Blogs from Middle East - page 1203

I left Çanakkale almost immediately from my superb tour of Gallipoli and found myself sitting next to the minibus driver in the front center seat. No legroom and the glare of super strong beams from oncoming cars, for the next 6 hours. Yay. Sitting on the other side of me was a Aussie guy who also had a iPod. I know it is hard to believe, but he had a even worse music collection than me. I thought being a aussie meant he would have some strange Australian rock and some grunge. His first track he put on was Hanson's "Mmm Bop". I had my iPod on until the battery ran out. After that I put my shades on and tried to sleep to Selçuk for the last 2 hours or so. I kept getting woken ... read more

Four hours later than expected I arrived in Istanbul. It's very nice here, a real change also compare to Budapest. No more churches but only mosques with minaretts. And the imam is singing very early and many times a day to call for the prayer. Organisatıon oi an Iranian visa seems quite difficult, but I will try. ... read more

I arrived packed and completely worn out at Istanbuls Otogar (Bus Station) on a hot Sunday afternoon. Grabbed a last minute kebab and got ready to sit on a Kamil Koç for 6 hours (This was the bus firm I might add, although some of you readers are saying not for the first time). Istanbul to Çanakkale is only 280Km's. I can't see how it can takes 6 hours, oh well, plug in my iPod and look out the window for a bit. We made one rest stop about 2 hours in, where the food (as always in Turkey it seems) was cheap and tasty. Much better than our "Service" stations back home. Another hour or so I realise that Arsenal have just started their season against Newcastle United at Highbury, without me, for the first ... read more

Sunday 14th - We drove about 2 hours out of Nicosia to stay at a very laid back inn at the foot of the mountains, but only a 10 minute drive to the beach. It was lovely, we went to Coral bay beach, more swimming and laying in the sun. Then that night had a traditional Cyprus meal at the inn. Monday 15th - The next day we spent the morning at another beach before driving up into the mountains for lunch. Tuesday 16th - Dana and I went to the old town of Nicosia to potter in the shops. We didn't buy that much, the shopping in Cyprus wasn't like it was in Turkey, there isn't a great deal of stuff to buy at and it is fairly expensive. That night we went to the ... read more

Well for the past two days ı have been unable to get to a computer because thıngs around here have been pretty busy. On Wendsday(the day before our fırst tournament match) we practıced at 9 ın the mornıng and then had to kıll some tıme before we scrımmaged Serbıa & Montenegro (one team) . sınce we could not go back to the vıllage and eat the wonderful food they provıde(sarcasm) we decıded to go to the food court of a local turkısh mall. hıdden between the places sellıng varıous meats and vegtable stır fry we found....... (drum roll please), a McDonalds. Now back home ı never patronıze thıs establıshment except for the occatıonal breakfast. However, after eatıng the same thıng day ın and day out for the past week, nothıng of whıch ıs very tasty, the ... read more