turkiye :)
HELLOOOO (:
it was the most awesome place I have ever been to, aside from egypt. wow it's really a very nice place, that's what I've been trying to tell everyone who wants to listen hahaha. ya I know it sounds corny but I can honestly say that I will never forget turkey!
contrary to popular belief, at least as far as I can tell from what my friends' beliefs are, turkey's not actually exotic per se, haha. I'm serious. istanbul and ankara are actually normal functioning secular states. most of the towns aren't like super old and dusty that kind, I mean if you take away the historical sites and everything it's like a normal european city..
but because of the fact that there's a lot of historical sites around, it gives the whole country this semi-metropolitan, semi-ancient atmosphere.. it's difficult to explain. it's just really nice. (:
for one thing the people there are just about the most hospitable and friendly people I have ever met in my entire life. I had the opportunity to have my last dinner there with my dad's friend's friend who lives on the european side of istanbul.. which basically means he's loaded, haha, he's the owner of the anatolia restaurant at far east plaza! they're very very nice people.
I think my favourite part of the trip was this place called cappadocia. it's this place which is actually a volcanic landscape. it's very very very very nice. nice enough for people to start a booming hot air balloon business there, despite the very high costs.. i think it's like 220 us bucks per head. children included? yea.
but the view was spectacular... it literally feels like a dream when I go back to when I was still high up in the sky in the balloon... got a few mental snapshots, haha, and t really feels like it was a completely different world..
you've got to see the pictures to believe it la, actually. but I'm too lazy to upload my pics. I took a lot on the hotair balloon but after 8 days in turkey I only used up one 2gb memory card, haha. my dad used up one 8gb memory card halfway through the trip, and I was like hooboy.
actually the first thing that struck me about turkey was the realization that turkey's actually very much like a european city. it's secular country, most of it's in asia, but there's a part of istanbul that's considered part of europe. 98% of the people are Muslims, though. which is quite surprising, i mean considering the fact that practically the whole country is Muslim, you would THINK it'd be an islamic state, you know, with the islamic law being the only law, and all.. but it's actually secular.
not that that's a bad thing. it's actually good, considering the fact that turkey's growth rate has been climbing up quite fast? over the past decade. and when you think about the reasoning behind why the people want it to be a secular state, it actually makes sense. religion shouldn't be something that's enforced by the state, it shouldn't smother you and be implored upon you... being forced to subscribe to the values and adhere to the doctrines of a certain religion would actually defeat the whole purpose of it. believing in Him should be something that comes voluntarily, out of your own choice.
k I'll stop here, before I go on. haha I'm not usually this intellectual, if you will, heehee. I just had dinner with my parents outside, and the whole time we were discussing theology and history over our prata and nasi goreng and stuff, so yeah. lol, that's my parents for you. the family beside us was talking about having to attend some stupid wedding or something, what a contrast haha.
one more thing... before I give the main highlights of the trip. if you gave me the choice to, and if I had some way to speak fluent turkish within the space of a year, I'd actually not hesitate to study in a turkish university. for one thing, it's near europe AND asia, so I'll have the best of both worlds! besides, I like it that much. it's really awesome.
so yeah here's the best parts of the trip, as far as I'm concerned. no pics though, that comes when I've uploaded them all onto facebook or photobucket or something. I've actually got the memory card reader plugged in, with the memory card, I just finished viewing all my pics. but uploading is a whole different thing, ugh. so stay tuned. I guess. haha
anyways. this isn't order. just in whatever order I remember it by..
1. hot air ballooning!
already explained a little, upstairs. haha. can't really describe much else, the pictures will speak for themselves. (:
2. thermal pool
just like a hot spring, only it was definitely cooler because there was an indoor and an outdoor pool and a connecting tunnel which you could use to swim back and forth between them. there were two outdoor pools, it was a really peculiar sensation, having part of my body submersed in hot water and the other part of my body exposed to the cold autumn wind. haha.
3. underground city
no, I don't mean like a fully functioning city underground like um citylink mall? haha. it was underground city way back when the romans were still in power and the catholics were being persecuted for being catholic. there were 8 underground levels in the one I visited, but only the first four were open for visiting, cos it's too dangerous beyond that, haha.
it was cool la, they even had like traps ready for when the romans found out about their hideout. they had this rolling stone thing which was hidden, and if you rolled it shut anyone who was in the space behind the stone would be stuck there FOREVER. how cool is that!! and they even had like a winery and a chapel and a kitchen and even a STABLE underground. :O
4. ephasus
I don't know how to spell it, actually. it's the first roman city that was discovered, I think. and one of the greatest? most of it's in ruins la, but it's still intact so much so that you can imagine what the actual city was like back in its heyday. there was this huge theatre which is like double the size of the rg amphitheatre.. and the best part is that the acoustics are actually GOOD (:
the guide could stand on the stage part of the theatre, and if you climbed up way high on the steps of theatre, you could still hear him talk even though he wasn't even shouting.
OH. they even had a brothel there. haha. an ancient brothel, I mean. ironically enough, it's located just opposite the library, which is by itself considered the third largest ancient one ever I think. the guide showed us an AD for the brothel (YEAH an ancient ad), it was really hilarious, it consists solely of pictures. haha.
the toilets were interesting as well. apparently shitting was a big business back then (haha get it! get it! word play :D). they had like a courtyard INSIDE the toilet area, and then sometimes there'd even be musicians playing while the people shitted. wth right. lol
5. calcium terraces-- pamukkale.
oh wow this one is like a UNESCO world heritage site, I'm serious. you know there's this method of agriculture called terracing? (I think ah, cheh, cos I don't even take geog) it's exactly like that, except that instead of crops everywhere, the whole thing is drenched with calcium deposits, so the entire place is like WHITE. very very nice. it's called pamukkale, and it's really cool cos there's an ancient city built just besides the calcium terraces.
6. BELLYDANCING
hahahaha no I didn't actually bellydance myself, obviously, but I witnessed it firsthand for the first time in my life. the REAL DEAL. let's see... the second last dinner was at this restaurant cum nightclub place, and we were lucky enough for (apparently) the best bellydancer in turkey to perform for us that night.
I can't very well say if it's seductive or not, because obviously I can't be seduced by it, but judging from the mens' reactions I think it's very much seductive. but it doesn't make you salivate or anything. just makes them gawk a lot.
7. cruise on the bosphorus river.
the bosphorus is actually the river that separates the asian and the european part of istanbul. so we were really lucky to get a cruise on it, with one continent on each side. haha.
8. topkapi palace
just an old palace, lah, basically.
9. hagia sophia + blue mosque
both extremely spectacular. they're side by side, and if you get a hotel with a good view of it, you can really marvel at the architectural feats that they both are. I got an opportunity to pray at the blue mosque (:
10. grand bazaar, silk bazaar, spice bazaar
okay so as you can tell, I'm getting tired of explaining. lol don't know how many people are even gonna read this, I guess it's partially for my own benefit as well, so I can relive the memory again. haha.
anyway the bazaars are just like marketplaces, there's loads of shouting and lelong-ing and the corridors are packed, you have to be quite alert, otherwise some random shopkeeper with a wheelbarrow loaded with carpets might just run over your foot.
I won't forget the spice bazaar, either, for two main reasons. they sell viagra there, I'm very fascinated, the ad said: "turkish viagra, if you take you can make love 5 times a night" OMG WHO WANTS TO DO IT THAT MUCH IN A NIGHT. if I had a husband who wanted to do that I'd just tell him to fuck off, I wanna sleep. ha. O.o
and the second reason is because well. I got. uh. okay I'll just explain what happened.
mum wanted to buy pashmina scarves and dad wanted to buy ceramics. so we were in the shop and they were bargaining very insistently for the ceramics and the scarves. and the guy looked like he was getting a little irritated, so I was just staring at him and worrying that he might get really pissed off. and he turned and then he saw me staring at him and I wanted to smile at first, in the hopes that it'd at least cool him down a little bit, and then he licked his lips, in this way that reminded me of a frog. and I was the fly. okay, seriously.
and I stopped smiling. then he asked me to sit down, and he got my brother to sit in front of me, and I was still thinking, how nice of him. my legs hurt, cos I'd been walking a lot that day. and then I realized he was touching my knee. I was like O.o
okay maybe he's just leaving it there. so I didn't think anything of it. and then I was paying attention to the bargaining that was going on. and then he started STROKING MY FRIGGING KNEE. I was like ?!?!?! but still. I refused to believe anything wrong was happening. and then he squeezed my kneeeeee. like thrice. at once.
and then I looked at him and he WINKED. and he licked his lips again and I was like $#@&$# what the shittttt. i freaked out lah ohmigod I mean it's just a knee, but you know. the way he was licking his lips whenever he looked at me. do I look like a frigging MEAL to you walao. so I got up and I got my brother to follow me to where the more elderly shopkeepers were.
haha I didn't tell my parents. my dad would've wigged out right there and then I'd never be able to get back to the bus because he's uncontrollable when he's pissed. and at that moment all I wanted was to climb back onto my seat on the coach, get back to the hotel and just sleep. I was really tired.
yep... :S life is weird like that.
10. fatih
my tour guide, that's his name, fatih. haha I had a crush on him towards the end of the trip lol. first of all he's got the greenest eyes I've ever seen on a guy. they're almost literally shining by themselves. that was the first thing I noticed about him, actually. lol. but still I didn't think he was goodlooking.
and then he's really smart, he knows a LOT of historical facts, and I mean A LOT. he could spend like an hour and a half just talking about history and stuff, it's really really impressive. of course I couldn't stay awake through it all, but just the fact that he knows so many names and dates and stories is just really awesome to me. I mean I can't even remember my seahist dates properly. -.-
ohyeah he has an aussie accent, but he's turkish. I found that quite intriguing, until he said he spent some of his years down under because his dad had to work there. quite cool! but still I only thought he was goodlooking when most of the guys said he was a very handsome man when they had to introduce themselves to the whole tour group. haha, just one of those people who aren't goodlooking when you see them at first but then they just get increasingly goodlooking the more you look at them.
lol but it was just a crush la. I just think he's cute and that he's smart and he's quite an interesting character since he loves snowboarding. yup.
kay I'm done for tonight! what a friggin long post. haha.
well.. one thing I know is that right now singapore is the most BORING place on earth D: the only reason I'd actually be glad to be back here is because I've got very special friends here and I really love them a lot. (: if I could live overseas and somehow bring them all overseas with me I would, I wouldn't hesitate to.
the whole trip just seems so surreal to me. so much so that I realize how easy it is to be caught up in my own world all the time. before this my world just consisted of whatever was happening in my life. can get quite hectic, although I know I'm relatively free-er compared to other people I know.
but still I was very much caught up in it. and now that I've seen what turkey has to offer, I realize that there's so much more to the world than singapore. sure it's important to work your ass off while you're here in singapore, but at the same time, here, if you get too absorbed into work life, you'll forget the beauty of the rest of the world.
I forgot that there's a whole new different world out there, aside from turkey. europe, indonesia, south africa, everywhere. they're worlds apart from singapore, and I really shouldn't forget that life is more that just about accomplishing what you want for yourself. it's also about cherishing what you've already accomplished, giving from what you already have, learning from what other people have or may not have.
I think that's the beauty about travelling. in the first place, I don't really like to be kept in one place, but I will if I really put my mind to it. which isn't really good for me, I think, because then I'll forget about travelling. and the thing about travelling is that it allows you to be thankful for what you have, without getting too high-and-mighty about having what other people in other countries might not have. in fact most of the time YOU'RE the one learning lessons about life from THEM. which is beautiful, in my opinion.
here, you might think you have it all, a job you love, a salary your wallet loves, a good house, whatever. I want to have all those in the future, I always have. but going to turkey makes me realize never to confine myself simply to how I see my own life. other people might not be as well off in other countries, but they could still love their own life just as much as you love yours. which is something extremely profound for me.
yup. I love travelling. if I had a million dollars I'd jetset all over the world after I finish my university degrees and everything. but since I don't, working hard is the way to go. so travelling is now added to the list of things I want to do in my life, after giving money to people who need it more than I do, and of course meeting somebody awesome. (:
posted by aney @ 8:19 PM
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