Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 08:59:55 -0400
Reply-To: Malcolm Stebbins <mstebbins@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Malcolm Stebbins <mstebbins@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Cairo Report: Pilgrim's Progress #2
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
This is to update you all on our progress. As I write this we are in
Athens, Greece: 30 days into our trip and about 7,500 kms so far. I believe
that I reported in just after having water pump problems in Turkey. Well,
the water pump has been working fine; we did have some drip, drip, drip, in
the front of the van, and I was able to trace it to a loose coolant hose
connection that had been exacerbated by a wire clamp that holds the coolant
hoses up against the underbody of the van. This wire clamp had come loose,
allowing the hoses to sag and that caused a weak link at a joint. That was
fixed and we have had no more van problems to date.
One story of note is that as we were about 15 kms outside of Istanbul,
driving into Istanbul, while we were going slowing up a long hill on a 4
lane divided highway, a kind motorist pointed to the back of the van in a
bit of a panic. Well, all of you vanagon owners - and especially me - with
all of our coolant problems - took this seriously. I pulled over and got
out of the van to see what was the matter. The kind motorist stopped and
gestured (he was speaking Turkish) for Pat to rev the engine while he
indicated to me to look at the rear of the van. As he and I were at the
back of the van looking for what he gestured were sparks, he went back up to
the front of the van, reached in and grabbed my fanny-pack (Pat being
distracted as well) and ran and jumped into his BMW and sped away. Now! it
was my Syncro Westy against his BMW going up hill from a dead start; in
about 15 seconds we had lost sight of him as we "raced" up-hill to "catch"
him.
We usually are fairly careful - but he hit our "Achilles heel" as most of us
vanagon owners are a bit paranoid about van problems. Usually I keep my
neck pouch separate from my fanny-pack, but I became lazy and I had my neck
pouch IN my fanny pack. So, the thief got my (Malcolm's)Passport, both M/C
Debit Cards, $1,500 in AmEx T-Cheques and about $300 worth of cash, and my
Nova Scotia and int'l driver's license and varied and sundry other items.
Pat's fanny pack and neck pouch were hanaging from the arm rest; had he
stolen hers too, we would have been in bigger trouble.
We were a bit prepared for getting ripped off, We have photo-copies of our
passports and the T-Cheques #s and Phone numbers for M/C. So we immediately
drove to a restaurant and called M/C to cancel our cards. Several VERY
helpful folks at the restaurant were instrumental to us getting through on
the phone. The next day we spent getting my passport replaced and the
T-Cheques replaced (AmEx earned that 1% fee). We are having our Credit
Union FedEx new Debit Cards to us here in Athens and we hope to pick them up
soon. All in all the lost cash and fees will be about $500 or so, not to
mention 2 lost days of our vacation while we chassed around Istanbul
putting my identity back together again. We will be more careful in the
future.
"Other than that how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" Turkey in
general, and Istanbul in particular, was a very delightfull surprise.
Istanbul is a low-rise city that seems to work. In addition to dealing with
post-robbery hassles, we had a delightful 4 days there seeing the sights.
Another problem with my stolen passport is that it had my Turkish entry
visa and van particulars written in the passport; so as we left Turkey (into
Greece) we had to do a bit of convincing of the border patrol as to WHY I
had no entry visa or van particulars in my NEW passport. However, they were
very understanding and let us pass without much of a delay.
Athens is not much of a city to "write home about". If it were not for the
Parthenon on the Acropolis there would be little reason for tourists to come
here.
It is interesting to SEE culture change: the style of dress, language and
customs. We have travelled from religious states (Egypt, Jordon, Syria)
where the human body is considered sinful and required covering (complete
covering for many women), to Turkey (a secular state but still 99% Islamic),
where religious control is a bit looser, to Greece, where our second camp
site was (at least by some taken to be) a nude beach (I admit I looked). We
can really feel the freedom here.
From here we are off to Crete and the Peloponnese and then off to Italy
where I hope to be able to send an email that says "an uneventful drive".
Oh well, we can always dream. Malcolm & Pat
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
|