Well I have already been told, mentıonıng no names, to ınclude more about rakı ın my blogs and less about mosques (or well culture ın general). Thıs ıs dıffıcult, because as yet, I have drunk none... I know I know... ıt really does have to be done. Doesn't beer count? Thınkıng of beer, as I do, and wıll thınk about ıt even more am sure ın Iran... I dıd go to an excellent bar called Bar Pasıfıc on Sofyalı Sokak ın Asmalımescıt near Tunel... round the corner from my hotel and on a very funky street full of restaurants and bars.... [View Full Entry]

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Carmen San Diego would be proud. Now who were the Mole People, really? I mean I know thats a term thrown around in conversation usually jokingly, but I actually have no idea who they really were. e.g. "What happened to Jerry, man? Ever since he started dating Sally, he's been MIA." "Yeah dude, he's turned into one of the Mole People... or something." A quick visit to Wiki yields that "Mole People is a term used to refer to the possibility that an unknown number of homeless people live under New York City in abandoned subway tunnels." Well. I have found [View Full Entry]

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The sun ıs goıng down over the Galatsaray square just off Istlıkal Cad, one of the maın streets ın Beyoglu. Four floors down the pedestrıan street ıs heavıng wıth shoppers, walkers and those performıng the Istanbullu equıvalent of the passegıata. It ıs all very cıvılızed, gıve or take the odd antıque tram that you have to jump out of the way of. The road used to be called the Grand rue de Pera, and has gone through many permutatıons through the centurıes... Pera ıs where the Western or Frankısh merchants and ambassadors used to lıve schemıng and gazıng out at the [View Full Entry]

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Eindelijk zitten we dan in ons eigen huisje!!! Foto's volgen nog. Met internet. Wat nogal wat voeten in de aarde heeft gehad. Maar goed heb van Erik-Jan en bernice (ex collega's) begrepen dat ik me niet zo druk moest maken. Ik heb met pijn in mijn hart afscheid moeten nemen van de Imam. Toch 3 weken 5x per dag naar moeten luisteren en ben heel veel wijzer geworden hier in het oosten. Ook ga ik een programmavoorstel indienen hier bij de TRT een soort Idols voor Imams. Er zit toch verschil in de Imam hier in Bitez is rustig vergeleken bij [View Full Entry]

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First full day back in Turkey. After settling into the hotel, I head to the Post Office to send off a couple of post-cards. I join a queue, when the old man behind the counter screams at me "HAVE A SEAT!!!" 'Shit' I think, Erzurum is not gonna be a friendly place. When my turn comes, I go up to the counter and buy two stamps. The old guy screams "WHERE FROM?" After replying, and sticking the stamps to the post-cards, the guy screams again, only louder...."DRINKING TEA?" "Eh, ok thank you".... "HAVE A SEAT!!!" He sends a young guy off [View Full Entry]

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Pamukkale is a three-hour drive from Selcuk, the majority of which I sleep right through. I’m not actually sure if the little town with nothing to do at the bottom of the mountains is Pamakkule, or if the actual attraction is called Pamakkule, but honestly I can’t be bothered right now. I start the walk up towards the calcium pools with a stroll (or sweaty hike in the blazing sun) through Heiropolis and its necropolis. OK the ruins are not impressive after what I saw yesterday at Ephesus, but the scenery was nice. Very Little House on the Prairie, except well [View Full Entry]

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Olympos and Goreme We are continuing our way through Turkey on the way to Syria on our big yellow truck. We had a quick 2 night stay at the Roman runis of Olympos. The ruins themsleves are okay but we were probably more excited about going to the beach, unfortunately it was a rocky beach of which can prove to be difficult to get in and out of the water. We took the opportunity to relax and unwind - travelling can be hard work! I sometimes do not think that everyone relises how tough it can be spending every day visiting [View Full Entry]

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6/6/2008 Breakfast meeting, School for hearing impaired, Military Museum After a late night we had our earliest morning yet: a breakfast club that met at 7:30AM. That is the meeting started at 7:30 so we had to be there earlier. Selda (the Turkish GSE team leader) is a member and past president of this club. She is a lot of fun so we didn’t mind getting up early. After the meeting we headed to the Asian side to visit a school for hearing impaired/deaf children. We were greeted with warm smiles and children saying “hello” when we arrived. They were eager [View Full Entry]

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Which of the following would you rather be: King, Prime Minister, Prince, President, Emperor, Chief, Pharaoh, or Sultan? ‘King’ would be cool, but don’t you think a little overplayed? And too many people have the tainted and failed the crown already. ‘Primer Minister’, that just sounds toolish. Poor Monaco, ‘Prince’ is a total rip-off. ‘President’ could be fun but it seems a bit too business-like, no? ‘Chief’ reminds me of fat policemen and I think endless donuts would lead to diabetes. ‘Pharaoh’ comes in close I reckon, I quite like the idea of being buried forever with mounds of treasure, if [View Full Entry]

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I was very happy to see Hasan's parents, Verzıre and Hüseyın at Istanbul aırport. I stayed wıth them for 5 nıghts and was made to feel very welcome ın theır home. They are so frıendly and kınd and although we may have struggled at tımes, as I don't speak Turkısh, we had a lot of fun. Vezıre ıs an amazıng cook and I sampled many tradtıtıonal Turkısh meals ıncludıng; Mantı (tradıtıonal Cental Asıan homemade ravıolı drenched ın yoghurt and spıce-reddened oıl), Gözeme (crépe lıke delıcacy fılled wıth spınach and cheese), Ayron (watered-down yoghurt), Sımıt bread, Turkısh breakfast, Turkısh coffee whıch ıs [View Full Entry]

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