23/01/2017

War in Syria, terrorist attacks in Turkey - and I spent 2 months hitchhiking around


In times when the world speaks about the war in Syria and the terrorist attacks in Turkey, here I am. While in western and northern Europe I've heard and seen what war refugees and immigrants sometimes face, here in Turkey I've experienced the most amazing hospitality on this trip up to now. It turned out that in this part of the world been a foreigner actually gives you privileges instead.

I couldn't go camping in anywhere here, because it's been just too freezing cold for that. But in the other hand, as a big contrast comparing to my time in Bulgaria, finding a place to stay in Turkey was as easy as putting a message on CouchSurfing or on Facebook groups which Turks would read it and invite me to their homes right away. Some of the people who picked me up (on cars or trucks) also invited me to stay at their places, and there was even two cases in the Turkish capital (Ankara) when I was sitting in a cafe or I was partying in a club and people that I've met said that I was welcome to stay at their places or I could call them on their phones if I needed just anything.

I had the chance to learn a bit about Kurdish people, and why there are Kurdish groups doing some of these terrorist attacks that happened in the country while I'm here. I hitchhiked the South coast of Turkey where loads of English people migrated to, and I even had the lucky to get a lift with a English lady on her motorbike.

Welcome to Turkey, the country where a female Italian hitchhiker was raped and murdered 8 years ago, and where I only met hospitality, friendship and loads of other hitchhikers who love hitchhiking through these lands where getting a lift usually is super quick. And these lands where you're always offered a cigarette (and very often also food) by the drivers who pick you up. The people who host you here rarely let you split the costs of the bill (they want to pay it themselves, because "the guest always comes first"), and basically everyone invites you to have some delicious traditional food, tea, salep, etc.


Zoom in this map - click here.

As you might have noticed on this map, the closest that I have come to the Syrian and Iranian borders was just to near the city of Adana. But this alone was already enough to worry some friends and family of mine who follow my stories on the internet (as if knowing that I'm traveling in Turkey while terrorist attacks are happening wasn't worrying them enough).

The fact that I've initially considered hitchhiking to Iran also got some people worried, due to homosexuality been considered a State crime (and I'm gay if you don't know it yet) and it can be punished by some cruel ways, including a possible death penalty. The temporary good news is that due to the cold of wintertime and the fact that Brazilian citizens have to pay to take visas to enter Iran, I've decided to postpone my trip in that country to the future.

The full list of photos, stories or videos that I've posted during this time travelling in Turkey is organised for you below - by date and by locations, so that you can click the ones that might interest you the most.


Here goes a playlist of videos uploaded to Youtube. The GoPro camera that I have been using unfortunately broke somewhere near Fethiye, therefore you might see some videos recorded with my phone camera instead (which is a bit shittier).





I thank you a lot for the amazing experiences, Turkey! I feel like I learned so much! And I can't agree more on how amazing it is to travel in a country culturally and geographically so mixed between Middle East and Europe!



Next stop

I'm flying tomorrow to Thailand, where I'll be hitchhiking around for probably one month before crossing the border to Malaysia. Besides that, the only plan I have so far is to be in Indonesia in April. And I know just nothing about that part of the world and their culture! Come together and explore it with me, and remember that you can always keep an eye on my posts on Instagram or Facebook to get updates more often!
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