Pedaling from the Black Forest to the Yellow Sea

Let’s just say I am still hopeful that the spare parts will arrive tomorrow. Why should I be? I have no reason to be hopeful. The promised check-up on the website failed for the last two days also. On Saturday I tried it, figuring that maybe Friday the computers were taking a break. Still nothing … It being Saturday, the local office was closed and I ran out of luck in the main office. Turns out that when I asked the lady she recognized me and asked whether this had to do with the wheel going to Turkey. Funny that it was the same person as a week ago. But as then she couldn’t do anything. She essentially looks at the same system as I do. So much for that. The words of Mr. T. still ring in my head: “98% certainty”. That leaves a 2% chance that it will fail. But since I am told that I was born in the wrong country, I will ditch the German pessimism and maintain stoic optimism.

Saturday afternoon I headed out to explore the old part of Ankara on my own. The ride with the small buses (dolmus) gives you an insight as to the level of reverence that the founder of the republic receives to this day.

Here are a few impressions of the old city …

a small festival complete with traditional dancing …

and an extremely amazing puppet player (still photos don’t do justice to him) …

and my search for English or German books as I am finishing Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Which - by the way - struck me as fantastic read. In the process I came across a rather eclectic range of guidebooks - some of which might be useful in the future. Florida - future work place, Jerusalem - worked there for some time, Mongolia - this one might come in handy during this trip even. But more about the latter one at some later stage (and no, I am not referring to the Harry Potter books at the bottom).

There was some selection - so I picked up Moby Dick (wasn’t going to go for a newly written crime novel) and on Sunday I found Graham Greene’s Stamboul Train which I thought was fitting given the route I’ve been taking. I also saw an Iron Lady …

When I was about to go back, I wanted to take a picture of a large mosque cum supermarket on the ground floor. Just then a young couple - M and O - approached me and suggested a different location to take the picture from. We ended up spending three hours in a cafe together (or thereabouts), talking about this and that - including politics. The conversation was about so many different aspects of what I had come across in Turkey and it certainly helped me understand a lot of the things I had encountered. Plus, the two of them were simply great people to talk to. Thanks so much for approaching me in the middle of Ankara.

So, after finding out last night that Haluk and Guler were going to leave on Monday, I needed to try to find a game plan for things to come. They were going to leave early on Monday morning and I still had no idea where the package was - the tracking number still coming up empty. So, I called DPD again and was told that with “98% certainty, your package will be in Ankara on Monday”. Alright, did I hear something before along the lines of having certainty in this regard? At any rate, Haluk said that they would be waiting one more day … I didn’t really know what to say. A massive thank you!!!

So, DPD better deliver now or else … what else. I am completely at their mercy now and if it doesn’t come in, I will have to reroute the package which supposedly will take another day. Yikes! At least they were able to add my cell phone number to the information and the promise now is that if delivery fails they would call me. I was also assured that my tracking number would be visible tonight (meaning Friday). I had some hope, but when I logged on Friday just before midnight, there was still nothing. This means I am flying blindly right now, can’t organize anything and can’t make any predictions as to the arrival. If anyone has any idea what DPD really stands for, then please do let me know (previously: Deutscher Paket Dienst [German Parcel Service is already taken by a differnet company, but you get what I mean; now rebranded as: Dynamic Parcel Distribution]) … I’ll try to be creative (one word: the people I am talking to are really trying hard and seem to understand that things didn’t go as they should have, but I have the feeling that the system somehow really has its flaws).

I have been meaning to track the progress of my package on the courier service’s website. The handy tools that they provide you with … it sort of failed last week, but how badly can things go wrong the second time. Apparently very wrong. I had an inkling about it when things didn’t show up on the website so I got in touch with DPD again. As it turns out, they forgot to pick up the package in the drop-off place for two days. Argghhhhhh …. Serious aragggghhhhh. This is bad, quite bad I should say (again, not in the grand scheme of things, but in my little world it is). Means that I will not get the package before the weekend and I had hoped to be able to back on the road on Sunday at the latest. Now, I would love to know how something like this can happen, but the people I talk to at DPD don’t know themselves and can’t explain it. They also don’t know why the package doesn’t show up in their system either. Oh they joys of modern logistics. I had toyed with the idea of simply flying to Germany myself and come back with the package under my arm. It would have saved a lot of time.

The delivery next week would be fine except for the fact that Haluk told me that they would have to leave Ankara on Monday. This means that I will have to somehow reroute the package to a different address - destination sort of unknown at this point. Moreover, the Turkish delivery company doesn’t know that I am the supposed recipient and my name is not on the package so as to not confuse things. It will all work out somehow in the end, but how many unlucky coincidences (or should I say: “How incompetent can a company be?”) can there be?

So, with the package on its way and most likely taking until the end of the week, I figured I would try to work on my Azerbaijan visa here in Ankara instead of waiting until Tbilisi in Georgia. So we called the embassy in the morning, they told us to come by at 2pm. It is way out yonder actually, about 20km away from the center and the rest of the embassies. As Haluk and Guler had to run some errands, we combined the trips to a new development area which is full of embassies. Nice embassies at times - mostly with some semblance of their national heritage, but the area was also quite clearly lacking in true character.

Once we got there, the embassy was closed we found out. The security person really tried to get one of the Azerbaijan consular staff out, but they flat out refused despite having given us the 2pm time slot in the afternoon. So much for that. We should call. When? Right now. OK. Haluk calls. He is told to call back tomorrow morning! What??? This is all we can do, call back tomorrow is the answer. So, we are playing a stupid game. I figure I would join in the fun and it gets even more absurd. When I ask whether I can talk to someone in German or English, I am first transferred. Then the next person hangs up. Same question on the next call. And the next only to be bumped off by the first person. Just hung up. Alright, finally I talk to someone who does speak English. But he refuses to talk to me in English. “Only Turkish!” “But you understand me?” “Not a problem.” “Can I ask you some questions then?” “Only in Turkish.” “Are you kidding me?” “No, you can ask, but only in Turkish.” It was a bit frustrating. He clearly understood and spoke the language, but refused to speak in English. Yikes. I gave up. There are two more chances (there is a consulate in Kars and an embassy in Tbilisi) and that should be sufficient to get a hold of the visa. But ah … the power of consular staff.

Took this one of the busted rim … I will keep the smaller part as a memory.

I will leave the fancy daily km marking out today … it’s kind of annoying given that I am not pedaling any km. Day 69 is quickly told … not much going really. I am waiting for my package and am hopeful that it arrives tomorrow.

Day 70: there is some hope that things are looking better today. It’s been a few days and the projected delivery day is today. Or so I thought. Here is what a personal disaster looks like when it happens (in the grand scheme of things this is of course meaningless, but let me at least have some glimmer of hope that this may be important). I am poking around the web and get a message from Dieter. I had emailed him indicating that the tracking number search came up empty. He was going to check.

Then this message from Dieter: “Markus, the package has just been returned by DPD [a rather reputable German logistics company], no comments attached! We are speechless - are checking into things!” I can only imagine what the scene must have been like for Dieter and Dirk at the store. Speechless, wide-open yes. They had been getting things ready at a snap, had called every carrier to make sure that they chose the best option. DPD had promised to deliver things by Monday, if not by Tuesday at the latest.

What happened was that the package never left Germany at all. [UPS and DHL didn’t provider faster service and charged a much, much higher rate - say EUR 350-450; for that price I can fly to Germany myself; let me say it strikes me as unreasonable]. So, the package was back. I called DPD and tried to find out what happened. They said they didn’t know the number they had provided. Argh … this is bad stuff, major blunder as far as I am concerned. The full story follows in brackets, skip to the next paragraph if you’re pressed for time.

[So, I get a very friendly dispatcher on the phone and try to find out what went wrong. He promises to get on the case and asks that Speedzone give him a call so he can get to work. As it turns out, DPD subcontracts to companies which serve as drop-off points. Withing the world of DPD, these subcontractors don’t have the status of companies, but are slotted as private individuals. Apparently - here is what I don’t understand - private individuals can not send a package to Turkey. According to the friendly dispatcher (this is not meant ironically) the Turkish company they are partnering up with wouldn’t accept it. My point: how does the Turkish company know. It’s not like the subcontractor has a plane and flies the package to Turkey. They hand it off to DPD right there and then. And if it is indeed the case that their drop-off points are private individuals for their accounts, why doesn’t the software reflect that and flash a huge warning sign? And why do Dieter and Dirk get a positive answer from the DPD phone representative to start with?]

While Dieter and Dirk figure out the alternatives, Haluk and I hit up the local bike store scene. I take my old wheel with me (it has to go anyway) and we eventually find the good people at Delta Bisiklet. The bike store is a really good one - except that they don’t have a rim for my purposes. That’s too bad. We get the cassette of though and clip the spokes, we also saw the damaged part out of the rim. I am still fuming somewhat at this point at DPD - how can you get things so wrong? Things are better though after the visit at the bike store. Cann (pronounce Jann - J as in Janice), the store owner is extremely knowledgeable and I also meet a guy who I thought works there, but turns out to be one of the best downhill bikers in Turkey (so he says). The interesting thing is that as we take my wheel apart, he asks whether he can use the spokes and the rim tape. It’s a yes, of course, but it does show that I’m a boy used to luxury (and for that matter we all are - I haven’t seen anyone in Germany reuse rim tape). He does say that he will dedicate his next win to the parts he now has on his bike. Thanks!!!

When I get back, Dieter has spoken to DPD again - they first refused to take the package again claiming that they can’t. Eventually they find a way and promise to get it here ASAP. Keep your fingers crossed … and I am taking bets for how long it takes. So, tell me what you think!!! A massive thank you to Dieter and Dirk for going through all the hassle and to Mr. Sch. at DPD for making things work in the end (well, that thank you will fully go out when the package makes it here).

The evening winds down with a walk around the area (where I took the picture below and this will mean something to only a few, though one person should be getting back with me about it) and some good food. It’s made better by some emails I receive and some instant messaging that makes the day.