About cleanliness

Stories

July 6

Before ending the chronology of the Turkish crossing, I invite you to take a little aside on how lucky we are to live in a clean country.

I'm making a confession to you. I found the crossing of Turkey very difficult. I will undoubtedly have even bigger challenges ahead on my trip, but from the start it was my most important.

First, the country is indeed quite large. It took me a month to cover, all in all quite quickly, 1700km from west to east. And as you already know, the majority of this crossing was in a temperature above 30 degrees, in the city traffic ou in the desert, and with the wind against me. This during Ramadan, in a country where the language is foreign to me and where English is not widely used.

But really, the majority of this could apply to a lot of countries.

What affected me the most was the lack of cleanliness. And generally the lack of consideration for the environment, hygiene, cleaning.

The toilet

One of the most beautiful toilets in Turkey.

First example, the toilet. In Europe, I commonly used the washrooms at gas stations. As much for the toilets as such as to wash myself a little with the help of the sinks. Honestly, here I preferred to use nature.

The photo opposite is one of the cleanest toilets I've seen, no kidding. Other photos simply cannot be released! The toilet paper you see there is mine. After realizing that there was never any anywhere, I began to keep some in reserve with me. As for those who do not hang around, I still have no idea how they finish their job. Do they use the ubiquitous water boiler? The big scrub brush, which obviously is not used to wash the toilet? Mystery.

In this regard, the very idea of the Turkish toilet on land confuses me. I wouldn't bet my shirt that water on land is just water.

Yellow bottles

Along the way, water bottles of different sizes are filled with a yellow liquid of different opacities. It doesn't take hundreds of miles to realize it's not apple juice. According to Mads, my Norwegian cyclist who has also thought about the question, it would come mainly from truckers who do not want to stop. And yet, in addition to having countless places they could do it, the shoulders are huge on almost every road.

Once, by the side of the road, I counted seven full bottles lined up with each other. As if we had taken the trouble to place them there ... Another time, I saw a truck driver cleaning his truck ... by stealing all his garbage in the ditch before proudly leaving.

It is difficult to remain objective and understand the logic of such gestures. It is as if the environmental discourse had remained behind fifty years. For a municipal employee who collects garbage, there are hundreds of motorists who throw it out of their windows.

The fountains

Public fountains are ubiquitous in the Turkish landscape. That's good since I much preferred them to the experience of getting water from the sinks at gas stations. The water from these fountains flows there constantly, usually coming from underground sources.

The appearance of the fountains is not always the most pleasant, but my health has not suffered. Including when I got kicked out of my resting place by a herd of cows who decided to come and drink in the same place as me!

I imagine that's the definition of a public fountain.