Massive delay....

Today will officially be the beginning of our a third week in Van, Turkey.  A pleasant, small town located near Lake Van, Turkey's largest fresh water bowl with a surface area of 3755km2,  once the centre of the Armenian kingdom of Ararat from about 1000BC.  Pieces of history scattered around the lake can be explored offering glimpses of their ancient magnificence.  However one must use your imagination and even better have a decent map and guide as these sites can be a challenge to find.

Unfortunately for us, reasons for such a lengthy stay in Van has nothing to do with these historical locations.  After an aggressive six weeks riding through Central Asia the bike is in desperate need of repair with a failing rear suspension and both tyres are near being bald.  To continue on with the body weight of two persons plus our kit would basically be road kill.  You would think that organising postage service from the UK to Turkey would be a less than arduous task but after copious amounts of time and money it has be proven otherwise.  Our original package was officially declared missing after a two week wait, which we were fully refunded.  A second package was resent minus our replacement rear suspension due to being out of stock, followed by a third package carrying our rear suspension from an additional source now both using trusty DHL.  To our despair the second package is now being held in customs with no guarantee of release and the third package once again seems to be missing!

Alas, yesterday was a happy day!  Believe it or not the officially lost original package with all our required parts magically arrived.  Beer and wine for everyone!  Mention and gratitude to our hospitable hotel manager, Tettvic at the Hotel Garden Van is a must.  Thank you for your patience, exceptional breakfast everyday, a great night out plus all your assistance throughout our stay.

So finally, after a day of repairs and an early start we will continue on our adventure through Turkey and into Europe.  First stop being the town of Diyarbakir, a town immersed in Kurdish pride and crammed with history followed by a night under the stars in Numrut Dagi National Park as we attempt to use a newly purchased tent.  Unfortunately it is now a race against time due to the incompetence of the international post however there is no doubt that once we finally hit the delightful mediterranean coast line with all it has to offer our frustration will diminish.