The border crossing into Turkey from Syria was amusing. The Aleppo bus drivers took us first in the direction of Idlib for a 'petrol stop'. While in the cafe during this 15-minute stop I decided to return to the bus to get my jacket, only to be manhandled away from where the drivers and associates were blatantly smuggling some goods into panels under the existing compartments in the bottom of the bus. Had they not physically dragged me away from the bus I would have suspected nothing. Even though it looked suspicious I had no reason to tell the Turkish border guards while they did their sweep of the bus, so we carried on our merry way to Antioch.

My first experience of the barefaced Turkish rip-off was a purchase of a kebab in Antioch (about all I did in my 30 minutes in this ancient city). Realising tourists struggle with all the zeros on the lira, the cheeky bugger gave me 3m lira change from a 20m lira note for a 1.2m lira kebab, and persisted to "get his maths wrong" even after I used his calculator on his behalf. In the end I got my change and the kebab was good, a trend which wouldn't continue through Turkey unfortunately - the kebabs back home are far tastier.

Passed through Iskenderun where the giant American naval vessels were situated and then Adana, where the U.S. military were based in Turkey. Then followed a procession of armoured vehicles, presumably en route to Van near the Iraqi border, as the bus wound its way to Kayseri.

I'd never experienced falling snow until I came to Kayseri, so the wander around the beautiful city centre was a special one for me. Medresses, mosques, castles, parks and modern buildings all decked in a layer of brilliant white and with more of it descending all the time.

It was also about as cold as I've been, certainly for a long while. I hadn't expected Turkey to be so cold in mid-March, neither had meteorologists, but I dragged my Vietnam jersey out from the bottom of my bag and survived.

Three days were spent in the single most remarkable naturally-formed sights I would see on my entire trip. The photos will do Cappadocia some justice, but to be in amongst odd alien-like rock formations, peppered with holes by medieval cave-dwellers, and in stunning arrays of delineated colour, is something that has to be experienced in person.

After soaking in the ethereal atmosphere of Goreme town ship I walked the brilliant Rose Valley on the second day, and on the third took a tour around a section of the vast underground tunnel complexes at Derinkuyu, before heading to the majestic Ilhara Valley and on to Selime and Avanos where we watched a pottery exhibition. I slept in a cave, albeit a well-heated one, during my stay. Certainly a highlight, Cappadoccia deserves its international standing as a premiere tourist destination.