by Sezgin | Aug 9, 2015 | SeedsonWheels |
Before we started travelling, we researched about South Asian countries a lot; but we didn’t think that someday we will go to Russia. We hastily write how to read Cyril letters on a paper; we can read almost everything even we can’t understand what it is. Irina, with whom we met on the plane, takes place in our story as a young Russian woman graduated from a university in Shanghai, visiting her family in summer holiday. As a fluent English speaker, she gives important tips to us about Lake Baikal during the flight. By chance, we learn that her house is close to the house of the couple who will host us via Couchsurfing. When the plane lands on the airport of the city dominated by Brezhnev blocks, we leave her to wait for a wheelchair as we got used to in South Korea. After everybody gets off, at the end of our long waiting we understand that staff of the airport has a totally different idea! Without using even the stairs of the plane, we get on a truck from the emergency exit and get off on the other side of the road which would take less than a minute by walking. It wasn’t necessary, really, but we can not explain it to the staff. When we get off, waiting for a wheelchair, we find ourselves queuing with crutches in a building looks like a train station of a small city. “What is all about?” We ask for help from a passenger to carry the bags and pass the passport check. According to the paper given to us,...
by Sezgin | May 1, 2015 | SeedsonWheels |
We enter Nepal from Kakarbhitta border by walking, after passing the bridge between India and Nepal. We wouldn’t even go through passport check if he hadn’t enter the single-store building after seeing the small old signboard on it. We get our visa in a couple of minutes after paying 40$ as enrty fee and the one page form to smiling policemen. There are 450 kilometers to reach Kathmandu. Our journey starts after buying a bus ticket from the bus station just next to the border for 1000 Rs. (15 $) with one of the “non-AC” buses. We travel for 17 hours waggling with never ending music. There is no other way of getting used to long and shaking trips, even if you are travelling with the most comfortable bus. We arrive to Kathmandu early in the morning and settle in a hotel, named Blue Diamond, in the touristic center, Thamel. 800 Rs. (10 $) for a room per day is cheap for this location, but it is possible to stay in Basanthapur, the old city center close to Thamel, for a cheaper price. Thamel’s streets, full of souvenir shops selling colorful Nepalese cloths and trekking equipment, usually end in a small square full of temples. We also shop for trekking while exploring Kathmandu. There are both cheap local restaurants and luxurious restaurants serving world cuisine in Thamel. After India, it is also easy in Nepal to find vegetarian food. “Dhal Bhat”, consisted of rice, a dish like lentil soup and another food mostly including potato, is the main dish in Nepal. Most of the Nepalese eat this two times...
by Sezgin | Oct 26, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
We move towards the west, taking two of our friends from Flora. With Edwin and Gökçe, we make camp next to the ancient theatre in Kaş. We spend the night on the rocks, while we were still under the effect of Flora. The following day, we reach the river between Letoon and Xanthos in Kumluova. One side of the wide beach ends at the sea, the other side at the river. If you swim in the river after the sea, you don’t need to take shower. There is an abondoned facility, in which there are caravans, just behind the beach. A shadowy place thanks to the trees. Also there is clean water which makes it a suitable place for camping. We spent one night there and visited Saklıkent before going to Refikler Farm. Saklıkent Canyon is relatively calm as we are not in the season. We start walking in the canyon after wearing our helmets. It’s very enjoyable to walk in the muddy water flowing through the canyon, but sometimes it’s deep to the neck. Walking becomes harder when we reach to the end of the valley because of waterfalls and sloppy rocks. When the tour is completed and you turn back with all the mud on your body, a present waits for you. Freezing but mudless water coming from a different spring at the entrance of the canyon… You can take a shower as long as you can resist the cold water. When we reach Fethiye, we take two travellers who contacted us before, one of whom is from Colombia and the other from Malaysia. We hit the...
by Sezgin | Oct 19, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
After the cold climate of Konya, warmth of Mediterranean covers us again. We met with our friends again, who we were together frequently before our trip. In Adrasan, Çıralı and Phaselis… Close to full moon… We were together around the fire and under the sky again… Then we followed the road into the forest from Çıralı. We found the wooden house on the skirts of Tahtalı Mountain, in the middle of hundreds kinds of flowers… The first night, we came together around the fire in the garden enlightened by the full moon. On the first night of the unity of different lives, it was like the existence of all these lives just for that night. We were like souls re-united in a world surrounded by the forest. The flames of the fire were waving in each of us, even most of us met each other for the first time and for the first time we were all together. A harmony like that could only exist in the uniqueness of an existence of such a spontaneous gathering. Everything standing and growing on the earth of the garden was sharing its beauty with us. Cats, dogs, the cactus… Even a dragonfly standing on a herb in the garden… We left ourselves in the calmness of the Garden, which was sown by Selahattin and Ayşe. A purifying and healing area is created in the place, where everybody is invited to join the flora. A place, in which you are involved to the living even in a short visit… A convent welcoming everybody… Not only living ecologically, but also creating a new way of...
by Sezgin | Aug 29, 2014 | SeedsonWheels |
We are on the way again after two weeks we spent in Istanbul. In the evening, we reach Maksudiye village in Adapazarı, at Sakarya basin. It’s a clean, tidy and green Cherkessian village. There are small fields and animals feeding in the village. After looking around in the village, we run into an elegant, wooden garden gate. The green well-kept garden behind the gate is Jade Farm. The founder of the farm is Berin Jade. Jade stands for jadestone in Cherkessian too. We park our caravan under a pear tree and meet with Berin and the people who work here. Hundreds kind of plants around us… Jade’s farm is on a land larger than 100.000 m2. It’s changed a lot in 13 years with Berin. In the past, it was a place full of just apple and pear trees, but now there are plants for the first time we heard of. Also there are different types of each plant. There is an intense work all day long. We sow seeds carefully with workers and harvest the product. We ask questions to Berin about everything we see, like kids. She answers with patience until the last day. Everyday, we join the work as much as we can with the guidance of the villager women. We arrange raised beds, sow seeds, place the pipes for drip irrigation, comb out wild herbs. One of the most beautiful things is to eat anything we want to taste without washing or cooking. No GMO, no pesticide. Also there is a work...
