Day 9
Today we headed south west, first to BITLIS and then onto VAN.
Disaster on the way we experiance a problem with the car, the brakes are not working properly so we pull over, luckliy just as we arrived at Bitlis Castle. Now you have to rememer that Pete and I have probably been the only English in the entire eastern area of Turkey and so we were a bit at a loss as to what to do. Of course we contacted the car hire people who did help, but we needed some local help as well, but by chance, we were opposite the local police station so in I go to ask for some help.
Instantly things changed, they spoke to the car hire company and then set us up with Çay and a warm room to wait in (not a cell!) while the service people came to see the vehical. Of course it had to be a Sunday and therefore most of the service companies were shut, so it was an hour or so before assistance came. in that time we were entertained by the release of the overnight prisoners and the grining police realising that Pete had gone to use the prisoners toilet instead of theirs. In all we were there for nearly two hours watching television and drinking Çay and generaly being treated with a great deal of respect.
Unfortunately though, the car needed a bit more than could be sorted out on the road, so it was uplifted and we were off again this time in a breakdown truck to MUŞ. The car would not be ready until Monday afternoon was not what we wanted to here but here in the middle of nowhere there was nothing to do but accept the delay.
Now Muş is just a busy town and not much to see, and of course we were car less, so we decided to make the best of this and slow down and have a days rest, send some email reports to this web site and laze about the hotel we finally found ourselves in. We did walk around the town of course and found a few old buildings which were good to see but there was little else of interest. Everyone was really great and helpful, ensuring we were sorted out in the hotel and had all we needed.
So the day ended after a short 40 km drive in our car and a 80 km drive in the breakdown truck with an enforced stay in the town of Muş.
Akbuk Turkey .com
The Independent website about Akbuk in Turkey
