East Meets West

With a mixture of envy and distain, I watched the gleaming chrome kettle been carried across my line of vision through the deluxe campsite and the conglomerate of whiter-than-white Italian motor homes somehow jarring against our tried and tested kit. Here we are, the evidence of kettle and campsite, symbolising our move into western life again. (Was our kettle really ever that shiny – I don't remember anything other than …. well, black.) Our cutlery struggling to hold rank and number, the stoic Eazi-Awn roof top tent refusing to be daunted by car-roll or 40,000 km travelling, Swarovsky binoculars bringing us closer to an experience of Africa and the Middle East that we'll never forget.

 

Finally, we have tanned bodies the colour of homemade marmalade – as we relaxed at a lake with a chalky clay sand and azure blue waters, alongside Portia and Eden 's DIY 'mud-bath' in the shallow waters. As we left we got stuck pulling out the trailer. The soft clay under the sand again deceiving us – but the car winch pulled out the trailer to our great satisfaction. And here I confess our delight when our family discovered not only a 'hypermarket' (ie bigger than ususal corner shop) but one that is linked with Tescos and spent several happy afternoons browsing the shelves, joy of joys!! We loved the moonscapes of Cappadocia, the fig trees and apricot trees dripping with fruit and the people with their warm hearts. Today, we popped into Istanbul, by mistake. Or rather we avoided it by mistake – the gps leading us far and beyond the city walls (to the above abode), but we had to return to investigate our Green Card insurance. What a pleasant surprise – a particularly attractive city, which epitomises a country with layer upon layer of history.

 

Our final stop in Turkey was a few days spent at the Gallipoli WWI Battlefields which was very moving and really bought some of our recent history closer to home. So glad we made the effort to get there.

 

With something like five weeks travelling, 10 hours unabridged Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men and more recently Mao's Last Dancer, and family after family of warm hearts, glass after glass of sweet black tea ….. indeed Turkey has lived up to it's reputation of east meets west, and the beginning of a gentle transition into the other world.