Aug. 27- After a short dolomus ride from Dalyan to Ortaca, we got on the big bus for the 15hr ride to Goreme, in the heart of Cappadocia. It also is spelled Kapadokya, and we don't know which is more "proper" since the K word sounds Greek, but our Turkish friend spelled it with the K's....oh well.
The bus ride in itself had enough excitement to be the base script for a full fledged Hollywood action/suspense thriller. I can see Bruce Willis as Jason, shaved headed maybe, but not really bald, and...maybe Angelina Jolie as JJ, only much hotter than someone who'd hang out with a loser like that Brad Pitt guy. The bad guy would be someone like....oh, Gary Oldman. Yeah, he's a great bad guy. Anyway, after the typical miscommunications at the bus station while fending off the touts (IE "We already have a bus ticket, dude!"), we were off on what we thought was the typical Turkish bus. Driver smoking at will, bad American movie (dubbed in Turkish) on the ONE TV (which cut in and out and had volume way too loud), and the now standard (to us) attendant serving water, soft drinks, hot tea, and cookies. The problem with the drinks & snacks is that you, the customer, have NO IDEA when the next pit stop is going to be. And it's so much trouble to ask in Engliturkish and get an answer you trust, that you typically just say "no thanks" to these freebies. PS- THERE IS NO BATHROOM ON THESE BUSES. However, they proudly tell you that they are required to stop every 2-3hrs, kinda like there's no smoking on the bus, Mr. Bus Driver?
A few hours into the trip, we had formed a bond with some Aussies sitting next to us. If you travel much, you know how it is...you see someone on a bus, for instance, that is the only other non-local besides you. You give the "How's it going, pretty crazy on this bus, huh?" gesture, and he nods back with the old "No kidding, what a trip!". Well, our new friend Hamish and J3 were a few of the only people on the bus awake and watching the road (by coincidence, not because we don't trust the driver to drive the entire 15hr trip with no sleep and a few random rest stops or anything). All of a sudden, we made a sharp swerve left (at 75mph) thru the oncoming traffic lane onto the LEFT shoulder (this is a right lane driving society, people). That's when Hamish and J3 see what the problem was- an old man crossing the road holding two cows by ropes, one of which was ahead of the man in the center of the road. The man and the other bovine were still on the right shoulder. Well, Cow #1 reacted by moving in the direction away from the bus- to the other side of the road. The owner, however, apparently not wanting the problem of catching old Bessie for the next 3hrs, decided to hold on to the rope and try to pull the 900lb animal BACK to the other side. Bessie wasn't having it, and basically stood her ground on our left side of the road. Hence the daring- and perfectly executed- move by Mr. Mustafa Andretti (our driver). We will never badmouth him again. Plus, a friendship was born between J3 and the other English speaking folks on the bus starting with Hamish, when we gave the, "Holy $h#!, did that just happen?!?!", gesture to each other, which J3 have found is also popular among travelers in strange places.
At one pit stop we met the rest of the Aussies- Kirin, Matt, and Susie- while trying to figure out if we had enough time to pee and if this was the dinner stop, since it was now 10pm. Apparently yes to pee and no to food, so off we went. At some point, the attendant was picking up trash and encountered Jason's half-full water cup, which he took and proceeded to pour out on the carpet in the aisle of the bus. Guess he wants to keep the trash can tidy? Yet another confused "look" between Hamish and Jason.
We finally stopped for dinner at 12.30am and had some chicken & rice dish that was actually not too shabby for being on the side of the road in the middle of the night...at a bus stop. It settled our bellies enough to get a few hrs. of sleep in before arriving at our destination in the wee hrs of the morning. Oh yeah.... our destination. That's the kicker of the bus adventures.....
We had read in our LP to beware that some bus companies will sell you a ticket directly to Goreme- the place we planned to stay in Kapadokya- but in actuality, there were no direct buses to Goreme, only to Nevshehir, a town 10km away, and you had to take a small dolomus to Goreme from there. They noted that you would be left on the side of the road on the outskirts of Nevshehir with no other transport in sight, early in the morning. Here's OUR story, which is similar yet different...Our ticket agent in Ortaca told us that there was NO direct bus to Goreme, and we'd have to change in Nevshehir, which we expected to be true (from our LP reading) and thought we had found an honest and knowledgeable Turkish bus ticket agent. So, at 5am in the middle of nowhere (as expected) somewhere near Nevshehir, the bus stopped and we started to exit and collect our bags. We also had warned the Aussies (also destined for Goreme) of this dilemma and they were exiting with us. Fortunately for all of us, Kirin read on her ticket that the destination was Goreme! She showed the attendant, he directed them back on the bus, and J3 said in their best Engliturkish that we wanted what Kirin had, and we were back onboard as well. Ten kilometers later, we were in Goreme! Whew! That was a close one! We tried to fathom the "what ifs" but it became too much like a Twilight Zone episode, and we all know this is an action/thriller film, not sci-fi.
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