Here is the sequel =), sorry, but although we are told everywhere there is internet, in fact there isn't! Going back to where we dropped the storytelling last time (a bit complicated after all this time) we did not carry on towards the planned direction after Istanbul. We had planned a loads of typical touristic and lying-on-the-beach activities near to the Aegean sea, but we got a rather more serious task at the end then these. Bela's girlfriend - let's call her Amanda - figured, she would fly to Antalya for some sightseeing and it would be great if we could make it to get there. =) Good to know for a rather keen traveler that there is a nice 700 km distance between the two cities at least. We gave ourselves two days to get there. In fact we made it in one, hitchhiking to the south coast!
After we said goodbye to Zoli we caught a ship to the train station since that's already in Asia. From there we went to the border of the city with a suburban railway. This means a slight 80 km journey cause Istanbul and it's agglomeration sort of embrace the sea, that's why it takes so long. Or at least it seemed us so long... After one or two quite average hitchhiking trips (driving on abandoned roads with young Turkish guys while Pendulum was shouting in the background) a truck driver picked us up - FIRST TRUCK HITCHHIKING IN MY LIFE!! At this point we were still for some 600 kms from the finish line, so we asked the driver if he went towards Antalya. He was smiling widely - few teeth missing - and beckoned to join him and nodded reassuringly to Antalya! His name was Osman (everyone here is called Osman) and almost didn't speak any other languages but Turkish. I really got to like this guy! It turned out that in the summer he's a truck driver, otherwise he teaches math in a secondary school. After he taught me how to count in Turkish (and got me repeat it as well!) he gave Bela a math graduation exam test which he proudly solved, here is the picture if you don't believe:
Our journey together lasted 12 hours with an average speed of 40 km/h, but as for exchange we saw heaps of dreary nothing! :) Okok, it was great to relax and to muse a bit! Osman showed us some tricks how to avoid numbness while driving: 'don't use the pedals below! Let them rest!'
We slept in the truck 3 hours next to the airport then got into the city to find a place to sleep. How I hate this... We explored the old town and it's famous coast while waiting for Amanda to arrive.
What's happened in the next few days Bela will let you know soon. I would like to thank Amanda that she visited us here, it was a great experience! :)
(translated by Dóri :)