The most difficult part is the nerves. The unknown without lodging is a scary place. I have a place to stay on June 15th, but between now and then I have about 500 miles to go and 8 nights unaccounted for. I was going to travel along the southern coast, but a long conversation about where is good for hitchhiking and where there are direct roads, I've decided to go straight through Ankara to Cappadocia, the picturesque rocky valley, and then work my way back west through a few other traditional/beautiful areas to the coast where my pro-offered bed awaits. After that, I will try to go about 300 miles from Antalya to Antioch and the border with Syria in a day - hopefully reaching Aleppo by day's end. I've sent out couchsurfing requests for Aleppo so hopefully I'll have somewhere to go upon entering Syria. imagine that will be on about the 17th or 18th. Timing is everything so I'm focusing on that now. But of course as soon as one gets on the road, timing is completely out of their control.
I leave Istanbul tomorrow morning. Starting then, I am fortune's scratching post.
My next entry should probably come from the heart of the country - everything Turkey was and Istanbul has moved away from. I'm curious to see. More Turkish than the Turkish - maybe I'll find out what that means. I'm still interested in staying in a Sufi monastery, but they are far more difficult to find than I expected and I don't know what protocol for spending the night really is. Will see will see.
All the best,
tcm
2 comments:
Turkey sounds cool! Be safe and have fun! I'm proud of you brother! Love you and keep writing!
Jes says Hi!
Love Mychael
*** ... Utter depression for the changes the place has undergone (from what, I can only romanticize and invent) and the blase blase nature of the globalized world. If something is comfortable and convenient, it reminds me of America and makes me sad.***
Don't be ridiculous! The world is what the world is. If you want to understand, you have to take it as it is, without judgement. Abandon your parochial US way of thinking. That's what's got you into "romanticizing and inventing".
Explore the past but leave it behind. For you, at this point, it's irrelevant. Try to understand what life is all about where you are right now and when you are right now. That'll probably be impossible until you have enough language to (rudimentarily) understand and be understood.
Think about this: Do any of these people you meet want, at the bottom of it all, anything more or less than you want yourself? Yes? No? Maybe? Is there some kind of fundamental human identity that ties us all together?
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