by Sezgin | Jul 3, 2017 | SeedsonWheels |
We go behind the green mountains that we have seen 2 years ago from the other side of the border (Georgia-Armenia), to the deep valley shaped by Chorukh river. We take a minibus from Trabzon to Borçka and our adventure begins. We learn that the last minibus towards Karagöl has gone and we have 25 kilometers to go before the sunset. After buying some warm bread from the bakery, we start waiting by the side of the road to find a vehicle going towards the way the Chorukh flows. Someone greets us. “Hello brother,” “Yes, we are going to Karagöl.” He is hitchhiking also to go to his home in a village and we get in a car together. When we reach the place where our roads divide, the car stops in the middle of the road; whoever goes to the same way with us, cannot pass without taking us. We get on a pick-up truck and reach the road to Karagöl. Even without making an effort to wave our hands to hitchhike, we are in where we want to be. We start smiling and cannot stop for the following ten days. We intend to walk for a few kilometers but it goes in vain. After just a few steps we take, another person takes us into his car. A motorbike lover traveler-spirit; he says that he combined his passion with his occupation and traveled a lot while working for a company. In this way we meet Sefa and have a companion for 2 days. There is a facility serving mainly for excursionists and 25 TRY is asked to...
by Sezgin | Oct 16, 2015 | SeedsonWheels |
We leave Russia and enter Georgia without visa, passing Kazbegi border check point on Caucasian Mountains. Then we start hitchhiking towards Tbilisi on the road between mighty Kazbek and Shani mountains, following the Valley of Terek River, which is being blocked due to landslides time by time. When we reach Tbilisi with a family from Azerbaijan, Andro welcomes us to his home, who we met on Counchsurfing. Tbilisi is a 1500 years old modern city. In the city center around Kura River, there are historical buildings look like built on each other, surrounded by skyscrapers. Bathhouses and buildings around sulfur water resource in the center of the city are restored and used as hotels and restaurants. But when we start walking in narrow streets and leave the touristic center, we run into abandoned historical churches and houses. A waterfall in the city completes the beauty of historical Tbilisi. The waterfall comes from the top of a cliff and presents an extraordinary view for a city. The metro line built in Soviet era covers most of the city but the best way to explore Tbilisi is walking anyway. Decades old books exposed by second hand book seller on streets, small statutes on pavements, mosaics on the wall of a clock tower… While walking on Rustaveli street, the most famous street of the city with magnificent Soviet buildings, we run into a tea garden and decide to rest. But this is actually a beer garden and the price of a cup of coffee is twice more expensive than beer; and a big glass of beer is just...
by Sezgin | Sep 1, 2015 | SeedsonWheels |
(Click to extend photos) Carrying out backpacks, showing our thumbs We wait near a road; no trees and no cars After getting on a car of a Kazakh family We reach Olgii, Mongolia’s western city We don’t know Mongolian, no one speaks English But in Bayan Olgii, we communicate in Turkish We found a river and pitched up our tent There is nothing to do, but 3 days we spent After taking shower in the bathhouse of Olgii, Towards Tolbo Lake, started to hitchhike lately The lake is clean, cool and nice There are only horses, gulls and us No one passing by, we start feeling dull Mongolian Rally cars are completely full We reached Khovd city in the late evenin’ There we camped with a Chilean and a Finn Pastures everywhere, freely feeding animals The sheep, goats, camels, cows and horses No fence, no tree, no farms; nothing What would Alan Savory think? Under the sun, all day just hitchhiking We get Asian eyes because of the shining Roads are bumpy, no asphalt at all Please take us; we have tobacco to roll We camp anywhere, everywhere is good Rivers are clean, but meat is the only food In Mongolia it’s hard to be vegetarian Can’t imagine being a vegan Our best friends become truck drivers We like to join them for long distances баярлалаа is a word we learned primarily It means thank you, if you can say it correctly There are stones on the road, on and on...
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 Ebru | Jul 10, 2015 | SeedsonWheels |
After 100 meters of walking through the gate, a couple of kilometers away from Aranyaprathet –a border town of Thailand-, we enter Cambodia. In several minutes, we get our visa for 30 days after paying 30$ and start waiting for the bus to go to Siem Reap. Currency of Cambodia is US Dollars ($). Riel is also in use, but especially in big settlements and touristic areas, prices are in $. While paying, dollars and riels are used together and make us calculate regularly as 4000 Riels = 1 $. We take a minibus to Siem Reap for 9 $ per person. Siem Reap is the tourism capital of Cambodia, because there areTemples of Angkor. We find a double room for 7 $, a bit out of the center. Cambodia is not as cheap as we expected from the articles we read before. Or our expectation is too low due to our low budget after one year on the road. You can rent a bicycle, motorcycle or a tuk tuk to go to Angkor from Siem Reap. A good stamina and a couple of days are needed to visit the place by bicycle both because of the distance and the heat. We visit Angkor by renting a tuk tuk for 10 $ for a day. Also 20 $/per person is paid as an entrance fee for one day. Angkor is a temple complex in a large area surrounded by a forest. Angkor Wat, Angor Thom and Ta Phrom are some of the most important temples. You can find information about Angkor everywhere; if you hear about it for the...
