Day 215 - 218 Muscat

I am lazy. Only on my first day in Muscat I really organized something: finally I got my Indian Visa! I had started the process more than a week ago but then I had to collect my passport for going back to the Emirates. Now I brought back my passport to the visa agency and of course they did not know how long it would take. What they did know however: I could either get it the same evening or in 5 days - which would have been a big problem because I will fly to Sri Lanka in 5 days. All the other days the Embassy does not work because of holidays (Mohammeds birthday). You can imagine that I wasn't very relaxed when I went back to the agency the same evening. As I was already contemplating which of their furniture I would throw through the office in case I would not get back my passport they called me to the counter and handed me the passport with a brand-new Indian visa, yeah !
The rest of the days in Muscat I was really really lazy, just enjoying the sun, good food, fresh juices, the beach...

Day 202 Muscat: Indian Visa Hunt

We got up relatively early and cycled all the way (14km) to the Indian embassy in the modern suburbs - where we found out that the Visa processing is handled by a company with its office very close to our hotel, grmpf!
As we were in the suburbs already we checked out a very good bicycle store: http://www.omanbicycle.com - they are very good, but they are also very busy. We decided to have our bikes maintained there once we get back from Dubai Marathon.
We cycled back to the Indian Visa Processing Company in Ruwi - it looked quite chaotic, but people were knowledgeable and friendly. We got to know that:
- they will have to get clearance from the Indian embassies in Germany/Switzerland
- therefore processing will take about 5 workdays
- we can get our passports back to travel to the Emirates while they wait for the clearance
- once they have clearance we can get the Visa within 3 days
- we applied for 6 month tourist visa (which is automatically multi-entry).

The application for us both took about 2 hours and we had to pay 28 Omani Rials each. We will collect our passports on Saturday (in 2 days) and move on and bring them back for getting the Visa once we are back from the Emirates.

Day 122 Akhalkalaki - Gyumri

It was cold when I woke up but soon the sun made the day very enjoyable. Most of the day I cycled across a high plain offering sublime views over snow topped mountain ranges. A wonderful farewell to Georgia! On the border everyone was extremely nice - maybe except for a couple of dogs who chased me through no man's land. Getting the Armenian visa was easy: fill some form, change money, pay (3000 Dram = 6 € for 21 days) and off I went. Armenia again ! I have been here before - 2 years ago, travelling with my dad. Back then we did not go to the northwestern corner, so it will take me a bit more time until I am on known ground. The first thing I realized about Armenia: in that corner it is an very empty country - big distances between the villages and inbetween only hills covered with stones and yellowish brownish grass. But it was really nice - along with the clear cold air and the sunshine it really felt like ultimate freedom. In Gyumri I had since accomodation problems: the two hotels I found were full - but I also did not feel like camping at -6°. Fortunately I found another one: Hotel Golden Apricot - the
most expensive hotel on that trip, but it was worth it: Very nice room and I even got served a Golden Apricot Cake and Tea, mmmhhhh.

Day 116 Hopa - Batumi

Going to Georgia: great idea!
Georgia is the place where:
- passport control staff (female, young, pretty) gives you the nicest possible welcome to the country
- the first supermarket you enter stocks German müsli and Czech beer
- the first bar you enter plays old The Cure records !
- the hostel water boiler has music in it
The only downside I have seen so far: as soon as Georgian enter a car (preferably big old Mercedes or BMW) they seem to develop a sudden urge to kill everyone around including themselves. Up to now it did not really affect me, but driving habits are definitely much crazier than in Turkey.
Border crossing was easy - everyone really nice, no hassle at all.
Batumi is very relaxed. Not much going on in low season now. Still, it is a very nice seaside town - even the foible for disneyland-style multicoloured  illumination does not do any real harm.

Day 111 - 112 Trabzon

Everything worked out just perfectly:

I got the Iran Visa within one day. Went to the Iranian Consulate around 11.00. Was instructed by a funny but rigorous chimaera women (one eye blue, one eye brown) to fill in a form. After a couple of minutes she gave me a snippet for a bank on the main business street. I went there and paid 75 €. Then I had some time to visit Trabzons Aya Sofia - very old byzantine church overlooking the Black Sea. I returned to the embassy around 16.30 and collected the Visa - easy !
To celebrate this success I treated myself to a serious scrubbing and beating at a hamam.

Next day: Arthur repair day. Just cycled around town looking for bike shops. Found one at the main shopping area - but the staff couldn't help me - they just pointed at my not-turkish-standard bottom bracket and their turkish-standard set of tools and said 'Problem'. Fortunately I found another bike shop on Yavuz Selim Blv. - a guy brought me to a reasonably messy cellar workshop and told me to wait for the ustad (master) to come. Reasonably messy means: I was convinced immediately jthat all necessary tools could be found in this chaos or the ustad would be able to create them on the spot. And that is what he did - a screw on my pedal was stuck from the dust of 6000km - he managed to unscrew it by welding a nut on it - several times. The torque support I managed to bend by the raw power of my legs got some angle grinder treatment. Now Arthur has a new bottom bracket, new chain and a not new, but turned-around sprocket. I made a short test ride through town and it feels great !

Day 049 Пловдив

And another workday. I had a stroll through beautiful 7000 years old Plovdiv in the morning. But most of the afternoon and evening I spent with further research and planning. It looks like getting the Visa for Iran should not be a problem. Getting the Visa for Pakistan however seems to be a big problem right now. Especially if you want to enter from Iran in any other ways than flying it is currently next to impossible. There are two alternatives:
Alternative North: going north from Iran through Central Asia and Western China and entering Pakistan from the north - strangely there you can get Visa upon entry (Problem: I will have to wait until spring to go that way).
Alternative South: taking the ferry from Iran to the Emirates and trying to get a boat from there or Oman to India (Problem: highly improbable to find one).
I still have some time until I will have to decide - I will enter Turkey in 2 or 3 days and it will take me about 2 months to reach its eastern borders. Only then, after entering Iran, I will have to pick a direction.
Then again despite this mid-term problems I solved some short-term problems: I will not cycle from Edirne straight to Istanbul. Instead I will cycle down Gallipoli peninsula, enter Asia by crossing the Dardanelles, drive up to Bandirma and take the ferry across Marmara sea to Istanbul - therewith avoiding the highway ride into Istanbul (something I have not heard anything good about ever). If I find a save place I could even leave Arthur in Bandirma as that is were I will start my ride down to Izmir from.