Bergama/Turkey – Antalya/Turkey

Almost a week has passed – time for an update here from the old town of Antalya, where we spent the night in a nice and simple pension. As long as we get internet access so easily and affordable (here in Turkey 0.50 Euro/hour), we will try to have one blog session each week – just to let you know. Thomas is sitting next to me and writes the german article. It’s about midday and it’s a lovely day, quiet, sunny and warm! Finally! The night before we had again ice on the sleeping bags and bikes with minus 7 degrees, up there in the mountains.

Before I start, I want to say here „Hey!“ and „Thanks!“ to you Olli and also to Nadine and the little Charlize of course, for the almost regular and nice comments from Curitiba/Brazil! I just want to say it once again, that we are happy about every comment, happy, to be able to share some thoughts,oppinions and ideas here and also to answer your questions, if you got some!

Tom and me were thinking, to open another category beside the lines about our daily ‚route-ine‘, adventures and experiences – to write some articles about just one of these special moments for example, like the meeting with the melon man and why they are so special for us, or about the reasons for this tour – Why are we doing this? Why with a bicycle? and more still, why with such a strange bicycle? About the mixed and changing feelings of beeing such an attraction in many places we pass through. About the one question we hear again and again: How much? (money, the bikes) Why is it so important for them to know? we ask ourselves. One could conclude, that it shows, that money rules the world, that it is the dominant measure. But of course there are things you can not measure with just a number and a unit. What does it mean, if one of us replies „1.500 Euros“ or „2 Dollars“ (we did that sometimes, just to test the reaction), or if we would say 10.000 Euros? Or that this is all we own, all we need on this tour, our home, our car, our faithful companion? Even more, it is still just a simple bicycle, a (street-)machine (as it was called by the developers and producers ‚hp-velotechnik‘ in Kriftel, Germany) and it enables us to live this dream, our dream – this TOUR! That’s what we wanted to do, to live this dream, which grew over all this years – and we found a way, our way, to do it, finally, to start this journey on the 14th of October in Berlin!

How can you value this in numbers and units, a price? You can’t! But it is not always easy to explain in these situations, often not even worth a try, so it seems. And I write that, knowing, that it is still a luxory, to do such a journey, because we were lucky and grew up in a country like Germany, where we had never to worry about food or money or a lack of attention and love, where we had the chance to study and to travel, where we had enough free time and free space to start dreaming about an adventure like this. Also the fact, that we got german passports and that I had the chance to study and work abroad quite easily, that we had the chance to save some money as well, in strong currencies, so that there is no need to work, while we are on tour. And – last but not least and maybe most important – because we got a save and peaceful home, to return to and the support of our parents, of our families, our friends and of all the people, who are with us in their thoughts! So thanks again to all of you and for all the presents I mentioned!

It is 2:30 pm now and I realized, that, when I started to tell you about the idea with the new category, I started already to write the first article, which would fit in there. Well, maybe it is a starting point and gives you also a better idea, what this is all about, this tour and this blog, I mean. Just one more thing – I try my best – but still, even that I love the english language, it will stay a second language for me and I write without a script – so please excuse me for my mistakes and feel free to correct me!

We got to move on now, unfortunately, and I wanted to tell you also about the events of the last days and nights and kilometers since Bergama… So I just have to leave you with the pictures and there german titles and with the assurance, that we are in the best mood, happy and healthy, for our next stages to Adana/Turkey and further to Syria and Jordania. I wish you all a happy pre-christmas-time as well!

Maik

pictures to this article: Bergama/Türkei – Antalya/Türkei : Fotos
press: Kurtulus, Soma/Türkei, 23.11.2006, „Dünya turuna cikan Alman turistler Soma’da“

27. November 2006 - Maik | english texts | Kommentare :: comments :: comentarios | Inhalt drucken