Benjamin And Quentin

Alright guys I wanted to share a blog with you. I got these two friends, their names are in the title. 3 years ago (in 2007) they got this crazy idea to participate in a rally (The Mongol Rally) going from London to Ulan Bator, Mongolia with an old Renault 4 they bought just for it and after fixing it, painting it, loving it they left. I think they did around 15,000 km in 51 days which is pretty crazy. Watch the video here.

Well those two crazy guys - they're brothers by the way - decided to do it again. On their own this time. And they called it the MondialRally which doesn't mean anything in English but in French "Mondial" means "global" or "worldwide" as you wish.















This time they are in America, all over it. They started in Anchorage, Alaska where they bought a car and repaired it, and they're heading toward Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world ! They're gonna travel a total distance of about 40,000 km !! They are, at the moment in Mexico. So wish'em good luck ! And follow them on their blog (both in French and in English).

Walk Accross America

Awesome stop motion animation of a guy walking across America I wanted to share with you.


And here is the behind the scene video if you wonder how they did it.

Road Trip

Today we went to Bozüyük for the day. Ekin's cousin's husband's father passed away so we went there to visit and present our condoleances. I didn't get to take many photos since I drove all the way on and back. Here are some photos I took on the ferry on the on. It took us 4 hours in the morning and 3 and a half hours on the way back by taking the north road.

Bodrum Day 07 - Last Day

Last morning in Gümüslük. We had breakfast near the sea.









Somewhere on the freeway between Bodrum and Izmir.









Izmir. This is the first time I really go to Izmir. I've already passed through many time with the car but it's the first time I really stop but then again I won't count this time since we only stayed an hour or so.












Somewhere on the road between Izmir and Istanbul.









Oreo is doing really fine.










More photos here and here if you're interested.

Day Three : On the Way Back Home

We leave the house near 12.30 pm. That's the only picture of Bodrum I got since we did not go in the city. By the way Bodrum, anciently known as Halicarnassus was the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Halicarnassus was where the Mausoleum of Maussolos stood.
On the photo you can see Bodrum's Castle, built in 1404 by the Knights of Rhodes, the legend says that they used the rocks of the remains of the mausoleum to build the castle. The castle grounds also includes a Museum of Underwater Archeology.




On the road again. This is a strange place, in the middle of nowhere you can see hundreds of electric poles, standing there.






Back to the Statue of Atatürk on the road between Izmir and Manisa.












In Manisa we saw this pedestrian bridge that looks like the Golden Gate.









A decorated truck with the drawings of the fairy chimneys of Cappadoccia. You can also read 'Ne Bakiyon Tanimadinmi?' above the license plate which could be translated as 'Watcha looking at, u didn't recognize me ?'























Back to Akhisar, the city of bicycles.






























































Please take a closer look at the mud guards of this truck.



































This time we stopped at Varan's rest stop resort which is near the Ulusoy one we stopped on the way to Bodrum. This one is much smaller and more calm.

Road Trip Photos

Here are the photos from our road trip to Bodrum. I anti-dated the post so that it could be seen on the day of the trip but e actually arrived at destination at 1 a.m.
We hardly made it to the ferry because of the traffic jam. I had to make a lot of detour in order to reach the pier. I picked up Ekin and my dad on the way and after a certain point I even had to get out of the car and run to get the tickets in time, before they get canceled.

I didn't take much pictures since I was driving wost of the trip and it was dark.

You can see the SultanAhmet Mosque (or Blue Mosque) on the left with its 6 minarets.






This is the express ferry we used to cross the Marmara sea. The cross over took about an hour and a half.













Arrival at Mudanya near Bursa on the south east of the Marmara Sea.







Somewhere on the road.





















Some folkloric band guys getting somewhere not very safely.














We saw a lot of Poppy fields on our way.







We stopped at around 5 pm at this Ulusoy rest resort. Ulusoy is one of the many bus companies running through the country. It is considered one of the best with its concurrent Varan. Some bus company have their own rest area where you can usually find a restaurant, a market etc. But this one is huge. You can find an outlet mall, a Starbucks, a playground, many restaurants, many shops, a Mac Donalds, etc. That's funny to see a Starbucks out of nowhere in the middle of Turkey.














Really out of nowhere, this is what's surrounding this rest stop : nothing.
















Going through Akhisar...







...where it was interesting to see that a lot of people were going around on bicycles.












An hour later we make a quick stop at Manisa.







Some big statue of Ataturk on the side of the road.









It's about 10 pm and as usual on our way to Bodrum we stop at Baba'nin yeri ('At Dad's') to eat delicious çöp sis (chup shish : It's like shish kebab but with very small pieces of meat on small skewers (wood here).







here is a picture I took last year so you can see what it looks like. You can it it with lavash bread, a salad, some grilled onions, green peppers and tomatoes. Not a place for vegetarian people though. Each person has 20 shish.