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Published: April 28th 2010
Istanbul
Istanbul. Well, what can I really say about this place that hasn’t already been said? On a personal note, I didn’t really like Istanbul though I can’t quite put a finger on why this is. Maybe it’s the constant harassment from all the shop keepers? At times they seemed somewhat threatening. That can get quite tiresome, even if you ignore them. Some get quite pushy too!
Anyway, we were staying at the Orient Hostel. At first glance it seemed quite nice but the room, a 4 bed dorm, was too tiny for 4 people and the sockets just hanging from the wall made you somewhat wary. Especially when you have a large World plug adaptor hanging from it!!
We did the usual touristy thing of visiting the impressive Blue mosque and other sites. Being an open-minded sort of chap I went into the mosque and was impressed by the size and the feeling you get whilst inside. I imagine it would be a nice place to sit alone and contemplate…..no chance of that tho as it was teeming with others. Bloody tourists!!! lol
Waterpipes were the next thing to try and try we did…..several times!! At
times it felt as though we were in some kind of crack den. But the best time was when we went drinking then headed back to the hostel to continue drinking which we did eventually going to bed at 6am, just as the sun was rising! Ah that was a good night for so many reasons.
I did enjoy Istanbul but it wouldn’t be on my list of must visit places.
Europe
So that’s it. The European stage is now complete as we get ready to cross the bridge into Europe. But, slightly weirdly once we’ve crossed the bridge we’ll still be in Turkey but we’ll be on the Asian continent for the start of the Asian journey. Here I’m sure we’ll
Since leaving the UK one of the biggest things to I’ve noticed is that nearly all the countries I’ve visited so far allow smoking indoors. I’d forgotten how bad this can make you and your clothes smell and how it affects your throat! Literally everywhere and everyone smokes! Sad times.
Turkey (Asia)
Crossing the river and into Asia we start to notice changes during the 10 hr drive through this beautiful
mountainous region. You see more and more women covered up and the number of part finished buildings is astounding. Its as if BodgeIt And Scarper LTD have been doing the building work. And as for the roads…….someone should tell those pikeys that Knock on our doors to visit as they’d have plenty of work!!! The roads were so bad the minibus that we're travelling in loses a Wheel on the attached trailer leaving the driver to go and rescue it from the river. To top it all off its snowing heavily and very very Fogg!! Still, all in a days work!
Goreme (Cappadocia) 28 Feb 2010
Now, Cappadocia is somewhere that I was really looking forward to visiting. Id seen and read about this place and driving down into Goreme I wasn’t disappointed! The place is breathtaking and the rock formations are almost spooky, especially at night! Plus we witnessed a quite fabulous sunset as we entered Goreme.
The hotel was great too, even if they were still renovating, living for a couple of nights in caves was fantastic. So off for a wander to take some night shots of this spooky lunar landscape the head for
a meal in a local restaurant. Great food and still on the beer!! But an early night was required as we had to be up early for the balloon flight!!
1 march 2010
And so here we are, up at stupid o’clock and onto a minibus for the short journey to the balloon company offices and then onto the launch pad (read field). Then its Up, up and awayayay in my beautiful my beautiful ballooooooooooon!! My first ever balloon ride and what a fantastic place to lose your balloon virginité! It was absolutely fanbloodytastic! A multitude of balloons, stunning scenery and the early morning mist that we flew into. The pilot expertly controlled this floating airbag close to the rocks then skyrocketed upwards and above the clouds where we watched other balloons burst th rough the clouds. It was awesome! Then, an hour later it was over, but left you feeling ecstatic. A bit like sex but without the mess!!
Upon returning to our quarters a few of us header out to find some bikes. Yep, the fun wasn’t over and we bagged ourselves some quad bikes and header into the same landscape wed just flown over, trying
to lose control and playing silly buggers over the rugged, dusty roads of Goreme and to some simply stunning vie points were you could see for miles and miles. Sadly, tolards the end of the ride my belly was doing somersaults and it wasn’t from the views. Yep, the dreaded dodgy tum came along and I had to use every trick in the book to keep my butt cheeks firmly together. We ditched the bikes and Liam and I started the brisk walk back to our room when the cramps got worse.
‘Im gonna try and run mate‘, says I breaking into a gentle jog. Not more than 10 steps are taken as I realise that running isn’t an option (ever tried running and keeping ur ass cheeks together? Liam kindly runs ahead for me to make sure the toilet is empty, the door unlocked and ready for action. I arrive just in time to witness Liam pissing himself laughing at my expense!! Into the loo I go and…………ill leave the rest to your imagination!! Lol
A little later some of us head up to a view point for the Sunset but the view was cloudy and you
could barely see the sun, so we headed back to the hotel.
Erzican
On our way to the border we stop at a couple of small towns with little or nothing to talk about. First stop was Erzican. Went for a wander in the streets but there wasn’t much there and we were the source of much intrigue and amusement. Plus, it was still quite cold!!
The next stop is Dogubayazit and went for a meal in a local kind of fast food/restaurant, which was amusing as we had no idea what was on the menu, so we had to guess. A kind of eeney meeney miney mo game ensued as we chose our meals. Actually it turned out no too bad afterall. But other than that and the odd child (odd as in the number, not ‘cos he was some kind of freakish wierdo) that tried to sell us tissue there was little else to do or talk about in Doggybiscuit.
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AmandaL
Amanda Lents
:) Good to read all the fun times you're having. We'll keep a tally on our travel bathroom stories- though since your trip is longer than mine by 6 months I'm guessing you'll win!