Behind the scenes of the Chicken Dance in Antalya, Turkey.
Ladies and gentlemen: Big Big Girl!

The first time we met the British couple Chris and Claire (Wild Thyme) was through a HelpX project in Southern France. In was early spring, and they had recently left England and their jobs as archeologists, happily driving their Ebay catch, an old van turned into a mobile home.

When we heard that Chris and Claire had found their luck in the north of Bulgaria, we were keen to visit them. We stayed for almost a week.

Each day we worked in the garden to the sweet smell of soil. Each
afternoon we had a nice cup of tea. Each evening we ate natural,
organic and locally produced food that we cooked in turns. With
that we drank young, delicious red wine or the local beer. Chris
would sometimes play the fiddle. Clair would give a soothing angel
reading. Or we’d just game a game of Jungle Speed.
Communities like this come and goes with the people that makes them.
Wild Thyme puts Palamartsa on the map by just blogging about it.

Welcome to Wild Thyme!

Pow!

We sneaked into the cathedral of Szeged in Hungary while some musician was playing the clarinette. Then we sneaked out.

Notice that the woman who walks back and forward almost reminds you of Uma Thurman. And the music? Yes. It was in ‘Kill Bill’, where Uma played the main character. There you have it. Very authentic ;) .

We’re on the way towards Turkey and we’re communicating using
German. Amanda sits next to our driver, an older Bulgarian man with car problems.
– “Gross problem mit das Auto!”
– “Turkey, geld!” He’s somehow going to Turkey in order to get money to fix his car.
Or what is he telling us?

We’re learning Turkish now.
– “Marhaba!”
– “Salam aleikum!”
– “Merci – alles gut!”

Our dicta phone is coming handy. When we can’t communicate properly, we usually try to learn bits of the language of the country we’re traveling in.

He’s playing Turkish music to us. I reckon I would get the same show from the local immigrants of my home country if I’d just asked them. Why didn’t I?

– “Scheisse!” He doesn’t like what he hears.
Constantly switching tapes, cursing in German.

The landscape is fantastic; It’s open, wide, hilly. Sunny. Looks like a scene from “Gladiator”.

The bass is scrambling more than his motor.
Broken speakers.

Our driver look a bit like a mix of Danny De Vito and Jack Nicholson. Catsy eyes and eye-brows with a kind smile and dark colors. Pattern baldness. Compressed space between eyes and mouth.

– “Karta! Karta?” He is asking us for The Map.
We don’t have one.
– “Wir haben nichts einen Karta”
– “Wass?! India! No karta?!”
We’re hitchhiking to India and we don’t have a map.
Haven’t really thought about it before.
Never felt the need for one.

Amanda draws a map and points at Gotland.
– “Zu hause.”
– “Aha?” He really couldn’t care less.

We’re driving on a really lousy road.
He tells us that this is the road where his “Auto” broke down.
– “Hier, das Auto, electroniks, kaputt!”

I can smell newly put asphalt and cigarette smoke. He is constantly smoking.
Gangsta rap on the radio. Probably produced by the stoned guys that ran the hostel (also serving as a hiphop studio) where we slept the other night. It was a nice place but poorly managed.

Now we’re starting to understand each other.
– “Vize Auto, my friend, autobahn london – iraq.” He’s saying that his friend (who is going to fix his car) is waiting for him in Vize, and that he’s gonna let us off at the motor way that connects Great Britain to Iraq.

We’re entering Asia now.
Before this trip, I’ve never thought much about roads.

– “Eh.. trinken sie Kaffe?”
He’s inviting us for coffee.
Amanda is stuck in the door with her seatbelt.
– “Yes. Coffee. Teşekkür ederim.”