In Tashkent staat
onze volgende echte stop gepland, want daar moeten we visa halen voor China en
Kirgizië. Maar ik heb besloten dat te laten zitten. Ik wil graag mijn
studievriend uit Zuid-Korea, Dilshod, nog eens ontmoeten, en daarna is het
welletjes. Ik merk dat 4 maanden op elkaar aangewezen zijn begint te vreten aan
het begrip onderling, en dat ik de lol in het fietsen wel een beetje kwijt ben.
Bovendien wil ik dolgraag naar Istanbul en heb helemaal geen trek in wederom
gedoe over visums. Ik was al tevreden toen we Turkije hadden gehaald, en dat
was mijn grootste probleem deze reis: Als ik nou maar niet zo snel tevreden was
geweest, had ik veel minder problemen gehad met obstakels. Maar zo zit ik niet
in elkaar. Als het makkelijk al goed is, waarom dan moeilijk doen? Voor de eer,
maar die laat ook wel eens afweten. En dus ga ik zo gauw mogelijk een vlucht
naar Nederland boeken, om vervolgens door te reizen naar Serra, in Istanbul.
Ten minste, dat is het plan. Plannen kunnen altijd veranderen, eerst maar eens
zorgen dat ik een reisbureau of internet tegenkom. Later meer hierover, laten
we eerst Uzbekistan eens infietsen.
Het was eerst de
bedoeling om Turkmenistan en Uzbekistan in één te shrijven. Maar dat werd 9
pagina's, en dat is toch wel erg zware kost. Dus nu in twee stukken. Ik weet in
ieder geval weer precies waarom ik de hele tijd tegen het schrijven van deze
stukken aan heb zitten hikken. Er is gewoon zoveel te vertellen. Binnenkort
vertaal ik het ook nog naar het Engels, maar dat stuk wordt in principe
vergelijkbaar met deze twee stukken. En mijn persoonlijke excuses voor het op
de proef stellen van uw aller geduld. Ik hoop dat het eindresultaat de stemming
wat milder kan maken.
So after a nice stop in Tehran with a beautiful short trip to Isfahan it was time to move on.
We
had already acquired our visa for Uzbekistan and the request for the
Turkmenistan visa was also made. Now it was time to take the bus out of
Tehran. Another bus? yes, for 1 Tehran is far from funny to cycle and
secondary, we had to skip a few possible Achmedinijad cities. So our
bus drove all the way to Sharud. Here we unloaded our bicycles, once
again afraid of what had happened to them. Because so far almost every
time we had put our bicycles in a bus one of them got some sort of
damage. Loosing a bell, bending a part of your break cable etc etc. But
this time, nothing had happened. This bus driver +copilot where really
careful, which was a good thing. Thus saying goodbye was really nice.
We could even tell them honestly that they had been our best bus
drivers so far. But as usual something had to go wrong as well.
So as you
have read, we arrived in Tehran earlier then expected due to the riots in
Rasht.
The thing we didn't tell you is that Ingrid from
Tabriz gave us a nice adress to stay in Tehran. Elham, Ingrids daughter in law
picked us up from the west bus terminal. As always we had the dim-witted cab
drivers suggesting we should take a cab. Oddly enough they never seem to
understand that bicycles are pretty sufficient aswell. So after crossing a
pedestrian bridge over a big road, and waiting for Elham who had to pick up her
car, the fun started. Fun? Yup fun, we discovered that the best way to their
house was via the innercity highways. I have absolutely no clue how it looked,
but many people have been frowning that day I guess. After 13 kilometers mostly
cycling uphill in the heat of the day we made it to the appartment. Upon our
arrival there, our first question was ofcourse: "can we use your shower?". In
the end we stayed for almost a week in Tehran and Isfahan.
So after taking our well
needed rest in Tabriz, we started fresh and eager again on day 80.
One thing that did surprise me during the first week was that Iran
actually had quite some rainy days. Its not too bad in this warm
weather, but I was rather surprised the first time it started to
rain. Of course when we left Tabriz, it was a little windy and
cloudy. Looking at the clouds we already expected some rain along the
way. So what do you do then? Cycle, just cycle, and wait till the fun
starts. After barely 30 km the rain started. Luckily we found a small
tunnel under the road where we could go for shelter. And then we
heard a yell, it was a familiar voice. Seconds later Emmanuel came
down to the tunnel asking what the Beep we where doing there.
Yeah in Veenendaal, in the cold Netherlands. No more 40-50 degrees, no burning sun accompanied by hot winds. Unfortunatly today we completed the first part of our Cycling2Tibet trip. First part? completed? yes, for the ones who didnt knew yet: we have been forced to split the journey to Tibet in two parts. Unintended and unwillingly as it happend, it did happen. After our great effort to get the Turkmenistan visa and racing throught that country, Uzbekistan would mean a moment to relax, neh?
