Author Archives: mangomanjaro

Embarrassing Popcorn Story

In the moment on writing, I’m eating the most delicious popcorn of the Middle East. It’s quite a big bag, and it was all for free… by mistake.

OK, so we went to the local supermarket in Siirt. All hungry for popcorn. I always am. I had spot the popcorn MACHINE earlier the same day and insisted purposefully on coming with Robin when he was going for some drinks. All I could think of was popcorn.

We entered the supermarket and I walked straight up to the red, shining, beautiful machine with a sign saying “2.75 TL/1 kg”.

“Hi, I’d like some popcorn”, I said, pointing to the fluffy little creatures (I know “creatures” is not the proper definition of popcorn but they seemed so alive), longing to get squeezed between my eager teeth.

The young girl in charge of the popcorns ran away to bring some plastic cups. Like regular drinking cups, holding top 2 deciliters.
“No no no!” I said, “I want more. MORE!”, waving my hands impatiently trying to show that I wanted to buy at least a full bag. It seemed ridiculous to buy like 20 cups! How would I even carry them?

“Here, this is good”, I said and took a plastic bag from the bulk section for nuts and dry fruit. “Fill it up! I want a lot!”
The girl looked a bit insecure, but obeyed my order and started filling the bag.
“More, more!” I inflamed as she was going to stop. “Come on, fill it!”

Robin turned up from behind with his drinks, and I think we saw it exactly at the same time. I was SO embarrassed. The popcorn were not for sale. The machine was there as a sample taste, and the price was meant for buying a 1 kg bag of corns! One free cup per customer, not more. And I had managed to make that poor girl fill a whole bag for me, which I got from a different section in the supermarket!

As we left the store, I felt happy we’re about to leave the country. Sorry I made it harder for future tourists to get free sample tastes in South East Turkey. Really sorry.

Get Fancy – Spread the Word!



We are proud to invite you all to our newest addition at MangoManjaro.se – our online store!

We offer you organic clothing and different kinds of cups (you know how much we love coffee ;) ).

All of it carrying our most important message: Fear is more dangerous than the things we fear.

This is our core message. Our heart beat. The essence of our trip. A few T-shirts and coffee mugs won’t make it justice. It’s rather the inevitable discussions that will blossom when you use it. So get talking! Spread the word: Fear is more dangerous than the things we fear!

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Four Months on the Road – Statistics and Earnings

We have been on the road for four months now.
This time the statistics looks a bit less exact than last month since we decided to go to Sweden for Christmas. The distance traveled etc is based on our time abroad, excluding our break back home.

Here are this month’s (December/January 2010) statistics:

Movements

  • 3 countries passed (incl. Sweden)
  • 2 borders crossed by foot
  • 2400 km / 1490 miles traveled

Drivers

  • 15 drivers (from Amman, Jordan to Trabzon, Turkey )
  • 27 % of the drivers spoke English

The Chicken Dance

  • 1 public dance arranged

Accommodation

  • 10 nights spent in hostels
  • 13 nights spent with family and friends in Sweden
  • 8 nights spent CouchSurfing

Blog activity

  • 13 published posts
  • 66 new fans on Facebook
  • 30 new followers on Twitter
  • 1627 visitors
  • 54 daily visitors

Finances

  • A daily budget of 10€ per person, for food, accommodation and local transports. That’s around 300€ per person.

We believe in full transparency, so you can expect to see a summary like this next month as well.

Read the statistics for November/December and compare them!

Thank you for following us into the new year!
What would you like to see next month?

Love and magical mango energy,
Amanda and Robin

The Surprises of Embassies

We have now been waiting around in Ankara for over a week expecting an e-mail from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran, that never showed up. One might think we should know by now, that’s not always how embassies work…

After applying for an e-visa on the Internet (yes, it’s possible!) we’ve spent over a week in Ankara waiting for an e-mail confirming Amanda’s application. Robin’s was done at the day of our arrival, but when we finally got to the embassy in Ankara, it seemed like Amanda’s just wasn’t there. It was lost in cyberspace, and a new application would take a few weeks.

Luckily we’ve been Couchsurfing during this time and therefore made some new great friends. Our host Deniz inspires us with her bakery skills! And as you can guess, Turkey is a country we don’t mind staying in.

Outside the embassy we got lucky to meet a Belgian couple on a long journey driving from Belgium to Vietnam. They recommended us to go to Trabzon in Northeast Turkey where Iranian visas are issued in one or two days. After an espresso with our new found friends, we called the embassy in Trabzon and confirmed.

Tomorrow we’ll be on the road again. See you out there, Njaros!

Meet Our Driver: Gossun

We’re hitchhiking from Poland to India. On our way we get to meet a lot of beautiful and positive drivers who share a tiny part of their lives with us. In this video we meet Gossun who is working as a nurse in Amman, Jordan. She and her husband drove us from Jerash to Amman. Thank you again Gossun!