Michael Spies

As we travel, we bump into various quirks of the countries we cross,
One of them is TOILETS in Turkey and Iran!
For our European minds and hygiene they seem terrible, but strangely, in reality are probably the most hygienic way to "do your thing".
A hole in the floor and a hose to clean the most delicate parts. Nothing more! No messed up toilet seats or soiled floors. (However for Europeans a bit of yoga is needed to be able to crouch low).
After the toilet visit, nearly 90% of public toilets have soap in dispensers at the basins, which I have never found in Europe! No matter how terrible the toilet you are nearly guaranteed to find soap in the dispenser when you wash your hands!.
In the meantime we have not only become accustomed to this type of toilet but have become greatest fans of it. It gives you a clean feeling for the rest of the day!
So, don't be surprised if you find a hose next to our toilet in Icking in future!!!!!

TANKING DIESEL in Iran is something you can write a book about!
Diesel costs about 3 cents per liter, which is great, but how to get it?
First, the station has to have a yellow pump which reduces the relevant set to about 75%.
Then there needs to be diesel in the tank. Another 25% gone! Just like that!
Then the station needs to have a chip card with a budget of diesel on it that they can sell, well that reduces the stations by another 50%.
And then there is the issue of how to find out if a station has a card, because not everyone knows this, and besides, the question is where the card is. Who had it last? !!!!!!
So! That reduces your chance to about 5%.
Great! So let's celebrate those three cents diesel price!
Well, there is one alternative, that is to ask a truck driver who happens to be tanking whether one can use his card, (it seems all trucks are state owned and when they stick their card into the pump the sum is booked directly from an account without further payment).
Using this way of getting diesel can be an adventure, ranging from them tanking your car full and not wanting anything for it, through to them pressing the huge pistol designed for monster trucks so hard that diesel comes shooting out of the tank spraying over people the car and many liters on ground which doesn't seem to bother anyone, to finally the version where the truck driver insists on one extra monthly salary from you for having tanked 30 liters and having messed up all your clothes and the car in the process!!!
We have experienced all variants, it is truly traumatic and I start shaking when our tank goes below 50% because I know that it will be the topic of the next 6 hours.

PERSONAL HYGIENE:
Quite an issue when fresh water in our van is rare and you have 3 m2 to move while it is 1 degree outside.
Originally we thought we would be showering outside, but in a country where you shouldn't even show your ankles and where people seem to converge on us in minutes to take a photo with us, this is impossible. So we tried showering indoors in our pull-up shower, however this is a huge action requiring drying of the curtain and the whole car afterwards. So it is only used on christmas, easter and birthdays! So this method has been shelved and we wash in the basin which has been working really well and requires significantly less water.Read more