The dogs of Asia: Lets not chase anyone today!

February 9, 2014

The next day as I was cycling on through the olive groves a man on a moped slowed to ride alongside me.

"Merhaba" I said to him. Oh yeah, I speak Turkish now.

"Merhaba" he said.

"English, English" I said, pointing at my chest to show that I meant me. Okay, so my Turkish didn't extend beyond hello.

The man on the moped held his hand to his chest and said "Turkey" which seemed quite unnecessary.

"My name is Chris. What is your name?"

"Okay. Bye!" he said, and rode on, and that was the last I saw of Okay.

Whenever I stopped to take a break I seemed to have a dog come up to me and sit looking sad so that I would throw it some food. Naturally I gave each one of these dogs a name. It seemed that the dogs in Asian Turkey were generally much better behaved than in European Turkey. I did encounter one gang of strays during the day though. It started with one of them in a field barking viciously at me. I saw two or three others next to him. Then a couple more that were in the same gang appeared from under the road barriers and came into the road towards me and I braced for confrontation. All of the dogs were of the big and mean variety that I'd been chased by before. Still there was only the one of them barking though and I realised that he couldn't get to me because of a large ditch between us. And the dogs that were in the road actually ran straight past me with disinterest and gave the barking dog a look as if to say 'Whats all the noise? Don't worry about him, he's alright' and the maniac dog was still barking madly 'Get him! Get him!' and the dogs in the road were just so like 'Naww, really, I think he's alright, lets not chase anyone today.'

"Hello I'm hungry, can I have some food please?" said Rex the dog

"Hello I'm hungry, can I have some food please?" said Sammy Sad-Eyes

"Hello I'm hungry, can I have some food please?" said Cleopatra Stepanovic

I passed through the old walled town of Iznik. It had a very old wall

After Iznik there was a very long and slow climb, then a fast, flat bit in a valley surrounded by mountains. The scenery was getting to be really stunning at times now. The fact that the valley was surrounded by mountains made me a little bit worried about where I was going to have to go next, and sure enough I soon started on a long steep climb. The advantage of that being that I camped in a most beautiful spot, one of the most beautiful I can remember.

My camping place, picture not doing it justice

Today's ride: 97 km (60 miles)
Total: 13,396 km (8,319 miles)

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