chasingcrystal

[chasingcrystal]

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Further East Freyja and I go! Still alive and I have to thank a lot of it to healthy eating and vitamins to keep me energized! 🏍️😺The Organic Spirulina Tablets from Sevenhills Wholefoods from @sevenhillswholefoods help keep my body nourished 🌱💪Why?• the tablets helps you get essential nutrients when you’re always on the move and can’t always prepare a full, nutritious meal🤰🏻• they’re travel-friendly and easy to take on the road ⛺️• I’m vegetarian and these tablets are suitable for vegetarians and vegans so they fit my lifestyle 😺• their packaging is slim, crashproof and smashproof 😹I take these and other products from their line everyday and it literally feels like a surge of energy after I’ve been depleted on the road

[chasingcrystal]

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Hello from Mount Nemrut! 🇹🇷🏍️❄️Mount Nemrut is a mountain in southeastern Turkey known for its statues and monuments erected on its summit from the 1st century BC. The flat mound in the third photo is believed to be the burial mound of King Antiochus I of Commagene. The heads of statues once sat on their stone bodies, but at some point they were removed. This site is famous because it is a testament to Antiochus’ Greek and Persian ancestors.This has been on my list since I touched down in Turkey. I was told by many locals there was still snow on my mountain, but I tried anyways. I’m glad I did because the friendly security guard used Google Translate to inform me that while the road was still closed due to the snow, I could still hike up. So off Crystal goes hiking in the snow!Amazing isn’t it? Mount Nemrut is definitely top 5 of my favorite spots in Turkey. The snow adds such a a beautiful element, doesn’t it? ❄️

[chasingcrystal]

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Let’s explore Mount Nemrut in Turkey! 🇹🇷🏔️Full video on my YouTube! Motovlog 114! 😺

[chasingcrystal]

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Let’s keeping moving further East! We’re on our way to Mount Nemrut in Turkey, but I encounter some stranger danger! 🙀😾 I dread these kinds of experiences, but such is life. Happy to be alive!Full video on my YouTube! Motovlog 113 🏍️

[chasingcrystal]

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This is 37. 

Dream big, my friends.

[chasingcrystal]

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An ode to the Adana Women’s Motorcycle Club 🇹🇷🏍️

I travel solo. It’s a lot of things, but above all it’s fun, freeing and grit testing. Sometimes I don’t realize how independent I have to operate until I’m cared for by people again. When I can finally let my guard down, I’ll have a light bulb moment where I’m like “Oh, I’m with people again, I don’t have to do everything by myself for a little bit. I can finally breathe.”

I have a group of girlfriends I left behind in the Bay Area, California. That was really tough to leave them. They just got me without saying a word because we’ve been through everything with each other. But I chose this path, so it’s a see you later for the time being.

Meeting the Adana Women’s Motorcycle Club reminded me what it was like to be surrounded by a tribe of women who uplift you and support you. We met up for a group ride and as we were getting ready to gear up and take off, I started to braid my hair like I always do before every ride to avoid a tangled crow’s nest. One of the members offered to braid my hair without saying a word 🥹

Y’all I almost started crying. It’s kind of that feeling when a scraggly stray cat has lived on the street it’s whole life and doesn’t know what human affection is, and then it gets pets for the first time and their pupils dilate and they fall in love with their owner because they realize what they were missing. Yeah, that’s what it felt like.

Her eyes and presence were so kind. That’s what everyone in this club felt like. Turkish. Women. Motorcycle Club. Muslim. Not Muslim. Adopting Me.

I could say so much more. The more you learn about the world, the less you realize you actually know. Everything you thought about the world is wrong.

[chasingcrystal]

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Riding with the Adana Women’s Motorcycle Club 🇹🇷🏍️💪What a powerhouse of women! Would you ever imagine there’s an all women’s motorcycle club in Turkey? I’m so lucky I got to meet them! They are so inspiring!Full video on my YouTube! Motovlog 112 😺

[chasingcrystal]

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Cappadocia, what a dream 🇹🇷🏍️😺

Even with all the time in the world, I don’t have enough time. Bureaucracy with visa limits governs much of my journey. I need to leave Turkey soon. This is definitely a place I would come back to ☁️

[chasingcrystal]

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Woohoo! New blog post! 🏍️💻😺Ever wondered how to pick a motorcycle camping spot? Should you camp under the dead cactus with its branch falling off or next to the barking growling dog? Or maybe right on top of the den where the snake crawled into? Well look no further! I have over five years of moto hobo camping experience and spent 6 hours writing this article until 2am and then spellchecking until 4am to fix my mistakes so you can just pick up and go!Boo IG that you can’t click live links in posts so comment “I love to read 📚!” And I’ll DM you the link. You can also search for it on my website. Let me know what you think and if I forgot anything. I might have, I was delirious after going to the gym.Happy camping y’all! Get.Out.There. 🏍️🏕️

[chasingcrystal]

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Moto traveling solo is hard 🏍️

To do it the moto hobo way, avoid luxury & comfort, you are literally just trying to survive everyday. Just fulfilling the basic necessities of food, water, shelter while always moving is a challenge. And I can do it. I stiff arm the fears, close calls & creepy encounters as much as I can. There’s a bit of disassociation & minimizing the hard just to get through the day. I don’t have time to process things until I take a few days break, reflect and think, “Wow Crystal, that was a lot.”

Some of the recent challenges include: • being deceived by a local by being invited to stay in his home for the night, finding out he had ulterior motives & leaving in the middle of the night • finding a camping spot after & then being woken up by two men in a car at 2am fearing the worst & being relieved they were just security, but fearing the rest of the night that they now knew I was alone & hoping they were good people • being told I could set up camp in a park, so I set up camp, & then being told I couldn’t so I had to repack up & leave

These are all after long riding days, exhausted & not eating well. These moments are hard, but the trade off of a life of adventure is worth it.

So after these challenging days, I rain ride to Cappadocia. I don’t make it all the way because it’s raining too hard & I take a break at a gas station. As I’m standing inside staring at my bike waiting for a break in the rain, this women working at the gas station motions for me to sit in a chair. Exhausted, I accept & she gives me chai. Moments later she gives me a piece of fresh warm cheese & spinach Borek.

Y’all, this little act of kindness broke me. I burst into tears. It was like I could finally let my walls come down. The stress of the last few days needed to release out of my body & this was the moment where I didn’t have to be tough anymore. The woman hugged me. I couldn’t speak Turkish & she couldn’t speak English, but I could feel she knew exactly what I was going through.

There’s something powerful about women & the way they see you. Right through you beyond the gear.

Happy International Female Ride Day

[chasingcrystal]

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Freyja and I finally made it to Cappadocia! This is one of the places I’ve been waiting years to visit and now I’m finally here! 🇹🇷🏍️

Full video on my YouTube! Motovlog 111 😺

[chasingcrystal]

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Hello from the Granaries in Taskale, Turkey! 🇹🇷🌾Silly Crystal didn’t do any research and thought she could climb and play in these hundreds of doors. They’re actually not open to the public because there is no way to access them safely and they’re still being used today to store grains by residents. After 800 years, these hundreds of holes still provide amazing temperature control to allow the storage of grains and crops for years without deteriorating.As I was trying to leave, of course Freyja had trouble starting and I didn’t notice @kadir.tellioglu_ recording me. You wouldn’t know it, but I was saying a silent prayer to the Motorcycle Gods for her to start 😹 She wouldn’t so I had to bump start her, good thing there was a downhill heading further East!Onward!

[chasingcrystal]

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Hello from Manazan Magaralari (Caves)! 🇹🇷⛺️🏍️Manazan Magaralari are man made caves located in the Yeşildere Valley carved into the rock face. They date back to the Byzantine Empire and span five stories high across along almost two miles of cliffs. The caves feature churches, grand halls, chimneys, homes, storage and even a cemetery.It’s no longer used today, but Crystal used it as a camping spot! What a find! It’s probably one of my favorite camping spots. I was completely alone and had a view of the stars with absolutely no light pollution. Waking up with a view of the caves was absolutely magical!

[chasingcrystal]

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Let’s explore Manazan Magaralari! A set of ancient man made caves in Turkey! 🇹🇷🏍️Full video on my YouTube! Motovlog 110 😺

[chasingcrystal]

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What a good day! 😺🐶

I had a visitor in the middle of nowhere and we laid on the ground together. So cute, he felt safe enough to put his paw on me while sleeping. I thought about how to bring him with me on my journey, but decided not to. It hurts to leave all these loving animals on the street. What a privilege it is to be from a country which has the capacity and resources to care enough about street animals to take them into animal shelters.

There’s some hard things about travel and seeing domesticated animals that will never live inside is one of them.

Sadly, onward.

[chasingcrystal]

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Thank you Alanya Motorcycle Club! @alanyamotosporkulubu 🇹🇷🏍️😺Alanya was on my path further East and I crashed their celebration dinner. Thank you to @ugur.uzn07 @naz.inap @ibrahimbulgaristan and the rest of your club for welcoming me, allowing me to join your dinner, being so kind to me, giving me a place to stay for a few days and letting me on your couch at your furniture store 😹💤 Your girl sleeps everywhereI really respect and admire this club because they team up with local police and focus on safety for motorcycle riders and promote wearing a helmet and safety gear.Enough rest, onward!

[chasingcrystal]

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Let’s crash a Turkish motorcycle club’s dinner! I invite myself to Alanya Motorcycle Club’s celebratory dinner and am so spoiled by them 🇹🇷🏍️

Full video on my YouTube! Motovlog 109 😺