On my walk from Bursa to Balikesir I was passing by a spring of sorts (they're all over the place) when an old villager invited me to sit down with him and proceeded to ask the usual questions. He couldn't get over the fact that I was walking such a distance "for fun", and asked me if I was an anarchist. Such was my state of mind at the time that I nearly replied "no, but I do have sympathies", which would likely have earned me a solid beating as I would be seen as a troublemaker. I guess the image [View Full Entry]

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Last saturday I got the notion in my head that I'd like to do some walking... Bursa is cool and all but the constant stares and "hello"s one gets in a city get old real fast. After some quick consulting with my rudimentary map I decided that Balikesir would be a decent target: roughly 150km -- not too near and not too far. I had left most of my heavy gear (including walking shoes, socks and warm clothes) back in Istanbul and admittedly had too much useless gear with me (4 books!), but I figured I'd give things a shot and [View Full Entry]

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Here's something I find useful to meditate on when I'm feeling restless or pissed off: Dwell on uncomplicated beauty: A landscape; The sun on your face. Nothing touches you. Keep the image of your death Cheerfully before you at all times. Gain perspective. Seek to clarify and comfort, Never to obscure or mystify. Your aspirations are pointless; Your ambitions can do nothing. [View Full Entry]

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Bursa... It's changed somewhat since I went to school here back in '95: it's mostly gotten more crowded, but it's still teeming with charm. Six of my classmates got together on this past sunday to visit the school again; I invited myself to stay over, and I stayed in my old room with the new crowd for 3 days. It's hard to believe these guys are 9 years younger than me; I guess I'm getting old. The city has its back to a mountain so if you're willing to walk about 30 minutes uphill from the city center you find yourself [View Full Entry]

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I think I've always had the romantic ideal of "leaving it all" and "seeing the world". At the beginning of 2004 my hitherto complicated life (work, family, girlfriend) suddenly got simplified and I found myself face to face with the first (and possibly last) chance to make the dream come true. After some haggling with my boss I obtained a year's unpaid leave of absence, which combined with roughly 2 months of accumulated vacation gives me 14 months to travel. In the weeks leading up to my departure I moved out of (and cleaned) my place, said my goodbyes to my [View Full Entry]

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