10.4.2013
Km counter: 41219 today: 354 sum: 6103
N37°08’52” E047°23’29” – N37°33’59” E045°03’40”
The place where I wake up is really disgusting. It’s a shame in this beautiful surrounding. The problem is to find the nice spots at night when u don’t see the small sideways between the hills. But what to do I can’t wait to get to the beach in turkey so I want to keep driving. Until Tabriz the landscape is amazing and I enjoy the road a lot.
A few kilometer after Tabriz on the way to Orumiyeh I visit some old friends of mine. On the way to india I had a big problem with my engine so I stood at their workshop for a few days. It’s a nice place actually and if you face any problems with your car around Tabriz its in my opinion THE place to go. The Guys don’t speak English but communication by hand, feet and drawing works really well. Here is the gps coordinates of the place: N37°51’32.9” E045°56’37.8” – if u visit them tell them all the best from HariOm please. This year I have no problem at all – a larger petrol tank would be nice as I get 12l here for the price of one in turkey. We decide to use the waste water tank. No connection with the engine tank as this is to complicated after thinking about several ways to do it. However it will work – its 40l extra. Around 70 I have in the regular tank and if I put 20l in the four big tanks on the back it should not be too obvious. This would give me a little more than 1000km in turkey. By the way I spent exactly 100 euro crossing all Iran (excluding visa fee) plus I came here with maybe 5 l petrol. Now, 2600km and 100 euro later I have 130l petrol – crazy! It’s like earning money by driving. After hiding the petrol we have chai, food and of course I make music. One of the guys even has a video of me making music last year on his cell phone. And…. Everybody can not only remember me but knows my name! I love you guys! Thank you! I will be back!
Much too early, a little before sunset I leave to Orumiyeh, the last town before the border where I want to change money and then cross the border as soon as possible. On the way there a police car overtakes and a nice looking guy gives me a salutation. A few hundred meter later they stand on the side of the road and stop me. Like once an hour they do just to say hello…. But this time it is different. Not the funny guy but his partner is checking me. He wants to see all the papers, look inside until he sees the broken side mirror on the right side. We can’t communicate at all but its easy to understand that this is a problem. He wants 1.000.000.- Rial fine! That’s about 25euro but I just have the money for 60 more liter petrol left which is not even half of what he wants. He is not accepting euros of course and the next city is far so he threatens to take my passport to make me change the money and come to the police station. He wants dollar all the time and I tell him many times I am no American. After all he wants to see how much money I have so I show him my rial storage and he takes half of it ripping the fine paper apart. I make a face at his partner showing that I need food and petrol before crossing the border. At the end they give me my money back and tell me to fix the mirror. Its almost dark when I go on. In Orumiyeh I don’t find a suitable petrol station to sleep so I find a tiny side street of a small side street Where I decide to stay. Should be ok I think when I stop in the lonely street and go back to close the windows and prepare my bed. Half the way done somebody is knocking at the car. Police. But this time the nice guy. “Welcome to beautiful city of Orumiyeh blablabla”… he speaks for five minutes before he recognizes I don’t understand one word. However I am welcome…. Another half an hour later the cops knock again. One guy on a motorbike taking the close look wanting to look inside and so on. I give him a smile and tell him I want to sleep so a second later he smiles back gives me my papers and goes.
