dinner first and promise to come back later.
We walk on, looking around for a restaurant, turn right twice in the direction where we suspect restaurants might be and — what a find! We discover a ‘soup salon’: the little restaurant sells nothing but soup, six kinds of soup (with bread, of course), 24 hours a day. Actually, we’re not terribly hungry, but a bowl of soup sounds like just the thing — and you can always take another one if one isn’t enough. There’s no menu of any kind: you just peek in the big soup kettles and point at what you’d like. Thom, Carla and I all have different soups. All deliciuous.
Then it’s back to the Internet cafe: both Thom and I have quite a bit to catch up. By now I’ve given up on learning to use the Turkish keyboards where the Turkish ‘ı’ (‘i’ without a dot) is where we expect the ‘i’ which is somewhere else, somewhere unexpected. It’s much easier to just type and then use Notepad’s search-and-replace to change all the ‘ı’s to ‘i’s and put the occasional intended ‘ı’ back afterwards — it sounds like more work, but it’s actually much faster and reliable.
Saturday 2004-05-22 - Akdamar, Turkey
Church on an island
Van is a big city but (apart from a museum that’s said to be nice) not very interesting in itself. Instead, we go to the island Akdamar in the Lake of Van. We’ve decided not to take the (expensive) official tour but arrange our own. With our own bus we drive back along the east and south side of the lake, with again a spectacular view of the green-blue lake with snow-capped mountain ranges all around. Where the ferry boats leave for the island, our tour companion arranges with the boat owner that he will take us there, make a circle all around the island, then give us three hours to spend there. We’ve taken along food for a picnic lunch, bought before we left.
Our main goal is the old Holy Cross church built on the island, dating back to the 10th century. There are beautiful reliefs on all the walls; inside there are still some fresco fragments, mostly blues but hard to discern what the scenes are. Around the church is also a number of grave stones, most half-toppled, some also finely decorated with reliefs.
The island has two tops; I skip the high one to spare my painful knees the steep climb but go with Vera to the lower one on the south-east side. From there you can still overlook almost all the island, and I attempt to make a panorama photograph — a bit hard to do balancing on the rocks… no idea how this will come out. The island is covered with many types of flowers, different kinds of lillies and hyacinths, wild onions, beautiful euphorbias, many species I don’t recognize. I take a lot of pictures! After our picnic lunch we return to Van, where I decide to spend the remainder of the afternoon writing.
After our extensive lunch on the island we’re not terribly hungry so in the evening we head back to the ‘soup salon’ for a light meal, where we find most of the group also enjoying their delicious soup! After dinner it’s back to the Internet cafe in Van (there’s one conveniently right next to our hotel) to catch up with my travel blog!
Saturday 2004-05-22 - Van, Turkey
White cats? Yes, they’re real!
Next to the jetty from where the ferry boats left for Akdamar Island this morning, there was a little shop where we noted a whole collection of postcards featuring white cats. Seemingly these white cats are typical for this area; they’re completely white and all seem to have two differently-colored eyes! They’re also known for actually liking water and swimming.
Seeing these postcards, I suddenly remembered a statue we passed on our way into Van yesterday: big white cat, with a kitten, both with one yellow and one blue eye. Surely if a city puts up a statue like that - in the way many cities do, highlighting something special for the city or the area - these white cats must be important here. But actually all of us have a little trouble believing there really are cats like this here, with two different eyes - none of us have seen a real, live one here!
Update! By now I know why: these cats are so special that not only the University in Van has a special program for research (and breeding them), they’re also quite valuable. That’s why you’re unlikely to see them roam about in the streets in Van - or anywhere else for that matter.
Imagine my surprise when shortly after my return from this trip, just around the corner I practically stumbled over a white cat with two different eyes. Surely a “White Van”. I managed to make a picture with my camera phone, and found out his name is Johan (though he listens to the name “Fluffy”). But now, having met Johan here in Amsterdam, I really regret not having a picture of at least that nice statue in Van - we never stopped near it, and were far too busy for me to go back to take a picture. When I ever come back to Van, I’ll surely take some time to make one. Meanwhile, thanks to bpelvan and his friend Dr. Burhan Oral Güdü in Van whom he asked to take a picture of the statue, I can now at least point you to a splendid picture online of the Van White cat statue!
Sunday 2004-05-23 - Doğubayazıt, Turkey
Border town
It’s not far from Van to Doğubayazıt but we go via a beautiful scenic route with spectacular views and over a high pass (the highest we encounter in Turkey); on the way we make a photo stop near a huge lava field near Soğuksu, encrusted with lichen in many different colors.
Doğubayazıt has a typical border town atmosphere - hard to put into words, but unmistakable.
Old glory
In the afternoon we make a trip to Işak Paşa palace, 6 km outside of Doğubayazıt. The palace, of which construction started in 1685, was finished only in 1784. The palace-fortress, on top of a rock with a great view of the surrounding valley (but alas not of nearby Mount Ararat) originally had no less than 366 rooms and was built in five different architectural styles. Partly destroyed by earthquakes, what’s left is well restored now — but it’s the stonework only: nothing is left of any furnishings. Still we roam around quite a while.
From the palace we walk back to the village, first noticing what looks like traces of an old village just below the palace that we think must have serviced the palace: we already noticed some graves near the top of the mountain, a little higher up. Then, as we get gradually lower, we enjoy the beautiful wide landscape. A little surprise: at the edge of town the bus is waiting for us, and we climb in.
Zero Stars
Our hotel in Doğubayazıt used to have two stars, but looking at the sign on the façade we note all stars have been covered up carefully… still, the sheets and towels are clean, and the bathroom works — that’s all that really matters and we’re here for only one night anyway.
Wednesday 2004-05-26 - Kandovān, Iran
Delays
We’re headed for Takāb today but we’re making a side trip to Kandovān first. Unfortunately, we leave much too late, and in Osku, a little before we reach Kandovān, we get another delay: there’s a big hole in the road and our “best bus in Iran” is much too large to be able to pass the hole in a bend, with the hole at one side and a steep channel at the other side. There’s nothing for it: the hole has to be filled first! The hole is part of a lot of digging going on all through the village; they’re building a natural gas pipeline here.
Kandovān is a bit touristy, but most of the tourists are from inside Iran: Kandovān is famous for its water which is supposed to have healing properties. Young couples often come here for that reason: the water is supposed to help with fertility problems.
Also interesting are the houses on the mountainside, many of them hewn into the rock so it’s always cool inside — much like similar houses in Cappadocia in Turkey. We drink tea in one of the houses and get a taste of local produce: dried apricots, plums, walnuts, almonds, and a delicious honey of which I would have liked to bring a pot home… not possible on this trip.
On the way back we see what we already feared: the hole in the road is not only back - it’s much bigger now! And of course has to be filled yet again. We’re running late…
Thursday 2004-06-10 - Esfahān, Iran
The ‘forgotten’ genocide
Our next goal is the Armenian quarter of Esfahān, Jolfā, South of the Zāyande river. It’s immediately obvious this is one of the more wealthy areas of Esfahān. We visit two churches there, their inside completely covered with superb paintings; the gilding is real gold! The Bethlehem church is smaller and only opened (with a huge key) on request but it’s more intimate than Vānk cathedral and I prefer it for that reason.
Connected to Vānk cathedral is a small museum. One of the exhibits here is devoted to the genocide of Armenians in Turkey early last century (around 1915 if I remember correctly). While Armenians everywhere are pressing for acknowledgment of this horror, Turkey still officially denies it ever took place. Here, documentation is presented, in the form of letters and telegrams with clear instructions to kill all Armenians without mercy and even quite shocking film images — except there is no way to tell whether it’s authentic. The estimate is 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and the same number deported to neighboring countries (one of the reasons why so many Armenians live in Iran now, and are allowed their own language and religion and left in peace). Armenians all over the world commemorate the genocide on 24 April, demanding Turkey finally acknowledges it.
(If this is what happened, I think they should, and not be allowed into the EU until they do — but is it? Arguments from both sides actually sound equally convincing.)
Saturday 2004-06-12 - Iran, Iran
Iran observations
Many of the things we see and experience in Iran are not specific to any locality but remarkable enough, I think, to make a note of. So, at the end of our trip through Iran here are some of the things I noted along the way and wanted to tell you about:
- Infrastructure
- Immediately after crossing the border from Turkey the change is apparent: infrastructure here is much better developed than in (Eastern) Turkey. Power and phone lines (above-ground) are well-maintained (we see not a single sagging pole). Roads are generally in good repair, not just being well-maintained but constantly improved as well: we see road works in many places, often to turn the (still) mostly two-lane roads into four-lane or even wider highways. There’s also Internet access in many places (far more than I expected) with no apparent restrictions.
- Traffic
- A big surprise is that many road signs are bilingual: not just the directional signs pointing to cities with the name in Farsi as well as a transliteration in roman script; we also see signs like: “reduce speed,” “use low gear” (on mountain roads), “fasten seat belts,” etc. Along some roads also a nice illustration that this mostly hot and dry country (as we experience it now) can also be very cold in winter: we see many road signs warning graphically that snow chains may be needed. Also remarkable is that in many cities, as well as at checkpoints, road bumps are used to slow traffic down; most are of a standardized design so it’s rather easy to learn how to negotiate them (unlike the confusing variety of road bumps we have in the Netherlands).
- Motorbikes
- Motorbikes of all sorts are extremely popular here, and not just with the young ones. One can see whole families on a motorbike: father riding, child in front, mum behind, a small child between them, and an older child at the back. Almost no one wears a helmet - I expect it’s only a matter of time before they become compulsory though, given the obvious growth rate of the number of bikes…
- Energy
- This country has a lot of oil and natural gas - and yet we see many signs of energy being saved. In some hotel rooms we had a fridge, nearly always of an energy-efficient type. Most light bulbs (in use and on sale) are of the fluorescent type; there’s a dazzling variety of them. We even see gas lamps in many places - possible emergency lighting but they’re not antiques: they’re in obvious working condition, have been used, and in one place I saw them burning, too. They’re also extending their network of natural gas pipelines — not just for export but more use of their own gas is planned as well (it’s certainly more energy-efficient to use natural gas as a direct energy source than burning it to produce electricity).
- Iran-Iraq war
- During this war which lasted nearly ten years (1980-1988) there were very many casualties. Every village, town and city has their own martyrs of the war, who are commemorated with billboards with their portraits, usually placed at the entrance of a town. The many dead soldiers left behind many widows and orphans and collection boxes were set up all over the country for donations to support them; they still exist, but are now intended for helping the poor. The system works, since every Muslim is supposed to spend 5% of their income on helping the poor; the boxes form an efficient means to channel such donations.
- Greenery
- In a mostly dry country with two huge deserts it’s understandable that greenery and flowers are cherished. We see new trees being planted alongside many new or improved roads; in the cities roads are lined with trees, shrubs and flowers, well-watered. There are many well-maintained parks everywhere, with trees providing shade, used intensively for relaxation, picnicking, or study; especially at the end of a working day there’s always people sitting around on the grass.Some parks even have special paved circles for picnicking. There are flower shops and (small) garden centers as well, where fresh flowers and potted plants are sold, much like in the Netherlands. Iran’s national flower is the rose; rose leaves are sold on the market and rose water is used to flavor many dishes.
- Mecca
- In every hotel room (in fact, starting with the one just before the Iranian border in Turkey) there’s not just a prayer rug and clay tablet provided, but there’s always an arrow stuck on one of the walls helpfully indicating the direction of Mecca so the guest can adopt the correct orientation for praying. (We found a Koran in only one of the hotels rooms, however.)
- Water
- Everywhere in the cities there are public water tanks with drinking water, with one or a few taps, and usually with drinking cups (metal or plastic) on a chain or a string provided as well. They usually take the shape of a simple plastic or stainless-steel tank and are sometimes provided by shopkeepers, and often by the city; at times they have a quite elaborate wrought-iron fence around them. The contents are always tap water (quite safe and drinkable in Iran though sometimes with a faint chlorine taste), topped up during the day when necessary. Since it’s always hot in the cities during the summer, many people use these for a quick drink - a habit easy to take up (after getting used to the water, of course).
- Food and drink
- Many new taste experiences here, some of which I’ll try to ‘take
home’ (either by imitation if possible, or by trying to get them or the
necessary ingredients at one of the Iranian supermarkets in Amsterdam):
- Dūg
- A refreshing drink made of yogurt and water (still or sparkling). Sold in bottles as a fresh drink everywhere, sometimes fresh - the best: at one place we had a large 1.5 liter can which cost just 5000 IR: about 0.50 EUR. An acquired taste (most people in our group didn’t like it) but I’m going to try this at home! In principle, all you do is mix yogurt and water and let it stand in the fridge.
- Barley soup
- Based on chicken stock, some vegetables added (carrots and tomatoes are usually present but other vegetables can be used as well), thickened with barley. Many variations, but always delicious. A cup of barley soup and a small bottle of dūg make a healthy lunch; in fact this was what my first lunch in Iran consisted of.
- Faludeh
- The major discovery for someone like me who doesn’t like ice cream or someone who cannot eat any dairy products: a refreshing snack or a delicious desert after dinner. Consists of thin starch noodles (boiled till just soft), sugar syrup and rose water for a nice fragrance; our first had some poppy seed added for flavor. Served almost frozen. There are variations, such as using saffron instead of rose water for flavoring and a different fragrance, or fresh lime or bottled lime juice instead of poppy seeds; sometimes ice cream is added but you can always get it without - it’s definitely more refreshing that way. The starch noodles seem to be made from wheat, but you might try (broken) rice noodles for a good imitation.
- Iranian “beer”
- Alcohol is forbidden here (except for Armenians who are allowed to use it within their homes). You can still drink beer though: there are several brands of imported alcohol-free beer (really 0% alcohol), often from Germany or the Netherlands but I liked none of them. Much better for my palate was “Iranian beer” of which there are many variations and brands as well; it’s a lightly carbonated malt drink, often with some vitamins added, and hops for flavor. Not exactly an imitation of beer (and not really intended as such). Don’t think “beer” when you try it, just think “drink”; it turns out to be quite refreshing, because it’s not sweet like the ubiquitous Cola and Fanta imitations which make you thirsty again immediately due to their high sugar content.
Sunday 2004-06-13 - Aşgabat, Turkmenistan
One of the weirdest cities in the world.
In 1948 practically the whole city of Aşgabat was flattened by a huge earthquake (9 on the Richter scale); 160,000 died. The last two buildings left standing were taken down as well — only the Lenin monument was spared and restored at the request of the people: not because they liked Lenin but because they (rightly) liked the monument.
The city was rebuilt completely on a grand new plan, with wide avenues, monumental buildings and mostly ugly monuments (with one exception). Building still continues: 127 new apartment buildings will be built, even though most people in the city cannot afford the steep prices for the (completely furnished) apartments. Not that people from outside will take up the slack: the city is “closed” and people from other areas are not allowed to move in, even though only about 600,000 live here. The townscape is a strange combination of Soviet and Turkmen and some imported styles (architects are hired mostly from Turkey and France), as well as a lot of pleasant and carefully tended greenery; but most trees are still young: they’ll need to grow a few more decades to provide the planned shade. While some inhabitants say their city is the most beautiful one in Central Asia, they don’t use the parks like people do in Iran, where people use the parks to relax after hours — to relax, people here tend to go outside the city into the mountains to the South where it’s cooler in summer.
The Independence Monument (independence from the Soviet Union is a big issue in all Central Asian former Soviet states) is incredibly ugly: a huge tower (over 100m high) with a lot of ornaments made with real gold, worth a stunning amount of money that could have been spent so much better on really useful things like roads…
Noticeable is that the ubiquitous portraits of president-for-life Turkmenbashi which adorned nearly every building just two years ago have now mostly disappeared. No one really knows why but rumor goes pressure from the United Nations played a role.
Saturday 2004-07-10 - Beijing, China
No. 107 isn’t leak-proof
I read somewhere that Beijing’s air is so heavily polluted that one rarely sees a blue sky and Beijing’s children have never seen a starry night. It’s believable: all morning it’s been dark and hazy (although it was much better yesterday — and I now regret not taking a picture of the view from our hotel window then). But when we venture out again after dropping off the morning’s purchases, the sky has become even darker. Our plan is to visit Tiantan: the Temple of Heaven, which I didn’t find yesterday. Just before where we think we should turn right, the sky gets inky; moments later very large drops of rain start to fall.
Together with others we flee to shelter under the overhanging roof of a small restaurant on the corner: No. 107 (I’m not sure whether it has a name or whether that is the name). But the stoop is narrow and the roof doesn’t give much protection: we’re getting wet so we flee inside. The woman who runs the restaurant is calm (as if she’s seen this many times before) and tolerant: she doesn’t come bothering anyone if they want to sit down or eat or drink anything. Carla and I sit down at a table, order a beer, and prepare to watch the fun from our safe vantage point at the window… We soon are reminded of the downpour in Antakya: the road turns into a river, almost knee-deep in places; cyclists suddenly are all wearing rain ponchos (are they always so prepared?), some wading through the water next to their bikes, others managing to cycle through the stream.
Crack! That was a direct hit of lightning nearby — the Friendship Hospital a bit back down the road still has power, but all around it’s suddenly very dark. The wind now becomes stormy, and across the street captures a huge parasol with a heavy foot and drops it in the middle of the street.
Splat! The roof of No. 107 starts to leak — just over our table. We move over to the next one with our beer. Puddles start to form on the floor. Splat! It’s not just water coming down any more: wet plaster is coming with it, leaving white marks all over the tables and chairs near the window. We have to give up our view and move again. At a large table next to us a family is eating together, enjoying themselves and seemingly oblivious to the weather. After half an hour it lightens up a bit and the water level is down, we can see the side walk again: it looks like we might be able to reach the hotel without getting wet feet. For the beer, we only pay 2 ¥ — not sure whether it’s normally that cheap or whether we got a discount for the wet-plaster rain.
Tomorrow we fly back. The Tiantan will be waiting for us to return to Beijing some time…
Wednesday 2007-04-04 - Istanbul, Turkey
Plain sailing now
Not much to tell about the second lap of the trip: we have several hours to kill at the airport (but need to set our watches one hour forward), and spend the time shopping (a little), chatting to get to know each other (especially the “new” group members, and (some of us) having our “last” beer — no such thing in Yemen! No trouble checking in without a Yemeni visa in our passports (Sander had given us all a letter just in case they’d make trouble over that, which happens sometimes). Taking off from the airport we have a spectacular view over Istanbul by night. On the plane a nice dinner, with “really the last beer” - Efes, a very good Turkish pilsener.
We arrive in Sana’a on time. Then we just have to be a little patient, waiting in line for our visas, but people are friendly and there’s no trouble at all. Meanwhile Marie Josee is awaiting us, and already collecting our luggage. It’s great to see her again!
Outside we meet our team, three drivers, one each from a different tribe. They seem very nice. But, all in all, it’s 2:30 when we arrive in our hotel (in the old city, just west of the Zailer wadi which crosses it) where Mohamed is awaiting us with a cup of tea. It’s 3:00 when we finally tumble into bed: it’s been a long day, but we’re here!
