Getting the bike

I had to wait until Monday morning to start the ball rolling. I went to the first office where i was charged 130 Turkish Lira, dont know what for but i paid it. With my paperwork i went to the next office, this is where the fun and games started. I was planning on trying to get the bike without a clearing agent, it soon became apparant that there would be no way in this wide world that this would be possible. As if by magic (just like the shop keeper in Mr Ben) a clearing agent appeared. I later found out that he could only speak 2 words in English, 'Come' and 'Stop', this was going to be fun.

It took all day Monday to sort some of the paperwork out, i went back to my hotel with a headache. Tuesday came and more paperwork was printed, copied and signed before we could go to the warehouse with a van to pick the crate up. After a few backhanders we eventually got the crate, however, we then had to take the crate to the other side of town to the vehicle inspection office. We managed to get most of the next bit of paperwork done, with the help of more backhanders, before the vehicle inspection office closed, all by using 'Come' and 'Stop' as the key words. Through an interpreter the agent said that the paperwork was complete and i could pick the bike up first thing in the morning, then he cleared off.

First thing in the morning came, 'We have a problem' one of the officers said. I had to visit many different rooms trying to obtain many different signatures and collecting 'Official' stamps. The system was so outdated that everyone seemed to be duplicating each others work. I was told on a number of occasions that the paperwork was now complete, only trouble was that someone else would then pick the paperwork up and more forms had to be stamped and signed by other people. Then someone else would pick the paperwork up and more forms had to be stamped and signed by other people. Then someone else............, it went on and on. In total i counted 31 different pieces of paper in my folder, sheer/pure incompetence. Eventually, around 4 of the clock, i hit the road. It had taken 3 solid days of sorting paperwork and collecting signatures from Mr Jobsworth to get the bike back.