I'm currently listening to Class95 live broadcast over the internet... I must say Class95 really did save my life during my trip in the middle east. The podcasts that I had on my iPod provided respite on those enduring bus journeys - cos I'm one of those insomniacs (not maniacal bus drivers) who can't seem to fall asleep on the bus... unless it's an overnight journey of course.

Anyhow, I'm spending way too much time staring at my laptop screen lately. I've returned to Cambridge earlier so that I could complete the damned computing project, which is due in a week's time. :( Here's a screenshot of what it looks like that I'm doing - just dealing with boring numbers and alphabets and keeping my fingers crossed that a "syntax error" or associated errors will not pop up.



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But I really should write about my Middle East adventures as well. I've uploaded my photos of Istanbul already, so I shall write about that first... :)

Istanbul, Turkey - 1-3 Dec 07
Istanbul was our first stop on the trip. And as I refer to my little black book, aka Kenny's travel journal, it reads that I had a HORRIBLE start to the trip. Well, reason being there was Boat Club Dinner the night before, and Kenny was kinda QUITE drunk, after a bottle of wine, a couple of glasses of Pimms, a glass of brandy and port, and proceeded to crash out on his bed right after the dinner, leaving the packing of his room undone. And those of you who have been to my room know how much stuff I have, so yes it wasn't good news. And somehow in my "sober-ness", I also managed to SMS Keng Rui to try and wake me up early the next morning, in case I oversleep and miss the flight.

I did however manage to wake myself up at 5am (!!!), and spent the next couple of hours chucking things away in boxes in my very hungover state. I somehow manage to complete all my packing, meet KR at the bus station and head to the airport. The only thing I remember from this point to Istanbul is that I bought a fruit juice at the airport to detox my body of all the alcohol swimming in me.

2 Dec 07
Our first stop the next morning, me having freshened up from a good night's sleep, was the famed Blue Mosque, aka Sultan Ahmet mosque - only that the mosque really isn't blue. Not anymore that is.

Sultan Ahmet Mosque... The rocket launchers pointy minarets are a feature of Turkish mosque's architecture. It's apparently quite different across the middle east - not just your usual onions. ;p

Inside the mosque. This is one of my favourite pictures of the trip. I think it embodies the essence of the interior of the mosque. Arabic writing, domed ceilings, and mosaic/tiled walls.

And it is also here that we meet our first and only Singapore tour group on the trip. For some reason, you can pick out a Singapore tour group from miles away, either from the Sing-grish they speak, or the way they photo-whore the sights.

Our next stop was the Aya Sofya (there are a million ways to spell it) - a mosque which was converted from a church and is now a museum. There's much restoration to be done to the interior, but very impressive nonetheless.

Aya Sofya - taken at sunset (not on the same day), but shows the brilliantly coloured exterior in the gentle rays of the sun.

The interior of Aya Sofya.

The Mimbar in the church, which serves the function of a pulpit in a church.

The beautiful stone tiles on the walls in the church. Notice that the patterns are symmetrical because they cut the stone and laid it out side by side.... Nice rocks!

3rd on our list of the Grand Tour of Istanbul was the Topkapi palace. By now, we were feeling a little conned, because ALL the sights in the Istanbul seemed to require a YTL 10 admission fee (that's about S$12 btw..) - the Aya Sofya, the Underground Cistern (which we didn't go in), the Topkapi Palace, the Harem in the Palace (which we didn't go in either), the audioguide. (ditto). It's just too expensive to visit all the sights......

The entrance to Topkapi Palace - I think it looks like the Disneyland Castle right?

Finally a shot of Kenny! At the summer part of the palace...

And the last photo of this post - I think it's a little bit of an information overload already (for me that is). This photo shows the number of anglers on a bridge in Istanbul. It's almost always this crowded! And they also sell some of the fish fresh, which you eat in a sandwich - it's called a Balik Ekmek (balik=fish, ekmek=bread). Yummmmmmmm!

Wah. I've only written about the first two days and it's so long already... Still got 34 days to write about leh....

Labels: Middle East, Travel, Turkiye