Istanbul, Traffic & a bike shop
So got up early and had to escape from the camp ground. As I thought no way to drive around the drum and the chain was too tight to go under it. So out came the tools and took out a screw that was holding the chain together at one spot. Out I was & I was good enough to fix the chain again. Drive into Istanbul was interesting - more mad driving. Also I thought it would be easy to pick up a map of Istanbul and Turkey here like anywere else at a petrol station. Not the case, so no map and the GPS not having detailed maps….
I tried to do two things a) find an internet cafe and b) get into the city center to look for one of the hostels mentioned in the guidebook. Tricky, was going around in circles because its pretty hard to concentrate on mad drivers all around you and at the same time trying to find street names. At some stage I ended up in one of the pedestrianized shopping streets, driving (well more rolling) directly past some police dudes. I was so expecting to hear their wistle go off behind me. So more driving around to find an internet cafe to get the address for a bike shop who sells Yamaha. I know it was on horizonsunlimited and back in Germany I had seen it but forgotten to print it out or make a note somewhere. Finally spotted an internet cafe and got the address of the shop and Google helped in finding were it was but without a map it was still pretty tricky.
I was about a mile away from the shop when I tried my look at another petrol station to get a map and they actually had one for Istanbul (turned out later it was only for the Asian side of Istanbul) and for Turkey (this time for the whole country, but not very detailed, it should do.) In the end still asked a guy in an Audi TT Convertible and he said I could just follow him. So finally made it to Suleyman Memnum shop (Fan Moto) were first I just recieved shaking heads. No they would not have the chain & sprockets and with the spoke it would not be today. Some more inspecting, more phone conversations,two cups of coffee and gazillion cigarettes later. They would be able to get a full set chain & both sprokets. Pretty expensive but at least I will not be stranded in Sibiria. The chain etc would arrive in 1 - 2 hours. For the spoke one guy was send off on a scooter to return half an hour later with a welded spoke - bike into the workshop, rear wheel removed and tried to fit the spoke. Turned out it didn’t fit. So more coffee and smokes and at around 7pm the chain etc turned up. Spoke still missing in action. Half an hour later one of the guys turns up with two new rear spokes and one of them was quickly fitted, the other I got as a spare. I had asked if they know a cheap hotel to stay and one guys agreed to lead me to the hotel. Which is pretty basic but secure parking is 30m away. So first day in Istanbul a mix of missery and success.
Notice now that I have to get into the habit of making pictures of people that I met or that help me (like the guys at Fan Moto) and also to write down the names. Because my short term memory for names is terrible.
Day 19
4. May 2009
Start: Tekirdag, Turkey
End: Istanbul, Turkey
Miles today: 102
Miles total: 2650
Odometer: 8612
Keep on rockin’ man. Glad it’s still going well. Don’t worry, there will surely be some challenges soon and you won’t feel like a fraud…
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