Doğu Ekspresi; Part 3

Last day.

I couldn't make my mind for minutes knowing that the only train, boarded to Sivas that day, had already left me behind. Well.. what? I miscalculated the public transportation thing. Or; it didn't run as well as I expected. Whatever. Being alone, hundreds kilometers away from home, in the below-freezing-temperature. 

Hmmmmm. 

I stepped out from the public car (I didn't know where would it bring me though) and tried to buy another train ticket for the next day from the internet. Turned out my internet banking didn't work. Okay. Within the guidance of Google Map; I walked couple kilometers and reached the train station. Alhamdulillah, I could reserve one seat for the next day’s train. 

Pyuh. Not bad. Got another one day to explore Kars. Yay! 

I sat and.. began to think. 

...where should I stay tonight? 

I didn't know whether mosque, 24-hours-restaurants, or train station were considered a place. The dormitory was too far away; I could miss my train for the second time. A hotel room? Believe me; for a human-and-student-being, it would be the last choice. 

Hayo, pikir lagi coba. 

It was 10 am in the morning. The sun shined again; so brightly. I began to look down for the bus tickets in the internet. The only trip for that day would be on 12.30 afternoon. Unfortunately; I still couldn't access my internet banking. I also couldn't find the location of the city bus terminal in the all-powerful Google Maps. Great. 

So I stepped across the cold-windy-and-snowy road outside the train station, began to wander. Should I...try to ask? My Turkish language ability was still far than enough. Tapi nyoba gada salahnya lah yah. Turned out that the city bus terminal is really, really, far away, and no public transportation goes there. I was later suggested to buy a bus ticket in the tour markets, not directly in the city bus terminal. 

I couldn't be more grateful to found; that sleeping in the bus was the best choice to spend my night; neither in the mosque, 24-hours-restaurants, train station, nor hotel. Alhamdulillah. 

Luckily, I was able to refund my money from the train ticket I already bought before. Then I patiently waited until 12.30 and boarded the city bus that brought me all the way back to Samsun. 

The scenery from the bus was still stunned me out. Couldn't ask more than those all-white lands and mountains, again. I arrived at Samsun in 2.30 am in the early morning, after 14 hours trip. Couple of hours later, I could find myself lying in my one-and-only bedroom. Çok şukur. 

That is how I ended this Doğu Ekspresi journey. More than enough; Allah had guided and saved us along the way so that we could end this trip with new dreams and hopes. I learned a lot. Hope this will not be the end of my journeys. Amin.