Sarimilla Trust

We are finally back in the land of technology, not that we know what to do with it – especially on a Turkish key board.

Our armed escort in Iran ended some 3 days after crossing the border. The reason for the escort was the result of drug runners crossing between Iran and Pakistan. Unfortunately a Japanese tourist fell victim to one of these gangs and is still being held for ransom at this time. For our safety in Iran we were given an armed escort and weren’t allowed to leave our hotel without one. Our journey was made even longer as we had to wait everytime we were handed over to a new patrol. The Iranian people made us feel very welcome everywhere we went. In Pakistan our armed escort was for much the same reason although in Quetta and the journey west from there you can’t be too careful for obvious reasons.

We really enjoyed our time in Iran but were also glad to be in Turkey. Had a minor disaster at the Iranian Turkish border, after only just managing to scrape enough money together for the visas (nobody – not even the banks – want Australian dollars) we went back to the immigration desk only to find Steve’s British passport had expired in January. After hastily removing the visa stickers and putting them into the Aussie passports we were on our way. He really should find himself a better travel agent!!

Had a great start to Turkey stayed in a fantastic place overlooking Mount Ararat and underneath an old Kurdish palace. Unbelievable views and so tranquil, well that was before the karaoke started at 8pm. Sank a few Turkish beers lovely stuff.

We are now on our way to Istanbul and travelling well on these roads. We are over half way and holding up very well. The food has improved, we had chickpea soup for breakfast and chickpeas in tomatoes for lunch and goodness knows what we will have for dinner but the chickpeas look good.