one week countdown

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Today Nessie and I took the bus from our hotel in Pammukale to Selchuk which is where you stay to go and see the ruins at Ephesus. We had a good little bus ride and listened to a podcast we have been listening to on all our bus rides...Ricky Gervais. He's the guy who writes the original British version of The Office and his podcasts are absolutely hysterical. Not sure if you've heard about them, but they have this guy who is on the podcast named Carl Pilckington who is totally ridiculous. They spend most of the podcasts making fun of Carl's outlook on life and how absurdly stupid he is. We always get glances from other passengers as we are laughing to tears in unison. It makes the time go by quickly, especially because it takes 4 hours to travel 200 kilometers because the bus drivers drive so slowly.

We had spent just enough time in Pammukale. We saw the Travertines which are these massive white mountains with calcium deposits. It looks as though there is snow on the mountains and there are fresh water springs that run down. We have some mind boggling photos that I will post later. By far the best memory from Pammukale occured last night... After dinner, Nessie and I were walking back to the hostel sucking on a couple of suckers we picked up at the corner store. We passed by a dumpster that Nessie walked towards to throw our wrappers away. As soon as the wrapper left her hand something flew out of the dumpster towards us. We both shrieked like school girls. At dirty dumpster cat had been feasting on garbage in the dumpster and jumped out at us. Turkey is filled with dirty dumpster cats that are missing eyes and have patchy hair. My heart almost jumped out of my chest at the sight of that cat...I took a picture of it so I can commemorate later.

Anyways, we made it here to Selçuk (pronounced Selchuk) where we literally were accosted by people who wanted us to stay at their hostels. Thankfully we already had something booked but I was pretty close to just telling people where to go. Travelling makes your patience run pretty thin, especially when people are asking you so many questions. Today, when Nessie made an urgent run to the washroom right after we got off the bus, one man was particularly persistent with his questions. He was telling me about the hostel he worked for and I politely told him we already had reservations. He asked me where and when I refused to tell him, he said "how do you know your reservation isn't at my hostel?". I told him I had glanced at his pamflet and I knew FOR SURE it wasn't the place I was going to and then asked him to kindly leave me alone. When he persisted, I simply said I had no idea where I was going and how no reservations. I think he got tired and went away.

Our hostel is really nice and has a pool, similar to the last hostel. It's been so hot that we have made a pool a serious priority when making our bookings, especially since we have less than a week left in Turkey!!! (I can hardly believe it).

In the afternoon we headed into a market area to explore. We bought food to make a picnic lunch and ate in a park near the Basilica of St. John (where St. John the apostel is buried...I know, pretty crazy). After that, we checked out the Ephesus museum just so we could have some context for when we go to see the ruins tomorrow. I can't believe how many ancient ruins I have seen on this trip. I think Turkey must have more UNESCO world heritage sites than any other country in the world (mainly because so many different groups have fought over the land). Ephesus is supposed to be the most impressive of all the ruins, so I'm really excited to see it tomorrow.

Another highlight this week have been my malaria dreams. One of the side effects of the anti-malaria medication I had to start taking for South East Asia is vivid dreams. I write them all down as soon as I wake up so that Nessie and I can have a good laugh. Last night I dreamt that my new niece was born and that Janee and Jonathan named her Marjem (pronounced Mar-J'aime....apparently it's french). In my dream I thought this was a brilliant and beautiful name. I also dreamt that I went skiing in the Bronte Sobeys parking lot with Mary, Keith, Ethan and Keely. All of these are the closest to real life I have ever dreamt in my life, I feel like I'm getting a small taste of what it might be like to take LCD.

It's the one week countdown until I meet Adam in Thailand. We've been having gmail chat dates every couple of days. He's still enjoying his solo time. I'm sure my arrival will be a (pleasant) adjustment.

More soon.

Love love love,

Nicole/Poke

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