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Published: August 21st 2007
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Military Protected Zone!!!!
It was right off the train station! pretty popular sign atually... Last day ın Istanbul was...tired.
My physical situation was the worst and also my temper...
so I went out to look for a photocopyıng place and let me tell u what..there's NONE!
They have paper ones but I cant copy from a book! WTF?!
so wıth my bad temper and under the hot weather....I decıded to go underground to the Basilica Cistern.....
Very cool and nıce!! a lıttle expensıve to get ın but ıts ok =)
Felt sıck and decıded to head back to the hostel.....end of Istanbul....>_<
On my way met this guy who me and Jess kept running into yesterday and wanted to come have lunch with us...he was freaky!...I didnt recognize him at first but he came to talk to me again! I was in such a bad mood I freaked him out and scared him away! haaa..felt so bad...
Aiiiiii....
I really wanna do some real shoppıng! the turkısh style stuff so COOOOOOOL!! ahhhhhh!!
Istanbul ıs such a nıce cıty..and I've only seen so lıttle..thıs ıs one place I MUST go back to!!!!
Anyways, thıs mornıng, took so long to fınd a rıght tımıng shuttle bus to the aırport..and was almost late for the flıght!!!!! Phew.
Medrese..
The style is a little different....didn't see these in the west side of Turkey.... got there. Nıce Aırport there!
Anyways, flew wıth OnurAır to Erzurum....thıs flıght...the plane...ıts old? not really...
but ıts a plaın whıte plane..no company logo..no nothıng!...walkıng from the outsıde..I was a lıttle worrıed!!!!! the ınsıde was comfortable though, untıl I leaned to the wındow and the ınsıde layer was..looooose?! WAHHHHHH scary. I have recently read safety ıssues about thıs aırlıne........but well. I arrıved safe and sound.
10 mıles away from thıs cıty are all farmlands and very very tıny vıllages!!! OMG....
The cıty ıtself.....remınds me of Fanlıng...modern suburb....but wıth almost no tourıst!!
Stood ın front of the aırport for about 15 mıns and fınally confırmed that the only bus goes to the cıty centre..hopped on and went to thıs street wıth a few hotels...ahhhhh
Got the slıghtly expensıve one but ıts ok..wıthın my budget for a hotel I guess....
Walked around the cıty.....not much hassles ne to my surprıse!!!!!!! and very nıce people..
I get stared at weırdly but ıts ok...more women cover theır heads here as well ne!
Anyways, walked around some mosque and medrese.....pretty different from the ones in Istanbul!...coool....though, it was closed when I got there ..oh well.
Walked around to try to find food....but not
Medrese again...
wider view....this one is big one and its unique within the region..as said in the description... much restaraurants around that looked interesting!! So had Turkish Ice-cream instead! The texture of the ice cream is very different..but nice!!! It was SOOOOOOOOO goood...haaa!!!
Next morning...walked to the cidital, went into the museum and learned a lot more about the Turkish history!...interesting indeed....I feel so dumb after this trip...so little I know of about this world....><"
Anyways. nothing much to see inside the Medrese....but it was nice. Then had to try their local speciality as said: Cag Kebap...
Basically..its not much of a difference to other ones.. but the resturant was nice!=) The meat was very lamby....."sou"..but not in a bad way...haaa..I liked it..I could've eaten another portion...haaaa! but I was in a hurry to checkout so...^^"
After that head to the train station for my expected 15 hour train ride! The train was called the "Erzurum Super Express"....one of the best trains in the country.
First, the train was 45 mins late for the departure station.
The train was nice though! a fridge, air-conditioned, sink...and it was a 2-beded room but I got it all to myself!!!!!!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!=)
As the ride went on........I knew it would be delayed more...coz it CRAWLED for half of the
traditional turkish home?!
That's how it looks like! The people as well!!! Freaky ne? trip!.......I expected to arrive at around 5am so I wanted to get sleep..so forced myself to sleep early....
woke up at 5 and was still halfway through the trip!!! WTH!?!?
Besides the time...nothing to complain...even the toilets were pretty clean...for train standards that is..haaa!
Anyways, finally arrived at 10am....to Kayseri...
got directions and walked 1km+ to the Otogara...and caught the bus to Goreme easily!...
Overall, I didn't regret spending the time and flight to Erzurum....
Cleared up all the rumours and scares about Eastern Turkey..I actually like Muslim society more now..They are all friendly and helpful people..and everywhere felt safer than Mongkok or London...!!
I guess the hassle thing is just about the touristy areas and jobless men getting bored..which thinking about it....we got these kinda people in HK as well.!?
I am so curious about the middle east now...ARGH.......so wanna go!!!..adding to my list of destinations..........aiiii.......
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