Some Observations

I just thought that I would add some other thoughts and observations to go alongside the posts that Nick has been doing for each day. These will be a bit random and about things I have been thinking about or doing as we have been going along.

The first thing is to say that Turkey is BOOMING! It is a country that doesn't appear to have been hit by the recession if the amount of buliding of houses and blocks of flats and the amount of new road building is anything to go by. Right from when we drove into Istanbul there was a feeling that the new blocks of flats being constructed (and there were loads of them) were not destined to sit empty like some of the other places we had seen. The whole presentation of the roads and verges was neat with flower displays being tended by teams of men, watering was taking place and all looked green and pretty. In the city new paving had been put down. There were all kinds of restoration and repair projects going on. Ring roads have been built and all the roads we have travelled on through the whole country are being renewed and made duel carriageway or are being resurfaced and notjust in the touristy bits. I'd say the EU would be lucky to have Turkey as a member (obviously with the proviso that they improve their human rights as well.) But it's great and we have loved being here.

Second thing to mention - for those of you who saw the red bracelets that I made before I came away and the information about how every culture and religion seems to have an example of them, it was amazing to see them hanging from the branches of the damson tree in the grounds of the painted monastery in Bulgaria. Apparently the damson represent the blood of Christ and they are hung in the tree like prayers or wishes.

About the heat and hot flushes and so on.... gosh we have been hot. The temperatures have been in the in the low 30s but have been getting higher. The other day it was 37 degrees! This is a huge shock to the system. When we left the North East the temperatures were around 9 degrees so that's quite a difference. As you can imagine I have spent a lot of time looking like a boiled lobster with sweat simply pouring off me - elegant I know. But what is ok about all of this is that it's not just me and my hot flushes but everyone is going through the same thing. Nick thinks that he is having sympathetic flushes like a phatom pregnancy, but all the young ones are struggling too which makes me feel much better. When we are out and about now I am mainly under my orange umbrella looking like some memsahib from the Raj. I was quite surprised that I didn't pick up a gang of tourists following me around Ephesus! The hardest thing is trying to keep cool at night. Thank goodness for the silk liners for our sleeping bags - that's my best bit of kit so far. Can just sleep in those and sometimes even they are too warm. I know it will get cooler as we go into the mountains and in different countries so I will probably be complaining about the cold soon. It was pretty chilly on the roof of the truck the other day.

A word about cooking and cook groups just so that you know how that side of things is going. We are in pairs to cook and have to do the evening meal and then the following breakfast. Karen takes the lead on this. She has a plan of what we will be cooking and we take instructions from her. So far Nick and I have cooked spag bol, chicken fajitas and, most recently, hamburgers. People seem to think that we are the gourmet cook group but it is really down to Karen. It's a lot of work to do the cooking. Everything is stored under the truck and it all has to be taken out every time - tables, four gas cookers, huge pans, cutlery, implements, provisions etc etc and then it all has to be put away at the end of the meal after the washing up has been done. So quite physical work. I am hoping that it will be aiding my weight loss. The first thing to do each time is to put on enough water to heat up for tea and coffee and for cooking and for washing up so great pans are boiled. It's the first job in the mornings too so the cook group are usually up an hour before everyone else to get the water on. This can be pretty early when there is a long drive day and we leave the campsite at 6am. It's also pretty grubby as things get very dirty as the truck goes along and need to be washed off before you start. It will get more grubby when we start regularly cooking over open fires, which is what Karen prefers. We bought clothes especially for doing cook group which can get as dirty as we like and which we will burn when we get to Sydney!

And finally, in case you are interested something short on loos... so far they have all been fine and can be found all over the place. They have started to be squat loos in Turkey, but they usually have a western loo too. I have remembered to fill my pockets with toilet paper so that I always have some. Always worth nicking some when you find a place with some there as you don't want to be caught without. Does tend to make your pockets bulky though!

Enough for now. I expect further musings will follow at a later date.

J