Down for the count!
and then there were two. Lindsey and Matt left via airplane while Richard and I geared up for a full day of trying to save money and hitching our way to Kars.
This proved to be extremely easy besides the initial trip out of the city. We rode in 3 different cars and arrived in Dogubayazit around 1pm.
I had woken up not feeling too well in the stomach, but decided to ignore it and ate breakfast anyway. Let's just say by the time we got to Dogubayazit I was feeling well regretful! We were dropped at a random intersection in front of a...store? not even a store, an office? i never did figure out what it was. But inside the office was 24 year old Salle(sp?) one of the most generous people i've met to date. The generosity of the people here in eastern turkey is staggering--i thought after Syria I'd met the nicest people in the world, but the eastern turks/kurds are giving the syrians a run for their money! It's honestly a bit shaming that americans are not even 1/8 as nice and generous as the people I've met here. I've vowed that whenever and wherever I settle down I will take tourists under my wing regularly and become a couch surfing host or something.
Salle, taking in my pale and slightly green appearance, immediately led me up to some stranger's apartment, whose bathroom sink I promptly threw up in. twice. and i tracked dirt into their house. v. embarrassing. BUT, After that small bit of purging I felt better! so Richard and I decided to check out Ishak Pasa Palace on recommendation of Salle. "Chocozele!!" he said. Translated: VERY good!!
He let us leave our packs in his office and we hitched another ride up a huge hill to the palace. and salle was right, it was chocozele. It was one of the better preserved palaces I've seen in Turkey and the view from the top was impressive. Suddenly i heard a "hallooo!"
I looked around. Salle? yes, Salle..inside the palace, after he had told us he couldn't drive us up there. I felt confused. He showed us around and then drove us back down the hill. I never figured out why he suddenly showed up.
By that point I wasn't feeling so great again. Richard politely offered that we stay the night instead of hitching the rest of the way to Kars as planned, even though this would set him back a day. Salle, again the epitome of generosity, offered to let us stay in the shack (guesthouse? unused garden shed? not sure. either way there was a bed for me) out back for free! I happily climbed into the bed and had a momentary surreal moment. "Am i really in a stranger's shack in eastern turkey trying my hardest not to puke all over the red fake satin sheets?" I thought of the time Travis told me that i always had "rich life experiences" and I made a mental note to mark this down as one of them.
I slept it off, waking briefly to throw up in a filthy squat toilet (another rich life experience? maybe. something i never really wanted to experience in the first place) and thank Salle for bringing me soda, plain crackers, cookies and cold medicine. Yeah i dunno why he brought the cold medicine..i don't think he understood that I had food poisoning and not the flu.
thank you, salle! you will forever be awesome.
This proved to be extremely easy besides the initial trip out of the city. We rode in 3 different cars and arrived in Dogubayazit around 1pm.
I had woken up not feeling too well in the stomach, but decided to ignore it and ate breakfast anyway. Let's just say by the time we got to Dogubayazit I was feeling well regretful! We were dropped at a random intersection in front of a...store? not even a store, an office? i never did figure out what it was. But inside the office was 24 year old Salle(sp?) one of the most generous people i've met to date. The generosity of the people here in eastern turkey is staggering--i thought after Syria I'd met the nicest people in the world, but the eastern turks/kurds are giving the syrians a run for their money! It's honestly a bit shaming that americans are not even 1/8 as nice and generous as the people I've met here. I've vowed that whenever and wherever I settle down I will take tourists under my wing regularly and become a couch surfing host or something.
Salle, taking in my pale and slightly green appearance, immediately led me up to some stranger's apartment, whose bathroom sink I promptly threw up in. twice. and i tracked dirt into their house. v. embarrassing. BUT, After that small bit of purging I felt better! so Richard and I decided to check out Ishak Pasa Palace on recommendation of Salle. "Chocozele!!" he said. Translated: VERY good!!
He let us leave our packs in his office and we hitched another ride up a huge hill to the palace. and salle was right, it was chocozele. It was one of the better preserved palaces I've seen in Turkey and the view from the top was impressive. Suddenly i heard a "hallooo!"
I looked around. Salle? yes, Salle..inside the palace, after he had told us he couldn't drive us up there. I felt confused. He showed us around and then drove us back down the hill. I never figured out why he suddenly showed up.
By that point I wasn't feeling so great again. Richard politely offered that we stay the night instead of hitching the rest of the way to Kars as planned, even though this would set him back a day. Salle, again the epitome of generosity, offered to let us stay in the shack (guesthouse? unused garden shed? not sure. either way there was a bed for me) out back for free! I happily climbed into the bed and had a momentary surreal moment. "Am i really in a stranger's shack in eastern turkey trying my hardest not to puke all over the red fake satin sheets?" I thought of the time Travis told me that i always had "rich life experiences" and I made a mental note to mark this down as one of them.
I slept it off, waking briefly to throw up in a filthy squat toilet (another rich life experience? maybe. something i never really wanted to experience in the first place) and thank Salle for bringing me soda, plain crackers, cookies and cold medicine. Yeah i dunno why he brought the cold medicine..i don't think he understood that I had food poisoning and not the flu.
thank you, salle! you will forever be awesome.
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