Van Warnings and Dangers

No sigin in the cities or in roads are in English, also least people know English.
It's difficult to make connection.

The good part for us as Iranian is that Van is Kurdish area & some people know Persian.

somehow undeclared war is going on among Turkish government & Kurd inhabitants of the region.

Along the road from Iranian border to Van there were 6 Military checkpoints that inspected our Passports & bus.
& once inspected our Luggage.

The big problem is they asked something in Turkish & expected to hear answer also don't know English.
fortunately the drivers know most soldiers & Turkish.

Van is famous for its food..especially the breakfast street..the best honey butter, herbed cheese and bread n the world...so Delicious!!! I think Van has the best cuisine in Turkey.I gained four pounds in the five days I stayed in the town. I am still dream of the cherries in the produce market and the honeybutter with bread fresh from the oven.

At some roads in eastern Turkey the military has checkpoints. They stop the buses and cars and the passengers have to identify themself before going on. Don't put your passport in the laguage boot but have it with you inside the bus, ready to show.
During my trip the bus/car was stopped on these roads around Van:

Dogubayazit - Van
Van - Hoshap Castle
Van - Diyarbakir

On the way from Hosap cars and trucks were also search for petrol, a cheap and red petrol smuggled from Iran.

Turkish people whom i met in Western Turkey (most of them) thought that I was crazy for going to this part of the country. Please don't make safty the reason for not going. You should be careful everywhere you go in the world, but no extra care should be taken for eastern Turkey.

The border between Syria and Turkey at Nusaybin/Qamishle closes at 3pm on the Turkish side (even though the Syrian side stays open), and no amount of pleading/arguing with the guards will open it up for you. All our baggage was searched thoroughly, and the border guard was very rude to us. My Turkish friend was not allowed to take Turkish newspapers beck to Damascus with her (not available in Syria), and I had written on a postcard that we had stayed with a Kurdish family one night, which did not please him. The name of the family was asked, so I conveniently forgot it. The Syrian side couldn't have been more different - we had tea with the general while our bags were emptied and repacked neatly. Syrian visas have to be obtained before arriving at the border.

Also beware of wild birds , some houses have one or more but they are usually emprisoned in solid metal cages but freed each day for some training flights.Here we have the pleasure of presenting you the most dangerious of ýstanbul budgerigars Miss Twitty, she can bite your fingers if you approach her too close !!!!!Stay away.........