Since we left the ferry from Istanbul to Bandirma, there were no big adventures in turkey, but it was really a nice trip.  We enjoyed being in turkey, the landscape, the food, the people, the general feeling is just great.

After reaching Bandirma we are trying to find a campsite near Erdek in the dark. Luzifer doesn't make it better with stopping the engine on her own all the time, which drowns the battery, which finally makes us kick start her every 10min.

We drive further and further to find the camping-site, which doesn't exist any more.

We decide to camp wild next to the small road we are on. Of course the neighbour gets suspicious and comes out of his house. Naci, the neighbour, who is speaking german, says: No problem! and showes us an even better spot to set up our tent. The next 4 days we stay here, without paying a cent and being warmly welcomed by Naci, who gives us food, lets us wash our clothes and helps us where ever he can.

We ride down the eastcoast of turkey to get further south, because the nights in the tent are not really enjoyable any more. As well in turkey the winter is coming up.

We reach a campsite in Ören which is probably built for 100 our maybe even more people, but we are the only guests apart from one other camper van. And as the world is a small place, Musti and Sieglinde (lovely people) don't live far from us.

After Izmir, Pamukkale and then the real tourist areas around Antalya, which we tried to leave behind us as fast as possible, we come to a really good area for riding bikes. Winding up small mountain roads, far away of the region where tourists usually are. The whole surrounding is covered in banana farms and the view is fantastic. Average speed drops dramatically and we enjoy the windy cruising on our bikes.

The only thing which makes us worry a bit is the uncontrolled stopping of Luzifer, so we decide to bring the bike to a service station in Mersin.

Not just that this problem is solved quite fast, we are lucky to get to know Ahmet (the owner of the service station) and his family (Silbe and Melike), with whom we spend every evening with. We have also been with Ahmet on our first Motorbike club meeting with Türk Chopper, although we have no chopper. :) After these days in Mersin it feels quite hard to say Good bye!

Finally on the 16th of october, Tam finds his way to us. The boys feel like they know each other since a long time and that is good. The team is complete now!

Hey all,
they got through Syria allright and are now in Jordan where they are having tea with some locals. They crossed the 500km through Syria in one go.
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Hey zusammen,
sie sind gut durch Syrien gekommen und befinden sich jetzt in Jordanien. Sie haben die 500km lange Strecke in einem Stück gemeistert und wurden in Jordanien sehr freundlich mit Tee empfangen.

Because Marc and Susi are near the Syrian border, and they won't find a decent PC as easily, I will comment some of which I learn from Phone-Calls and SMS. So hopefully you'll all stay up-to-date as it gets ever more exciting.
At the moment the both of them are in Mersin, Turkey near the Syrian border, awaiting Tam who will join them hopefully on Sunday. Staying in a rather unpleasent hotel, they brought Susi's bike to a mechanic and are eager to move on.

For your convenience I have uploaded the Routes they are taking into a nice little google.maps- plugin.
You can find it here Photos>Routes. So now it'll be easier for us to keep track of their adventures down south.

Greez from Innsbruck,
Felix

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Da die beiden jetzt kurz vor der syrischen Grenze sind, es immer spannender wird und sie immer seltener an einen vernünftigen PC kommen, werde ich für euch ein bisschen kommentieren was ich aus telefonaten und SMS so mitbekomme, um euch alle auf dem Laufenden zu halten.
Im Moment sind die beiden in Mersin, Türkei nahe der Syrischen Grenze. Sie warten dort auf Tam der am Sonntag zu ihnen stoßen wollte. Untergebracht in einem weniger guten Hotel haben sie Susis Motorrad erst einmal zum Mechaniker bringen lassen wobei es inzwischen hoffentlich wieder einsatzbereit sein dürfte.

Die Routen, welche die beiden nehmen habe ich anschaufreundlicher als Google-Maps Plugin unter Photos>Routes gespeichert so dass man jetzt ein bisschen besser nachvollziehen kann wie die beiden gefahren sind.

Beste Grüße aus Innsbruck,
Felix

After 4 days of enjoying Istanbul it is time to leave. And of course on that day, the weather is horrible. Perfectly organised like always, we check the ferry plan 1h before we leave the hostel and lucky find one boat which just runs during the weekend at 12 30. Enormous high petrol prises and the rain don't make us think too long about taking the ferry the Bandirma.
Spot on 12 o clock we are at the ticket counter, but the man there won't give as a ticket, cause he says there is just a ferry in the evening leaving not in the daytime. A bit disappointed we drive off, pass by the departure sight, which shows Bandirma 12 30.. Hm? Thinking, that guy just doesn't want to give us a ticket we stop and start thinking what we can do. A passenger obviously feels sorry for us lost bikers and explains that it is just not a car ferry. How easy was that?
How to kill 6 hours? Rain just gets worse, so we sit around the harbour and have  a great time with a really funny, cute kitten. Like always it doesn't take long until it is time for food, so we decide to go our favourite little "restaurant", straight opposite of a so called real restaurant. A place where tourist probably wouldn't go to, so just right for us. Big portions, very very nice people who run that place and of course cheap. 4€ for soup, bread, small salad, rice with red bean sauce on top, main dish and a soft drink. :)
Rain gets less, so we decide to visit Istanbuls Ktm dealer. Which shouldn't be head to find after we hot a good description from a well sorted and really good bike shop called “Yildiz Ticaret“, well worth visiting, even if it is just for a nice chat. (Hp: www.yildizticaret.com.tr) The KTM dealer (Atamotor, also great people) is a service station, but not a dealer so there is another one, the realty big KTM store in Istanbul.
Quite a big trip getting there, but we still have 3h left. But 3 hours is not a lot in istanbul s traffic: Absolute chaos with bully Bus drivers, endless not signed out city highways, which always brings us from one wrong in the even worse direction (we even see once the store from one of them), really frustrating!
Finally we reach the mega store to find out, they do not have all the parts we asked for, cause got mixed up with the part number. Heyho, shit happens.
The time is now 47min to departure of the ferry. And it is a really long long way, almost impossible to manage, but we try our best. Overtaking on the left and right, driving on the tram line, honking, being bullies brings us just in time on the ferry, which shuts it's doors straight after we get on. 15sec later we would have had no chance to get on anymore. The istanbul drivers were probably quite impressed by us that they.

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Nach 4 tagen istanbul wird es Zeit, weiter zu verfahren. Ausgerechnet an diesem Tag ist das Wetter (zum ersten Mal!) grauenhaft.

Durchorganisiert wie immer, checken wir eine Stunde vor Abfahrt den Fährplan. Wir beschließen, die Fähre nach Bandirma zu nehmen. Angesichts der teuren Benzinpreise und des Regens ist dies eine gute Entscheidung. Pünktlich um 12 sind wir am Hafen um die Fähre um 12.30 zu erwischen. Wir wollen ein Ticket kaufen, der Verkäufer meint: Keine Fähre, erst um 18.30. Enttäuscht fahren wir von seinem Schalter weg und lesen auf der Departure Tafel: Bandirma 12.30. Hm? Nach kurzer Zeit erbarmt sich ein Passant, der unsere verzweifelten Blicke zu deuten weiß, und erklärt uns schnell (im Gegensatz zu unserem Ticketmenschen), dass es sich nur um eine Personenfähre handelt.

Naja nun gilt es 6 Stunden abzuwarten. Der Regen wird nicht besser, sondern eher schlechter, also warten wir und haben unheimlich viel Spaß mit einem kleinen, echt lustigen Kätzchen.

Wie immer plagt uns schnell der Hunger und wir brechen zu unserem Lieblings “Restaurant“ auf. Es liegt direkt gegenüber eines “richtigen“ Restaurants und wird eigentlich nur von Einheimischen besucht. Viel, gut, ganz liebe Besitzer und natürlich für uns ganz wichtig, billig!

Der Regen wird langsam weniger, also entscheiden wir uns noch, Istanbuls KTM Händler aufzusuchen. Die Wegbeschreibung haben wir von einem wirklich gut ausgestattetem Motorradladen namens ''Yildiz Ticaret“, (Ist einen Besuch wert, auch wenn dabei vielleicht “nur“ ein nettes Gespräch herauskommt)
(Hp: www.yildizticaret.com.tr)
Der KTM Händler (AtaMotor auch ganz tolle leute) ist leider nur der Ktm Mechaniker und hat die Teile nicht lagernd. Der Ktmstore liegt weiter entfernt in Istanbul. Noch über 3h bis die Fähre abfährt, das sollte sich ausgehen, aber Istanbul ist anders: Das absolute Verkehrschaos gespickt mit rücksichtslosen Busfahrern und nie endenden unbeschilderten Stadtautobahnen, die beim Verlassen nur wieder auf Andere führen, die uns in die noch falschere Richtung bringen. Wir haben sogar schon den Shop von der Autobahn gesehen, echt zum verzweifeln. Endlich erreichen wir den Megastore, der wegen falscher Artikelnummer doch nur eines unserer Ersatzteile auf Lager hat.

47min bis zur Abfahrt unserer Fähre, verdammt, das schaffen wir nie, probieren es aber trotzdem.

Rechts und links überholen, auf Straßenbahnspur fahren, drängeln und hupen, bringt uns auf das Schiff, das direkt nach unserem Eintreffen abfährt. 15sec später wären wir sicher nicht mehr auf die Fähre gekommen. Die Anerkennung der Istanbuler Verkehrsteilnehmer hatten wir an diesem Tag bestimmt.