"Your powers are weak old man" he said in his deep and sinister voice.
"Strike me down and I will be more powerful than you can possibly imagine" I replied. Of course this is the typical type of banter cyclists have when they are attacking big hills. And with that comment the young wipper snapper flew right past me leaving me for the dogs. Aah well. At least the scenery was nice. Coincidentally we were cycling through Cappadoccia at the time, which happened to be where they filmed parts of the original Star Wars. The scenes around old Ben Kenobi's place where the Sand People lived I'd say. If you don't know what I'm talking about please hit the 'X' in the top right of your screen and never return to this site!!
It was pretty amazing, even though it rained for the erntire 2 days I was there. The whole area is made up of soft rock which the locals have scratched their houses into for the last 2000 years and more. My hotel room actually used to be a stable in a cave house. It really felt like living on another planet again. Given the terrible weather I thought I'd treat myself to a nice hamam. Coincidentally, I ended up having a Hamam with two other Aaron's. It was a truly amazing experience, and I would certainly recommend having a bath with other people who share your name. On the subject of interplanetary experiences I went through a town today that could have come straight out of a Stephen King novel. I got to an unmarked cross roads so asked a couple guys going for a walk which way it was to my destination. They signalled to the left. Sweet as, so off I went. 2km up I came to a small town and it looked like the whole town was milling about in the centre. They were all young males standing on the sides of the main road. Very suss looking so I swiftly movedf through and out the other side of town. After 5kms I had a feeling the direction wasn't quite right so asked a farmer. He signalled back the other way I'd just come! This time when I got back to town I asked a couple guys just before the town centre and while they were discussing it another dozen local guys came over and surrounded me. I took my leave fairly quickly then less than 800m up the road a group of young boys (12-14) grabbed handfuls of gravel and formed a line across the road and yelled "STOP!!!" as I approached. Not likely, and I ploughed through them too. Phew!! I can only imagine what they'd do to a nice innocent chap like me...
My bike seems to be holding up fine for the time being so gently gently... Fortunately , at the moment I'm at about 1000m and the next couple days should be down hill to the south coast again (the Turkish Riviera they call it). Until then :)
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