Turkey - Ýzmir
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2006
1
17
41
Trip End
Oct 07, 2006
Ýzmir,
Turkey
Monday, July 10, 2006
The temperature was mild. It was a great help for what we wanted to do on that day.
Once in the City, we looked for an internet cafe, caught up with our emails correspondence and updated the blog.
The barber happens to be next door so we decided it was time for a drastic haircut. Mark chose to have his hair shaved off with the clippers which almost jammed a couple of times. Mine was not as drastic but still insisted to have it cut pretty short. You get sick of combing your hair every time you remove your helmet.
01 Haircut (before)
For 4 bucks, you get the full treatment with not only a haircut but also shampooed, face washed and massaged, eyebrows trimmed, nostrils trimmed and unwanted hairs growing out of your ears burned off with a flaming torch!The next job was to service our motorbikes. It was high time for an oil change.
Trying to find Castrol high performance engine oil was a mission on its own.
Eventually we managed to get 3 litres from a bloke whom we thought was very obliging until we found out we got ripped off.
With 3 litres, we could do an oil change for one bike, so we looked for a suitable garage where we could do the job ourselves. (Did I tell you that BMW Istambul, wanted to charge us 180 euro (350AUD) for an oil change!!)
We found a suitable garage in a busy industrial area and the people there were unbelievably nice and accommodating. We were immediately offered water and cups of tea. I proceeded to do oil and filter change on my bike while Mark was scouring the industrial area trying to get the additional oil for his bike.
02 Haýrcut (after)
By chance he stumbled in the path of the Castrol Rep. who immediately got hold of his mobile phone and was ringing left right and centre. Then he told Mark that he located 6 litres in a nearby suburb some 24km away and was going to get it. An hour later he was back with the oil and 2 new Castrol polo shirts for us. The oil was also quite a bit cheaper then the 3 litres I bought previously.While all this was happening, I had enough time to reset the valve clearance on Marks bike. By late afternoon, we were ready to roll again, shook hands and took photos with the boss who refused to take any money for using his premises, and we were on our way again for another 85 km ride south of Izmir.
Long day but mission accomplished!
