What a little day. Nessie and I took a tour with a tour agency called Yama tours so that we could explore the Illahra Valley. We customed designed part of the tour so that we could get to hike the whole valley insted of the 3 km that you do with the group. Our guide packed our lunch so that we could take it with us. I think we ended up hiking a total of about 12 km. We were both exhausted by the end of the day and I am not ridiculously sunburnt. I was wearing 30 but managed to completely miss my traps which are now as red as a cooked lobster. Nessie with her glowing olive Italian skin is obviously fine... I will be wearing a parka for the next couple of days ... read more

Ness and I arrived in Ankara today and we are currently visiting an internet cafe that is playing some bumpın musıc...serıously ıts lıke a club ın here. Ankara ıs a bıg cıty that comes along wıth all the other joys of a bıg cıty...lots of people, loud noıses and STARBUCKS! I never thought a starbucks could be so comfortıng. An Amerıcano ın Turkey from Sbux tastes just lıke home. Its amazıng. Today we went to the Museum of Anotalıan Cıvılısatıons whıch was very ınterestıng. Its crazy to thınk of everythıng that happened on thıs land. Nessıe and I were mostly ımpressed by the golden Roman leaf crowns. We both wanted one but realısed that our heads are way too fat to fıt. Our second favourıte part of the museum were all the jewels that have been ... read more

Hello hello, Just a quick note tonight. Nessie and I are about to book our hostel for Safranbolu. This morning we had another glorious breakfast and made our way by tram and bus to Chora Church. This is a very old church that wwas converted to a mosque at some point throughout history. Plaster was put over all the murals and all the gold was torn off the walls. Years later, it was converted back into a church and the murals were preserved. It is still very interesting to see. In the afternoon we went to the grand bazaar and the spice bazaar. Very fun. Alright love all of you, and I will write more once we get to Safranbolu. Same distance as Manitoulin. FUN FUN! Love Poke/Nicole xoxoxo... read more

Hi All, Just thought that I would post a quick note to let everyone know that I made it here okay. My flight was largely uneventful with lots of food on the plane. I had a special meal (it's always better and you get it first, which is a bonus). Istanbul is really cool. Not as traditional Muslim as I thought it would be. This has to be by far the most liberal part of the middle East. Five times a day there is the call to prayer, which is basically an annoucement that comes on from all the speakers everywhere for people to pray. I'm taking sleeping aids tonight so I can avoid be woken by the 4am one. We went out for dinner with nessie's parents tonight. The food was really good. I had ... read more

One last thing... I am REALLY REALLY REALLY far away from the jungle area where the government has declared an 'emergency state' because aboriginal groups are protesting. Aboriginal groups are simply blocking highways and oil and natural gas installations in protest of laws that facilitate the sale of their lands. Sounds reasonable to me. Seriously though, not to worry I am about a 4 hour flight with an additional 28 hours bus ride away. xo ... read more