We all slept stunningly well, me despite being abandoned by Walter for an hour – he got up to go to the toilet, + then spent an hour in the café next to the stove. The Turkish customs officer was late, + a different man from last night. C + A, learning by their mistake, showed him the front sections of the roof compartment, with a lot of scattered belongings but no sealed boxes, + he passed it straight away. Meanwhile, the rest of us were having some breakfast. I have already decided that I like Turkish food a great deal, on the basis that it relies heavily on bread. Good bread too, just like home. But enough of food.
We drove in the accustomed manner, ie pretty much without stopping, only coming to a halt at a small town a couple (or more) of hundred miles into the country. C, A + W had decided to take a hotel room. We, tho’ we had thought to sleep in the van, were tempted in too by the fact that it was reasonably cheap + had hot water. So I felt partly cheated when we discovered the water to be barely lukewarm. Hm. Had a fine meal altogether, however, kebabs + beer (+ bread, of course – a couple of loaves if it.)
Bread! Proper bread! Leavened. Not flatbread, not chapatti, not roti, but real bread, with air in it. (My downfall, nowadays – I have lost weight in Nepal, mainly, I think, because they don’t really have bread. Well, they sort of do, but it’s like cake, and falls apart when you try to make a sandwich with it.)
