Blog - Plug Me In

28 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 226 & 227 | Erzurum

Day 226 | Wednesday October 26

The road from Bayburt to Erzurum was probably one of the most scenic routes I have taken so far. Mountain passes took me through small typical Turkish villages, I wish I had a drone to capture the beauty of it. Around 2pm I arrived at the address my CouchSurfing host gave me. As there were no houses on this street I assumed I probably was not in the right place. In the city center I found a wifi spot and checked the location Refik gave me, it was on the totally other side of the city. Refik didn’t let me know from what time I could arrive or how I would contact him when I got there. As I expected he lived in an apartment so I didn’t know which bell to ring. I went back to the center and contacted him, did a little walk through the city and logged back in. No reply. I spoke to some locals and they told me the internet connection had been blocked by the government.

It was getting late and I got a bit desperate as I thought I might have not a place to stay tonight, normally sleeping in the car is a solution but with temperatures around 0, not so convenient. Finally around 9pm he responded. Indeed he couldn’t contact me because of a problem with internet. He went to a friend which had internet so he could contact me and that is where we met.

We had some coffee and talks and than went to his house. He lived on the 4th floor on the backside of the building but luckily with some extension cables we could reach the car to charge.

Day 227 | Thursday October 27

Today was a lot of arranging stuff for Iran. In a previous blog I mentioned that you need to obtain a visa authorization code to be able to pick up the visa at the consul. Now I had doubts that this company were I requested the code was a scam, today my doubts became true. I would not receive this code. To request another code would take me at least 10 days and this would be a problem as “winter is coming” in Iran. I did some research and found out it’s possible to get a visa at the border, in contrary to what almost all blogs and websites about Iran told me. I went to the consul in Erzurum to gain more information and also here they told me its not possible to get a visa at the border. Now in the blog I found there are 2 guys mentioning it was no problem, the last note came from yesterday actually so it’s very recent. It’s my only possibility so I try to reach the border soon and find out. If it’s not possible I don’t know what to do.

For today I had another CouchSurfing host, Merih. There was still a problem with internet and as we didn’t arrange where and when to meet that was a problem again. After 3pm the internet went back online and we got in touch. A friend of Merih, Okan, picked me up in the city and together we drove to Merih’s house just outside of the city. Okan laughed very hard when I told them Turks are “crazy people” when they drive car.

With Merih we drove back to the city for some food and drinks. Merih is a 24 year old English student at the Uni and has been living here for 6 years, she is from Antalya originally. I was the first CouchSurfing guest for her this year and she accepted me because English was my second language. Later we would meet with Okan’s girlfriend Fatma who is also a classmate of Merih. Okan is a doctor and drives pretty normal compared to the other people here. We all slept together in the same room at Fatma’s house, where her sister also lives. Very funny and interesting experience to sleep in a tiny room with so many people.

PICTURES

The road to Erzurum

Crew

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26 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 225 | High mountains, low voltage

Day 225 | Tuesday October 25

Unfortunately it was time to leave my hosts Ali and Burak. I really appreciate how they took care of me and wish them all the best.

Range Excitement

The plan for today was uncertain. Erzurum is where I want to go to arrange the visa and I found some people on CouchSurfing who could host me. It is 260km away so not reachable on one charge but with a pitstop I could make it. Exact in the middle of the route is Bayburt, I tried to find a host there but no luck so I won’t have a place to stay. So time for some #RangeExcitement.

Hitting the road

The nature on the way from Trabzon to Bayburt was unbelievable beautiful. From my window I saw a lot of green, hills and water. Stunning to drive through. The hills became mountains though, which were also beautiful but it took a lot from the car. And it seemed they were reaching to the heaven as I kept rising. The temperatures didn’t rise sadly and even dropped very quick, after a while the meter on my dashboard told me it was 3.5C. Probably the coldest temperature I noticed so far. While Bayburt was 70km away my battery level reached 20% and in stead of trying to reach Erzurum it became already hard to reach Bayburt. I wanted to stop at the earliest convenience but it took a while before I found something. With 7% left and a lot of stress I came by a tunnel which was under construction. There were some containers and I was hoping to find electricity there. I saw it was there but no-one to ask if I could use it. I started to get a bit desperate and afraid as it got so cold (it was almost freezing) and there wasn’t anyone on the road. Luckily after 30 minutes some construction workers came out the tunnel and they were happy to help me. Like everyone in Turkey so far. They were interested in the car and thought it was a ridicules idea, they are probably right.

The guys invited me in their container, offered me some coffee, put me in front of the heater and took some selfies with me. When I had 30% battery I continued my way and after the tunnel the road only went down and I had no trouble to reach Bayburt. I decided that I couldn’t go farther today as I needed to charge a long time. I decided to book a cheap hotel with the money I had left from my mother. It might the easy way out but after all the stress I wanted to recover.

Carnet de Passage

The last weeks I have been very busy with preparing the trip through the Middle East and Asia. In these countries you can’t just appear at the border and enter the country. You need to request a Carnet de Passage. After you delivered a 5000 euro deposit you receive a document. For the country this is a guarantee that the car will be exported after your trip. When you decide to leave the car in the country you lose the bond. Now I borrowed the money from a friend of mine (Thanks L) and requested this document from the German Automobile Club (ADAC). On the application form you need to fill out a lot of details about the car and these need to match with your vehicle documents. Now that’s were some issues arose. On the Carnet form I needed to enter the capacity of the cilinder. Now an electric car doesn’t have a cilinder so thats n/a. However my vehicle document said there was a 1350 CM3 capacity. I contacted the RDW and they confirmed there had been a mistake. They sent a new card to my mother and luckily this arrived the day before she flew to Istanbul so she could take this with her. Now I could apply for the Carnet, problem was they need to sent it to Turkey and when you go to another address everyday, not knowing where you are in 2 days it’s hard to find a postbox. I thought the best possibility was to sent it to the guys in Trabzon and it arrived there last Friday. I had to pay another 57 euro for DHL express. Luckily I have some donation money now.

It’s not easy sometimes to arrange all these things while on the road and being on your own. A few weeks ago I was uncertain if I would manage to fix all this but I believe I got it under control now.

PICTURES

Some sheeps on the way

The nice workers who helped me out

Pitstop

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24 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 221 – 224 | Trabzon

Day 222 | Saturday October 22

Today I went with my host Ali, who is part of the Karadeniz Technical University Energy Technologies Team to the Uni. They organized a day for students who were interested in joining the team. All people who are interested in electric cars so of course they inspected my car from top to toe and I gave lots of explanations. When the students left I had some time to test drive their special car. With my 1.92 meters long body it was hard to get into this low vehicle but sitting so close to the grounds gives you a different feel. The car doesn’t have a pedal but with a turning knob on the dashboard you can control the velocity. It starts a bit slow but after a few meters it speeds up.

The engineers also saw that the profile on my front tires was too low. I already heard this yesterday so we had to do something. The guys knew a good tireman (that’s probably not a word) who might be able to help. He could offer me two second hand tires for the price of 70 lire. That’s about 20 Euro. My mom left me 300 Lire and I thought this would be a good investment.

At night we went to one of the guys to have some drinks. Raki is the national liquor and of course I had to try this. It looks like it’s colorless but when mixed with water it becomes white, magical. When mixed with your body it becomes even more interesting. It was a fun night and the guys laughed a lot when I said some Turkish words. Sikter being their favorite one, you can google what it means.

Day 223 | Sunday October 23

We went back to the Uni and the team spend all day with me to explain their electrical car. I shot a new movie which explains the background of the project and all technical details about the car and I will edit it soon.

Day 224 | Monday October 24

In Trabzon is a Consul of Iran. I wanted to go there to gain some information about how to apply for a visa for the country. Blogs and websites give different information so I wanted to be sure. I already found out that I need an authorization code. I applied for this a few days ago and it takes 7-10 days before I receive it. The experience with the website were I ordered it (I payed 40 pound for it with the donation money) was not so good. I didn’t receive a confirmation mail and the communication was not so smooth. I got a bit suspicious and started googling about this website. I found out that there were many people who had problems with this company. Some people reported that it was a scam, not receiving their codes. Others found the company unprofessional and reported they delivered the code after 2-3 weeks. Some people said they delivered in time.

A few blogs wrote that citizens of some countries (including the Netherlands) don’t need this code and could just pick up the visa, time to find out. At the gate of the consul they already asked for the code and I couldn’t enter without it. Case clear. I am worried now that this company won’t deliver and I need to get it from another company which could cost me 2 weeks more and another 40 pound! Not a nice feeling.

Today I wanted to go to Bayburt to reach Erzurum tomorrow were there is also a consul and apply for the visa. Now I learned it was not necessary anymore and because it was already getting late I decided to stay one more night in Trabzon and go to Bayburt tomorrow.

The boys gathered some press today so I gave some interviews, or well the guys did most of the interviews as they already knew everything. Than they took me to the top of a hill with a nice view over Trabzon and we had some Chai (local thea) at a restaurant there. Than back to the Uni to say goodbye to the team.

I really enjoyed being with them and they did too. Some of the things I heard the last days were touching. One guy said that the group felt really good and happy being with me. Another guy told me it was the first time he had the opportunity to speak English with someone, very special.

PICTURES

The team + new students

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22 October 201622 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 220 & 221| Hello Goodbye

Day 220 | Thursday October 20

At 5 in the morning our alarm rang and it was time to head to the airport. One week I spent with my mother, I didn’t know how it would go as we never traveled together but I found out we have many similar ideas about things we like to see and like to do. It was really a pleasure to travel with her. The last seven months I have been traveling alone for most of the time. Everyday I stay at new people which is very interesting and exciting but it can be exhausting as well. This week everything was arranged, no stress about were I would spend the night and if I would make it. Less small-talk and more good conversations. It was hard to be alone again after we said goodbye but this week gave me more energy to continue the trip. And with the hardest part starting now I definitely need that.

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Around noon I left to Unye. In Istanbul I met Turgut and he had family in this city were I could stay. I was welcomed by Ayse and Cevdet. To my surprise Ayse spoke Dutch. She lived in the Netherlands for 12 years and left 30 years ago and she didn’t spoke the language ever since but she still could understand everything I said.

They took me for a little tour. We visited a museum which showed how the Turkish people lived traditionally. They showed me how they used to entertain people with hand shadow puppets and how a house was shared by 4 different families. Interesting detail is that woman and man had their own door knocker. Each with their own distinctive sound so they could recognize who was knocking on the door. Later we visited the grave of Yunus Emre, he is one of the most important poets and lived from 1230 – 1321. He had a huge influence on the Turkish literature and was also a prominent philosopher.

Day 221 | Friday October 21

I woke up in the hotel Ayse and and Cevdet arranged for me. Ayse’s husband Eren picked me up and brought me to their house were I left the car to charge. After Turkish coffee I hit the road again.
Today I had to do 250km to Trabzon. I knew that there was one EV charger in Ordu, however my car doesn’t always communicate with chargers so it is always a surprise if it’s possible to charge or not. If it’s not possible I would have a really long day as I need to find another spot were I can charge on 220V slow speed, if it does work it would save me a lot of time. The charger was part of the Esarj network of which I received a card to make use of it. On the app I saw that the charger was also only available for Renault customers, which was another problem but I gave it a try. I arrived at the Renault dealer and while they didn’t spoke English they were eager to help me. And best of all the charger worked with my car! The people at Renault were very excited that a Dutch guy came to charge here and they invited me have lunch with them. One of the mechanics looked at car and he saw that the profile on the front tires was not so good anymore. He warned me about going through Iran with this.

After two hours of charging, the car was full again and few hours later I arrived in Trabzon. I was invited by the Karadeniz Technical University. They saw Plug Me In on Facebook and as they are building their own electric vehicle they were very enthusiastic to invite me.

Their EV is a sports car and they just competed in the Shell Eco Marathon with this. I was very surprised to learn that it has only a 3 kWh battery and a range of 300km! For comparison my car has a 37 kWh battery but 200km range. The reason is the very lightweight carbon fibre structure. It weights only 200kg while my car is 1.700kg unloaded. Tomorrow I’m going to make a movie and hear more about the technical details.

PICTURES

Unye

Shadow play

Traditional Turkish house

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22 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 217 – 219 | Reaching Turkey’s Black Sea

Day 217 | Monday October 17

Destination for today: Osmancik. Right in the middle of the city was a mountain, like really in the middle of the city. All the houses were build around it so from the top we had a beautiful 360° view. It’s a mountain with history, story goes that Trojan war hero Achilles is buried on this mountain.

We did a lot of practical stuff in Osmancik. Mom bought me some new pants and we fixed old ones. The service here is very good. They fix it within an hour and it looks like brand new.

Day 218 | Tuesday October 18

We are flexible as my mother flies back home on Thursday from Samsun and that’s only 170km from Osmancik. So we did a little detour to Amasya, we googled a bit and thought this might be a cool city. We used AirBNB this time and found a nice apartment. The owner mailed us that she lived on the 4th floor and charging might be a problem. It was not, I have 40 meters extension cable with me and we managed to connect the car from the street to the 4th floor, really hight voltage.

Amasya was completely different than the city we visited yesterday and the day before. It’s interesting how it can change so fast. Amasya is an old city with many mosques and narrow streets. Nice to walk through. We eat a lot in Turkey. They have a lot of dishes with meat and bread. For my mother it’s hard to find a good meal as she is vegetarian. I like meat and bread so for me it’s heaven but not good for the belly.

Day 219 | Wednesday October 19

Just before five in the morning I woke up for my weekly radio call, you can listen it back here (in Dutch). I have to confess that sometimes I’m a bit sleepy during the radio interviews which doesn’t really improve the level of conversation, this time I was awake and we had a good talk.

We reached Samsun, unfortunately ‘our’ final destination, luckily we had one more full day together. This time we checked in at a Hilton Hotel close to the airport. Not a bad way to end. Samsun is a big city on the Black Sea and capital of the region with the same name. 565.000 people live here which makes it the biggest city on the Black Sea and it’s harbor is the most important one on the coast.

We decided to walk around the beach. The beach was very polluted by plastic bottles and other garbage. A problem in Turkey is that they don’t have clean water from the tap. Having that and a deposit on PET-bottles will solve a lot of problems.

In Samsun everything is huge: the squares, the apartments and the statues. Mom was very impressed by the opera but as I passed it by too quick I couldn’t see it. We didn’t feel really comfortable in this big buzzing city so decided to go back to the hotel and have our Last Supper there, on the way back though we passed a cute little restaurant which suited us more. Tonight I have to bring mom to the airport and than our holiday is over…

PICTURES

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16 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 215 & 216 | Countryside Turkey

Day 215 | Saturday October 15

Fully charged we left to the next stop. It’s nice to say ‘we’, traveling alone is great but sharing the experience with someone else is a nice feeling too. We decided to go to Yenicaga, the scenery became very different from the first part in Turkey. A lot of hills and green surroundings, beautiful to drive through. We did a short stop in Bolu, on the way to Yenicaga. There was a Esarj charging station and just wanted to see how it works. They are well designed and have a Type 2 connector, like you would expect. Next to the Esarj station was another charger from an unknown provider were a Prius was getting juice, the first (semi) EV i’ve saw in Turkey.

Yenicaga is a tiny village next to a lake, which was the reason that brought us here. The night before we searched for a hotel online and we thought we find a place. When we got there it appeared to be a hotelschool with no beds available. The activity in the city was centralized to one street where locals gathered. People where very happy to help us and it was no problem to find food and a place to stay at the only hotel in town.

After we settled we did a walk around the lake. The feeling here was different too, we could really feel that we were higher. The air was thiner and temperatures lower. Around the lake locals seem gather and make barbecues or parties leaving all their stuff behind and making a big mess, a shame.

For dinner we went to a local restaurant. They don’t have menus here, they ask you to walk to the kitchen and look in the pans what they have prepared.

Day 216 | Sunday October 16

We found out the best places for breakfast are restaurants next to the highway. They have a bigger variety of choices as most restaurants in towns. They also clean your car while your eating which is a nice extra and only the second time this trip my car had a wash. A few weeks ago someone wrote “wash me” on the dust of the back window so it was necessary.

Today we drove to Ilgaz, a wintersport area so the village was surrounded by mountains. Again this town felt completely different than the day before. It was a bigger and more crowded. Our hotel was located about 3 km from the center and we decided to walk there. Narrow dusty roads where locals were doing their daily routine led us to the city center. Hungry as we were we walked into some restaurants. At one place the windows were covered with plastic bags so we couldn’t see how it looked from the inside. When we had a look it made sense, it was not a restaurant (although many signs on the wall said it was) but a bar. Turkey is of course a very religious country were alcohol is not allowed so they need to hide this. Still not sure if it was a restaurant with alcohol opportunities or only a bar we asked if we could eat here. He brought us to the refrigerator and inside was only a melon, it was clear now. A hilarious experience.

PICTURES

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15 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 213 & 214 | A special visit in Istanbul

Day 213 | Thursday October 13

From Hakan & Birge’s place we drove back to his school. We left the car there overnight to charge. Most people in Istanbul live in apartments so charging is an issue. The guys there wanted to get me a pass for the highway so I won’t get in trouble again, very convenient 🙂

Than I had to rush back to the European side for a meeting at the Consulate-General of the Netherlands. I met with Recep and Mr. Schuddeboom who is the Consul General. They also invited Mr. Berkan Bayram of the Turkey Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Plaftorm. Together we had an interesting conversation about electric cars and sustainability in Turkey. They gave me some tips about how to travel the country and the state of electric cars in Turkey. In Istanbul there are now many chargers placed but it’s hard to get outside of the city. There are some chargers spread throughout the country but it won’t be possible to reach Iran for example using only chargers. Luckily for me that’s no problem. In Turkey the Zoe, I3 and Fluence EV’s are being sold, this year they only sold 76 full electric cars, so there is still a lot of work to do.

From the consul I had to drive just 20 kilometers to my next stop but the traffic here is serious hard to get through. Traffic jams everywhere and a small distance can take you a few hours. I met with Osman from Esarj (pronounce Echarge). They are the developer of the country’s biggest charging network and they hooked me up with a card so I can use their network for free!

From there I had to do just another 20 kilometers and again it took me a few hours. I drove to the airport to pick up a special person… my mother! A few days ago she had the idea to come by and we made it work. She is a grade school teacher and in Holland the kids have autumn holiday so she has a week off to. Together we will drive to Samsun from where she will fly home. I am very happy to have her with me. It’s nice to meet so many new people but to have someone familiar with you and talk about other things is really great. Keep you updated.

Day 214 | Friday October 14

Traveling with my mom makes things a lot easier as she has a wallet 😉 Last night we stayed at a nice bed & breakfast in the old center of Istanbul. After breakfast we did some sightseeing. Istanbul is a very alive and interesting city. Our B&B was just a 5 minutes walk from the Blue Mosque. Unfortunately it was closed on Friday because of prayers but we could visit Hagia Sopia, this is a former cathedral and between 537 and 1453 the biggest in the world. Now it’s a museum. Lonely Planet listed the cathedral as one of the worlds most beautiful buildings and it’s on the UNESCO world heritage list.

After Hagia Sophia we visited Topkapi Palace which used to be the one of the residences of the Ottoman sultans for 400 years. It also contains important relics of the Muslim world, including Muhammed’s cloak and sword. The palace was also home to the harem of the Sultan. In more than 400 rooms his family which consists of many wives were living.

I was supposed to meet Baris Dogru today. He is the founder of EKOIQ, a printed magazine about sustainability so I was hoping to hear from him how sustainable Turkey is. Unfortunately we couldn’t meet but we will have a Skype session later and I will post the report about that.

It was time to leave Istanbul. We have only a few days to reach Samsun so we can’t loose much time. Outside of the city I payed a quick visit to Gersan, they produce EV chargers and install these at municipalities. Yesterday I told Berkan from the EV association that I had a few minors issues. One socket of my cable was loose and another one was a bit damaged. Berkan told me Serdar from Gersan could help me. He was very enthusiastic and fixed the cables in a few minutes, great job!

At night we arrived in Sakarya, about 160km from Istanbul. We didn’t had a place to stay yet so at a restaurant we opened the laptop and found a hotel in the middle of the city. It was no problem to put the charging cable through the main sliding door, the Turkish are very hospitable.

PICTURES

Blue Mosque

Fountain

Hagia Sophia

Lots of cats in Istanbul

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

Istanbul

Topkapi

Gersan knows how to fix it.

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14 October 201615 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 210 – 212 | Nice times

Day 210 | Monday October 10

As we couldn’t charge the car at night we had to find a place to do it now. Hassan had a friend at a restaurant and we could plug it in for a couple of hours. As I only needed to do 70km today I didn’t need a full charge so it didn’t loose much time.

Around dinnertime I arrived in Lüleburgaz where I met Levent and his family. Wherever I come I am mostly received with open arms but this time it was a very very warm welcome. Turkish people like to take care of you and the whole family and neighbors came by to see me. Levent’s mother Yurdanur was born in Spijkenisse, the Netherlands so she was especially interested in my story and background. She even showed me some Dutch books of which I had to explain what is was about. Levent’s father didn’t speak English so well but he wanted to show me all his relics he gathered over the years, very sweet. They knew that Holland was playing France this night and they managed to get it on TV!

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Day 211 | Tuesday October 11

The Yilmaz fam offered me to stay one day more and I took that opportunity as I had a lot things to sort out. There are some difficulties on the road the coming months and I need to have a solution for that. For example how to cross Myanmar and how to get from Dubai to India, it’s a practical thing and most of all money thing. Working on it.

Day 212 | Wednesday October 12

I told that I was looking for a place to get a vaccination for Hepatitis A. I didn’t do that before I left and should actually already had this one and before going into the Middle East I figured out I had to get it in Istanbul. Luckily the fam already had a solution, we jumped into the car, drove to a pharmacist and had to wait a few minutes. On a scooter the vaccin was delivered and now we had to get to the hospital for the injection. Not even 45 minutes earlier we were talking about how to get it and now everything was done. Impressive how things work here.

Than I had to say goodbye to the family, it was very special to stay here and hard to leave this time. It felt very warm and how they treated me was unique.

Emre, one of the neighbors had a friend in Istanbul and I could stay at this place. He is a teacher and I had to meet him at his school. It was a 3 hour drive to Istanbul and he lives on the Anatolian side of the city, which is the Asian side. So after 7 months I arrived in the second continent this trip and I will probably be here for another few. To reach the Asian side I needed to cross a bridge which was not free to pass. To pay for it you need some kind of card on your windscreen which I didn’t have so when I passed the tollbooth some alarms went off, don’t know if this would have any consequences.

In the afternoon I reached the school where Hakan is owner and teacher. He had to stay there a few hours so I joined the English teacher in his classes and explained to students what I was doing. The kids (teenagers) were very interested in my story and my experiences so far with Turkey.

When Hakan was finished he introduced me to his wife Bilge and together with Torgut, another teacher we went for some food and sightseeing. On the top of a hill we had stunning views over the entire city. At night with all the lights it’s even more vibrating. Did you know there live 15 million people in Istanbul? That is almost the same as in all of the Netherlands!

Pictures

Luleburgaz

The Fam in Luleburgaz

Istanbul

Torgut, Hakan & Bilge

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10 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 208 & 209 | Soviet Headquarters & Turkey

Day 208 | Saturday October 8

After a few days of recovery I felt well enough to continue again. I want to thank Frank and Petra for the possibility to let me stay at their wonderful B&B for 4 nights and taking care of me. They sent me away with a bag full of hagelslag sandwiches, fruits, cookies and some pocket money.

Plan for today was to go to Plovdiv and do a stop in Buzludzha.

Buzludzha is the former headquarter of Bulgaria’s Communist Party. I had seen pictures of this place a few years ago and something attracted me to it, like most soviet constructions do. I didn’t know it was so close to Pchelishte until Frank showed me a picture of this place and said “don’t you want to visit this?”. A no-brainer.

The headquarter is build on top of a 1.441 meters high Balkan mountain and it looks like it comes straight out of a James Bond or Alien movie. It’s nicknamed the Bulgarian UFO for obvious reasons. The building is very symbolic to the Soviet times, it’s huge, ugly, a lot of concrete, hard to reach, powerful and yet it is beautiful. The entrance to the building is iconic, a long wide staircase leads to a big entrance were letters from metal are starting to fall from the walls. Many visitors left writings in graffiti on the wall mostly referring to the communist times, “never forget your past” and “enjoy communism” in Coca-Cola font can be seen.

The building is not being looked after or controlled so it’s starting to decay fast. The inside got very unsafe and unfortunately for me just 2 months ago they decided to close the building from entering. A shame because the pictures you can get there are unreal.

a-man-walks-inside-the-crumbling-skeleton-of-the-house-of-the-bulgarian-communist-party-on-mount-buzludzha-bulgaria-getty-images

This is from the inside (not by me)

Because I had to climb a lot I lost range and it was impossible to reach Plovdiv with the remaining energy I had left. I decided to go to Stara Zagora instead. This would safe me also time as this city was more towards Turkey. I got to Stara Zagora around 7 and during the trip didn’t feel well again. I didn’t had the energy to ask people for their help so I opened my laptop and saw there was a cheap motel which I could afford with the money I received from Frank and Petra. The place looked a bit dodgy, in the room next to me the guests were practicing animal sounds and taxi’s dropped off cheap dressed lady’s who left just an hour later every time. They probably didn’t feel comfortable in this place too…

Day 209 | Sunday October 9

After 209 days I would reach country number 20 this trip, Turkey. Before I got into the country I needed to print out my visa. With the money I collected via the new donation tool I could pay for this online, a very easy process which I did a few days ago but I forgot to print it out at the B&B, stupid because I lost some time with this. In a city close to the border I found a nice man who could print it for me.

Crossing the border was easy this time, not many questions asked and they didn’t take much time to check the car. In the afternoon I arrived in Edirne, just 20 kilometers from the border. On CouchSurfing I found Hasan who could host me. I thought it was better to have someone waiting for me as I always need some time to adjust to a new environment before I feel brave enough to go to a place where no-one has offered help.

Hasan welcomed me with traditional Turkish tea. After I slept an hour (I am still exhausted) we had dinner (Turkish pizza) and plugged the car in at his work. Hasan lives in an apartment on the 5th floor so at his place it was not possible. Unfortunately at his work the electricity-grid was not strong enough to power my car so I drove home and we decided to charge the car tomorrow as I only need to do 70km to the next place.

Turkish people seem very open and friendly. In two days I am going to reach Istanbul which means I will be in Asia! After 7 months I’m finally reaching the second continent!

Pictures

So surreal

View from Buzludzha

Very soviet

Love these soviet text's

Like a James Bond movie

Hasan in Edirne

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10 October 2016 by Wiebe

Day 202 – 208 | Bucharest & Bulgaria

Day 202 | Sunday October 2

A big thanks to the nice people of Motel Ambis in Vaslui for helping me out. I left in the morning as I knew it was going to be a long day. I was hoping to reach Bucharest today, more than 300km away. When I got to Focsani it was time to recharge a little bit. With zero chargers in the city I needed people to help me and I found out that it was not so easy. Most people I asked where not really willing to help, sent me away or didn’t want to talk to me. I tried almost all fuel stations, hotels and some locals. Finally I saw two young guys in suits walking so I thought they must speak English well, they did and they asked a gas station if it was okay to charge there and it was no problem.

From Focsani it was another 100km to Cioranca, where they have the only EV charger on the route. Because of some hills and the temperatures that got lower I couldn’t reach it. Again I stopped at a fuel station to ask for help. It was a tiny station and it seemed locals gathered there to have some beers and talks. I explained them what I was doing and one guy could help me out. He jumped in my car, directed me to his house and plugged the car in. We walked back to the station which was just 100 meters from his house and they offered me some tea and food. When I told them I was planning to sleep in the car at a fuel station the guy offered me to sleep at his place. Pretty cool I thought, he didn’t spoke a word English but still he wanted to help me out!

Day 203 | Monday October 3

I found out I slept in Ionut and I was on the countryside. In the morning I met the parents, wife and children of Iancu who was the one who helped me. They made some french fries and eggs for me which was great as I didn’t eat anything yesterday. After breakfast I thanked the nice people for their warmth and left. I decided to have a look at the EV charger as it was the first one in Romania I passed. When I arrived I instantly drew the attention of people who worked there and before I could plug the car in, I had 3 people around who wanted to do that for me. The owner invited me for some coffee. He told me he installed the station two months ago and I was the second one who came to charge there, what an honor 😉

So around noon I arrived in Bucharest. In capitals I always want to see a lot of things but today I decided to spend my day at McDonalds. Not because I was hungry but because I needed free internet to arrange a lot of things. For example my carnet for all the countries I will be reaching soon.

Around five I met up with Andrei, I met him at the North Cape in Norway. He lives here in a nice apartment where he was making live music with friends. Later we would drive to his friend Radu where I would stay for the night. He lives in an apartment on the third floor so with an extension cable from his balcony we managed to charge the car.

https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/542984479243952/?type=3&theater

Day 204 | Monday October 4

Andrei showed me around Bucharest. We visited the house of parliament, after the Pentagon in the US the second largest administrative building in the world! That means its seriously big. It’s also the third biggest building in the world and you can see it from space.

The city is very interesting, it seems there a lot of contradictions. Old parts followed by new and modern parts, poor areas followed by rich neighborhoods. A typical thing in the city are the Roma’s who try to make money out of everything. In busy zones where people want to park they stand in front of free parking slots and charge money to park the car there, while it’s not even their own parking area.

My next stop was already in Bulgaria. After I passed the customs and recharged a couple of times at fuel stations I arrived in Veliki Tarnovo. Two Dutch people, Petra and Frank, heard about Plug Me In on Facebook and decided to host me. They came here 3 years ago and started bed & breakfast Brabons, just outside of the city in Pchelishte. It’s a very cosy place with nice decorated rooms. They would even treat me with a ‘kroket’! It’s a Dutch delicatesse and when you haven’t eaten this for more than 6 months it’s a big pleasure to put behind your teeth.

Day 205 | Tuesday October 5

This day started early and not so nice. I was very nauseous and had to return the Kroket and all the other contents in my stomach to the toilet. A fewer struck me. The last weeks I have felt tired and maybe this was a sign that I needed to take some rest. Until Saturday I stayed in bed.

Pictures

Motel Ambis in Vaslui

Gas station in Ionut

The helpers

House of the helpers

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