June 14 - Gemlik

Due to the rain delay this morning, we realized we will not make it to the hotel in Bursa tonight. Perhaps they could move our reservation to the next day. Luckily we had the contact info of a cyclist in Gemlik so we tried to call him if we could stay at his place tonight but we struggled getting the public phones to accept our calling card. What to do?
We went to the beach to hang out for a bit. Got too hot so moved to a shaded park. Tried the phones again. No luck. Shoot! We really need to call our contact and we need to get the hotel's phone number and postpone our reservation. We really need some internet for that. We walked up and down a few roads hoping to find an unsecured wifi spot. Nothing!
After a while, the hustle and bustle of the main street in Gemlik was starting to get on our nerves. We decided to find a quieter spot somewhere in a back alley. When we came past a phone shop James decided to ask if we could use their phone. The guys in the shop were most helpful, we called our contact and he offered to come meet us in town a little while later to guide us to his house. Great! One down. Now we just have to find the hotel's phone number and perhaps the phone shop would let us make another call.
We found two chairs near the phone shop and decided to have a little rest there. A few minutes later the young owner, Murat (in picture second from right) of the cafe next door came to chat with us. We liked him right away. He was very interested in our trip, served us two rounds of tea and then brought his laptop so he could add us on facebook. We then told him the story about our hotel invitation and asked if it would be okay to look up the hotel phone number. No problem, of course. He then also offered us his cellphone to call the hotel. Thankfully postponing our reservation was no trouble.
God is so great in how he sent us this nice guy with a laptop and cellphone right when we needed it. He really looks after all our needs!

A bunch of Murats friends, including the guy from the phone shop earlier, came over so we had a pleasant time socializing while waiting for our host to arrive.

THANKS MURAT AND FRIENDS FOR YOUR HELP AND FRIENDSHIP. IT WAS GREAT TO MEET YOU.