Day 20 Van, Turkey

Just short of Van - near Batman. 6 am. Slept in truck - across second row of seats - parked up at the back of a gas station. Had chi tea with half a dozen localKurdish guys - very impromptu - Simon and I were meant to be doing some crap with the truck - but the Kurds were much more interesting - and they had tea. Hot last night - but slept okay(ish); dreamed about rocket ships.

Yesterday a lot of driving - but difficult (for Simon) because truck clearly has very little braking capacity: we narrowly missed hitting (of all things!) a police car. Also no lights to speak of. Basically lots of broken windows on this trip / Hot Rock. Yesterday involved a lot of desert type country, a distinct change to the more hilly / windy roads near the Med. Sun has now risen - oddly a bit cold right now; it was a clear night and we are up at 700 metres.

By the way, yesterday we stopped at some city and got a lot of interest from the locals. Simon and I had (peach) ice creams - then some guy who (I think) ran a restaurant in a local mall - invited us over there for coffee. I had a double Turkish coffee; Simon got a burger etc. Noted that people are now not wearing shorts at all - all the local men are in long trousers. All the local women are scarfed. Different to further wset, but we are still in Turkey (or I guess Kurdistan).

6:58 am sat at the front of the truck - awaiting departure; we travel to Van to pick up Henry, and see if the two doctors have got their Iranian visas. 7:55 am stopped to gas up. 600 litres diesel. Free chi for us up on the truck; a bit A group (Duncan and Lianna) and the B group...the A group get their chi first - thought we wouldn't get any at one point. 90 minutes later: still here at the gas station. Some problem about the price of the fuel. As far as I understand it we have been ripped off: (a) the price on the big roadside sign is wrong (too low), (b) some sort of story about having to syphon off diesel(?). Apparently we have been sold 700 litres - despite the tanks holding 600 litres maximum. We are awaiting the police. This police business is becoming routine, and a bit tedius. Was hoping we'd get to Van not too late so I could get on the internet etc. 9:30 am Duncan on mobile to British Consulate.
Anyhow at least I could get time out to wash my feet(!) - in the foot washing station. 12:26 pm - we escaped the gas station, but (somewhat inevitably) we have broken down: Simon cannot get the bus into first gear - something of a problem given the steepness of the hill we are on. 38.5 degrees C. Stuck on a hill, in a mountain pass, little stream off the right. Hot and sticky; no idea what will happen next. 4:03 pm have hitched (with T) into Bitlis - got a lift in the front cab of a big articulated truck: nice and smooth, surprising visibility out front. There's nothing here at all in Bitlis - smells of trash. Hitched back to the broken down truck. We have had news that it's been towed up the hill to a garage someplace.