A short summary of three long days

Let's start with just after the bus ride to Gaziantep.

Arrived slightly disheveled and tired, and found out that all the minibuses to the border wouldn't be running all day.  I got to talking with an English lady and her Turkish husband(back in Antep for his brother's wedding), and they invited me back to the family's house while we waited for an uncle to call us back on the border situation.   The brother that was getting married, Adam, and his mum were both at the bus stop to take us into the city by car.  

Everyone at the house was very nice, but spoke no English whatsoever, so in the absence of Ali, the English lady's husband and our translator, we managed with gestures, smiles, and plenty of one of the only words we knew "cok guzel" (meaning excellent).  

After a proper Turkish breakfast(very yummy), we took a drive to a small village by the Syrian border, where the family are originally from.  The uncle who had been called lived on a very nice farm with pistachio and walnut trees lining the drive.  A kitten and some roosters were walking about as we came up.  Tea was served along with fresh walnuts that Adam knocked down from the trees with a stick.  The uncle then tells us the border is closed for the next three days for Ramadan.  I'm then invited to spend the following three days attending the wedding celebrations.  Never did I ever expect to attend a Turkish wedding but it turned out very well.

The ride itself was ridiculously scenic, going up and down the Toros Mountains.  The Scottish hills that I left a few days ago with the heather and the sheep has given way to rural Turkey with scrubby rock hills and goats. The bus stops every few hours for a quick stop at a roadside restaurant complete with squat toilets.  You have to have good aim.  When everyone goes out to stretch their legs, the bus get hosed down and the windows cleaned courtesy of various men in wellies.  Around midnight we get pulled over by the 'jandarma' who board the bus, collect our passports, inspect them, and wave us on.  I'm told it's to check for illegals mostly.  The stewards turns on the telly at the front, and most the bus moves up to the front to watch the football for a few hours.  We cruise on through the night for a grand total of 17 hours reaching Gaziantep at 9am.  

I walked the 6km from my hotel to the Otogar on Wednesday afternoon to catch the coach to Gaziantep(where I am until Monday).  Now rather sunburnt, but it was a nice walk.  The Otogar in Fethiye is slightly more sophisticated than it's Dalaman equivalent.  There's about 15 different bus operators with its own tout by the door, calling out destinations to tempt would be travelers in to their office.  Relieved of both 50 lira and my pack(I love it when other people get to carry it), I then was escorted to seat 29 by the bus steward.  Each bus has a steward for the duration the trip, always a boy, that goes about serving tea, nescaf, water, and hand cleanser, among his other duties.