Oasis, Days 6-10

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Thursday 28th April 2011 - Day 6 Oasis

We were up early setting sail for a place called Pamukkale. it was a short truck drive, only about 4 hours. We were camping in the ground of a hotel which was cool as it had a pool, restaurant and seating area which we were allowed to use. They even opened up one of the rooms so we could use it for the toilet and shower - I was looking forward to a nice hot shower! I hung up my washing that did not dry at Attila's but noticed two items missing, a black cardie and some black tights which I released I had left hanging over the railing at Attila's, damn it!! Jess and I went off to explore and find somewhere to have lunch. As we were walking up the road the cutest tiniest puppy came running out. I am a total sucker for little puppies so I had to stop and play with it, as I did at the Boomerang Bar. I think the owner thought I might take off with it at one stage - I was very tempted! We found a nice place for lunch just at the top of the road which had a great view of the Calcium Hills which was the reason we stopped in Pamukkale. The calcium looked like snow. After lunch I headed back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of my cook group to buy stuff for breakfast. They were heading up the calcium hills so me and Jess went shopping on our own instead. Pamukkale was a very small town and the shops had limited selection so we ended up with bread and jam - not that exciting but the best we could do with what we had to work with. After the shopping was done Jess and I headed up the calcium hills. We had to take our shoes off to walk on it, it was rather odd, it looked slippery as there was a constant flow of water coming down the mountain but it wasn't slippery at all. I have never seen or heard of anything like it, it was very cool. Some of the girls had only made it half way up the hill, instead opting to strip off and sit in one of the pools - there were a lot of people in their togs having a swim - it was meant to be very good for your skin. At the top I put my shoes back on and explored more ancient ruins that were spread out over the mountain. We met a few of the others so wondered around with them. We were going to head further up the hill to see the amphitheatre but the thunder started clapping and the rain looked certain. Given our washing was still hanging up and our tent wide open, Jess and I opted to head down and try to beat the rain. We made it in time but the rain did come down in drones. Dinner was for us to sort out, some went to restaurants around town but I opted to have the buffet at the restaurant with Jess, Andy, Simon, Amanda and Gav. The buffet was actually really good and had a good selection of food - I had 3 plates full :-) After dinner a belly dancer came out as entertainment. She looked more like a hooker than a belly dancer and danced like one too. She got a few of the older people in the restaurant up to try their hand and then of course Simon got up to have a turn. It was hilarious! He spent more time googling at the belly dancer/hooker than actually trying to dance - we got a few pretty fun photos! The rest of us just sat back and enjoyed the show. We all then went down to the lounge area where the others were sitting smoking Shisha. I had my first apple tea which the hotel gave away for free which was cool. This strange guy who was dressed like a genie randomly plonked himself into the middle of the circle. He talked a load of rubbish and didn't seem all there, we think maybe he had been smoking something a little stronger than Shisha!! Eventually his wife/girlfriend dragged him away. A few of us left the lounge area and went to hang out in the room that had been opened up for us - there was a tv and 5 beds in there so we just sat and chatted away for a while. The beds were so comfy after tenting for a few days that I fell asleep for a while but sadly had to retire to my tent as we had not actually paid to sleep in the beds :-(

Friday 29th April 2011 - Day 7 Oasis

Given that I was on cook group and had to sort breakfast I was up, showered, packed and at the truck by 6:30am! Breakfast was a little bit of mission as Dave was not awake so we didn't have keys to unlock all the cooking stuff so we had to wake Di up to get her keys (she and Andy had a backup set). I also had a mission trying to get our orange juice out of the reception fridge as there was no one in sight. I had to go into the kitchen and ask someone and in the end they couldn't find the manager so they just unscrewed the hinges off the fridge so I could get them out. We were on the road by 8am and headed to Olu Deniz, a beach style destination called Sugar Beach. A quick stop for lunch and stock up on food and beers and were there - me and Jess having our first truck beer of the trip! We were left to our own devices to pitch the tents and hang out for the arvo so me and Jess had a picnic on the beach joined by some of the others then we played Frisbee and the guys had a quick game of football. At 7pm we all walked into town where we had dinner and a night of bowling. It was the strangest place to have a little bowling ally but loads of fun. We took up the entire ally which only had 5 or 6 lanes. We split into groups - me, Jess, Simon and Andy and the fun began! It was hilarious to see everyone bowling and the silly celebration dances when people got strikes. I won our game, to my surprise with a score of 123, the second highest of everyone, Ben beating me. It was then decided that the winners of each lane would play a champion game so me, Ben, Bonnie, Nathan and Ted squared off. By the time we got underway we had a few more beers than the first round so we were all a lot worse, I seemed to get worse and worse every time I got up to bowl, in the end of finished a sad 3rd equal with Bonnie with a score of 80! Nathan was second and Ben won. Dave game him a champion medal and pop also got a medal for being the most entertaining with his celebration dancing. We all headed off into town to continue the party. Some didn't like the first bar we went to so they went back to camp. Jess and I didn't really like it either but we just went down the road to another one. We liked their music so we danced away out the front for a bit until the owner offered us a free cocktail to come in to the bar, which we of course obliged. After a while of our usual crazy dancing we went back to the bar where the others were and spent the rest of the night there, still dancing like a bunch of muppets but so was everyone else so we didn't stand out too much this time. We partied to the wee hours, I think finally leaving about 2am. When we got back to the camp there were some that were up sitting around a camp fire that another tour group had been setting up earlier in the day to cook a lamb on the spit.

Saturday 30th April 2011 - Day 8 Oasis

We got to sleep in this morning as we were spending the day on a boat that did not leave until 11am. After breakfast Jess and I wondered into town so that I could buy myself some Jandals as my previous pair broke just before I left London. I found a great purple and green pair for 10 TL. We saw the rest of the crew on the beach walking down to the boat so we joined them. Volkan 4 was our boat for the day. It was quite a big one, two stories with a big open area on the top that had lounger cushions spread out for us to use. We stopped off at bays throughout the day to swim and look around and then we were served lunch on the boat - I opted for meatballs which were more like meat sticks but given the whole day trip cost only 15TL and the lunch included pasta, bread and salad it was not too shabby. On the way back there were some turkish women that got up and did some traditional dancing. They were passengers rather than part of the trip which made it even more fun. They got some of the others up to dance and try their finger clicking things they used for instruments - Jess got up and had a bit of a go. I got some funny photos but opted to be photographer rather than dancer. I slept most of the way back to the beach. We got back at 5:30pm but it was still very light and warm so I wondered around town for a bit looking at shops and for an exchange place. I passed a sports bar called Henry's that had a sign advertising the Chelsea vs Tottinham football game so me and Jess decoded to go watch that after dinner. We told a few people during dinner and ended up with a good group of us - Nev, Dave, Jess, Emma, Nathan, Amin, Ben and Pop. We had missed the first half but made it in time to see the full second half which was the most important as Chelsea scored again in the 85th minute to win the game. I did a little bit of a victory jump and dance in the middle of the pub to the amusement of everyone. We went back to the camp and proceeded to play on the children's playground for a bit, as you do. I even tried my hand on one of the little trike bikes but sadly I was a little too big for it. Me, Emma, Simon, Ben and Pop then sat around the bonfire, finding wood wherever we could to keep it stoked drinking beers and having a bit of a sign song. Some of the others campers and workers joined us for a bit. I retired about 2am.

Sunday 1st May 2011 - Day 9 Oasis

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!! I woke to my alarm at 6am in order to wake Pop up as we had made a bet the night before around the bonfire - 5TL to the one who woke the other up first. Luckily his tent buddy Di was up so she let me in so I could shake him awake. As soon as he realised it was me I shouted "I won" and then promptly went to my tent to go back to sleep for an hour. We were packed up and on the road again by 8:30am. It turns after I went to bed the night before the signing got louder and worse as it woke up most of our group and also some of the other campers. I must have been exhausted as I didn't hear a thing! Apparently one of the older ladies on another tour commented that "Bon Jovi had been ruined for her forever" ha, so funny! Ben copped a lot of the abuse from the crew as he was the loudest and no one could hear the rest of them. We stopped for lunch at a cute little town called Kas. When we got back on the truck I grabbed a spot on the beach so that I could have a bit of a nap and stayed there for the remaining time to Olympus. We were staying at The Saban Tree House and true to its name the rooms were actually tree houses which were so cool. Each was set up with a mattress, pillow and blanket which was heaven for everyone after days of camping. They even had proper lights and plugs so we could charge phones, cameras etc... The beach was only a short walk away. We had a meeting later on about the situation in Syria which during our trip had only got worse. The FCO had upgraded their warning to "do not travel" instead of "only essential travel" which effectively ruled us out from going through there to the disappointment of everyone. Dave had been back and forth discussing the situation with the office and their alternative option which they believed to be the best and cheapest was to return on the truck to Istanbul and then fly from there to Amman in Jordan where we would continue the trip at a cost of around 210 pounds. Everyone then began contacting their insurance companies to see if it would be covered under their policies. Ben and Karli had the same policy as me and were waiting to hear back so I figured I would just wait to see what they came back with. At the end of the day I had put aside money for Syria so if my insurance did not cover it I wouldn't really be out of pocket too much. Jess and I started to look at alternative options as we did not fancy travelling all the way back to Istanbul via the same route. There was talk of going to Lebanon for the same time that the others were travelling back as we were planning on going there for a day anyway if we went through Syria. Our initial look came up with not much so we just left it and decided to have another proper look later. We were treated to a 2 course full buffet dinner which was amazing, so much great food. After dinner we set off on a hike to see the Chimaera Flames - flames that came out of the rock due to a natural gas release. It was meant to take about 4 hours. The walk there was fine albeit a little tiring but it was the 15 minute uphill climbing of stairs that almost killed me - exercise not exactly being my fortay. When we got to the top lots of different flames shot from the rocks. They were not as impressive as I hoped but still very cool. They were hot like a normal open fire so we sat by a few taking some photos and had a bit of a rest. The walk down and back was a little hard as I had sore feet and the making of some blisters from my shoes that I hadn't worn that often. It was a good bit of exercise though and great way to burn off the huge dinner we ate. We got back about 1am. A few people who had not done the walk were still up chatting away but the rest who had done it were in beds which is exactly where I was headed.

Monday 2nd May 2011 - Day 10 Oasis

Today was meant to be a sleep in day as breakfast was being served any time from 8-11am but I couldn't sleep in and wanted to get in for a shower. I had a great breakfast and relaxed under the pergola for a bit. Nev was relaying the news to us about the death of Osama Bin Laden which initially I didn't believe. When I realised what the time was back home in NZ and that I might be able to skype. Both Toni and Nikki took me up on my skype date offer and it was so good to see and talk to them esp seeing Capri and Truth as well. We talked for a good hour with others also taking advantage of the down time and free internet access. Jess and I then sat down to discuss the Syria drama and what we intended to do. We had another look at flights and found a few suitable choices but decided to wait to speak to Andy who we thought had found a couple of cheap flights. We spent the day relaxing on the beach playing frisbee and cricket and even saw a turtle up in the grass. for lunch we went into the little village and found a cut little pizzeria. The hosts
were so lovely, the gave us free breads and dips and offered us tea when we were all one. We went back to the beach after lunch for another round or frisbee before heading back to the Tree Houses. We spoke to Andy and he had already booked his flight, as had a couple of others. He confirmed the flights Jess and I had found so we deiced to just go ahead and do it. So our new plan of attack was to stay with the group until Goreme, travel on a overnight us to Istanbul on the evening on the 5th May, fly from Istanbul to Beirut in Lebanon the evening of 6th May, spend 3 days in Lebanon while the Oasis truck and the remaining crew made their way back to Istanbul and then fly from Beirut to Amman in Jordan on either 9th or 10th May depending on the other flights where we would met the Oasis crew again and sign back on the tour. It worked out to be pretty much the same as taking the truck back to Istanbul and flying so we were pretty happy with out decision as it meant we could explore another country - I had been really looking forward to going to Lebanon. Dinner was again a fabulous 2 course feast. We all sat around the pergolas chatting away for a while but with a 5am start and a 12 hour drive day many did not stay up that late. It was Ted and Angela's last night as they had made alternative arrangements due to the Syria unrest. We said goodbye to them and I sat up for a little longer doing a few things on my computer - I was the only one up apart from the staff so it was nice and quiet. I eventually went to bed at about 11pm.

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