I left off last time half way in Istanbul.....

.... so after walking a pretty long way and up a hill to try and visit Galata Tower, we found out that it cost YTL 10 to visit this tower, which you basically went in, took a lift to the top to take in the view. And no, we didn't go up the tower in the end, because we thought it wasn't worth the money... So here's the only shot I have of the tower...



We then walked around the city, where I saw the ONLY Starbucks coffee on the trip - though we didn't go in. Who needs coffee when we have all the hospitaliTEA in the world? ;p (i've lost count of the number of cups of tea I had in Turkey... and diabetic tea at that - ie. VERY sweet)

We also managed to get tickets to a football match in Turkey - Basiktas vs C.Rizespor. Initially, we were ATTACKED by touters on the street, who tried to sell us tickets. The initial offer was YTL50, but that soon came down to YTL30, and then YTL20 when they saw that we were gonna buy from the official ticket booth (we paid YTL30 for official tickets in the end). I don't think the tickets were fake though - I noticed the value on the ticket said it was complimentary....

The match security was CRAZY though. Being travellers, we were carrying our daypacks (ie. haversacks), which of course contained our essentials like water bottle, camera, books, writing materials, etc. When we first went in, we'd hidden our plastic bottles already, but guess what they had a problem with? My SLR camera. Bloody hell. And all the supervising police officer could mumble was "problem" (the searching officers referred me to him). And I was like, if you have a bloody locker, I'd put my bag in the locker. But of course he understood not a word of english (except problem), which left us quite frustrated. In the end, we had to go out, repack our bags so that my camera was well hidden, and then we went in by a different gate and got through this time, thankfully. It was quite an ordeal really. It wasn't like my camera was using a TELEPHOTO lens or something - I know they don't allow that in the English Premier League matches. I was using a WIDE ANGLE lens. I don't think the idiots knew the difference though.

The atmosphere in the stadium was incredibly awesome (and I'm not trying to be hyperbolical). The fans were practically cheering throughout the match, and they have such interesting cheers as well. You know in JC/Sec school, we had all these "reply" cheers, where the cheer leaders shout something and you reply right? They did that in the stadium, only that ONE ENTIRE SECTION shouts to another ENTIRE SECTION, on the adjoining side of the stadium. I was duly impressed. The match ended, to much disappointment, in a 1-1 draw though.

Unfortunately pictures are on my other camera, and I can't seem to get my card reader working yet, so I'll have to post them at another time. The pictures weren't great either. Instead, I shall show some photos from walking around Taksim Square and the main shopping area...

Yummy baklava and other sweet things. The turks really like sweet stuff man! Don't start drooling all over your keyboard!

One of the little streets leading away from the main shopping area near Taksim Square.

Day 3 was spent exploring the Grand Bazaar, which I managed to resist the temptation to buy too much stuff. In fact, I didn't buy anything for myself in the end! hehe... It was nice to just wander through the bazaar and visit every crook and corner though.

Very colourful bowls. I thought of buying one, but I figured one by itself would look quite plain and boring. And I didn't exactly want to buy an ENTIRE set....

I told myself if I ever went back to Istanbul, I'd buy one of these lamps. So colourful too! I wasn't sure if I wanted to fork out YTL30 for a standing lamp at that time, plus it was the start of the trip, I risk breaking it along the way if I carried it around.... so well...

We finally departed Istanbul on the night of 3rd December for Goreme, Cappadochia, which is one of the most visited sights in Turkey. You shall see why when I post pictures of Goreme.... stay tuned!

Labels: Middle East, Travel, Turkiye

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.



------------------------------

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