The Silk Route Motorcaravan Club.
Bulletin 93 (Part 1 of 2).
May 2002.
Translated by Christine O'Brien.
Edited for
publication by Bill
Peckham.
Uploaded from Azerbaijan by GSM phone so no photographs and in two
parts!
Stephen Stewart.
Iranian/Turkish Border.
Once peace returned to the station (?), we slept well. We left for the Turkish border, which wasn't far away, after filling a jerrycan with gasoil (24 centimes) and on the road we saw the Moriots' 'lorry' arriving! We stopped and exchanged news; the Valentins also arrived, charming people... Jean Moriot was fretting with impatience but the gossiping lasted an hour even so! We said goodbye and each party resumed their own route. With 18 litres of gasoil and 5 packets of Wiston cigarettes at 6... a packet, we got rid of the rest of our Iranian money.
At the border we knew the procedure for leaving Iran and scrambled through the whole business in 20 minutes. We left.
But on the Turkish side it was a different story altogether!
- On the way in show your passports at 2 (for the numbers see the map)
- Go to be registered and wait ¾ hour while the officer writes down details of all the passports
- Go to the police office (3) opposite in the crowd; wait until the man in charge has also written down details of another pile of passports.
- Then this same officer wants to see Madam (to check it really is her... that's normal!) and 'finish', or so he says...
We got back into the van and started towards the exit, 400 metres away. There was no question of us getting away with it that cheaply: there were three bungs still to go! A case of 'Return to Go without receiving £200'!
- At the appointed office OK! We had to pay 4 million lira (20 Francs) to the bank, and 2 million here but first...
- Get the vehicle registered at 5. Luckily the Iranian drivers let me go first.
- Go to the 'Bank'... But where was the bank? I looked, by now getting very angry... Finally I saw a small pay desk at 6... It wasn't a bank, but the desk that handed over the required piece of paper.
- Return to the office at 7 and... wait. After 20 minutes a Turkish civilian arrived and I left the 2 million lira with him;
- Go to 8. Nobody there, another wait! Finally the official arrived and made me fill out and sign umpteen forms about something or other... Now he wanted to see the vehicle, but it was 200 metres away and there was no way he was going to move... At this moment I flipped and showed him how I felt which obviously didn't help matters.
- He came over, opened the bonnet, looked at the chassis number - of all things. OK! That's fine, and off you go!
Oh no! Exit control! We spent four hours going round and round in that maze where nobody spoke English or French. I was half-dead with stress. Then finally, there we were, everything done... But no! So what was it now! Exit control by the military. Apparently the Iranians are not held in very high regard by the Turks!
We made our way across Dobubayazet and after stopping in a town to change some dollars and find some food (bread, steak and beer) we installed ourselves at the Murat camping site, under Ischaac Pacha, where the view of the rocky mountains is still just as spectacular. You can see for ever and the panorama is exceptionally beautiful...
When we arrived all the campers and the restaurant staff recognised us and greeted us with extravagant gestures. Out of politeness I went to see the owner who embraced me like an old friend. Then his son arrived, an English speaker, together with a young Kurd. The old man offered tea and an interesting, if laborious, conversation followed. I couldn't leave till almost an hour later and even then I had first to undergo another nuzzle from the moustachioed owner who was going from the site to his own home in town, leaving the restaurant and his carpet shop to his employees.
Francine had been able to take off her Iranian finery, and we put our shorts back on as the temperature had dropped to 23°... The portable was working again and we were able to drink a good beer...
[Note from the editor: well, this isn't the first time we've heard about the toings and froings at this border, but it's the first time we've had such precise information, and a map! However, beware! This document is not binding. And if next time you're going that way you find that number 7 is now where number 3 was, or that the tax has gone up to 8 million lira, we cannot be held responsible. And please note that, despite the highly strategic nature of this map, no nation has yet offered to buy it from us! André has also sent a map of the Greco-Turkish border. It'll be the subject of a future edition...
In Pain Shalt Thou Bring Forth Children!
In the beginning this curse was directed towards women because a certain Eve, in her innocence, was beguiled by a malevolent serpent. But in a wider sense, the idea of bringing forth children could be applied to a whole range of things. An electoral manifesto, for example, or a club bulletin!
Between the 2nd April, when we returned to Saint-Maur, and the 10th, putting together and, more especially, sending out, number 93 gave us a lot of pain! Even with the help of the Perdriau family we still ran into a multitude of problems with 'attachments': former members, new members, members who aren't members at all, or who are still but just a little bit. It was total panic! In the end I think it would have been easier to start again... What's more, there were problems with the fax and Internet connections on my new computer (I still haven't managed to receive all faxes.) I am writing all this to explain why you have received messages which weren't intended for you, why you haven't received yours, and perhaps why you've received two copies of number 93. Please don't hesitate to complain!
What Gives Me Pleasure.
Just a few words to thank you for sending the bulletin (which is very good-looking now with all the photos which make us want even more to be travelling again) and for our membership cards. Thanks too for keeping us in the club even though for the time being we are sedentary... Next small trip, this summer. We received a card from Pierre and Lucette Michel. Pleased to know that our lorry (and its new owners, of course) is well and seems to be happy on the African roads. And a call from Erwin and Laetitia Munch who are getting ready for a big tour with their children. Keep up the good work and pay no attention to the grouches (February edition, page 8). It's just the Spanish inn side which is so friendly! Please don't change anything! With kind wishes
Catherine and Vlado Kuga.
Pharmaciens sans
frontieres Cambodia: psf-cambodia@everyday.comkh
Thanks a lot. At the moment I don't need anything. On the contrary, I'd be happy to talk to any morotcaravenners if they pass through Phnom Penh. Will be in touch again soon.
Alexis de Suremain.
Jean-Claude says a member (whose name I won't mention unless she asks me to) wrote to him 'when the bulletin arrives it's like a friend coming into the house.'
I still blush to think of it.
The magazine Pleine Vie, no 191, May 2002, devotes 4 pages to a special article on camping-cars... I get my photo in and our club is quoted as a source of information. This is a change for us from the silence of the two large fellow organisations who nevertheless receive our bulletins (+faxes, +photos, unreturned.) but who seem to give priority to the clubs linked to the big organisations... We are the ugly duckling who doesn't want to be like everyone else! And it's just fine like that.
Jacques, thanks for the bulletins. After the various elections, I am going to start looking for a builder interested in my next adventure who can provide me with a tractor. Then I shall begin taking steps to arrange a passage through all the countries crossed and so on. I intend to reach Peking in three months, travelling at 200 km per day, knowing that I can easily do 400 km, but with the delays at borders and the bad condition of roads and tracks, it's better to err on the safe side. In short, there is work on the horizon. But this time very detailed preparation. I'll keep you posted.
Christian Hurault.
Insurance.
Our new members, Denis and Simone Lahaye, have told us about their insurance company: Envergure Assurance, 85 boulevard Haussmann, 755383 Paris, CEDEX 08 01 42 68 64 00, fax 01 42 68 64 65. Their rates appear interesting, 3480 Francs for a declared value of 260,000, but some of the finer points need looking at. For example, 10,000 for accessories, with 1000 excess, looks like a lot to me... Sent to the specialists.
Postcards from...
Colette and Jacky Moyen, Giza, Egypt, no postmark... A good stay in complete security. Not easy to find our way; no signposts or signs in Arabic script. Fine weather, a good trip.
Mireille and Claude Provost, Numeai (India), 31 March. After Laos, here we are in this vast country for the third time. Not really much change since our last visit but there seem to be even more holes in the road and the traffic is just as dangerous. Priority goes to the heaviest vehicle. Still just as many beggars and lepers at Varanasi, especially at this celebratory time, the feast of Shiva. We are leaving Calcutta for Goa and the south.
Water In The Gasoil.
Normally there is a wheel under the fuel filter which you just have to unscrew to let out any water from condensation or water in the gasoil... But you have to know that you need to do it! On the Iveco there is a visual and an auditory alarm. Everyone should ask their own garage (as we've already said, there is a serious risk of this on common-rails engines)...
To keep in the machine, long-distance travellers should have a distributor, alternator and fan belt, 4 injectors and spark plugs, a pressurised gauge - and some people add a small air pump which works through the cigar-lighter. You can also have a nitrogen pump (more expensive, but reliable).
André Helmbacher.
Note from the editor : I used an tool of this kind when crossing the Sahara (deflating is fine, but you also have to reinflate to cross rocky obstructions...) It works, but you have to be in a great hurry, as it's better to let the engine run. I wonder whether a good foot pump isn't better? Before that journey I put into each one of my new tyres a special product for punctures which proved very effective.
We brought back three stowaways from Morocco - three little tortoises... The first, found in a camping site (where they were building a swimming pool, bar, restaurant etc) came from somewhere or other. It came out of the egg and would certainly have died, run over by a vehicle. It ate huge quantities of salad... Then, to give it a companion, we bought the second little one in a souk at Agadir and a third fatter creature as a present... The two most recent guests were dying of hunger when Francine had the idea of offering them pieces of tomato on a toothpick... The larger animal succumbed to the attractions of French food, but for the other one it was too late.
André Helmbacher.