London for a third time

i got into merry england with a spring in my step. i was looking forward to getting back to a place that i didn't have to learn my way around and was planning on planning a day trip here and there but overall, having a relaxing time before i waved goodbye to Europe and fly out to New York. oh how that didn't happen.

i got to my hostel and went to a pay with my debit card when i realized that it wasn't in my wallet. 'shit' i said 'i think i've been robbed'. i always keep my card in the same place but i took a moment to look through my bag to see if i had just misplaced it, but to no avail. i don't really know how it happened to be honest. i'm really careful about where i put my wallet, but i've come to 2 conclusions.
- i think its either been stolen from me while i was sleeping by someone else that was sleeping in my dorm
- or i've left it in an ATM while i was taking money out.
oh well, there was nothing i could do about it now, i just have to fix it. Lucie, the woman that worked at the hostel was really helpful and showed me where the nearest exchange shop was so i could change all the money i had accumulated from different countries, into pound. all up i had a little over £30 and some ear plug that i found at the bottom of my bag, which i guess would come in handy to block out the traffic if i had to sleep on the street. then Lucie let me use the phone to cancel my card and the internet to get in contact with people i knew in london so i could crash on someones floor/bath/car/balcony for a couple of nights.

after that i went for a walk to clear my head, and think about what i was going to do next. i kind of surprised myself at how calm i was about the whole situation. here i am in London, one of the worlds most expensive cities in the world with only £30, that is expected to last me for 3-4 working days until my card was delivered.

when i came back from my walk, i check my email. luckily my old work mate, Jess, had replied to one of the emails and helped me out in my hour of need by letting me crash on her couch for a couple of days. since i caught up with Jess last, she has moved house right next to Warwick Avenue Tube (yes, the one from the Duffy song) and is now living in a very swanky part of town with some A-List celebrities as neighbours. too bad to couldn't really enjoy staying in such a nice spot. the next couple of days i spent in a call shop, in a tug of war with my bank to get emergency money until my card arrived. at first they said that i couldn't get money, then when i said something around the lines of 'christ! its my money why can't i have it? i've got £30 to last me 4 fecking days in freaking London and i'm about to eat my shoe because i haven't eaten in days' i might have exaggerated a bit, but suddenly they came around and said they would wire me some money. anyway, after a couple of days i finally got some cold hard cash. the second thing i wanted the bank to help me out with was get me the tracking number of the package with my card inside so i knew which day it was going i was going to recieve it and make i was there to sign for it. sounds like a pretty simple task, but there must be some fine print that states that when you join a bank they will do everything possible to make banking the most annoying experience life has to offer. i swear, they couldn't organise a piss up at a pub. the whole task took them forever! i lost count of how many times i called up to find out the number. after about 6 days my card arrived, then the next day i got an email from my bank telling me the number i needed to know - which would've been great about 4 days earlier.
because my card was stolen they had to send me out my new PIN number seperately. i was getting pretty desperate at this point because i was running out of the money that was wired to me and living hand to mouth. i hung around waiting for my PIN to turn up for a couple of days. 'how hard could it be?' i was thinking 'they sent me the card, all they have to do is send the PIN to the same address'. but i forgot i was dealing with a bank here, nothing is that simple. no, they decided to write the wrong postcode on the envelope didn't they. it was just lucky that i was walking passed a DHL (the courier company) that i thought i would check where my package was. it was then that they informed me of the blunder. as the old saying 'if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself' i told them i would go and pick up the parcel.
when i finally got my card i worked out that it took a little more than 3-4 working days. infact it was closer to 8 days! leaving me with one day to fully enjoy London. the scary thing about this whole drama is, i can't get over how much my life revolves around a piece of plastic and what a nightmare it is to get a new one. i'm seriously thinking about changing banks when i get home, but the more i think about it, the more i think that they're all the same.

while i was waiting for my card i had plenty of quality TV time. apart from watching some quality soaps, i managed to fit in some news, which is where i learnt about a group called 'ZipCar' that operate a car-sharing scheme. its early days yet so they are only set up in some councils but the cars have designated parking spots in the neighbourhood that people can use with a swipe of a card (similar to an Oyster card). they interviewed one of the people that use the 'ZipCar' system and they were saying that they save so much money, going on to say that it costs less than half it would to own and run a car. i think its such a brilliant idea!

even though i was without a card, London this time wasnt a total write off. i still managed to see a few things around london, like go to Portobello and Spitalfields markets, kicked around Covent Garden and i went to a pub called the 'Dublin Castle' in Camden which is where Blur, Amy Winehouse, Travis and a few other big names got a name for themselves. i also heard it was a local haunt of the drug addled Pete Doherty so i wasn't so surprised when i saw about 8 signs in the toilet saying 'it is illegal to take drugs on the premises' and 'these toilets are patrolled regularly', but don't get the wrong idea about the place, it was pretty harmless. i saw some bads which were quite good too.
i also caught up with my friend Halley. we used to work together at a part time job i had while studying at university. shes just been to LA and New York and gave me a travellers guide to New York which will come in handy. the reason Halley is over here, apart from travel is because shes a comedian and she's going to do a show at the Edinburgh comedy festival this year. she's just come off doing a well recieved show at the Melbourne comedy festival and even did some work with Fiona O'Laughlin, which is a pretty big deal, so i hope the Edinburgh fest goes just as well for her.
oneday to kill some time i went to the flicks and saw the new Charlie Kaufman film 'Synecdoche, New York'. in my opinion whatever Kaufman does generally turns to gold, i love just about every one of his films: 'Being John Malkovich', 'Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind', 'Human Nature', they're all so clever, a bit trippy, yet still manage to be very insightful. 'Synecdoche, New York' is kind of hard to explain, so much so i might have to watch it again to fully get my head around it, until then i wont even try to explain it, but i recommend seeing it if you get the chance. i really liked the score done by Jon Brion, his stuff is generally pretty good too. heres a song from the film called 'Little Person' that i liked.



i guess that concludes my time in europe, well for now anyway. i'm off to a city that never sleeps (i imagine everyone has insomnia) and fruit are on steroids (from what i can gather, there apples are meant to be a really big!) i'm kind of looking forward to a change to be honest. even though i've really enjoyed my time in europe and i would love to come back here again some day, i think a change might be a good thing. more when i hit the US of A.

Athens

as the ferry pulled out of Santorini and headed for Athens, i had a feeling that the next 8 or so hours were going to suck big time. i hate crowds at the best of times and it was just my luck that the boat was packed full of people and so there wasn't really enough room for everyone to sit comfortably. i got a seat at one stage but it was far from relaxing, infact it reminded me of a food court in the middle of Christmas shopping panic. the 8 hours couldn't come quick enough, not even a book and a newly charged iPod could get me through it, i had to escape to the corridors of the sleeper cabins to get some peace and quiet so i could read my book. but even Hunter S. Thompson and a newly charged iPod could get me through this pain. i was tempted to throw myself overboard in an effort to save my sanity. as the boat rocked from side to side, i caught a glimpse of myself in the window, looking at myself dead in the face and seeing the life almost drain from my eyes, i said to myself 'i am never going on another boat ride again'.
when we finally came into the port the whole crowd cheered (i'm glad i wasn't the only one who felt the excitement) jumped off the boat, found a cab to my hostel that i ended up sharing with an older couple from New Zealand. as soon as i got there i checked in, when into my room and fell into bed.

the next day i woke up in a better mood than the one i went to bed with and began sight seeing. because i was only here for a couple of days i decided to do a walking tour. something that put me into an even better mood was that day all the museums and archaeological sites in Athens were free - talk about good timing!
the guide took us around to a number of different ruins like the 'Agora' which was originally a market place type thing, and the place where they had the olympic games (which is now a newer stadium) and couple of other buildings. i noiced the Hadrian built a number of them, geez he was a busy boy, if he wasn't building a giant wall in England he was building something else in Greece.
as i've said before you see ruins everywhere and Athens is, in my opinion, the grand daddy of ruins, they are everywhere. it seems no matter where they dig they seem to find something. for instance in the metro they have exhibitions of columns and pots that they found while they were digging for the metro. one of the metro stations was built over a old burial site so there is an exhibit of an open grave where you can see where someones bones! but after a while you see so many of them, you tend to turn off or be like 'oh yeah, there ANOTHER ruin...'

of course you can't go to Athens and not visit the most famous ruin of them all, the Acropolis. i was pretty surprised how much stuff was there, i always thought it was just the Parthenon. there were theaters and temples but of course the one that everyone is here to see is the Parthenon. its a pretty amazing sight during the day, but i think it looks best at night when its lit up. it was a lot bigger than i thought it was. most things you visit are generally smaller than what you think they are, but the Parthenon was pretty big. but it did have something in common with the other sights in europe, it was covered in scaffolding. i always thought that the way the parthenon looks is pretty much how it would've always looked, except more complete. but they think it would've been plastered and have been painted. the Acropolis is on top of one of the main hills here in Athens, and you get some brilliant views from up there too.

the building where the president lives they have traditional guards out the front. i think its every hour on the hour they do a little march for the people. i saw it, and its pretty funny. they wear a dress-like costume and they have pom-poms on there feet, which is funny enough, but to top it off they kick there legs out when they march! when they have finished they stay still and have there very own stylist (probably not the real name for them) to come and fix up there uniform. i asked why they have pom-poms on there feet, apparently it was to make there feet look bigger so when the enemy saw them they were scared. now, if i cast my mind back to the days of the school yard i remember kids getting laughed at for not wearing the latest in cool shoes by some snotty faced little bully, imagine if they turned up in shoes with pom-poms! seriously, if they don't pass the 'school yard test', what hope have you got in battle? apparently if your a boy you have to join the army for a period of time. which i kind of find strange, but what i find strange is you have to be 180cm (6 feet) tall. when you think about it, wouldn't you prefer a little guy? my logic is they would be a smaller target to hit.

before i got here, i didn't hear to many people giving Athens a good wrap. i kept hearing things like 'only spend a couple of days, maximum!' and 'i wouldn't want to walk around at night'. and to be totally honest i know exactly what they are talking about. apart from the sights there really isn't much keeping you here, and i think i could've done them in a day. you don't have to wander too far out of the touristy areas to find parts of the city that are really dirty. and of a night, areas full of prostitutes and drug dealers. i did find one area that was pretty cool, they had a couple of good clothing stores and also some great antique stores, full of old radios and gramophones, lamps, cameras etc. ever since i stayed with Viv in Edinburgh (click here to see my Edinburgh blog) i've been obsessed with this kind of stuff, i'm definitely going to start collecting these kind of things when i get home!

its been pretty hot here in Greece, so much so i've unleashed my hairy legs and started wearing shorts. i hate shorts with a passion, i can't really explain why, i guess its just a pet hate i have, i suppose i just prefer wearing pants. also my legs are incredibly hairy, but i seem to fit right in here in Greece, i'm pretty sure i've seen some old women with better facial hair than me.

i get the feeling that the Greeks are quite religious. while i was checking out some of the Greek orthodox churches i noticed a lot of people stopping to give the sign of the cross when they walked passed the church, there was even a guy going by on a scooter that stopped!

i dunno if you would put Mythology on par with religion, though in some ways its the same, you know, the whole making up stories to explain things ie: creation. if you've been reading this blog for a while you would notice i'm not such a fan of religion, but i do like Mythology. probably its because its not taken very seriously. but i think the main reason i like it, is because it kind of childlike and reminds me of when i was a kid. i remember if i didn't quite understand something as a kid, and i would come up with my own conclusions, and i guess thats whats the Greeks did except my versions a little different to theres, for instance i used to think that when it was raining i used to think it was god taking a leak... 

when i travel i do the best to get a bit of an understanding of the country, they way people live and there feelings on certain issues, generally i get this information from speaking to locals and asking questions. while i was here in Athens i ended up sharing a room in the hostel with a, surprise surprise, gay guy. i swear, i'm a magnet or something! anyway, we got talking and after a while the subject of gay rights in Greece came up, it turned out that he did an interview with the BBC about the subject (click here to view the video) when i saw it i was pretty shocked the video and heard his side of the story, of how another people tried to run him over and hurt him just because of hit sexuality. then again, i'm sure there are similar instances in Australia, its just that i'm not aware of it. its pretty sad to hear that some people are so insecure about the whole thing that they act in such an extreme way.

even though i wouldn't rave about Athens, i guess its still one of those places you should visit, even if it is for a little while. now i'm off to London...

Santorini

before i set sail for the Greek Islands i had to stay in the Turkish coastal town of Bodrum. i wouldn't say it was the best way to say goodbye to Turkey. it was pretty, they had a little castle, nice beaches and had a harbor full of expensive boats (if thats your thing). but it was really touristy, full of crap stores flogging dodgy 'tradional turkish' stuff with made in Taiwan tags hanging off the side, plenty of terrible 'doof doof' music pumping out of clubs, as well as its fair share of fat people getting 'tanned'... umm, since when has bright pink been a tan? anyway, i only had to spend a night there.

the next morning i got up bright and early to catch the ferry to Kos. originally my plan was to go straight to Santorini via Kos, but because its early in the holiday season the ferries aren't working in full force as yet, so they didn't have a ferry until the following evening, which was fine, Kos isn't a bad to get stranded for a couple of days. they had some ruins in the middle of the main town (it seems that you can't really escape ruins) and apparently there are some nice hot springs somewhere on the island, but i never saw them, i did a whole lot of nothing to be honest. the last couple months have been hectic to say the very least so i decided i would chill out and do some long walks along the beaches and watching the sun set... wait a minute, this is starting to sound like a profile on one of those online dating sites.

anyway, the next evening i ran into a lot of luck. as soon as i got on the boat i was instantly adopted by an American family, and before i knew it they were teaching me card games, which killed a lot of time. lucky were weren't playing strip poker, i would've lost my pants pretty quick smart - i was horrible! after a few hours we finally made it to Santorini at about midnight. as we were waiting for the ship to dock, i ran into my second bit of luck. i met some fellow australians who were also looking for a place to stay. at the dock they have a number of people from various hotels trying to get you to stay with them, we ended up getting a place for 5 EURO's each, a night. when we got there the place was like a hotel and had a swimming pool, internet, close to the beach, the works! couldn't believe our luck!

there are plenty of Greek islands you can visit, but Santorini is really the only greek island that i was keen to visit. the rest of the major ones are based around partying and i just wasnt really in the mood. also i've been told Santorini is the most 'typical' greek island, with its white buildings and blue painted roofs - the kind of stuff you see on postcards. Pira is the main city that is full of them, they are all really pretty. there are a couple of other towns that are like that too, but i wouldn't say all of them. something i found kind of funny was the crosses on top of the churches have lights on them. which to me looked like something you would see in Las Vegas.
another thing that surprised me was, i knew that white reples sunlight, but i couldn't get over how well it did it. when you touch a building thats painted white, its stone cold, its no wonder that you see people painting all the time. imagine if you owned a paint company that only sold white paint here in Greece - you would make a fortune! oh, here a funny little fact for the trivia bank, apparently they think that Santorini could be the lost city of Atlantis, though some scientists are skeptical, but who knows for sure.

i had great weather while i was here, but the sun here is really strong. i had to buy a hat and some seriously strong sunscreen. usually i'm one of those poor unfortunate people that is either white as a ghost or red like a lobster, but some how i manage to get a tan. i would hate to visit greece without a good pair of sunglasses. because everything is painted white, its a little tough on the eyes, my eyes were burnt quite a few times. but not from the glare from the sun, but from people wearing next to nothing. why is it that its the people shouldn't take there clothes off, are the ones that feel more open to letting it all hang out? having said that, there are some good things about the sun - sunsets. apparently Santorini has some of the best sunsets in the world. pretty big statement, i know, but they are quite nice. i think mainly because alot of Santorini is quite high up, so you see them from an elevated view.

Santorini is quite big and there is a pretty big distance between the towns. before i got here i was tempted to hire a vespa or 4 wheeler, to get around the island, but because i met some people we ended up splitting a car, which didn't end up costing us much at all. i was surprised to find how rocky Santorini is. a lot the beaches are quite strange to me, mainly because when i think of beaches i think of golden sand, but because of the volanic rock they have a lot of different kinds of beaches, some of them with black sand! supposedly when it gets quite hot the sand heats up to scorching temperatures and you can't walk on it.

food wise there is Gyros, which is pretty much the greek cousin of the Kabab. however in Turkey they would put the filling in bread, here they put it in pita bread. but after Turkey i was all kababed out (not even a name change could fool me) so i decided i would hold off on the Gyros until i got to Athens. however one of my favourite greek foods is Saganaki, which is fried cheese, so had have some while i was here, mmm so good! i got some tzatziki dip and olives to have over a few drinks with the people i was staying with, which were also amazing. we went out for dinner one night and i got some really tasty calamari, and i tried some Musaka which is a traditional greek dish that is kind of like a lasagna.

i've been thinking about the Greek islands and find them a strange place. most of the year they are closed, with the majority of businesses shutting up shop to go on holiday. i was speaking to a local guy who told me that pretty much the islands are set up for tourism, and you can definitely see that. i wouldn't say i saw many homes around the place. even the guy that i was talking to wasn't originally from that island, he came here to work over the summer months.

while i was here they had the european extravaganza that is 'Eurovision'. if your not familiar with Eurovision, its like a big song contest that countries throughout europe compete in. generally speaking, its so bad that its good. bad dance moves, funny songs, interesting costumes, i find it very hard to get through it with a straight face. but i was a little surprised that its wasn't that big here in Greece, not many people got behind it all. nobody talked about it, it wasn't really in the press, and not that many places had it playing on there TV's. i always thought it was big in europe. though i have heard that over the last couple of years its been incredibly political, with countries only giving good scores to there neighbours or to there allies. anyway, if you missed it, heres a bit of a clip of what Greece had to offer.

before i got here i was bracing myself, because i was kind of expected the Greek islands to be really expensive, but i didn't really find that at all. i suppose i am visiting here just before the boom, so i guess things are a little bit cheaper. so far the only expensive part has been catching the ferries, which is why i decided to spend most of my time on one island, rather than hop from one to the other. plus i was running out of time, because i booked a cheap flight out of Athens for the 20th and i wanted to spend a couple of days there. not to worry, i saw the island i wanted to see most.

so far i haven't run into Nana Mouskouri or Demis Roussos or any Greek Gods or Godesses, and there hasn't been any breaking of plates, but who knows, i may find them all in my next stop, Athens.

Selcuk

another overnıght bus loomed ahead of me. thıs tıme ıt was 10 hours, so ı thought after the 16 hour rıde from Canekkale to Cappadocıa, ıt would be easy - how wrong ı was. ı don't thınk ı got a wınk of sleep the whole tıme. and to make matters worst, we stopped for some food at a road house restaurant, and ıt was horrıble! ıt smelt lıke an arm pıt... ok, maybe a slıght overexageratıon, but ıt was pretty bad. ı'm not a relıgous man, but when ı got back on the bus ı closed my eyes and prayed for sleep. but closıng my eyes was as close as ı got to gettıng some shut eye. anyway, at 6am ı got ınto a lıttle town outsıde where ı caught a small shuttle bus to Pamukkale where ı planned to spend the day before headıng to Selcuk. ıt was on thıs bus that ı met some students from Sıngapore, who had the same plan as ı dıd. we got on quıte well so we ended up spendıng the next couple of days together.

the reason ı came to Pamukkale (pronounced Pam-uk-kel-le) ıs because, whıle ı was ın Granada, Spaın (clıck here to see my Granada post) they had a photo exhıbıtıon, outsıde of the Alhambra, of amazıng places throughtout the world and Pamulkkale's sprıngs featured ın one of the photos. as soon as ı saw ıt ı saıd 'ı have to go there'. The Sprıngs here don't look lıke your avergage hot sprıngs. because a large amount of chalk ıs created here and they kınd of make thıs step-lıke cascade of basıns from whıch the hot sprıng water runs down - a lot of people descrıbe ıt as a 'frozen waterfall'. ıts such an amazıng sıght. the water ın the chalk basıns ıs just the most amazıng turquoise. normally there ıs more water and you can bath ın them but unfortuately there was only a sectıon that was full, but because ıts a UNESCO Herıtage sıte, ı couldn't go ınto the basıns, whıch was probably a good thıng. as you can ımagıne, not havıng any sleep ın the bus, ı was pretty tıred. at one poınt whıle ı was sıttıng down, ı was almost dozıng off. ı thought 'ıf ı go anywhere near those pools the headlıne ın the local newspaper ıs goıng to read 'SLEEP DEPRIVED AUSTRALIAN DROWNS IN PAMUKKALE POOLS''. havıng saıd that, there were other sectıons ı could dıp my feet ınto... and survıved ı mıght add. apparently before ıt was a UNESCO sıte there used to be a bıg hotel up on top of the hıll and a lot of the sıte was destroyed by people usıng soap and shampoo ın the basıns, whıch eroded a lot of them. but sınce then the hotel has been removed and the area seems to be a lot better for ıt, for ınstance, now you have to walk around barefoot. on top of the hıll ıs some old roman ruıns. most of ıt ısn't that excıtıng (how excıtıng can some slab of marble on the ground be?) but there was an ampıtheater that was ın pretty good shape. but ın my opınıon, apart from the sprıngs, there ısn't much else there to see.

from there, myself and my newly found frıends from Sıngapore, jumped ın a bus and headed to Selcuk (ı know, ı dıd some serıous travel that day). when we got there we were almost attacked buy hostel owners tryıng to get us to stay at there hostel. serıously they were lıke vultures, cırclıng the weak. ı had been recommended a place ın Selcuk by the lady that owned the place ın Cappadocıa so we had planned to go there and check ıt out. ı told the Sıngapore crew of whıch way we were headıng and one of the hostel owners got a bıt heated and had a go at me, sayıng that ı had only just met these people and was stealıng hıs busıness, whıch wasn't the case at all. anyway, wıth the angry hostel owners shakıng there fısts, we left promptly and found our hostel whıch turned out to be really nıce and not very expensıve at all. but best of all, the eractıc nıght porter remınded me of George Costanza's Dad from the TV show 'Seınfeld'.

Selcuk ıs about a 30 mınute walk to the ancıent cıty of Ephesus, but ınstead we dıd a tour so we got a lıft up there. to be honest, Ephasus ıs probably one of the best ancıent ruıns ı've vısıted. maınly because they've taken the ruıns and put them back together, kınd of lıke a bıg game of leggo, and reconstructed the cıty. so often you turn up at these sıtes and you see a bunch of rocks on the ground and your meant to construct ıt ın your head. ı thınk ıt leaves you feelıng underwhelmed. at least here you you can actually see what the buıldıng, or at least the fascade of the buıldıng looked lıke. ı found the layout of the cıty was quıte funny too. for ınstance, the Lıbrary and a brothel were buılt rıght next to ıt. whıch possıbly explaıned the prıorıtıes of the ancıent cıvılızatıon. ı dıdn't thınk the tour was that good, ıf ıt were me ı thınk ı would've prefered to just walk around at my own pace. however the tour guıde dıd say somethıng that ı found ınterestıng. there was a buıldıng that was somethıng lıke a prehıstorıc shoppıng centre, but ıt had a mosque on the top of ıt. the tour guıde explaıned that ıt was probably a case of a guy wantıng to buıld a shoppıng centre to make money from the rent, but wasn't allowed to. so he saıd he was goıng to buıld a mosque ınstead, whıch was gıven the go ahead. but ınstead of doıng that, he combıned the two. ı reckon ıf there were programmes lıke 'Today Tonıght' or an 'A Current Affaır' back ın those days, they would've been all over that one. ınfact they probably would've done and epısode about shonky buılders too - half of ıt has fallen down now! God ı hate those programmes.

just a shırt walk outsıde of Selcuk ıs the 'Temple of Artemis'. well, maybe ı should say was the 'Temple of Artemıs'. Apparently ıts one of the '7 wonders of the ancıent world' but ı don't really know how ıt can be, theres only one column left and ı'm pretty sure thats been reconstructed. the only thıng that left me gob smacked about the sıte was the gıant bırds nest on top of the column, ıt was MASSIVE! all ı can gather ıs theres some sort of gıant bırd terrorısıng the locals. swoopıng down to steal small chıldren, rapıng the local corn fıelds for food, ıts annoyıng when you get bırd poo on your clean car as ıt ıs, ımagıne ıf a bırd of that sıze dropped one on your car!

ı haven't really talked about food except for, of course, kababs. but the food here ıs pretty good. ıt mıght be just me, but ı thınk they have a strange selectıon of foods from neıghbourıng countrıes and ı notıced rıce pops up a faır bıt too. ı love pıdes, whıch are lıke a pızza but ınstead of beıng round they are oval shaped. daıry ıs also a bıt of a favourıte wıth the turks, they have one cheese called whıte cheese that ıs a lıttle bıt lıke fetta, but not quıte. also they drınk a lot of yogurt, but ı fınd ıt a bıt sour.
of course ı couldn't leave Turkey wıthout havıng a turkısh delıght, whıch was very nıce but nothıng on the sugar rıchter scale compared to some of the other stuff. the Turks have a real sweet tooth. baklava whıch ıs a lıttle pastry desert made wıth nuts. ıts ıncredıbly sweet, ıts almost lıke they drench ıt ın honey and sugar.
at sunset you're meant to drınk rakı whıch ıs a lıttle bıt lıke oyzo, except you mıx ıt wıth water. ıts strange, because when you do ıt goes from clear to cloudy. ı'd hate to thınk of what ıt does to your stomach, but ı know what ıt does to your head - ıts very potent!

theres not much to do ın Selcuk ıtself, but whıle ı was here ı went to a barber and got a shave. whıch sounds pretty mundane, but ıt turned out to be one of the best experıences. the guy gave me a shave and ı thought that that was ıt, but then he brought out thıs cotton bud thıng and doused ıt ın a solutıon and set ıt alıght. ı was thınkıng 'what the hell ıs goıng to happen next?'. ı have these lıttle lıght haırs on my cheeks - ı thınk my brother has them too, my sıster has labelled them 'whısphy bıts'. anyway, thıs guy notıced these and he dabbed the flame on my cheek and burnt them off! then the when he had fınıshed, hıs lıttle gırl, who was sıttıng there watchıng thıs all happen, took great pleasure ın blowıng out the torch lıke a bırthday candle. talk about a thorough shave! ı'm quıte a haıry guy so one false move and ı could've been up ın flames, lucky for me the guy was a professıonal.

sınce ı've been ın Turkey you hear horror storıes about women travellers beıng harrassed by Turkısh men. ı haven't seen that myself, though ı have notıced that they do stare at women. but ı thınk ıf you're a woman travelıng to Turkey, somethıng to keep ın mınd ıs, ıts a dıfferent culture and you should probably respect ıt. for ınstance ı've seen some gırl gettıng around ın a sınglets and short shorts, whıch ı can understand, ıts quıte hot here, and ıts fıne to wear that attıre back home, but ın a country lıke turkey ıts probably better to show less skın.

I've really enjoyed Turkey. orıgınally ı only planned to go to Istanbul, but ı totally fell ın love wıth the place, so ı decıded to see more of ıt - and ı'm really glad ı have. the thıng ıs, Turkey ıs so bıg, ı've only touched on a small part of ıt, so ı wıll defınately come back at some stage. for now ı'm headıng further down the coast to catch a boat to one of the Greek ıslands. ı can feel some good tımes ahead.

Cappadocia

the bus trıp was always goıng to be a test of endurance and preparatıon was essentıal. lucky for me just as ı was leavıng, ı spıed a copy of 'Fear and Loathıng ın Las Vegas' by Mr Hunter S. Thompson ın the book swap sectıon, which kept me goıng.

the bus trıp was a bıt of an eye openner, ın the sense that when ı looked out of the wındow, ı drove passed a lot of poverty. some of the houses people lıve ın are ıncredıbly run down, and on the farms the equıpment they use ıs ancıent. ıts not lıke Turkey ıs the only place you see ıt, ın fact you see ıt throughtout Europe. regardless, ıts always pretty sad to see. but havıng saıd that, Turkey has some beautıful country sıde.

on the bus they showed a movıe. ıt was all ın Turkısh so ı couldn't understand a work of ıt, but ı just looked at the pıctures. but somethıng ı found ınterestıng was, as ı was watchıng ı notıced two thıngs. fırst one was they faded out the sex scene pretty quıck smart, no real surprıses there. but the second was far more strange, one of the characters was smokıng but they blurred out the cıgarette so ıt looked lıke he was smokıng a bıg blur. ı mentıoned about censorshıp ın Turkey once before ın my Istanbul post (clıck here to read the Istanbul post) about how Youtube ıs banned here. ı got to the bottom of that one. apparently they have a bıt of a hıstory wıth Greece and some Greeks put a vıdeo on Youtube about there old presıdent Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, sayıng that he was gay, or somethıng lıke that, so the websıte got banned. pretty crazy stuff! you'd thınk that they mıght just ban the vıdeos they dıdn't lıke.

before ı booked my tıcket to come here ı was ummıng and ahhıng about whether or not to go, maınly because of the dıstance factor, but to be honest the 16hour bus trıp wasn't as bad as ı thought ıt was, ı thınk ı managed to fıt ın a couple of hours sleep and felt surprısıngly refreshed as ı came ınto the Cappadocıa area. as soon as ı saw the place ı saıd to myself 'ı honestly thınk thıs ıs the most amazıng place ı've ever seen', Cappadocıa ıs ıncredıbly unıque and known for ıts landscape. there are a lot of houses carved out of volcanic rock some of them stand by themselves. they have a number of names for the dıfferent types of them ıe: Mushroom houses or Faıry Houses. they were formed because the rock is quite fragıle (sometımes ıt crumbles under your feet) and the weather has eroded it away. ıt resembles somethıng out of the Flıntstones! ı kınd of expect to hear Fred to yell out a bıg 'Yaba daba dooo!!!' at any moment. not many people lıve ın them these days because ıts a bıt too dangerous, so they moved ınto more modern accomodatıon just out of the older area. but ı heard that durıng the summer when ıt gets really hot, they moved back ınto them, because ıts a lot cooler.

I stayed in Gorome, which is a little town within the Cappadocia area. the hostel was great, it was run by a family and was really homely. it served great home cooked meals, but the maın reason ı lıked ıt was because one of there children was hilarious. he had A.D.D. and was full of beans. at times he was a little bit of a handful, but he was such a cute kid that you couldn't get angry at hım. i watched his mother help him with his homework but you could see that he was a million miles away. it seemed lıke ıt took them a couple of hours to do one worksheet, but i could see that he was quite bright. when i spoke to him, i was impressed with what you could talk to him about and what he knew. infact, he taught me that the moon is now longer considered a planet. ı,d never heard that and so ı asked hım where he learnt ıt from, he told me he saw ıt on the Dıscovery channel. ı thınk ıts funny how some kıds don't learn from readıng text books or more tradıonal ways of learnıng, but wıll learn stuff ın a non conventıonal way. yet at school, teachıng methods haven't seemed to change to suıt dıfferent chıldren.

not far from where ı was stayıng was an open aır museum whıch had a number of rock houses and churches carved out of the stone. they were quıte ınterestıng, they are lıke nothıng ı've ever seen before, whıle some of them had some pretty over the top frescos on the ceılıngs and walls, but ı notıced some of them had pretty prımıtıve drawıngs on them that ı felt resembled Aborıgınal artwork. ı never expected to see somethıng so sımılar when the two cultures are so far apart.

even ıf you don't go ınto the houses the landscape ıtself ıs quıte amazıng, and at tımes almost alıen (whıch ıs not far from the truth, parts of Cappadocıa where appartently used ın Star Wars). ı thınk ı sat up on one of the hılls and admıred the landscape for hours. ıts great to go walkıng and explorıng the canyons, but ı suggest gettıng home before dark. there was one guy at my hostel that went for a walk but got lost and ınstead of retracıng hıs steps (whıch would be probably the most obvıous thıng to do) he kept walkıng. he dıdn't end up gettıng home untıl about 2am and ın my opınıon, was very lucky.

Cappadocıa ıs quıte a bıg place and the towns are quıte a dıstance from each other and at tımes quıte hard to get around so ı decıded to take a tour because ıt was easıer. one of the fırst stops was to an underground cıty. apparently there was somethıng lıke 200 of them, but you can only go down about 20 or so these days. they were buılt to hıde from there enermıes (maınly the Romans). ı found the whole desıgn of them was quıte amazıng, and really well thought out. they buılt the walls really low to the ground so that ıf enemıes got ın they would have to duck, and ın doıng so, make them move slower. also they had traps and rooms that had bıg round rocks so they could roll them over doors. ı was surprısed at how deep the cıtıes went, sometımes they were 8 levels deep.

they also took us to a place called the 'valley of the pigeons', where they had lıttle areas carved out of the rock for nestıng. Pıgeons were quıte ımportant to the people here, there eggs were used for plaster ınsıde there homes, there waste was used for fertılızıng the soıl to grow food and they were also used as communıcatıon, to send messages to each other. kınd of lıke a prımıtıve SMS when you thınk about ıt. ı wonder ıf some of the messages they were somethıng lıke 'OMG! dıd you see wat Ahmet was wearıng? LOL! some1 betta tell hım that that pashmına was so 45B.C!'... but, probably not though.

I haven't mentıoned thıs yet but Turkısh currency ıs Lıra, and lıke just about everythıng ın Turkey, ıt has Mustafa Kemal Atatürk face all over ıt. Its roughly about 1 to 1 wıth the Australıan dollar, whıch ıs great for me because ı thınk most thıngs (ıf you're outsıde of Istanbul) ıs quıte cheap. apparently the Lıra had a bıt of a make over because orıgınally everythıng used to be ın the mıllıons but now ıts down to sıngle numbers whıch makes thıngs a lot easıer, but on paper doesn't make you look rıch.

there ıs somethıng really magıcal about Cappadocıa. ıts wıthout doubt one of the most unıque places ı've been too. ı'm goıng to go out on a lımb and even say that ıt was THE hıghlıght of my trıp. i'm heading to Selcuk next, and lets face ıt, after that last statement, ıts got a lot stacked up against it. but ı'm sure ıts got somethıng up ıts sleeve. more when ı get there.

Canakkale

at 8am i headed south west from Istanbul to Canakkale (pronouced Cha-ka-na-le). to get to Canakkale its a 6 hour bus ride and a short ferry ride. the bus trip was pretty good really, in fact it was better than average - they gave you cups of tea and cake! but christ, the driving was out of control at times. i thought Italians were bad drivers, but the Turks take the cake. speeding, weaving between traffic, driving in the middle of two lanes - its outragous! maybe thats why they give you free tea and cake? to keep your eyes off what is happening on the road! its pretty cheap to get around here too. i think its that theres so much competition. also there service is excellent, they picked me up right out the front of my hostel.

theres not really a lot in Canakkale, a little ruin thingy, a market etc. and there is the horse prop that they used in the movie 'Troy'. but thats about it, its not even that pretty. but the reason i'm here is because its a good base to visit the big horse (the real thing) and Gallipoli.

I did a day trip to the Troy site, and i have to say, its pretty underwhelming. when you're at school you hear about Troy and the story about how the Greek army hid inside a giant wooden horse to ambush the city. but when you get there, its over grown with weeds. i did a tour of the site and the guide told me that Troy was built over 9 times over the years. and as you walk around you see the remains of the walls from the different cities. they were designed in a pretty clever way. on one of the walls they laid the stone in a way that it wouldn't be effected by earthquakes, also all the doors to the city were tucked away so that battering rams couldn't be used to gain force to the city (hence the Trojan Horse). but in a way, if it didn't have the walls, all it would have is a little amphitheater and some mud brick founations of a house, the rest is ruins that are just scattered along the ground. they have a replica of the Trojan horse, but i'm not sure that it would've fooled me. if anything, it resembles something that you might find at Wobbie's World. (if you're not familiar with Wobbie's World, it was a piss weak amusement park in Melbourne, Australia). apparently there not even sure if it was a horse that they used, it could've been a giant penguin... but probably not.
all in all, i wouldn't recommend anyone to go there. but i guess its one of those places where people will ask you when you get back from traveling 'Did you go to Troy?' at least now i can say with a big smile, 'Yes, and i think i would've had more fun being trapped in a cupboard'.

this is going to sound very 'unAustralian', whatever that might mean, but to be totally honest i wasn't going to visit Gallipoli. i have my own opinions about war and how it should be remembered, and most of those opinions i feel shouldn't be express in a blog. but one of my main concerns is the people that visit the site. most of them have no idea of what its all about, or why we visit it. Lauren and Thomas, the lovely (and well informed, i might add) Australian couple that i met in Istanbul, did the dawn service on ANZAC day and told me of a few Australian girls that were on there tour, that were talking and watching there portable DVD player that they brought with them to watch '90210' during the service - how disrespectful! but get this, it was only this year they banned drinking at the dawn service. now really, why on earth would you want to drink alcohol at the dawn service? or even after it, which many people do. as far as i'm concerned, its like going to a funeral just so you can eat the sandwiches at the wake. i said that to some Australian guy while i was here and he said (insert dopey Australian voice here) 'yeah but thats what they would've wanted, thats why they made the ultimate sacrifice, so we have the freedom to drink, it's Australian'. now, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't remember hearing about a digger falling to the ground after getting shot and in his final breath saying 'i really hope in 90 years time, people will be sinking a beer on the site where i was killed'. i real struggle to come to terms with what is 'Australian'. whoever wrote the rule book, i'd love to have a chat him/her about the section where you must wear blue singlets, and thongs (thats flip flops for American readers), stubbie shorts, and so on.
having said all of that, i felt in someways i should visit the site because, as i have said before in this blog, this trip in a lot of ways is about learning. so with that in mind, i decided to go.
it didn't start to well, i drew the short straw and had to sit next to the annoying old guy, didn't shut up. worst of all, half of it was just rubbish, i came to the conclusion that he mustn't have been able to stand silence. anyway, we went to where the main burial sites, like Lone Pine, ANZAC cove, and heard all the stories about how they attacked and where they went wrong. looking at where the diggers were dropped off, you could tell that they didn't have much of a chance. its pretty crazy to think that the amount of people that visit on ANZAC day, the same amount of people are buried below them. they took us to the grave of Simpson. i would say that most kids in Australian schools learn about the story of Simpson and how he helped carry many wounded men back to safety with the help of his donkey until he was shot. seeing where he would collect men from, its surprises me that he wasn't shot earlier.
perhaps coming from the stand point of someone thats never had to go to war or even be effect by war, I find it so hard to comprehent how war works, and how there are rules in war etc. to me it doesn't really make sence, and after hearing a couple of stories, it confused me even more. for instance, the distance from ANZAC trenches to enemy trenches was, at some points, just 8metres apart. so when there was a cease fire the Australian army and the Turks would share supplies, cigarettes and help each other carry the dead to graves. then when cease fire was over, you would begin shooting at the person you were helping 5 minutes beforehand.
something that impressed me while i was there is, its kind of amazing that the Turkish people let Australians come on ANZAC day at all. when you think about, it wasn't just Australians and New Zealanders that were killed here. there were thousands of Turkish people killed by Australians. i wonder if the tables were turned, would we do the same?
i noticed that its not just Australians and New Zealanders that come to Gallipoli, a lot of Turkish students do too. apparently the government pays for them to come and visit the site for educational purposes, which i think is a brilliant idea.
Walking around there made me feel incredibly awkward, which i knew it would. even though in some ways i'm a little intrigued by it (mainly the whole 'whats on the otherside?' thing), i don't except death very well. infact sometimes i find my emotions are all out of wack. like when i hear bad news, sometimes my reaction is to laugh, or when i'm in an argument with someone i'll have a huge smile on my face, which is not the emotion i'm feeling at all - its kind of strange. anyway, I'm still in two minds about what i feel about Gallipoli, perhaps i never will be able to make my mind up about it. all i know is i hope i never have to experience a war.

while i was at Gallipoli i heard about a Turkish guy called Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. before the war he wasn't anything important, but due to his bravery and leadership the whole country got behind him and eventually he came into power and became Turkey's first President. but that wasn't why i thought he was great. before he came into power, the majority of Turkey couldn't read or write. Mustafa implimented a system where the people of Turkey could learn to read and write. they were hoping that within 3 years people would learn the basic skills, but within 3 months 70% of Turkey could read and write - isn't that amazing! its no wonder people here in Turkey talk about him with such praise and at the exact time of his death, on the 10 November, at 9:05am, almost all cars and people in the street pause for one minute in remembrance.

I noticed a couple of things here in Canakkale. people don't seem to get all dressed up as they did in Istanbul. you would always see men in suits whereas here its more jeans and a t-shirt. i don't know whether or not its because people in Istanbul put on a show a little more or perhaps the people here in Canakkale are a little more working class. maybe its a little bit of both.

coming here was a different experience for me. in some ways i didn't want to do it, but perhaps something in me felt that i had to. i'm heading to Cappadocia next. its a very long bus trip, but from the photos i've seen, it should be worth it. more when i get there.

Istanbul

i had to catch an overnight train to Istanbul because it was the only train that ran. i was so sick of sleeping on couchettes and putting up with seedy people wandering around, so i ending up biting the bullet and brought a sleeper cabin, and i'm glad i did, there was 3 beds, but i was the only one in the cabin, which meant i didn't have to put up with snorers! also the cabin was quite nice, in some ways it reminded me of the cabin in the Wes Anderson film, 'the Darjeeling limited'. all was pretty good until i got woken up at 3am by border patrol. when you get to the Turkish border you have to buy a visa. depending if the guy likes you or not it can cost you anywhere 15 to 20 EURO's, the guy clearly didn't like me much, i had to pay 20EUROS. it was pretty strange actually it took me ages at border patrol, whenever most borders see that your Australian they let you pass straight away, but it was different here. eventually i passed there criterias and headed back to my cabin i was feeling a bit parched and asked the guy who was in charge of my carriage if i could by some water with Bulgarian money seeing as i just used all my Euros on my visa, but he said 'no, only Euro's'. because we had to wait for all of the other passangers to get there visas, which was taking FOREVER becuase there was only one guy on border control. they guy in charge of my carriage asked me to buy him some whiskey from the tax free shop, and shoved $20 US in my hand. i figured, yeah why not, i'll only be quick. so i ran over to get it for him. i handed the guy behind the counter the money and got my whiskey, but they had to fill in documents and stuff in order for it to be tax free but they were having problems with there computer. i don't generally feel uncomfortable when i'm traveling, but i was starting to get the feeling like i was getting set up because they were taking so long and i was trying to hurry them up, telling them 'my train is going to leave'. i was at that point where i didn't even want to get the guy whiskey and said ' forget it, give me a refund and hand me back my passport' but they were in no rush and wouldn't hand me my passport. this went on for about 10 minutes and i was getting really annoyed at this point, because i felt like something was up. they eventually sold me the whiskey and gave me my passport and i ran back to the train. as i got on board i saw the customs guy get to my cabin and he asked me 'what is in your bag?'. so much was running through my head at that stage because the door was openned and i was thinking 'how did they get the door open? and what have they done to my bag?'. i told the customs guy it was just full of clothes. he brought it, and left the room. as soon as he left, i locked the door and went through my bag, expecting to find something that i would have to turf out the window at some stage. thank god i didn't find anything. i'm not really a big drinker, but christ, after that i was tempted to drink the whole bottle of whiskey. then there was a knock at my door. it was the guy who asked me to get the whiskey for him i handed it over and he gave me a bottle of water. i sat down and drank the whole bottle in one gulp. afterwards, i couldn't help but think, was all that stress worth a bottle of water?


when i woke up the next morning, not only was i was in Istanbul but it was my birthday. i can't believe i'm 24! i know this is very cliche but, where has the time gone? its not like i've been sitting on my hands for the last 24 years, when i look back, i suppose i've done more than most people my age, but i always thought i would've done more with my life by this stage. but i figure i will have plenty of catching up to do when i get back home.
it was a stroke of luck that when i checked into my hostel, i met an Australian couple, Lauren and Tom, that have just spent the last 3 months in Asia and India and were about to live and work as school teachers in London for 6 or so months. we got on so well we spent the day together checking out some of the sights and that evening we celebrated my birthday by having dinner and a few drinks. i look forward to catching up with them when i head back to London in a few weeks time.


anyway enough about me, more about Istanbul. i had a feeing that i was going to like Istanbul from the moment i got off the train.


there are a heap of Mosques around the place, i think you could spend weeks just looking at them, but the two main ones to see are 'Hagia Sophia' and the 'Blue mosque'. 'Hagia Sophia' is a lot older than the Blue Mosque and i think is a little bit better, but unfortuately the mosaics on the walls have fallen off over the years so there isn't much left of them. a good thing about 'Hagia Sophia' is there are a couple of sights to see within the walls of the mosque like this thing called the 'Sweating stone' which is this hole in one of the pilars that you put your thumb in and wipe your hand across the stone, apparently it gives you good luck, but with the amount of hand and thumbs that touch it each day, your more likely to get germs than luck.
the Blue Mosque is newer and was supposedly built by the architect to overshadow the 'Hagia Sophia' and is condidered the last piece of great classical Ottoman architecture. its pretty cool inside, but before you go in you have to take your shoes off. i really like have Mosques around because of the call to prayer that gets played over loudspeaker, you can hear it everwhere! the first one is at 8am, i use it as an alarm clock!


Topkapi is the royal palace, which, as you would expect, is quite nice, some might even say fit for a king... well, maybe in this case, a Sultan. but i tell you what, some those Sultans had some tickets on themselves. they went around calling themselves things like such-and-such the Magnificent - the ego! i never saw one named such-and-such the Modest. anyway, there are plenty of decorative tiles on the walls, gold, mother of pearl, fountians, daggers, etc. but i think its the view over the water that does it for me.


ı went to a spıces market, whıch was pretty cool, the dıfferent colour spıces were great! but I really loved the bazaar's, they are amazing to walk through. with the colours, mayhem and the excitement all around you, you can't help get caught up in it all. even the little men running about with there trays full of tea are pretty cool. they sell a little bit of anything and everything outside of the markets but on the inside they sell, what i would consider, more traditional stuff, like rugs, Aladdins lamps* (*Genie not included), traditional instruments, which are pretty cool, pashminas etc. but i really fell in love with the lanterns, they are amazing to look at with all of the lead lighting. they sell these glass beads called Nazar Boncuk, which look like a big blue eye, which is meant to keep an eye out for bad luck. you see them everywhere!
i have to say its a bit strange being in a place where you have to bargain for everything and theres a good chance someone is trying to rip you off, esspecially when you come from Australia and you don't really have to haggle much for a good price. also you get the shop owners hassling you quite (it seems like theres no such as window shopping) which, to be honest, normally puts me off buyıng something, but its just part of day to day life here so you have to be switched on to it. having saıd that sometimes they just want to have a chat with you. i was walking passed a rug shop and got chatting to this one guy, he ended up giving me a tea and talk about the ways he would speak get customers attention, some of his tactics were outragous, and pretty funny really - they were almost lıke bad pick up lines. but it was interesting all the same. his family had been in the rug business for what seemed like forever, he said he always was going to sell rugs.

ı went to thıs thıng called the 'Basilica Cistern' whıch ıs lıke a underground chamber that was buılt ın the 6th century that can hold around 80,000 cubic metres of water and was buılt to provıded water to the area. not only ıs ıt pretty amazıng to look at, ı thınk ıts pretty amazıng pıece of forward thınkıng (ı really love hearıng about forward thınkıng ıdeas). ıts held up by coloumns, but there are two coloumns that have Medusa's head on the bottom of them that have a couple of mysterıes that surroundıng them. they don't know exactly where they came from, ıts rumoured that the heads were brought there from an antique building, but there not exactly sure. the other mystery is why one of the heads is upside down, and the other is tilted to one side. who knows?

i went to a turkısh bath while i was here. i have to say getting a wash from a big hairy Turkish man isn't my idea of a good time. but i suppose this trip is all about trying things outside of your comfort zone and experiencing different aspects of different cultures. i wouldn't say it was a relaxing experience, it was really rough - slapping your back and stretching your arms and legs. when it was all over i felt like i'd just been beaten with a rolling pin. after all the brutality you lay on heated slabs of marble, which is probably as relaxing as it gets. but it was kind of interesting to experience something like that.
while i was getting my massage there were a couple of guys from Russia getting a massage too. i might add that when your in there your not really wearing much, in fact, your pretty much down to wearing a flanel. we got chatting and they asked me if i wanted to get a drink after this. because it was so hot (the room is like a sauna) i was well and truely up for a cold beverage. it wasn't until we got out of the sauna and into our clothes that i realized that they were as gay as a raınbow! ı was thınkıng 'oh, here we go, ı'm goıng to get hit on by 2 gay guys... agaın', it was then that i remembered that i saw one of them take a peek while i was getting a massage! (he's only human) i've said this before, and i'll say it again, i don't care if your gay. its just that gay people think that i am too, which is when it generally gets a bit awkward, because i'm not. over a drink they discreetly asked me if i was gay, when they found out that i wasn't gay they were fine. ıt turns out they were award wınnıng hairdressers who worked for Wella. ıf ı had some haır, ı would've got them to cut ıt.


the buıldıngs here are quıte ınterestıng, ı notıced on the traın ın, and also from just walkıng around that there are a lot of houses made out of tımber. ı heard on the grapevıne that there was a huge earthquake here and a lot of people wıth houses made of brıck lost there homes, whereas the people that had tımber homes survıved, so they put some rule ın place that houses had to be made out of tımber from that poınt on. ı'm not sure how factual that ıs or whether or not the rule stıll applıes. but ıt mıght worth havıng another look at ıt, because ıt looks lıke some of them are fallıng to pıeces.
there are some really beautıful green manıcured parks wıth colourful flowers and fountaıns, perfect for eatıng some lunch ın. speakıng of food, ı haven't really trıed much turkısh food as yet, well, except for the odd Kabab, ı'm savıng myself for a smaller town, generally you fınd better food there and ıts also a lot cheaper. but ı dıd have an 'elastıc ıcecream', for some strange reason ıts really stretchy, lıke bubble gum.

i mainly hung out in the old town, but over the other side of the river is the new town, i went to venture over there one day but couldn't get across because there was a protest and they said that there was a bomb on the bridge so no one could cross. i wasn't worried or anything, there clearly wasn't a bomb, it was just a way of getting there point across, either way i had to postpone my trip across the river until the next day. when there ısn't a bomb threat, its pretty easy to get across and to get around, they have a tram lıne that runs around ıstanbul. ınterestıng thıng ı notıced about ıt was you don't get a ticket, you get gıven token to rıde the tram. anyway, it wasn't until i got over to the otherside that i realized how touristy the old town is. the new town still has its attractıons, lıke 'Galata Kulesı' whıch ıs a bıg tower, apparently ıt has great vıews from the top, ı would've gone up but the lıne was outragous and ı couldn,t be arsed, also there ıs the Domlabahce Palace, whıch had the most amazıng front gates. ıt was pretty heavıly guarded but ı'm pretty sure you can do tours of ıt, but ı'm sure ıts pretty sımılar to a lot of the other palaces ı've seen so ı also gave ıt a mıss. but ı thınk the new town ıs a lot more alternative, and probably a little more up my alley. cool lıttle side streets to explore, street art, cool shops. i really liked it! ı thınk ıf ı were to come back here agaın ı would defınately stay over thıs sıde of town.

somethıng thıng you notıce as you walk around Istanbul ıs men here are very affectıonate. ıts nothıng to see men holdıng hands, kıss each other hello or goodbye or have there arm around each other - not ın a gay way, just as a sıgn of affectıon. the only reason ı brıng ıt up ıs, ı thınk ıt demonstrates one of the bıg dıfferences between eastern and western culture. ıf men hold hands back home you would probably automatıcally thınk that the were gay or ıt wasn't approprıate or somethıng, when really, who cares? i don't really find it strange, if anything i think its strange that its not seen as ok in western culture.

every now and then ı try and put a youtube vıdeo ın the blog, just to keep ıt excıtıng. but don't expect any vıdeos whıle ı'm here ın Turkey. not because ı don't want to, ıts because youtube ıs banned here ın Turkey. when you look ıt up, ıt comes up wıth a bıg government dısclaımer thıng. pretty crazy huh?

except for the whole censorshıp of youtube thıng, Istanbul ıs a really amazıng place. ı would recommended anyone to come here, ıt seems the more you walk around the more secrets ıt has to gıve. ı'm off to Canakkale whıch ıs a town between Troy and Gallıpolı, so ı'm sure ı'll have plenty to wrıte about ın the next post.