Getting to Georgia had provided a couple of nice opportunities for us – first, the chance to explore a former Soviet republic, rapidly modernising ( and now even flirting with admission to the EU ). The political aspect of life there was definitely intriguing. The second benefit was that it now positioned us nicely in the very far east of Turkey, where we’d never been, and provided us the chance ( albeit with considerable driving – lucky I enjoy it ) to conveniently explore many of Turkey’s less visited eastern treasures; man made, in some cases, natural in others !
Stunning view greeted us a few kilometres into Turkey.
Definitely rattled by the rather unfriendly re-entry,we at least had considerable drive time to hash it to death and then put it behind us. We love Turkey and can’t judge it by one overzealous unfriendly border official. Such things happen. The planned route over the coming week had us swinging down the eastern edge of Turkey, beside Armenia and Iran, to take in that most biblical of sights, Mount Ararat ( of Noah and the Ark fame ), then on to Diyarbakir, quaint Mardin, foodie haven Gaziantep, and finally legendary Mt Nemrud National Park. Admittedly this took somewhat longer than a week but I’ll wrap them all into this edition ( sorry, it’s rather a long one ) 😊.
All over Turkey we noticed these public water fountains . Unlimited potable water – using our hose we filled the van’s 150 litre tank.
Apart from a rather rough stretch near the Georgian border, Turkish roads in the east were fantastic ( as they are in most of the country – highway development is proceeding at a frantic pace here ). It made driving the very long distances in this part of the county easy and not at all tiring. Snow capped Mt Ararat can be seen from many miles away and just steadily grows in size as you approach it. It has an almost Fuji-like conical shape, standing distinctly separate from anything else nearby. It can be hiked ( easily, actually ) but not when we passed – way too much snow.
Mt. Ararat ( yes, it of biblical fame ) comes into view just near the Armenian border. At over 5,000m, Turkey’s highest mountain.Another view, as we approached Dogubeyazit, near Iran.
From a generally southerly direction to Dogubeyazit ( indisputably Turkey’s ugliest city ), our travels now swung west, first stop Diyarbakir, an interesting mid size city full of history that laid claim to a role in the Silk Road. This was a place we really enjoyed – a great, very central, camp spot had us in the thick of the action and allowed a full day of exploration ( including the best kebabs in Turkey so far ! ). My sister had visited a month or so ahead of us and gave us the tip ( along with Mardin ) – good call, Kaz !
I pointed this sign out to Lois. “So, shall I turn left ?”, I asked. “Not with me in the van, you won’t !” came the reply 😉. Camped in Dogubeyazit at the aptly named “Ark Pension and Campground”. Awesome views of Ararat.Way out in Turkey’s eastern extremities we expected poor roads. Au contraire – they were fabulous !Passed Lake Van on the way to Diyarbakir, which enhanced the scenery for quite a few hours ( it’s big ! ).Lois was amazed by the size of the cabbages we saw in the east – Police road checks are common in Turkey but out east, bordering Armenia, Iran and Iraq, we saw military ones as well. Invariably we were quickly waved through.Fortress walls, on the approach to Diyarbakir.Market, Diyarbakir. Always so much colour !Inside historic Hasan Pasha market.Historic Diyarbakir Grand Mosque.There you have it – Islam simplified !Diyarbakir is a crossroads in Turkey; heavily Kurdish, but ethnic Arabs and Turks are here as well. Here an Arabic man.
Mardin, just to the south of Diyarbakir and only a few kms from Syria, was another recommendation we enjoyed. To our surprise it’s also become a bit of a meeting point for Iraq-bound overlanders and we caught up with 3 while we were there. Incredibly tempting to tag along with the “convoy” which would get us to Jordan most directly ( if not necessarily the most safely ), but in a moment of “discretion being the better part of valour”, we opted to continue west in the hopes of finding a more secure ( though considerably more costly ) shipping route to the Middle East.
St. Hirmiz Chaldean church, Mardin
Beyond Diyarbakir lay a couple of big and fairly uneventful drives – on to Gaziantep and then again to famous Mt Nemrud. The drives were grinding but the destinations well worth the effort- I’ll let the pictures below tell the story of Gaziantep and also Mt Nemrud, a bonus in the former being that we once again reunited with our young Aussie friends ( from back in Georgia ) over a couple of days and nights. Always a pleasure to share stories and trade tips with those who are out on the road.
Hyped by the Turkish tourism people like the second coming of Christ, we found Gobeklitepe very overpriced and extremely underwhelming. We should have read the reviews first Gobeklitepe entry fees were extortionate. €21 for foreigners but just €2.1 for Turks. Huge complaints about this all over the reviews. State sanctioned discrimination ! Worse, it was incredibly underwhelming.While Gobeklitepe left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, the Mosaic Museum in Gaziantep was awesome. Truly impressive.This mosaic, known as “The Gypsy” was a Mona Lisa-like ability to follow your eyes no matter where you stand.Sampled the tea and baclava at Tahmis Kahvesi, continuously serving coffee and food since 1635 !The copper market at Gaziantep is amazing. The selection is huge and you can watch tradesmen actually making it.Our third ( and what would likely be our final ) park-up with Andy and Serena. Downtown Gaziantep.Mt Nemrud, site of the ancient Kindlgdom of Commagene, famous for the large stone sculptures. Best seen at sunset and sunrise !Mt. Nemrud at sunset.Close up of a sculpture.Our last kick at finding a deal to ship to the Middle East. Med Star would take us ( and the van ) to Tripoli, Lebanon, but the cost was outrageous. Lois also not enthusiastic about crossing Lebanon ( and part of Syria ) to get to Jordan.
From the top of Mount Nemrud it was a long descent back down to the plains, passing the occasional Roman ruins ( the Romans certainly roamed all over Turkey back in the day ) but otherwise non-descript scenery on the way back to Mersin and the warm waters of the Mediterranean. Just amazing how much difference there is in terms of landscape in the different parts of this enormous country. Mersin put us back to the coast and, in a sense, at decision time with regard to our next moves from Turkey. Despite his best efforts, our shipping agent, Mohamed, was not able to get us any kind of competitive pricing on a RoRo passage onwards from Turkey. We knew that was a possibility and had prepared for it so we promptly made a decision. We’d take a week off from our van travels, ferry over to Cyprus for a well deserved rest ( having logged some long driving days through Turkey and Georgia ), celebrate Lois’s birthday and decide, there and then, what to do and where to go next.
When leaving Turkey your licence plates are scanned to see if you have outstanding tickets or unpaid rolls. Can’t leave until you pay! Here, the line up to pay before boarding the Cyprus ferry.On our way to Cyprus !
Stay tuned for a full update on that in the upcoming edition.
Till next week…
In Case You Wondered:
Q: How much time do you spend doing the blog/video clips?
A: It varies, typically 2-3 hours, but sometimes more. Hard to keep track because I write and add photos as we go along. Once we are parked for the evening, there is often quite a lot of time to sit and browse the Internet, watch movies or, in my case, bit by bit build a blog for the coming week. We don’t watch TV so that frees up a lot of time in the evenings. One could spend far more time seriously editing photos, but I limit my editing to simple cropping, which is fast and easy. If we are busy, it’s a shorter blog and there are fewer pics. While relaxing at home this past summer I had much more time so decided to compile the many questions we get asked into this extra weekly Q/A 😊. Hope you’ve enjoyed it and it has shed some light on the ins and outs of longer term international van travel.
For much of the 20th century Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, but like all its other former component parts, Georgia broke free ( or should I say, “ free again” – it had a short lived period of independence after the Ottomans and before the Soviets ). Since 1991 it’s been ( trying to ) chart its own course but the Russian influence is still evident- lots of Russian business here, Russian tourists and Russian language ( still widely spoken by older Georgians ).
Gonio Fortess, one of the first sights you see coming from Turkey. Roman Emperor, Hadrian, once came this way !
Our entry point was the Black Sea coastal city of Batumi ( scene of much foreign meddling in Georgian affairs ) which has just exploded in size – an almost Las Vegas feel in parts with gambling a very big business here. Beyond that, some other more historic sights, as well as a fascinating old town, great restaurant scene, long coastal boulevard and the most interesting contemporary sculpture we’ve seen anywhere ( see below ).
Downtown Batumi. Interesting name for a hotel !We were able to park just 200 metres from here, right by the beach, making for easy exploration of the old town area.Batumi has a great walking boulevard right by the Black Sea coast. Batumi Japanese garden.One of the man boulevards.The old town has some eclectic architecture.Batumi back streets.A city of many cafe’s and bars. Georgia is famous for its wine, claiming to be one of the oldest wine producing countries in the world.Batumi’s famous Ali and Nino statue. They slowly rotate and appear to kiss each other every few minutes.
Batumi was, of course, our first introduction to Georgian driving, something we had heard much about and been warned of. It’s true, they are absolutely shocking drivers and we would spend much of our time here watching out for our own safety. We were not surprised at all during our stay in Batumi to witness a pedestrian get hit ( and likely killled ) – the sound of the impact was just nauseating. They drive extraordinarily fast and very recklessly.
From Batumi we headed east towards the capital, Tbilisi, but made several very interesting stops along the way; Kutaisi ( reportedly one of the longest continuously inhabited cities in the world ), Tsukaltubo ( an old Soviet spa town favoured by none other than Stalin himself), Gori ( Stalin’s birthplace and site of the impressive Stalin museum ), and Mshteke, one of the more interesting small towns in Georgia. We enjoyed the wild camping options along the way, bumped into several other overlanders and, most notably, crossed paths again with Andy and Serena ( #rightfoottravel ) who we had camped with in Hachinoe in Japan way back in May, 2024. They had since driven west across Russia and the Stan’s, on to Georgia, while we of course had continued east across the US and Europe. Small world !
We connected with Andy and Serena who we had earlier met while overlanding in Japan- they since drove to Europe across Russia and the ‘Stan’s, we came the other way !Historic Kutaisi. Wikipedia claims it to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.The “old lady” mural, Kutaisi.Traditional Georgia bread. Tasty, but such an unusual shape !Tskaltubo, just outside Kutaisi, was a famous spa town in the Soviet era. Its healing waters drew 125,000 visitors a year and even Stalin visited. It’s now in ruins but was fascinating to explore.Inner corridors of what was once one of the Soviet Union’s most desirable spa’s. At one time a direct train came here from Moscow, Joseph Stalin among its more regular guests.More Stalin. En route to Tsiblisi we stopped off in Gori, Stalin’s home town, which features the very comprehensive Stalin Museum. Fascinating for history buffs !One of Joe’s military uniforms.Churchill loved his cigars, Stalin his pipes. A couple of his on display here. Stalin had a well known preference for rail travel versus air travel. His personal carriage pictured here. Took him to Yalta, Potsdam and most of the way to Tehran for his war-time conferences.Inside the train – nice, but not decadent.Mtskheta, a pretty town where we overnighted on route to Tbilisi.Mtskheta, Svetitskhoveli cathedral.
Many travellers had talked up Tbilisi as a great spot for a few days and after the visit we’d absolutely agree – really enjoyed the history, the vibe, the contrast of historic and modern and just taking in its very many sights ! Managing to camp right downtown made for great accessibility ( if perhaps a bit more noise at night than was ideal 😳).
Not visible in the image but the black car ahead of us failed to stop for this fellow on the pedestrian crossing. The driver actually “beeped” the pedestrian who turned and abused him for a good 3 minutes holding us all up. Hands down Georgians are THE worst, most dangerous, most impatient drivers we have ever encountered !!!Chronicles of Georgia monument on the way into Tbilisi. They are huge – note the man seated at the bottom of the 2nd pillar.The fall/autumn colours were in full bloom at the Tbilisi botanical gardens.Mother of Georgia monument- note the size compared to the car below.Holy Trinity cathedral, Tbilisi.Tbilisi is set on the picturesque, tree lined Kura River. Here with the Bridge of Peace as a backdrop.The days were beautiful while we visited , and the trees were all just changing colour.Neighbourhood where we stayed.Freedom Square.The highlight of our stay was enjoying Tbilisi’s famous hot sulphur baths, in the ornate building visible in the picture. Bonus was a dance performance just as we arrived !Private bath. Very relaxing !Quite decadent inside.Tbilisi is famous for its bar and cafe scene – we enjoyed a few of them !Some very eclectic architecture!“Amber” wine is a Georgian specialty, here we sampled it at one of the many Tbilisi wine cellars. Lois found it quite enjoyable.Managed to get “in” to this very popular car park in Tbilisi where we camped for two nights- had no idea how we would get out !!! Jammed in.Traffic, and Georgian driving habits were so bad coming in to Tbilisi that we left at sunrise to avoid a repetition of it !
Considered briefly visiting Armenia ( just an hour away ) but passed in the end deciding to take in more of Georgia- a route which took us back west towards Turkey, allowing visits to the famous rock monastery of Vardzia and finally the impressive fortress at Akhaltsikhe.
In some parts of Georgia we were at higher elevations and the trees were changing colour – made for beautiful scenery.Sadly, like Albania and Turkey, there is a huge litter problem in Georgia, especially in the countryside. Plastic bottles and paper are everywhere 😟. And we’ve seen it much worse than this.Khertvisi fortress, near Vardzia.Famous Vardzia, a cave monastery site, mostly excavated in the 12th century.One of the colder places we visited, but an impressive sight.Rabati castle, Akhaltsikhe, at night. We actually explored it the next day but liked the night shot best.Rabati castle.
From Akhaltsikhe we’d expected a very smooth crossing back into Turkey – were we in for a shock, one of the most frightening border crossings we’d experienced, anywhere. On leaving Georgia they separated us ( driver with car, passenger through another area, during which time we lost contact with each other ). The Georgians decided they did not like my vehicle registration docs ( in their defence they do look incredibly hokey ) and delayed me while Googling “British Columbia Vehicle Registration image” just to confirm that what I had was actually legit ! Friendly, but nervewracking. Then, the Turk’s followed suit ( the fact that they already had images of my registration on file from our previous visit did not seem to matter ). The Customs lady spoke practically no English and I found myself separated from Lois again, with no Georgian data left to drive my translation app and this remote border post being well out of range of Turkish cell towers. Exasperating! Oh, that, and the Customs officer repeating over and over that I had a “Problem……problem…..( stares into my eyes now )…..BIG problem !”. Ultimately she allowed me to speak into her personal phone translation app whereupon I ultimately managed to convince her to Google “British Columbia vehicle registration image” at which point she finally relented and passed me through. Absolute mental torture – all because of the flimsy documents we get in BC ( unlike any of the more official looking European documents these folks are familiar with ). We are beginning to dread crossing borders it has happened now so often. A little more on our ongoing vehicle registration challenges, below in this week’s “In Case You Wondered” segment.
So, while Georgia ( save for the crazy drivers ) was great, the “farewell” experience was no fun at all, taking some of the gloss of what was otherwise a very interesting place. With the exception of the road to Ushguli we did manage to see all the attractions in Georgia that we’d planned to ( the advantage of it being a very small country ) . Sadly, there were landslide risks and heavy snowfall forecast on the Ushguli route and, as appealing as it was to drive that famous road it wasn’t a place we wanted to get stuck. On our list should we return.
Till next week….
In Case You Wondered:
Q: Any unusual surprises that come up which you did not anticipate or plan for while overlanding ?
A: There have been a few little ones but by the far the biggest, and certainly most unanticipated one relates to our vehicle ownership documents – and it’s VERY specific to our province ( British Columbia ) in Canada.
Vehicle registration in BC is indefinite ( once registered a vehicle remains legally registered to that owner until sold, when ownership is transferred – there is no annual ‘renewal’ common in many other jurisdictions). Because BC vehicle registration and insurance details BOTH appear on the same document, when you take your vehicle abroad one allows the insurance component to lapse since in BC the insurance only covers North America. Here’s where it gets tricky – to the uninitiated it can appear that the all important REGISTRATION has lapsed, when in fact it has not. It never does. Customs officials invariably go looking for a registration expiry date, (sometimes pointing to the expired insurance ) – it’s this lack of an “expiry” date has caused consternation in some places and always requires an explanation. Making matters worse, the provincial vehicle registration authority in BC is known as “ICBC”, short for the “Insurance Corporation of British Columbia” (they offer insurance services as well as registration). In many countries, prospective insurers (seeking to confirm firstly that our vehicle is currently registered in our home country ) hand our vehicle documents back saying “This is insurance, I need your registration”. It’s become a standing joke. Only it’s not at all funny. It’s become so ridiculous that, before we left Canada this time, I actually paid over $300 to insure the vehicle ( minimum liability only ) JUST TO GET ( what looks like to foreign customs people ) A “VALID” REGISTRATION DATE !!!! Insurance, which, in Europe, is totally useless. It’s truly the theatre of the absurd. More than once we have wished our provincial government could have just chosen a more logical name like Motor Transport Authority, or Department of Motor Transport, or Department of Motor Vehicles (common elsewhere) and clearly separated registration from insurance ( as the most nations do ) to make our life easier !
These two recurring issues, compounded by the fact that our BC ownership documents do not look particularly “official” compared to many other nations, forced me to ask ICBC for something more “official looking” on their letterhead to back up my claims that I am indeed the rightful owner, it is currently registered, and that in BC registrations really do not expire ( see document below ). It helps, but we still get some wary looks ! Of all the things we planned for when we started overlanding, this was NOT one of them !
Confirmation of ownership of a vehicle registered in BC. We’ve needed this document more than once but it’s as unofficial looking as the registration documents it purports to certify as being legit !
Leaving Tuz Golu ( salt lake ) last week, the planned route took us further east – first stop, one of the crown jewels in anyone’s Turkey itinerary – magical Cappadocia, centred on the town of Goreme.
Downtown Goreme.
The surreal landscape of Goreme and surrounding area has been captivating visitors for centuries. Throw in perfect weather and it could not have been a better time to visit. The town itself has become extremely touristy but the quirky landscape one comes to enjoy remains unchanged. I don’t think we’ve had a more memorable sunrise than the one at Goreme, watching as over 100 hot air balloons slowly lifted into the air. Postcard stuff !
Goreme, Cappadocia.Downtown Goreme.A close up one of the many structures. We had a great chat with the owner who was repairing it.The square recesses are for pigeons.Close up of the pigeons.One can see the blending of design. They merge into housing, and in some cases boutique hotels and cafe’s.A colourful lighting store, Goreme.Goreme- equally pretty at night, but…..…it’s the morning when it gets really stunning. So many balloons !They made a great silhouette around our van.Balloon viewpoint. Turns out it’s also a bit of a gathering point for overlanding travellers.Comparing camping notes with a couple of German travellersA French couple in a Sprinter drove by, then circled back to say hello. We would bump into them again a week later. Bumping into other overlanders in Turkey reminded us of our travels in South America, where we repeatedly crossed paths with the same folks.
Our route zigged and zagged a little in the next few days – convinced by a French couple about the merits of seeing the famous Whirling Dervish ritual in Konya, we turned southwest to be there for the all important Saturday night performance. It’s the most original one, given that the Sufi Islamic sect that started it is here, and while there was definitely a spiritual aura to the whole performance, one must understand it is a worship ritual, rather than any form of entertainment. A lot of time where not much happened besides chanting while the dervishes twisted for almost an hour. Konya itself was also a pleasant surprise both for its interesting old town and historic mosque plus the fact that we spent a couple of days with a lovely Swiss couple we met there.
Impressive Azizia mosque, Konya.Everywhere in Turkey one is offered tea. The small glass cups are the norm.Colourful dried fruit stand, Konya.Old town market, Konya.Parked up with Martin and Maria, a Swiss couple covering much the same route of late. Konya is renowned for the original and supposedly best, Whirling Dervish ritual. Here at the Mevlana Cultural Cantre in Konya.
South of Konya lies Mersin, a major port and busy Mediterranean city on Turkey‘s south coast . Its warmth was a nice change from the cooler weather we experienced inland, but our main purpose in visiting was to look into vehicle shipping which was a possibility we had to consider after Turkey. We connected with Mohamed and his assistant who we put to work looking at various options for us. The challenge, he said, was that our vehicle’s height meant that we required a RoRo solution and with fewer route options on such ships he’d need some time to find a “creative” solution. Fingers crossed they can come up with something that works and is affordable.
Stopped for a morning cup of tea out in the remote part of the road en route to Mersin. Quite a remote spot !Finally, after weeks of looking, found a camper supply store that had toilet chemical ( an essential product for us !). We were showered with small gifts and offers of tea when he found out we had driven from Canada ! That’s Turkey.Pretty seafront boulevard, Mersin.Mohamed and Ebro, shipping agents trying to help us on our way.
Given that nothing was immediately available, and Mohamed said there was no rush, we decided there was now time to explore further into eastern Turkey – with Georgia so close and highly recommended by several other travellers, we decided to take a fairly direct route from Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean side up to Trabzon on the Black Sea coast over the next few days. The added bonus of going to Georgia was that we could then swing back into Turkey in its south east corner and explore Turkey’s more traditional region in the following weeks. If we needed to rush back to Mersin, we still could. It was just fairly consistent driving, some nice wild camping, but interesting changes in season and landscape on the eastward run. In a few days we were on the eastern of the Black Sea, and at this point, almost in Georgia – more details on that in the upcoming blog.
While waiting for news on our shipping request, we decided to head east in Turkey ( and beyond ). Long distances but great roads made for easy driving. Hmmm, is that snow ? Already ? At the higher elevations,?yes !We passed this quite often on the long drive east.Turkish Black Sea coast near Rize.Finally, after two long days drive from Mersin on the Mediterranean coast, we reached the Black Sea coast here, just east of Trabzon.
Till next week…
In Case You Wondered:
Q: What does a bad day on the road look like ?
A: I can assure our readers we have them ! The ABS brake disconnection fiasco in sub-zero temperatures well north of the Arctic Circle in Norway was probably the scariest so far. That said, we have periodic minor crises on a more regular basis. One such occurred as we were leaving Greece. I don’t mean to spoil the ending but this one really stinks ( you’ve been warned ).
Camped by a beach I’d noticed a fellow camper had found a sewer drain opening near the toilet block and emptied his cassette toilet into it. Perfect, I thought, we needed to empty ours as well so I waited till he finished and took ours over to empty it. I first moved the rather heavy concrete cover just far enough to allow for the cassette spout to fit in ( and minimize the obvious odor that emanated from the sewage, visible about 6 feet below the cover ). For reasons I cannot explain, on this occasion I “spun” the cap off our cassette spout, rather than carefully holding it and twisting it off as I normally would. The cap is a CRITICAL apart of the toilet system – it keeps all the waste ( and what would otherwise be odor ) sealed inside the toilet tank; no cap, no functioning toilet.
Murphy’s Law then kicked in. The cap I had spun off the toilet spout next popped off the spout, bounced on the ground, rolled over to the resting concrete cover and then……dropped into the narrowest of openings and INTO the cesspit of sewage below !
Two things immediately struck me – how I would possibly be able to recover it, and how I would explain to Lois exactly how I had managed to do it. I won’t say exactly how she responded but let’s just say it was predictable. Abuse over, we now had to figure out a solution, our cap sitting 6-7 feet ( 2 metres ) below the surface, literally in a tank of toilet waste.
I had to almost completely remove the concrete cover to get visibility and to have any hope of recovering it, but managed to do that. By some miraculous stroke of good fortune the cap had landed on its top side and its shape meant that it was actually floating on top of the sewage, not submerged in it. Since finding a replacement cap anywhere nearby would have been impossible, every means possible had to be applied to recovering it. What was needed was a long, stiff item to which some kind of cup could be attached so that I could lower it down, get it underneath the floating toilet cap and scoop up our cap – all without disturbing the cap and sinking it, without taking on too much ( heavy ) waste in the process and having the cup separate from the recovery item as I pulled it up…..and without me tumbling in to an open sewer chamber. Some creative thinking would be needed.
Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Scouring the trees behind the beach I came upon a tree limb long enough to do the job. It appeared strong enough as well and with branches removed I could get it in the sewer tank. Now for some type of “collecting” cup. Fortunately, just a week before we’d purchased two plastic kitchen bowls and the smaller of the two seemed like it might just be big enough to catch the toilet cap. It was obviously now going to be a very “disposable” bowl. While my tool kit is not large, I always carry duct tape and had enough left on the roll to securely tape said plastic bowl to the end of the tree limb. While the toilet cap was light, the process of scooping it up ( if by some miracle it actually worked ) would fill the bowl with sewage – this might be trickier than I thought.
While this was a MacGyver solution if ever there was one, I’d gone from absolute despair to a quiet confidence that I could actually recover our precious toilet spout cap. Now, regular readers will note that anything toilet related is a “Jeff” job and since this little mishap had been all my fault, Lois literally washed her hands of any part in the planned recovery process – what I did not know was that while I was floundering around trying to “build” a recovery tool, estimate distance to the cap, guess at the strength of the duct tape-mounted bowl, and adjust a head lamp so I could see what I was doing, she was actually taking a few pics. Below are those shots.
The good news is that the toilet cap had remained upright and floating while more waste flowed in ( the nearby toilet was actively being used 😷). Lowering my tree limb down carefully I was able to dip the attached plastic bowl in sewage water beside the toilet cap in such a way that the cap spilled into the bowl. Perfect ! Now I had to tip it so that the liquid waste spilled out thus ensuring the overladen bowl would not break away from the branch. Very slowly I managed to do it without losing the toilet cap in the process – in just a few minutes I had the toilet cap recovered, and a feeling of such absolute delight I simple cannot explain here.
Toilet cap then throughly cleaned ( soaked, bleached, and washed repeatedly ! ), recovery items trashed and myself showered off, we had a functional toilet again.
While that’s an example of a bad day ( or at least bad situation ) on the road, it was great to have a happy ending 😊.
Yours truly, peering into a sewer drain, adjusting my headlamp with my left hand while trying to scoop up our toilet cap with a 6 foot long stick in my right !….and SUCCESS ! Just visible in the image is the long stick in my right hand ( duct tape wrapped plastic bowl at the one end ) and the elusive toilet cap in my left….
As for Greece there was definitely a travel plan we had for Turkey and it boiled down to the same strategy – spend most of our time exploring new ( to us ) areas, predominantly in Turkey’s exotic but generally less explored eastern region, but also revisit a few old favourites from our last time here ( way back in 1990 ). First up ( coming overland from Greece ) were two old “faves” – the Gelibolu (Gallipoli) peninsula, and that most enchanting, exotic, and historic of all Turkish cities – Istanbul.
Arriving in Turkey from Greece. The border was quiet.
To all Australians and New Zealanders the name “Gallipoli” ( Gelibolu in Turkish ) is etched in the public consciousness- while the two countries were ultimately among the victors in WW1, this campaign, fought against all odds in impossible conditions was unsuccessful. It was, however, our baptism of fire as a new nation and the gallantry of our young Aussie and Kiwi troops is remembered faithfully on Anzac Day ( April 25 ) every year ( just as Armistice Day is elsewhere on November 11). To Aussies and Kiwis it’s very sacred ground and (somewhat like Muslims to Mecca), those who can certainly try to make the pilgrimage to visit it. It’s now a quiet, peaceful place but it was not hard to imagine the bloody battles that took place here 110 years ago.
First stop was Gelibolu, or as it is more famously known among Australians and New Zealanders, Gallipoli. Explored the site of this legendary battlefield from WW1.ANZAC cove where the troops landed in that fateful day in April, 1915.Lone Pine, a particularly well known area of the battlefield.Memorial and grave markers just near the landing area. Much of the fighting done in the hills behind.It’s very well explained with plaques describing the purpose of the attack. Ditto.The hills were steep and rugged making the assault from below very difficult. The Turks had all the high ground .Hard to imagine, looking out to the sea today on what was a very tranquil morning, just how chaotic the 1915 landing was.Consoling words penned by Ataturk, the great Turkish military leader himself. He went on to lead and modernize Turkey following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during WW1.
From Gallipoli, Istanbul was an easy drive along the Dardanelles, a narrow sea lane that splits Istanbul in two and happens to separate the the European continent from Asia. It’s where the Black Sea narrows and pours into the Aegean and has been the scene of many conquests over the millennia – empires have fought to control its strategic location( indeed, it’s what Gallipoli was all about ). Unsurprising then perhaps that Istanbul today still remains a real crossroads of people’s, cultures, and religions. Just standing on the Golden Horn one can look around and soak it all in – it truly offers an assault on the senses like few other cities. It’s the city that was for centuries known as Constantinople ( a little trivia for you 😊).
View out to the Bosphorus from the Golden Horn.Downtown Istanbul.Turkish sweets, Istanbul.Met up with Lois’s brother Mark and his wife, Dawn. They happened to be visiting Istanbul on the same day !Cheers.Galata Kuleisi ( tower ).Fisherman on Galata bridge.Ferry ride across to the Galata side.Blue MosqueA huge line to get in while waiting for prayer time to end.Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is legendary. Gold was a favourite in the bazaar.Very busy !Camped in Istanbul with Stefan, Ute and their two children – travelling overland to Australia ( from Germany ) in their Toyota Hilux’ with pop up camper.
After leaving Istanbul ( and technically crossing into Asia ) it was a couple of long driving days out to Central Anatolia. Much of it rather dull and not particularly scenic but an unexpected bonus was a delightful stop at Tuz Golu, Turkey’s famous salt lake. While it does not hold a candle to the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia (certainly not in size ) it’s nonetheless an impressive sight, easily accessible from the highway on the way to Cappadocia ( our next destination ). Enjoyed our time there with a French couple we had met. Bonus – the very friendly folks managing the site allowed us all to camp there overnight – a great place to watch a beautiful Anatolian sunset and sunrise !
Istanbul, of course, famously straddles Europe and Asia. On crossing to the east one is reminded that you are now in Asia !Tuz Golu salt flats, near Ankara.With French friends, Jean Louis and Estelle.Tuz Golu.Camped at Tuz Golu. Quite often one can camp at such attractions. Flat, safe and quiet – ticked all 3 boxes !
Till next week….
In Case You Wondered:
Q:
Exactly who does what while you are on the road ?
A:
Lois: navigates, does route planning, photography and videos ( especially while driving ), scanning the iOverlander and/or Park4Night apps for nightly park-ups, dinner prep. Reviews blog/photos before publishing each week.
Jeff: drives, writes and edits the blog/IG posts, makes Lois coffee in bed EVERY morning ( 😉 ), does vehicle related work, empties cassette toilet ( always, always considered a “man” job ! ), does logistical work on routes ( shipping/visa needs ), liases with other Overlanders for tips/research etc.
While there is the odd debate on who gets the better deal this split seems to work best for us 😊.
Been quite a while since our last post, but, as you will read later in this edition, we had a little, umm, shall we say, “setback” just after we flew out of Japan that very materially delayed getting our van back to North America – but more on that saga later in this post. As promised some time back, in this edition I’ll share the costs and processes involved in getting it home from Japan ( and elaborate on what went wrong ). This shipping update is provided ( based on our own experience in Japan ) primarily for the benefit of those following our blog or IG updates, and who are contemplating adding Japan/Korea to their overlanding travels. It is very much focused on the Japan side of the journey, which had a bit more complexity; the US side was super fast, easy and very cheap. Next week I will share a full update on the driving experience across the USA and back home to Kelowna, thus going “full circle” as it were, over the past ( almost ) two years of our time on the road.
For those who have emailed, WhatsApp’d, or Messenger’d us with questions ( or who’ve just been following with interest ), here’s the shipping summary based on our experience. It’s pretty dry, technical stuff so if you are a regular blog reader following our general travel experiences in Japan, this post is a definite pass ( you’ve been warned ) ! If that is not you, but you’re just curious about our “setback”, skip down to “So, What Went Wrong ?”.
Arrival in Japan from Korea:
Since we did not arrive in Japan on a RoRo ship ( we came by ferry, from Korea ), I can’t really speak to the process or port costs exactly. I can share that an Australian couple we met ( @rightfoottravel ) shipped a Landcruiser in to Japan ( Yokohama ) in a container and their port charges/customs fees etc ran to $950 USD. RoRo might be a tad less as a vehicle shipped via RoRo does not need to be unpacked but it’s probably a fair guide. For the record, arriving by ferry from Korea was a bit slow in terms of processing ( we spent all day at the port ) but it was very cheap; our “all in” fees for customs, Carnet review by JAF, and the security deposit came to about $150USD ( and the security “deposit” is not a deposit – you don’t get it back – it’s a fee, plain and simple). The ferry was very reasonably priced as well ( around $500USD, for the van, 2 people and private cabin with shower/toilet ), and very comfortable – I’d highly recommend it for anyone considering that route to Japan. We used Camellia Line and our very helpful contact in Japan who handled everything was Jae ( speaks English, Japanese and Korean ) : j.gwak@camellia-line.co.jp
Background To Shipping Out of Japan:
A constant over the last few weeks of our time in Japan was regular communication with our shipping agent agent, Hollis Humphreys – it’s par for the course when one is at this stage of any overland journey. Without question, getting the shipping piece completed on time, on budget, and without damage or loss is one of the big challenges of overlanding. It stresses overlanders out more than anything else. The challenge was further complicated on this route because all shippers were advising that the vehicle had to travel with no inside cargo. See our previous blog for details on how that complicated our life and added considerable expense for us. On no other shipping route have we ever had to do that, and hopefully we won’t have to again. Having said that we are now hearing that other overlanders are being told ( or at least strongly advised) to do this on some other international routes ( in Japan, it seems to be a rule, not just advice ! ).
Meeting Hollis in Tokyo, in person, was a nice touch – so often one never meets the shipping agent in person in this business. Just the day before, Hollis confirmed that we in fact now had “space” – the “green light” we’d anxiously awaited. I don’t think we have ever been as relieved to get such a confirmation – we were, in fact, braced for the possibility that we’d be flying out of Japan with the van in storage and still on a shipping wait list so it was heaven not to have to contend with that. When the news was looking especially bleak a couple of weeks back, we‘d actually seriously explored ferrying back to Korea in the hope of getting a firm booking out from there. Fortunately we did not have to go that route- while they had space out of Korea it came at a price we were not willing to pay ( well over double the rates on offer out of Japan ). Shipping can be like that, prices being extremely sensitive to supply and demand on particular routes.
We finally got to meet Hollis ( our shipping agent ) in person while in Tokyo. He’s lived in Japan for over 22 years so knows the lay of the land well.
Choosing A Shipping Agent:
in some respects shipping out of Japan is much like elsewhere in the world and other respects quite different. We found Hollis’ name through another overlanding contact and reached out initially many months before coming to Japan with preliminary inquiries. It’s important to get someone familiar with RoRo shipping vs regular container shipping. They are different beasts – one agent we spoke to simply said they just “don’t do” RoRo. We did speak to others initially to get quotes and assess service levels – we chose Hollis for a few reasons:
a) Native English speaker, a huge benefit when you are discussing the intricacies of shipping minutiae
b) Had 22 years experience in Japan, fluent in Japanese, and communication was generally timely
c) Was also able to broker our vehicle insurance needs and arranged our vehicle coverage through a large and reputable Japanese insurer.
d) Knowing we had shipped 3 times before, he was able to carefully explain how and where it was different in Japan. We could have easily made some incorrect assumptions without his insights
Key Differences Between Japan And Other Places We Have Shipped From:
a) Given current demand for RoRo space everything is “last minute” here right now. We are assured that is NOT normal but it’s certainly been our normal! In this environment one must be VERY organized and prepared to move at short notice. Nowhere else in the world have we experienced this. Hopefully we won’t anywhere in future.
b) We did not technically drop our vehicle at the “port” but rather a private yard nearby, awaiting later delivery to the port. Not sure if this process is specific to this port, this shipping line, our agent, or just as a result of capacity limitations at this time. It was new to us, we’ve always driven our vehicles directly on to the actual wharf.
c) As a result of the above, there was no customs inspection while we were present, nor did the shipping line inspect it at that point. That would come later. When leaving Argentina, the USA, Australia and Korea we delivered our vehicle directly to the actual port. In both Argentina and Korea the customs inspection on departure was done while we were there; no such departure inspection was done in Australia ( but they sure got us coming in ! ), nor in the US. It was due to this uncertainly that we decided to bite the bullet, absorb the considerable mailing costs and ship it empty. We are glad we did.
d) Regarding documents, this was mostly very similar to elsewhere – proof of vehicle ownership, Carnet copies, passport copies etc were required to be emailed in to secure the booking with delivery of original Carnet as we dropped the vehicle off. This last part was very different to other ports/countries where I took the Carnet to customs myself to have it stamped and then got it back to take with me. In Japan, your Carnet is left with the shipping agent ( Hollis ) who gets it stamped ONLY after customs have confirmation the vessel has sailed and your vehicle is on it. Not a process I love and of course we will now have to have the Carnet couriered to us in Canada. I need it back so I can have it closed out and get my deposit back.
e) Marine Insurance – Hollis acknowledged that his providers were not very competitive in this critical field so encouraged us to shop elsewhere. His sources charged 1.5% of vehicle value, which is very high. We went straight back to Stewart Insurance ( Michael, or Sam ) in Melbourne who insured us from Australia to Korea and they were happy to insure our passage onwards from Japan. It worked out to about 0.65% of vehicle value and they were as fast and efficient as before. Highly recommended, this time they used Chubb International vs Zurich International last time.
Getting To Port:
Google Maps got us to Yokohama port without issue, it’s all pretty organized there. In our experience, due to lack of port space they won’t want your vehicle too early, so be prepared to drop it at a “yard”. Seems to be the way in Yokohama.
Pretty busy road on the way to Yokohama port, so this time we took toll roads. One of the few things that is still expensive in Japan. And of course, we are not considered a “car” here, we’re a bus, remember ! It was a 90 minute drive of approximately 100kms ( 60 miles ) and cost us just over $60 Cdn ( almost $50 USD ).Port area of Yokohama was a bit of a maze with cars for export everywhere. But, we found our yard with no problem.Parked in the port storage yard awaiting transfer to the dock. Mr Bean’s mini beside us ( lol ).Mr Nii, who accepted our vehicle at the yard in Yokohama. They will deliver it from his yard to the Yokohama wharf ( just a few hundred meters away ) on or before departure day. Side note – every shipping office we have EVER been to looks like this !We always note the mileage and fuel level when leaving the vehicle at a port. Shippers insist on a maximum fuel level of 1/4 tank. The closing mileage tells us the distance we travelled in Japan.Odometer on arrival in Fukuoka, Japan. So, we drove 11,772kms over 91 days, thus averaging just 129kms per day. While that seems like absolutely nothing, it’s fairly typical here when one is generally not using the toll roads.Van was left with owners manual and two laminated instructions sheets ( in English and Japanese) on the front seat. One showing how to jumpstart it if there’s a flat battery and the other showing the starting process.Delivered to port- clean and empty ( getting it to that stage, while on the road, was a huge task ) !Garage area had not been empty since before we started. We have a lot of space there and unfortunately brought many things that we never used. Now we had to pay to send them home 😔. In case you are wondering it’s a beach shade hanging in the garage – not valuable enough to send, yet hard to dispose of. I offered it to Mr Nii should Japan Customs or the shipping line want it removed. Likewise for the shovel. The shovel survived, the beach shade not !Given the starting procedure is a bit unique with a Sprinter and there is a short delay until the diesel engine starts, I asked Mr Nii to drive it around the yard to get familiar with it. I then asked what he thought. His comment ? You guessed …..”Oki desu!” ( it’s big ! ) . How fitting we should hear this once more before we left Japan !!!!This time I made sure to have an AirTag active in the van – when the van is close to a wifi/cellular signal it should alert us to where it is. Should be helpful to track its whereabouts in the ports at both ends.Our scheduled ship is the “Eternal Ace”. We joked that we were “eternally grateful” to have gotten space on it !
Payment/Bill of Lading Etc:
As with every other international shipment we have done, payment is made only once the ship is at sea. Hollis accepts credit card ( but with a 3.75% fee ! ) making the transfer of funds easy if you don’t want to send a wire. It was better value just to wire funds, which we did. We had a booking confirmation number and got the BOL before the ship sailed. The shipping quote had already been agreed on at ¥760,000 ( all in ), or just a hair over $5,000 USD (and we are a 42cbm vehicle).
So, What Went Wrong ?:
While we left Japan ( to fly home ) feeling pretty pumped and that everything was under control, things soon went VERY pear shaped. We’d not been home a week when Hollis called to say that our van had been “bumped” off the ship ( the “Eternal Ace”, which was a 15 day direct sail to Vancouver – the best possible sailing for us ). Seems Hollis had submitted our height as 2.59 meters, not the 2.95m I had originally supplied, and when it got to the port for measurement they said there was no space in the higher section. It gets worse – sailings to Vancouver ( and the West coast in general ) were heavily booked as major shipping clients were all booking up space to the West Coast ahead of a potential US East Coast port strike that was coming. We had no hope of getting on another sailing to the West coast which is why we ( very reluctantly ) accepted Baltimore ( near New York ). The “Marguerite Ace”, our new ship, wasn’t scheduled to leave for another 25 days and given the much longer passage to the East coast it meant that we would now not see our van till early October ( as opposed to mid August ). And now I would have an almost 5,000km drive back to Kelowna, versus 400km if we’d shipped direct to Vancouver ! All because the height was incorrectly recorded by the shipping agent. We were, quite literally “not happy campers !”. But, what do you do……?
The short red line is the route we were to take. The long red one is the route we ended up taking.
Alas, despite typhoons in Japan that slowed it down for 5 days, and a 3 day port strike that started just before our ship was to dock in Baltimore, we did finally manage to pick it up on October 8. I will add that, just like before ( when we shipped a truck camper from Argentina to Brunswick, Georgia ), the US port process is VERY efficient. I flew into Baltimore airport, arriving at 8.00 am and was driving out of the port in the early afternoon….same day ! Our shipping agent in the US ( the same one we used when we shipped the truck camper ) was super efficient, and very reasonably priced. We had our Carnet handy but did not need to use it to clear customs. The total costs paid at the US end were:
Arrival notification – $50.00
Port fees – $98.00
Port escort – $62.50
Agents fee – $125.00
Customs fee (1) – $12.00
Total: $347.50 ( very similar to what we paid in Brunswick in 2022, and very cheap compared to other countries)
(1) Customs is at BWI airport and provide the port release – you need it to get your vehicle. Fast and efficient.
Derrick was my friendly Port Escort. Vessel Finder app makes it easy to track the ship and to see when it has arrived and moored.My Apple AirTag makes it easy to see when my van has been unloaded and exactly where it is on the dock.
So, despite the long wait ( I picked it up at the port almost 7 weeks later than expected ) it was a huge relief just to get our van back safe and sound. There was some good news in another respect, as well. Readers will remember the frantic packing of 6 huge cardboard boxes containing all our “inner cargo” in the days preceding our flights home from Japan. Japan Post had advised that they may take 8 weeks – happily, they all arrived, over 2 different days, undamaged and delivered right to our door less than 6 weeks after they were sent. Some pretty valuable stuff in the boxes so that was also a huge relief. The cost of sea mailing all the boxes was around $500 CDN ( $370USD ) and when you consider that the deductible/excess on any marine insurance claim is usually $750-$1,000 USD ( and there most surely would have been some theft based on past experience ) we felt it was not a bad deal cost-wise ( just more of a headache to do it all ). Vehicle damage is rare, contents theft is sadly common.
Four of the six boxes arrived one day, the other two the following day. In perfect condition !
I hope potential future overlanders to North East Asia find this of some value – I know that similar information supplied to me by those who came before us helped immensely with our decision to ship our vehicle to/from the region and travel extensively in Korea and Japan. We absolutely loved the experience, and we’d be happy to answer any questions readers may have ( happy to do a little “payback” in this regard ). Next week I’ll document the final drive home to Kelowna – stay tuned !
Positioning ourselves for a few days in downtown Tokyo first meant finding a secure and affordable place to store the rig while we “hoteled” it in the city itself. That, we managed to find out towards Narita ( home of Tokyo’s international airport), convenient also for when we needed to ultimately fly out. Getting there was an interesting drive taking us mostly along the coast south-west of Tokyo Bay, via Kamakura and Yokohama before making use of the new bridge/tunnel across the bay ( the “Aqualine” ) to Chiba prefecture. An incredibly impressive feat of engineering and something really weird to experience – knowing large ocean going tankers are actually sailing above you !
Our final drive in Japan. So much for our initial plan to “avoid Tokyo” ! We ended up crossing it twice given the challenging logistics of delivering all our ( considerable ) luggage to Narita before ultimately delivering the van to the the port of Yokohama before then taking the Narita Express train back to Narita airport. Complex ! A very long final day in Japan.
Tokyo is the kind of place you could spend many days ( or even longer ) but we spent 3 days and two nights on this visit. Now in our final days, it seemed a good time to splash out on a nice hotel and the Villa Fontaine Grand Tokyo in trendy Roppongi fit the bill nicely. We love our van but it was certainly a treat to spread ourselves out for a few days in 4 star luxury. Centrally located in Roppongi, and with Tokyo’s awesome 24 hour Unlimited Metro passes in hand we set off exploring.
As amazing as our van has been, it was a real treat to splash out on a nice hotel for a few days ( to escape the oppressive humidity more than anything ).Roppongi is a great spot and with a subway station right out front getting to all Tokyo’s attractions was a breeze.
This thriving, busy, home to 20,000,000 people has much to offer- several of Japan’s more famous shrines, phenomenal food options, amazing shopping, the Imperial Palace, and one of the world’s best known pedestrian crossings with accommodation and entertainment options now at prices that once seemed unthinkable in one of the world’s great metropolises. Is it any wonder that the place was packed to the rafters with foreign tourists ? We thought Kyoto was popular – Tokyo was insane ! You certainly can’t do it full justice in the time we spent there so we focused on some specific areas this visit – the Imperial Palace, Ginza shopping district, Shinjuku/Shibuya ( home of the famous “Shibuya Scramble” ), Meiji Shrine, Yasukuni Shrine and Sensoji Temple. There is of course much more but these alone certainly kept us busy.
Starting in the very heart of downtown Tokyo, the Imperial Palace ( residence of the Emperor ) is most people’s first stop. While one can’t visit the “inner sanctum” so to speak, the grounds are huge, beautiful, full of historical landmarks and remarkably quiet considering its location. The gardens/grounds are superbly well-maintained, as befits the home of the country’s monarch. While the emperor used to reside in Kyoto, since the time of the Meiji Restoration ( 1868 ) Tokyo has been his home.
Moat surrounding the Imperial Palace.Old and new – one of the the Imperial Palace entry gates juxtaposed against downtown Tokyo business centre.Imperial Palace grounds.Imperial Palace gate.
Probably Tokyo’s most famous suburb ( and reportedly its most expensive ), Ginza is not far away. Here one finds the most historic department stores, international fashion brands, all manner of luxury stores and some of Tokyo’s trendiest streets and restaurants. For mere mortals like us, much of it was “window shopping only” but still interesting to experience this most decadent part of the town. On every street corner there’s a name brand you’d recognize, foreign and Japanese.
The 1930’s Art Deco themed Mitsukoshi Dept Store, Japan’s most famous.Louis Vuitton, a particular favourite of the Japanese.Versace. There were many more !
Yasukuni Shrine holds a special place in the hearts of Japanese, being the place where many of its war dead including its greatest military leaders have been interred. While this includes revered military leaders going back to Edo times, 14 Class A war criminals from WW2 ( like Hideki Tojo ) are interred there as well. While not an issue for Western nations, this causes friction, particularly with near Asian neighbours, when Japanese politicians habitually visit to pay their respects to the deceased ( as politicians are wont to do ). So, beyond being a beautiful shrine, with impressive grounds, the place is a bit controversial in the eyes of some. Our interest ( mine anyway ) was purely on the grounds and the military museum within – for any military history buff ( as I am ), Yasukuni offers some great content. It is the 3rd place in Japan we’ve seen a well preserved WW2 Zero fighter and it had by far the best one of them all. Showroom condition, you might say. Unsurprisingly it attracted by far the most attention among the hordes of foreign visitors. There was much more beyond that but two other items in particular caught my eye – a wartime Japanese steam engine, and a monument recognizing the Indian juror at the Tokyo War Crimes trial, Dr Radhabinod Pal ( see images below ). I’ve posted a little quiz ( under the image ) re the steam engine to see if any movie buffs recognize it – let me know in the comments if you do. For those into military history ( and may have seen this recent mini series ), the aforementioned Dr. Pal was the sole dissenting judge at the 1949 trial. Among all the judges of the tribunal, he was the only one who submitted a judgment which insisted all defendants were not guilty ( Wikipedia ). Of course, many were hung anyway, but his position gained him much sympathy and recognition in Japan at that tumultuous time and he is recognized for his position with a granite monument at Yasukuni.
Yasukuni Shrine.Very interesting to watch a kendo match while at Yasukuni.We’ve seen the legendary Zero-sen fighter at two previous museums but neither as clean as this one at Yasukuni.More military history at Yasukuni- if this train looks familiar, you’ve seen it in a classic scene near the end of a famous WW2 movie starring Alec Guinness. Guesses ?The contentious War Crimes tribunal judge from India, Dr. Pal, the sole juror to dissent on the guilty verdict for senior military leaders, such as Hideki Tojo.Statue of Iwao Oyama ( 1842-1916 ) a famous Meiji-era Japanese general, after whom the Okanagan valley town of “Oyama” is named ( a little trivia tidbit for folks who live in or near Kelowna, our hometown, in Canada’s Okanagan Valley).
Realizing a need to buy yet more luggage to carry our things home, busy Shibuya ( a great shopping area ) was the next stop. A place on every Tokyo visitor’s checklist, Shibuya is also home to the famous “Shibuya Crossing” (or, as it’s more colloquially known) “Shibuya Scramble”. It’s that busiest of intersections in the heart of Shibuya where pedestrians from all 4 sides cross at once. It creates the impression of pure chaos but, each day, tens of thousands navigate their way through this landmark without incident. So popular is it now that many visitors hold cameras aloft filming it as they cross. You’ve surely seen this one on an Instagram or Facebook post at some point. A view from above can be had as well although ours was somewhat obscured by the wire-inlaid security glass. Oh, and we did manage to find the extra carry-on’s we needed. They would save us a couple of days later.
Tokyo’s famous “Shibuya Scramble”, the intersection where all 4 sides cross at once.From above.
An easy walk from Shibuya is Meiji Jingu ( shrine ), also on most people’s list. The grounds here are large as well, making for a lot of walking but the huge cedars that line the entranceway provided much needed shade on what was a blisteringly hot day. Meiji is not as old as the other shrines but is impressive nonetheless.
Meiji shrine.Meiji shrine entrance.Meiji Shrine.
Our last visit was to one of Tokyo’s oldest temples, the hugely busy Senso-ji. Oldest, and also the busiest – it was absolutely shoulder to shoulder at this site, seemingly the most popular of all those we visited. Odd, because for us it certainly was not the most impressive – perhaps though, that had something to do with it being the last visit on one of our days there so we were getting tired and possibly a little “shrined-out”. Whether it’s temples in Asia, churches in Italy, or shrines in Japan, you sometimes reach that point !
Tokyo, it’s sights, and the hotel stay especially, was a welcome break but now there was a more pressing matter to deal with. While in Tokyo we had received our shipping space confirmation but had precious little time to deliver our “empty” van to the port of Yokohama – our final days were, shall we say, rather frantic. The scheduled sail date was only a week out meaning we had to deliver a clean, empty vehicle back to the port of Yokohama ( driving right across Tokyo this time ) in just two days. With some of the van’s contents already delivered to Japan Post the week before (compressed into 5 large boxes), it was now a juggling act to determine how the remaining contents would be dispersed, either:
a) carried with us on the plane ( necessitating significant extra paid baggage ), or
b) packaged into one final large box for yet another drop off at Japan Post, or
c) given away ( if so, to whom ? ), or
d) dumped ( and if so, where, especially given the travails so far in disposing of just “regular” garbage in Japan ! ).
It’s probably no surprise that we used all four, and while the first two were expensive, it was the latter two that were by far the most difficult. Here are a few images showing how it all played out, right down to the wire:
While driving around the outskirts of Tokyo looking for 7/11 stores with garbage cans big enough to dispose of smaller items, we bumped into Cazy, a friendly Japanese lady with a campervan who was delighted to relieve us of some of the bigger camping items and other consumable we could not take with us.On one of the days outside Tokyo it poured raining which really put us under the gun to prepare the van for shipment. Hard to pack in these conditions.Needed our window shades till the very end so packed those with our 400w external flexi solar panel ( one of those things we almost NEVER used ! ) and rushed off to Japan Post – on the way to Yokohama. Our 6th big parcel.Weigh scale at Narita. Three checked bags, all close to the maximum 23kg ( never in our lives have we carried so much stuff ! )Maximized carry-on; two small suitcases for the overhead and two loaded daypacks for under our feet. Awkward, but…..…no problem carrying it all on – Canada, here we come…!Calgary Airport. You know you are back in Canada when……Having sent so much gear home by mail it was necessary to complete a list of “Goods to Follow” with Canada Customs – when the boxes ultimately arrive we don’t want to be taxed on stuff we took with us when we left Canada ! We made sure to stop in and see these folks as soon as we landed in Calgary. And then…..….had our beautiful new granddaughter to greet us on arrival in Kelowna ! FaceTime calls every day were great but it’s nothing like holding a little one in your arms.And she came straight to Poppy ! We’ve had an absolute blast in Australia, Korea and Japan…………but it’s always nice to be home.
So, what’s next ? Well, a few things. We need to track our van shipment and be ready to pick it up when it arrives ( late August hopefully ), and we are certainly hoping that all 6 big parcels arrive, but that could take up to 2 months – fingers crossed. There’ll of course be lots of time with our kids and especially our new grand daughter as well as many friends to catch up with over what remains of the Canadian summer . Possibly a few shorter trips around British Colombia and Alberta once I complete the maintenance and parts replacement on the van. Beyond that, it’s our hope to take off again early in 2025. Global political winds might play a part in exactly where so I’ll paraphrase a line from the late author, Anthony Bourdain, and leave it as “Destination Unknown”.
In closing, thank you to all our readers for following along on our overlanding journey – it’s been great to have the comments, questions, messages and personal emails of support from so many of you. It means a lot to us. While this is the “final edition” for this journey ( now that we are back home ), I will follow up with a “Full Shipping Update” once the van is back in North America with final details of the process of the vehicle leaving Japan and returning to port here. I will detail all costs as well. Not a relevant, nor interesting read unless you are into vehicle shipping in this area ( it’s really just for the handful of overlanders following us who are ). But if you are just simply curious as to what that looks like keep an eye out for one more stray blog likely in August/ September.
The PanAm completed in April, 2022 and with the truck camper sold, we shipped our new Sprinter van to Australia in late 2022. We travelled there through all of 2023 and into 2024 before shipping it up to North East Asia where we travelled for 4 months between Korea and Japan, before shipping it back to North America. It’s our plan to continue exploring the world in 2025.
