Motourama Part 32: The Horrible Accident

Hello family, friends and followers. This Travel Story is not an easy one. Anybody feeling uncomfortable with accidents, blood and death should stop reading right here. For everybody else, this is to show people the entire spectrum of our journey, because life is not always a piece of cake.

First, let’s start with some observations we made of the driving mentality of the Turks. During our journey in Turkey, we got used to a different way of driving. Everything is a little bit more flowing, and people don’t adhere so strictly to the rules. If there are 3 lanes, but 4 cars fit next to each other, why not do that? Driving in one lane was also quite unpopular, oftentimes we would see the cars driving in the middle of the line between two lanes.

Example: The white van was driving between the inner lane and the emergency lane, while the lorry didn’t feel like keeping its distance. Not a surprising sight on our way through Turkey.

But somehow it actually works. It could be accredited to their very ellaborate honking system. It’s amazing – being there on the streets for a couple of days actually gives you the feeling there are whole conversations taking place.

Du’t              -Hi/Im here (right next to you/behind you) mostly accompanied by heavily waving with the hands

Dutdut          -How are you?

Duutdut        -Careful I am going to overtake soon.

Dutduutdut    -The light is green.

Duuuuuuut    -You are in the way, as well as all the others.

Didelididelidi -I like honking and have an awesome sound.

It actually really helped to find our way around all those cars. Denise just had to get used to it, and not getting startled every time we got honked at. Even though it looked quite funny when she flinched, like getting a little electroshock.

Driving on the small machines felt quite safe in comparison to driving Poland, where cars would get a lot closer to us. The soft luggage made it possible for us to squeeze in between the cars and other two-wheeler’s without leaving scratches.

The roads in Turkey were always changing. From gravel to old tarmac, from narrow to 4-lane motorways. Today’s Travel Story is taking place on a newly build, modern, perfectly smooth 2-lane tarmac road, curving up and down the mountain. The weather was sunny with a slight breeze. It was weekend and as described, perfect condition to ride motorcycles. Unfortunately, this also resulted in a terrible experience. The following is an extract from Denise’s diary:

Driving past a queue of waiting cars to the scene of an accident.

“We arrive at the accident site. A man is lying on the tarmac. The attendants, maybe friends, are doing CPR. The motorcyclist is lying lifeless and limp. I walk up to the group of people in case they need help, seeing the CPR is being done well.

The motorcyclist is bleeding from his forehead and the body is wobbling uncontrolled under the treatment. His skin appears yellowish-grey and the eyes are staring empty into the sky. We can hear the ambulance in the distance coming closer. I couldn’t have done a better job than the people reanimating the man are doing, under these circumstances, and I don’t want to be just another person on the side. Therefore I walk back to our motorcycles, where Esben had already stopped filming. He can’t look in the direction of the accident.

Witnesses report, that the biker tried to overtake a car in a right turn, and didn’t see the oncoming car. It was only possible to veer into the ditch, but the car, as well as the motorcycle, rather show evidences of a frontal crash. If the bones of the man look like the condition of the bike, there aren’t many whole bones left. Esben notices, that the frame of his helmet is completely broken at the chin.

We feel nausea.

After the ambulance has left, we drive on. Our headsets are connected, but we remain silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Images of Esben’s accident, a couple of days ago, where he got hit from the side by another car, flash into my mind together with the new images of the probably dead motorcyclist.

As the adrenaline recedes, fear creeps into my heart. Questions of why we are doing this, and if it is all worth it, are coming into my mind. Especially considering the impression that we didn’t get that feeling of freedom yet, that travelling often brings with it. Should we continue on? Or do we use the time and money we have to enjoy a good and “safe” life at home?”

These thoughts kept swarming in Denise’s head all the way to our dinner picnic spot: the city of Amasra. The city was a beautiful sight, and helped take the mind off the accident for a little while. We sat and talked about our feelings while we ate, looking at the scenery in front of us. Slowly we calmed down enough to just enjoy being there. Watching the sea and the city, resting in itself, gave us the strive to ride on for the day.

Our picnic spot.

A panoramic view of the natural harbour.

Full of picturesque moments.

There was even a wedding shoot. It was good to see people celebrating life.

Even the parking lot tried its best to cheer us up with its rough beauty.

Before we went on, we ended up driving across a small bridge onto the island part of the city, just to try it. We had seen cars driving across the bridge, but when we came there, it looked a lot narrower than we had anticipated – and it was full of pedestrians. Playing stupid tourists, we just slowly drove on, allowing the people to get out of the way, while they gave us funny looks. Once we were on the island, the road ended in a tourist trap, so we turned around and headed back again, much to the annoyance of the pedestrians. Ups.

Driving across the bridge.

That evening, we searched for a quiet spot to set up our tent along the road, away from people. We wanted time for ourselves and our thoughts, and ended up on the terrace roof of a building next to a fuel station. We rolled out our mattresses and sleeping bags as the sun was setting, and went to sleep under the stars.

Our seach for a spot took us through small towns…

…and into the sunset.

That fuel station looks promising.

We have found our home for the night! Time to make the bed.

Preparing for a night under the stars. It was good to have the roof as a backup, if the clouds decided to tear up on us.

The view of the sunset.

Time to sleep and enjoy the world around us.

The excerpt from Denise’s diary continues:

“During the next three days Esben and I shared a lot of stories from our childhoods and our past. From funny stories to ones, touching on the darker subjects of life, including illnesses and death. We realise that we are travelling, because we choose to with all of its consequences, and not lightheaded.

The fear, though, doesn’t leave me for those days. I am trying to relax again and again, while driving the machine, but it doesn’t work. Still we continue. I have a bad feeling, something is going to happen to us too. I am waiting for it to come, not for to long though.

Driving along the winding roads, we slow down and move to the right to let the faster cars and trucks pass by. Once a quick taxi driver overtakes us. I drive right behind Esben, see the pot hole too late, slide right into the ditch, manage to keep the bike upright, working my way out of it, as it bounces up and down on the uneven ground, and in the end I get stuck anyhow. All Esben hear over the intercom is “Shit, fuck, fuck, yeeeaaah, fuck, no!”. I turn off the machine, tell the drivers behind us and Esben that everything is fine, and that I don’t need help. I manage to pick up the bike by myself and get it out of the ditch. The indicator is hanging more loose now, but everything else is fine. No injuries at all.

After that incident, miraculously the bad feeling that had been haunting my mind, dissolved. Trivialities are not going to kill us. Yeah, we can do it! Everything clicked into place again. Let’s ride, eat, rest, repeat!”

Life is an adventure and as we are all going to die one day anyhow, why not make the best of it? Working is nice, on good days it gives us a good feeling and maybe even some money, but is that everything? Do you really want to tell your kids, that that is what life is about? We certainly don’t.

A very fitting wisdom to overcome problems in life is from Gaur Gopal Prabhu:

Then why worry?

“Do you have a problem in life?” -No -Then why worry?

“Do you have a problem in life?” -Yes -Can you do something about it? -Yes -Then why worry?

“Do you have a problem in life?” -Yes -Can you do something about it? -No -Then why worry?

Until next time, let’s enjoy life – why worry?