4th of May, 2022.
When I am still walking to a good hitchhiking spot, the friends with whom I visited Nemrut yesterday pass by me and quick stop to ask me where I am going and offer me a lift. That’s nice! But I tell them I will just walk a bit more and stop somewhere. They tell me to be going to visit their last monument before going back home. After they leave, I assume that would be a good place to be standing by, in case other tourists decide to visit in the morning. So I walk until there.
Soon enough a car stops. Ali is going to Bingol, which is quite a long drive from here. Yay!
Ali is a very relaxed guy, who it seems to be hard working. He is an engineer and is going to do some work in Bingol. We chat a lot about many things and he is very surprised about my travels. The weather is not looking good but nobody was expecting what was about to come. All of sudden, a hail storm starts, and the strongest one I have ever experienced in my life, with hails the size of a golf ball! It is insane! And it last a long time too. All the hail storms I have experienced until now always lasted only a few minutes. This one went one for about half an hour! We and many other people had to hide in a gas station because we were worried about the cars.
When we finally could leave, the road and everything was all covered with ice and water. Soon enough the rain starts again and it is really strong also. I was a bit scared because you couldn’t see shit! But luckily everybody was aware of that and was driving slowly, with the alert sign on.
Ali keep going towards his destination and drop me off near Tunceli, the next big city I should reach.
A very nice man called Aidin offers to take me to Tunceli.
The rain starts again and I am not sure about camping under this weather. Aidin not only drives me outside Tunceli, on the way to Uzungol, but also tells me about this kind of monastery, which is located just in the same place, where I could ask to spend the night. There is also a park nearby in case I decide to camp, and a gas station down the road.
At the monastery I have a bad / weird time with the young man looking after the place. He cannot speak English but that’s not the issue. He is unable to understand what I need at first and when some tourist come by and explain to him, he says it is not possible, which I understand but the problem is he does not want to call the people actually responsible for the place to check and I think he doesn’t know for sure. Plus, when I am still thinking, deciding what to do, he starts to move my backpacks from inside the building, as I would stay there without his consent or something, like I was refusing to leave. That’s ridiculous! Well, it is true that he has some level of autism, so it might not be entirely his fault, but the people who let him all by himself.
I decide to just spend the night by the gas station. I can talk with the manager and the workers there and ask to stay outside. Who knows, if they are open all night, I could even pinch my tent in the back or something.
I sit on the floor, by my backpack and just chill for a while. All of sudden, this young man comes to talk with me, asking if I need anything and saying I can sit inside this small room with a couch, just beside the shop. I then decide to explain to him my plan, to what he says promptly that I can spend the night in this room also. It happens he is the son of the owner!
Haydar is such a cute young man! In all terms! We have some tea and start to chat. He seems to me like a very wise person, with a understanding mind about the world and stuff, someone I would like to have for a friend. He has lived in Canada for some years and he have met many Brazilian there. They were all nice according to him. Laugh. I also tell him about my travels and when he tells that to some police officers who came around, one of them gets really surprised and even offer to help me, driving somewhere if I need. When I tell Haydar about what happened at the monastery, him and his dad know about that young man and they say they understand he has some problems.
After a while chatting he has to leave but not before telling me that his dad wants for me to stay in another room, upstairs, where they even have a bed! What? I cannot believe it! They say I will have more privacy there and can have a proper night of sleep. When they show me the room I cannot believe it! I was about to spend the night outside the gas station and now I even have a room with a bed? And it is so sweet of them when they ask me if I am OK with the fact that there are boxes and other furniture in the room. I am more than OK, I am extremely happy and can barely believe this is happening!
Before leaving, Aydar tells me they have ordered some food for dinner and ask me if I would like something and if I eat meat. What a smart guy! When I tell him I am vegetarian, he says they can order some soup. Later on, he brings me a big soup and some bread, plus some healthy snacks, like protein cookies made out of cacao and banana. How sweet! And he even brings more stuff later, saying that his father was worried about me not having something to eat tomorrow! What a good heart people they are! Unbelievable!