My two saints, Murad and Semi
After the disappointing morning in Ani, Richard and I prepared for a long travel day ahead, both of us were heading to Erzerum and then parting ways--me to Trabzon, him to Mardin. We hailed down a car occupied by two young men, one slightly chubby the other rather thin and drawn, named Semi and Murad, respectively.
I thought Salle was one of the nicest people I've met, and then along came Semi and Murad, one upping the hell out of Salle. Neither of them spoke english, but through pointing and motioning we gathered that they were actually heading South, back towards Van and Diyarbakir, not north west towards Erzerum. They agreed to drop us off at the next city, which Richard and I were happily enough to agree with.
But halfway to the next city, suddenly Semi and Murad changed their mind. They said they would drive to Erzerum, drop off Richard, and then they would head to Trabzon with me! I was overwhelmed by this...who changes their entire road trip for one hitchiker?? but I agreed, even though I was nervous about going the rest of the way with them without Richard or another person to watch my back.
They turned out to be the epitome of kindness--free tea, bananas, chips, beer (although i refused this) abounded. 8 hours! 8 hours these guys drove, and guess what happened at the end?
They didn't even stay! they dropped me at a hotel (this proved to be harder than I expected, apparently there are a lot of hotels masquerading as brothels in Trabzon), told me to make sure i locked my door and ignored any knocking, said goodbye, and literally got back into their car and started driving for Neveshir, back in the SAME EXACT DIRECTION THEY JUST CAME FROM. like....wtf?? they drove nearly 650km out of their way, just to drop me off!! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE SO NICE?
sorry to get all cappy on everybody, but I just don't know how else to express how profoundly NICE everybody is here. how?? how????
I thought Salle was one of the nicest people I've met, and then along came Semi and Murad, one upping the hell out of Salle. Neither of them spoke english, but through pointing and motioning we gathered that they were actually heading South, back towards Van and Diyarbakir, not north west towards Erzerum. They agreed to drop us off at the next city, which Richard and I were happily enough to agree with.
But halfway to the next city, suddenly Semi and Murad changed their mind. They said they would drive to Erzerum, drop off Richard, and then they would head to Trabzon with me! I was overwhelmed by this...who changes their entire road trip for one hitchiker?? but I agreed, even though I was nervous about going the rest of the way with them without Richard or another person to watch my back.
They turned out to be the epitome of kindness--free tea, bananas, chips, beer (although i refused this) abounded. 8 hours! 8 hours these guys drove, and guess what happened at the end?
They didn't even stay! they dropped me at a hotel (this proved to be harder than I expected, apparently there are a lot of hotels masquerading as brothels in Trabzon), told me to make sure i locked my door and ignored any knocking, said goodbye, and literally got back into their car and started driving for Neveshir, back in the SAME EXACT DIRECTION THEY JUST CAME FROM. like....wtf?? they drove nearly 650km out of their way, just to drop me off!! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE SO NICE?
sorry to get all cappy on everybody, but I just don't know how else to express how profoundly NICE everybody is here. how?? how????
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