Peter and Margaret are hopeful of a balloon ride.
We are sad to leave them. Willem - they are well.
We drive to Ankara. About 275 km.
Pick up passports with Kazakhstan visas some time after 9am.
This is the first time we've seen any significant "infrastructure".
Something a bit odd about a refinery in the middle of the country, away from the coast, with no evidence of oil or gas wells or pipelines. 90% of Turkey's oil is imported.
We are confused by Turkey's fuel. Apart from being the most expensive we've encountered there's pricing for diesel at around 3.90 Turkish Lira and again around 4.20. Signs for Eurodiesel and Motorin. Apparently it was standardised on Euro Diesel in 2011 and the two labels may refer to the pump nozzle.
Add to that the fuel consumption has been climbing. Along with a noticeable lack of power.
Today I removed the sticking exhaust pipe cover. Power seems ok but it will take another fill or so to confirm problem fixed.
Perhaps this is the third of our "visa", "internet" and now "fuel" problems. They always come in threes!
Islands of high rises.
Just the form and our own letter with a brief itinerary and hotel names.
No letter of introduction. No confirmed hotel bookings. No hassle.
A quick trip to the Kipa (Tesco) supermarket in the Panora shopping center. But no chocolate biscuits.
A quick snooze.
Then off towards Istanbul, and the next Chinese consulate.
At least interesting to me anyway.
The short columns in the background seem to be some sort of forced air evaporative cooling.
We haven't seen any conventional cooling towers.
And a series of smaller mines through the valley.
All connected by conveyor belts from underground to power station.
The coal looked relatively poor, somewhere between low grade brown and high grade anthracite.
Just as we begin to see trees as we travel west we see a mountain with no vegetation.
And a few spots of rain.
Folded.
We camped next to a roadside water fountain with a relatively easy 250 km drive to Istanbul remaining.
576 km for the day (about 10 hours with 8 hours driving). Our 6th longest day.
About 260 km to Istanbul.
Rolling hills and wheat have given way to mountains, trees, and pig or chicken farms.
To join the motorway to Istanbul.
And lots of ships as we approach the Bosphorus.
Across the Bosphorus on the northern most bridge.
Then turn right and follow the coast.
About 1km north of the Tarabya Hotel.
The Chinese consulate should have been there but it had moved.
A very helpful Turk wrote down directions. First turn away from the sea to the south of the Tarabaya Hotel. Up a very steep climb, a couple of corners, and a left turn.
He also later practiced his only English - "no problem" - when we asked if we could park and sleep.
The consulate have a policy of only dealing with agents. We were given the phone number of an agent. They even phoned for us and we were given a city center address.
In Taksim. Site of recent rioting. And armed forces on street corners.
While Ali defended the truck against anyone it needed defending from I took a taxi to Taksim.
The bureaucracy required a citizenship certificate - we now have letters of no objection from Australian DFAT. Plus new photos and bank statement copies.
Our limited understanding suggests the requirement for residency / citizenship certificate may be an impost of the Turkish government.
Time and energy ran out. We'll apply Thursday through the agent.
It will take a week to process.
It is, however, a huge step past "no".
Tardis is just visible behind the minibus in the centre of the photo.
Captive to someone else's timetable and agenda, waiting for visas, we are a tad restless.
Not much different to chasing a spare glow plug in Norway really.
