Trouble in Europe

Man, this is gonna have to be quick - I gotta get to a ship to sail around Santorini and swim in some hot springsat at a volcano shortly.

After last night of tour,and little sleep, next day we visited Aya Sofia - absolutely beautiful cathedral turned mosque in Istanbul. Hopefully I didn’t accidentally delete the pics. Man, next time my photography equipment will be more organised.

We ended up back in Taksim that night for dinner with Bec, then met up with Talia (old friend, in for family reunion) and played backgammon and drank tea til 2am before heading back. Always good to see old people.
Then up again at 6 or something to get to the airport, met Maia, flew out, met Stef at Athens airport and went to the city to get accommodation which we hadn’t booked. Luckily stef knew a place and it wasn’t booked out.

Then we went wandering and eventally found the Acropolis, not much left after too many destructions, but still impressive. Then tried to emulate the famous running tour of Troy performed by Bec and Laura. We failed miserably, with the ancient agora being closed early.

Then we found dinner, really nice place to eat and had tsipporo as suggested by Paul. Very nice stuff. I will have more. Then wandered around and saw some really nice bars, but most of the guys were tired. But watched some street music by some indian americans that was really cool. Bed before 1am - don’t think that had happened in Turky - pikers.

Next day, ferry to Santorini, couldn’t get one that didn’t arrive before 4am - hint, book early. Did another power tour of Athens and saw the olympic stadium and the ancient agor and temple of zeus. All pretty impressive stuff.
Watched the Aussie v Italy game on the ferry - very disappointing, and I’m not even a soccer (football) fan. Drank some crap beer that tasted likeVB to drown sorrows. Rigged I say! Tried to sleep on the ferry, but air-con was soooo cold. Getting out in the warm 4am air was the best part of that.

First day in Santorini, hotel people are lovely, picked us up at 4am to drive us to hotel. Hired a red convertible jeep from them and sp[ent the day driving around the island in style! Spent some time at some black beaches and just taking in the views. Photos will come soonish.

Now it’s time to hit the road and get to the boat I mentioned earlier. Take care all!

Well when did I leave you last… hmmm … so much has happend!! As you would have read Leighs had some “issues” which brought the website offline for several days not allowing us to update and to get terribly behind. Because of this we both decided to communicate in this entry in point form…enjoy

Kas - Stayed at a brilliant place called Hilal Pension which is very relaxed and had a balcony view of the bay. Kas is the sort of town where dogs were sleeping in public squares seemingly oblivious to everyone around. Swam at a local beach in the afternoon and played beach volleyball. Listened to Miles Davis - Kinda Blue in a jazz bar drinking Raki. Sea kayaked over a sunken city.

Fethiye - Went to a very nice beach in Oludeniz where they sell everything in british pound!! Hiked from there to an abandoned city called Kayakoy. Mainly we relaxed in the pool at the pension and drank some Efes. Checked out the Lycian ruins which were nice. Temples carved into the cliff face and all.

Pamukkale - Well in Pamukkale there is essentially one thing to do, check out the limstone pools in the cliff face. Did this which was amazing!! Swam in the hot springs at the top of Pamukkale for free, normal entrance $20 as our resident spy Basil Jet sussed out a weakspot in the security defences. Paul our leader organised a trip for a few of us to the mud baths in a nearby village. No tourists, plenty of rotten egg sulfur smell!!. Smelt like rotten eggs for about 2 days afterward, brilliant

Selcuk - This is a town where there are that many turkish people speaking with an Australian accent it is ridiculous. We were greeted at the bus statoin by a turkish tout in an Australian Rugby top, jeans and thongs yelling out “Are you looking for me” . Places called Canberra Hotel, Outback hotel. Cafe owners called Russell Crowe and so on…. very funny. Selcuk is the place Australian and New Zeelanders tend to travel to after visiting Gallipolli. Visited Ephesus which was the capital of Asia Minor in the Roman times. We got there early and we were lucky enough to see it before all the boat loads of tourists flooding in off all the cruise ships. Waves and waves of them. Bec, Laura and I watch a peformance of the Singing Angels (church choir group from the Mid West USA) peform several songs in a senate arena of Ephesus. One song which I managed to record on my camera was “Istanbul not Contantinople” by They might be Giants. A highlight of the whole trip as it was just sooooooo funny. Also checked out the local Ephesus Museum and the Basilica of St John where he supposedly wrote the Book of Revelations. Got very drunk of Efes back at the pension playing cards. $2 lira per 500ml stubby was a very cheap way to have a lot of fun!!

Canakkale - Troy in the morning, Gallipolli in the afternoon. Went to Troy with Tony, Leigh and Shelly where we were fortunate enough to get a guided tour by a brilliant guide who has written a couple of books on the area. Gallipolli was amazing, a must see for anyone anywhere near the area. Australians and New Zeelanders I don’t think have any understanding how important this site is to all Turkish people as well. Around 250,000 casualties on the turkish side but not only that, it was the place where Ataturk (the man that won the battle for the turks) asserted himself as a force to be reckoned with. After winning Gallipolli he then continued on revolutionising the turkish nation becomming General then leader of Turkiye. It was a very emotional and hot day! Lone Pine, Shrapnel Valley, The Nek, I saw all the sites that we all hear about and it puts the battle into perspective on how it was lost (allies for those of you who forgot) and won. Went out to dinner and a bar/bars (lost count) then watched the Australia/Croatia replay back at ANZAC House with a bunch of Aussies who were also very drunk. 1.5 hours sleep and onto the bus to Istanbul

Istanbul - Well we arrived here yesterday afternoon and hung around before going out to goodbye dinner and drinks. Paul brought us to his favorite restauraunt in Istanbul where there were no tourists in an area called Taksis where it was very young and vibrant. Lots of fun. Leigh explained the night in the other post but I think any night where you end up in a dodgy kebap place at 4am where in the same place are two Turkish Shims (yes Transvisties) is a night to remember. As Leigh also said, but I feel I need to say as well, last night/this morning was fun and happy but also very sad. We both made some great friends on this trip, Laura (one time in band camp), Becs (token New Zeelander), Shelly (token American), John (Commander), Tony (Basil Jet, Dad) ,Geraldine (Gerry, Mum), Tina and Carrolyn (our resident healers) and Xena (Warrior Princess). I can’t wait for the reunion in Sydney!! Greece here we come. 

Don’t know where to start - but somehow during the high of being in such a beautiful, interesting country I managed to have the most stressful time of my life. Starting with my web host seemingly disappearing off the face of the planet.

This took out not just this site, but many clients web sites. At one stage it was looking like I would need to cut my holiday short and head home to fix up the mess that ensued.

But thanks to the help of several wonderful people who I owe more than a lot of thanks too. And after many late night / early morning phone calls and a phone bill that caused my phone provider to stop outgoing calls twice, we have sorted out enough to keep everything going until I finish my holiday.

Try organising that from several thousand kms on no sleep and 14 previous days and nights of beer!

Last night was our final night of tour beer (21 days straight minus 2), hookah and backgammon, and a great night ended a great trip, complete with fireworks reflected in a rooftop bar window. Reality set in for most of us early this morning, before or after the obligatory hour and half sleep when we said our final goodbyes.

It was very sad to see everyone off to their various destinations, most of us continuing a holiday elsewhere. I’ve been in a strange place all day, already missing the wonderful group I’ve seen so much of over the last 3 weeks and dearly hope we can catch up in the future, sooner rather than later.

For the last couple days photos, I’ll just put them straight in the gallery. I’ve added some people shots this time, though I’m missing about half the group, I’ll find them later.

Sorry there has been no updates for so long, been technical issues due to the webhosting company leigh was using to host a majority of the websites went down. That was resolved yesterday so I am hoping to update the website tonight/tomorrow.

Some photos.

v?ew of city - can’t remember the name / oen of the many varied places we’ve stayed at / one of the many forts we’ve seen / underground cave / sunset over nemrut deg? / the young wh?ppersnappers ?n the group / most of the rest of the group

 apologies for lack of detail but the beer ?s setlling in nicely and I’m being antisocial

One of the things you just don’t (we’ll I don’t) realise at home is that you do actually need sleep occasionally. I also have to say this diary blog crap thing is turning into the most half-arsed effort - as anything with good intentions seems to turn out.

Back to sleep - I have qu?ckly learned that in order to sleep on a tour like this you need to limit each night to 4 - 5 hr, less if you can convince someone to join you in Rak? or beer, the beer here (Efes) ?s quite a nice drop. Then you sleep on the horribly long bus rides, but something you quickly get used to.

Anyway, because this blog ?s now half-arsed - and because holidaying for the first time in another country is just so awesomely fantastic. Pat and I have decided to stay here, never to return. However, this thought may only last as long as the cash flow - which may not even get to the end of the trip

In summary - every day involves food and beer as a minimum. Pat last took us to the picnic by the river w?th Laura, Shelly, Pat and myself (thought I’d keep some names coming - they may be offended if they’re only ever known as the others).

After that night it was yet another 12 hr bus ride to Antalya - once again a very different c?ty to the last couple. Still friendly people, but not as overly friendly as the people in Malatya - I shouldn’t say overly, because it was very welcome, but the crowds drawn to us as tourists was quite phenomenal - about 40-50 people gathered around us at one point in the markets.

Once we hit Antalya, we had very good food - again - and went to a Hamam, the turkish baths. I’ve never even been in a sauna, so this was even more an experience. In short, you wear nothn?g but a towel - underground - very hot - very wet. Then some guy takes you into a room, scrubs you down, soaps you up and gives a very relaxing massage.

Early night last night - about 2am after a couple beers. Probably 2nd best sleep I’ve had since I left - should give me several more days of no sleep.

This morning most of us hired some taxis and went to the mountains to cl?mb up and check out a well, mountaintop city, on top of which there is an old (as is everything) Greek theatre with beautiful v?ews. Then to some caves, the source of some relics dating back 50,000 years. And lastly to a very pretty waterfall.

None of which I have pictures of - cos there’s no USB plug in this PC.

Lastly, Bec has found out she has been introducing herself as Becca (bekar) to the locals with some strange and promising looks in reply. We found out it actually means ’single woman’ ?n Turkish. Any rebeccas going to Turkey - take heed.

Hi all,

   Well from Malayta to Silifke, a rather interesting few days. Malayta was a nice city to see however it really was a typical city and you couldn’t do much in the time we had there except check out the local markets. You metal section, fruit section, meat, cloths…standard really for any markets…well except the metal section where you had esentially blacksmiths with foundries in the market place belting out pots.

   So from Malayta after a morning checking out the market place we hopped a bus to take us to Nemrut Dagi. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this place, a photo of a stone head from Nemrut is on the front cover of the Lonely Planet book on Turkey comes. The bus ride was a grueling 8 hours of very slow bus travel up a winding mountain tracks which was made soooo much better by the fantastic views.

   Mt Nemrut sits at a cosy 2300 meters so it was a nice temp when we arrived which soon turned to cold the following morning…more on that later.  The night we arrived we celebrated a member of the groups birthday (61st) with a brilliant dinner, cake, raki and white wine. The unfortunate thing about this is that we had to get up at 3:45am the following morning to watch the sun rise on top of the mountain. One by one people went to bed which eventually left Leigh, Rebecca, Paul and myself to finish off the Raki and white wine. Crashed at around 2ish… we all wern’t sure when we went to bed and all that I know I was still drunk when I woke up and walked to the top of Nemrut Dagi… I am pretty sure the other 3 were too. Drunk or not Nemrut is beautiful, this meglomaniac king built statues of the greek gods and of himself on top of this mountain then when he died he was buried under a 100 meter high man made pile of rocks. Some brilliant photos were taken of all the scenery however in the trend that I have started and am still continuing, I again left my camera cable in my other bag so no photos for you!

   One thing I can say about only having 1.5 hours sleep is when you have a long bus ride (12 hours) you tend to sleep most of it. Not much I can remember about that bus ride apart from waking up a few times and each time seeing different people sitting next to me. Thankfully members of the group were very understanding and kept an eye out for my belongings while I was in the land of z.

   That brings me and you to Silifke. Arrived last nightish all that I did was have some dinner and beers then crash. After some much needed z’ds we have come to today was brilliant!! Hired a bunch of paddle boats and “rode” out to Maidens Castle which was, as the story goes, built by a father for his daughter after he was told by a soothsayer that she would die after being bitten by a snake. Unfortunately as fate would have it she was still bitten by a snake and died. Thanks for the castle though mate . After we peddled back the group leader realised he left his shoes back on the island, so he and I rode our boats back to get his shoes. Thankfully when we got there he noticed my shoes were right next to his… now that is some Karma, I didn’t even realise they were missing !!! After our successful treasure hunt a few of us walked up the beach and checked out another castle.

   For lunch I had an amazing plate of Calamari with salads and bread galore at resturaunt within eyesight of the castle, after seafood and a few beers 4 of us jumped off the resturaunt deck and swam in the Med to ease the stomache cramps of eating and drinking too much. You really can’t complain too much about that I don’t think.

   This was then followed by some punishment where we went and visited some caves. One called the Asthma cave, and two others called Heaven and Hell. The Asthma cave is said to cure, you guessed it, Asthma so we all hiked down there to perform a healing ceremony (new age chanting from the massage therapist of the group and some eveangelical faith healing by me) on Laura as she had been suffering badly from her Asthma the past few days. So far we think a miracle has been performed as she has been fine since!!! No I have not turned all religious on you and I wouldn’t blame you if you thought so. I have been visiting a  number of churches recently, it just seems like the thing to do in Europe, Churches and Castles.

   After this cave we then went to two other caves called Heaven and Hell. One cave is where the greek God Zeus was held captive by some fire breathing giant, the other cave is where Zeus kept him captive after escaping. The giant stayed there until Zeus decided what to do with him, he was eventually placed underneath Mt Etna. Checked out another Castle over looking Silifke too….suffering Castle overload today!!!

   Ended the night with a nice little picnic involving only a few of us down by the Goksu river. Turkish bread, some other local bread, spicy tomato paste, olives and cheese…oh and efes beer. Bloody marvelous!!!!

Well from the last post we have travelled from Goreme to Malaytia. After the last update most of the group went out to a $25 all you can eat and drink night which started on the effe beer and ended on the Raki or it could be called Ouzo for people who don’t know what Raki is but I have been told it is slightly different. There was dancing and a traditional wedding ceremony put on for us all. Really the only reason why it was so fun is because we all had a blast drinking Raki, the first bender of the group.

Next morning we hung around Goreme and did our own thing and then all met up and went to a Carpet shop. This person is essentially an expat (well from newzeeland) and she explained all the rugs in the area and why they cost so much. No one was obliged to buy however a couple of people were so convinced of her authenticity that several were sold (she really did know her stuff!!)

Buying rugs was then followed up by a four hour hike to another village where we stayed the night in a locals house. The hike involved checking out some churches/family crypts that very few people visit which was great. The track that we hiked on ended up being the track for a local Mountain Bike race so we had plenty of good riders zooming past. Also involved scrambling up some abandoned sandstone “castles” where people had lived getting a great view of the surrounding area.

Today we had an amazing breakfast, the best so far, eaten at the homestay, followed by an 8 hour bus ride to Malaytia. Thankfully the bus ride was broken up with a relaxing journey on a row boat…yes a row boat We discovered this nice little detour which wasn’t on the itinery. Unfortunately for us the water was 12 degrees which isn’t swimming temperature even by Melbourne standards.

Dinner tonight was so so, mainly due to a couple of people not getting the right orders and then complaining. Complaining when the staff in the restaurant don’t understand english isn’t the best way of going about things I don’t think…

Tomorrow morning we get to explore this rather busy city (known as the Paris of the east) then off to Nemrut Dagi is as far east as I think we will travel. When I asked “Why Paris of the east” it is because this the last city before hitting Iran and Iraq that has a cosmipolitan feel about it.

Gule Gule

Pat.

Well, I think it’s time to talk about the food using as few of the letter i as necessary, because th?s keyboard has a weird layout.

Food good Turkey. Excellent, that should explain it. Found

OK, ok - we found this great place in Istanbul where I had some dish - aubergine with mash potato and lamb. Also had a tomato stuffed with maybe couscous - or something similar.

Paul (our tour leader, not a guide, I could be imprisoned for calling him a guide) took us to a restaurant on the first night I th?nk which was noth?ng special, but I gave him another chance and he hasn’t d?sappo?nted. Had some interesting food at the train station on our way to Göreme, some mixed mezze, a couple little vegetar?an d?shes that were very nice - and the only meat dish that I’d chosen tasted interesting - and later found out was liver, which actually went well with the raw onion. Couldn’t eat much of it tho.

After many hours by bus and train maybe 15 hrs, the trainride being a sleep deprived overnight trip (it’s at this point I’ve decided there are too many i’s ?n the English language, so from now on I will remove them) we arrved at Göreme.

In Göreme we had lunch at a nce cafe and ate some crepe bread lke thngs flled wth spnach and cheese (OK, maybe I need these pesky i’s).

In Göreme, the place ?s full of dwellings carved into rock, we visited the Open A?r Museum where you can see all the old cave paint?ngs from Christians, about one and half thousand years old (the paintings, not the Christistians).

And for dinner had this beautiful meal that is cooked in a clay pot and cracked open to serve you the food, which is minced meaty and spicy, and great for dipping the fresh Turk?sh bread. One of the waiters had Laura (one of the group) try to crack the pot open herself, eventually smashing it on the ground, giving her a heart attack - only for ?t to be completely empty. Both these places chosen by Paul, so he more than redeemed himself

This morning we went on a hot air balloon flight, I’m sure most of you won’t believe that may have cured my fear of heights at Cappadocia. We had Champagne for breakfast which topped it off nicely.

Had a great lunch again - a different kind of kebab, meat laid out almost look?ng like a skinless sausage, with flat bread underneath - very spicy and good.

Sorry I don’t have photos at the moment, but patrick has, hopefuly temporarily killed my portable hard dr?ve with his dodgy memory card. And I have to go now - plenty to write , not enough time.

Merhaba, 

Well that was an ep?c journey to get from Istanbul to Goreme…..Tra?n ride from ?stanbul to Ankara wh?ch was an overn?ghter…yep ? squeezed ?nto a bed on a tra?n and managed to sleep qu?et successfully. The bed was comfortable, four to a room, the only problem be?ng the WC (to?let\bathroom ?n Turkey). There are two types of to?lets ?n Turkey, the squat to?let and the normal everyday western to?let. See?ng the state ?n both I am glad I never requ?red to use e?ther!!!! You couldn´t use the water at all, not even to brush you teeth w?th, yet ?t was ?n plent?ful supply. Thankfully our gu?de gave us the heads up not to use ?t as ?t would have caused all the dodgy stomach a?lments that any dodgy water would g?ve.

Pretty much sta?ght on the bus ?n Ankara to Goreme for another 4 hour bus r?de, but eventually when we arr?ved ?t was all worth ?t.  Yesterday when we arr?ved we headed stra?ght to the Open A?r Museum where Chr?st?ans h?d from the Romans for a few hundred years around 400AD. To cont?nue the?r worsh?p they carved churches ?nto the cl?ff faces, and pa?nted frescoes. Most of the frescoes are st?ll ?ntact however due to a crap load of tour?sts ?n the area, and the touch and flash photograhy ?t ?s slowly fad?ng and fall?ng off. The tour?st pol?ce wh?ch guard the s?te are pretty str?ct so ?t doesn´t matter how much they try to commun?cate the message due to all the d?fferent nat?onal?t?es ?t ?s go?ng to be a h?t and m?ss affa?r.

So anyway mum, ?f you read th?s, you w?ll be glad to hear I have gone to church, well at least 12 of them and all really old ones, so I am completely godded up at the moment

Last n?ght was really cool, had d?nner at a local resturaunt and where myself and the tour leader (paul) were very ant?soc?al and played backgammon, checkers and Turk?sh Checkers. I am happy to report that I comfortably defeated Paul ?n Backgammon, and managed a draw w?th Turk?sh Checkers. Got my but spanked on normal checkers though. Gerard and Darryl, learn to play Turk?sh Checkers, ?t ?s a br?ll?ant game, far more ?nterest?ng as normal checkers and comparable ?n fun value to backgammon. I am plann?ng on buy?ng a backgammon board ?n Turkey, you can get amaz?ng ones for next to noth?ng (mother of pearl ?nla?d board, very ornate, for around 50 AUD). F?n?shed up ?n a bar called Fl?nstones (carved ?nto the h?lls?de) and had some more beer before h?tt?ng the sack for a 4.00am wake up.

Well that br?ngs be to today, ballon fl?ght over Goreme and surround?ng v?llages, underground c?t?es, funny rock format?ons, and sleep, sweet sweet sleep.

The ballon fl?ght was amaz?ng, supposedly one of the 1000 th?ngs to do before you d?e and one of the best ballon fl?ght opportun?tes ?n the world. Got some great happy snaps however ? seem to be mak?ng a hab?t of forgett?ng my camera cable. Hopefully Le?gh can recover from h?s Portable Storage Dev?ce d?saster and mange to upload some for all to see. Ballon fl?ght was a very soph?st?m?cated affa?r tak?ng about 2 hours and end?ng ?n a Cherry ju?ce and champane breakfast.

After the ballon fl?ght we met back at our Pens?on and through some weal?ng and deal?ng Paul cut a deal w?th a pr?vate dolmus and tour gu?de to so show us through the underground c?ty.

In Goreme and the surround?ng reg?ons there are amaz?ng cave dwell?ngs dat?ng back to 2000 BC. I can´t poss?bly go ?nto deta?l about all the h?story as there ?s so much but pretty much from 2000BC through to around 40 years agoö ?t was used for var?ous reasons. From the H?t?tes h?d?ng from the Musl?m ra?d?ng part?es through to Chr?st?ans h?d?ng from the Romans up to the locals us?ng ?t for every day purposes unt?l ?t was “d?scovered”. Th?s one part?cular underground c?ty (Kaymakl?) wasn´t the most popular one however both Paul and the local gu?de couldn´t understand why as ?t ?s supposedly better than the ma?n tour?st one w?th over 7 levels of undergroundedness opened up to your perusal.

We followed th?s w?th some photo snaps of some we?rd local rock format?ons followed some of us do?ng some a t?ny b?t of ch?mney rock cl?mb?ng and hav?ng a look around where Sa?nt S?mon had h?s d?gs, l?terally hey dug them ?nto a free stand?ng rock format?on and l?ved there for a per?od of t?me.

So that br?ngs be to the sleep and now, sleep was well needed but not ?nterest?ng and I have to go as ?n 15 m?nutes we are go?ng to a local fest?val where for 25 TNL ?t ?s all you can eat (mmmm kebap) and all you can dr?nk (mmm effes beer).

gule gule

Pat

ps. Darryl I now understand why you had so many we?rd m?stakes, these turk?sh keyboards are a k?ller. I am so used to touch typ?ng that ?t has been a t?r?ng bus?ness correct?ng all the m?stakes!!

Well what a first couple of days!! Landed in Istanbul around 7.30 am Sunday morning which with a +7 is 14:30 EST. Not too bad I guess, works out to be 22 hours in the air. Getting out of customs was a crack, they didn’t even check our bags, nothing. Very funny.

Once arriving Leigh and I walked around the Sultanamet which is a mecca for touters and scam artists. Because it is such a tourist orrientated place they are everywhere vying for your attention and your Turkish New Lira.

For all you cat lovers out there, Turkey is a  place to be. It seems in Islam cats are not nessacarily revered but respected and they are all over the city. Turkish people feed them and take care of them…very tame and don’t seem that malnourished.

After catching up with the tour group our guide walked us through the city showing us not the main attractions but the free ones where you don’t see the large tour groups trekking through. The group who I am with is quiet varied in age ranging from 22 up to 60+?? Not to sure on one bloke but I think he is approaching 70. I am not mentioning this because I think it is a bad thing, actually quiet the opposite. One couple since retiring have travelled constantly so the wealth of experience is great.

Sunday (today) has been brilliant. After breakfast four of us travelled to Topkapi Palace and we walked through that at a relaxed pace. This palace is where the Sultans of the Ottaman empire up until the early 20th century rulled Turkey. There is that much history in this place, just to name a few relics located in “The Treasury” that you may have heard of…. John the Baptists arm (covered in gold and jewels) and head are in one display cabinet. Directly opposite that is the Topkapi dagger which supposedly is very famous (Lonely planet says so) although I have never heard of it. Really the amount of jewels and history in this one room is crazy. I was a bit bemused at the start as each display case is rather simple. If both of these artifacts were in Australia for example I could just imagine each being in its own room surrounded by a glass case. Checked out the haram, which was impressive but not as impressive as The Treasury.  One Sultan, Murat III, once had 200 concubines, ended up with 100+ kids

Grabbed some lunch and checked out the Cistern, took some great pics of that however I forgot to bring my camera cable to the Internet cafe so you are going to have to wait for photos. This is where Constantinople, as it was called at the time, housed its water. I have been told that the water was shipped via aquaducs from 19ks away. This place is huge, I couldn’t believe that we were underground in the heart of the Sultanamet with Trucks and buildings over our heads!

If you haven’t realised by now I am loving the trip so far.

OK, thought I should make my first post, been here almost 2 days. Such an amazing place. Arriving at the airport at 7.30am yesterday, after a gruelling 24 hours of air flight - ok, it wasn’t THAT bad - but still. We decided to give public transport a go as the first bit a fun. Not really much different from Melbourne, you jump on a tram or 2, everyone looks at you strangely, no one talks to each other and it smells

Istanbul is absolutely full of people trying to sell you everything from children’s toys to cigarettes and weapons (apparently, I haven’t seen them yet). Pat and I checked into the hotel and wandered around to check out the city. Was interesting trying to buy a turkish coffee from people who don’t understand English at all. After about 15 minutes, we got one, not bad, and managed to not get ripped off - score 1.

We met up with out tour group, nice bunch of people (you know I have to say that, cos they might read this ), maybe half an older crowd, and some around our age, 12 all up. Went on a walking tour around the place, checked out a couple of mosques - the detail the put into everything in the city is just crazy. From the shoes and hats, to the stained glass windows and entire structures. So much history, that I won’t bore you with (mainly because I don’t remember most of it). Wandered through the Grand Bazaar, and went to the place where Turkish Delight was first discoevered, and of course bought some.

Second day, we spent 5 hours in the Top Kapi palace. We also visted the harem, it is now my aim in life to become a sultan with a thousand wives, mainly for the giant bath. The palace is huge, all sorts of jewelled things from cup holders to weapons to the thrones, they’re all encrusted with ridiclous amounts of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and pearls.

We also visited the underground cistern, which has stone heads of medusa, very cool. Anyways, for the most important part - here’s some photos.

singapore airport / patrick the tourist / the grand bazaar / stained glass window in the harem / the cistern / the blue mosque

Well both Leigh and I have arrived in Singapore. Both planes landed essentially at the same time (we were racing and leigh won by 3 minutes…bastard).

Currently using free internet access at the airport which is really cool, although I only have 15 minutes before it logs me off. Flight was all good however I was jammed in like a sardine, no free seats, middle row in the middle seat so not good for a 6ft 4″ person.

 Umm what else can you say, nothing interesting happend on the 8 hour flight.

9 mins 30 secs to go…fast typer

Pat.

The title says it all.