Thursday, January 24, 2008
Chapter 281 - How cool?
I'm working on this Physics experiment right now.. And it's damn cool! Literally that is. How cool exactly? 4.2K to be exact. That's 4.2 Kelvin - which for your information is 4.2 degrees above absolute zero, about 270 degrees colder than ice. It's otherwise not a very exciting experiment, though we get to play with liquid helium (4.2K) and liquid nitrogen (~70K) like they're water.. It'll be another week of staying in the lab before I start to churn out my lab report though. :(
(ps. i'll try and take photos of the experimental set up tomorrow... ;p)
I seem to have neglected my travelogues for quite some time though, so I shall continue from where I left off, which was the end of our first day in Goreme.
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Day 5 - 5 Dec 07 - Goreme
We decided to pay YTL 50 for a tour which they called the "Red Tour" (although it was a japanese lady at the hostel telling us about it, and we all know the japanese language doesn't have an R sound, so it was more like the "Led Tour" ;p), cos it'd actually cost us more to hire transport to go to all these places.
Our first stop was the underground city - Yaralti Sehri, which was quite interesting I guess, a 8-storey deep underground city, which is presumably linked by some secret tunnels to the other (underground) cities in the area. It didn't appeal to me personally though, cos I guess I'm more a sucker for natural beauty.... =)
Inside the underground city.. There was some tunnels which was quite small and required us to bend over to get through - being short has its advantages...
After that was a track through Ihlara Valley, which I'd described in my little black book as my idea of the Grand Canyon, with more greenery... It was really pretty though, the valley flanked by sheer cliffs on both sides with a river running through it.
Kenny on The Rocks.
The river that runs through the valley.
After a 2-km trek through the valley, we were rewarded with delicious lunch waiting for us, though we paid to pay for our own VERY EXPENSIVE pepsi (YTL 3!!) - what a rip-off.
Our last major stop of the day was at Selime Cathedral, which we arrived after driving through what was known as the "Star Wars" terrain, rumoured to be very similar to that you saw in Star Wars (though of course, it's probably all CGI in Star Wars).
I guess the most interesting thing about the tour was actually the random mix of nationalities we had, but predominantly Asian though - we had 2 taiwanese, 2 japanese, 2 koreans (the 2 koreans & japanese actually didn't know each other before the trip), 2 singaporeans (us), 1 kiwi and 3 turks I think. It was really nice and friendly cos we had the opportunity to interact with each other on the minibus, during the trek, and during lunch.
That pretty much sums up our tour of Cappadocia and stay tuned for our adventures in Malatya!
(ps. i'll try and take photos of the experimental set up tomorrow... ;p)
I seem to have neglected my travelogues for quite some time though, so I shall continue from where I left off, which was the end of our first day in Goreme.
------------------
Day 5 - 5 Dec 07 - Goreme
We decided to pay YTL 50 for a tour which they called the "Red Tour" (although it was a japanese lady at the hostel telling us about it, and we all know the japanese language doesn't have an R sound, so it was more like the "Led Tour" ;p), cos it'd actually cost us more to hire transport to go to all these places.
Our first stop was the underground city - Yaralti Sehri, which was quite interesting I guess, a 8-storey deep underground city, which is presumably linked by some secret tunnels to the other (underground) cities in the area. It didn't appeal to me personally though, cos I guess I'm more a sucker for natural beauty.... =)
Inside the underground city.. There was some tunnels which was quite small and required us to bend over to get through - being short has its advantages...After that was a track through Ihlara Valley, which I'd described in my little black book as my idea of the Grand Canyon, with more greenery... It was really pretty though, the valley flanked by sheer cliffs on both sides with a river running through it.
Kenny on The Rocks. The river that runs through the valley.After a 2-km trek through the valley, we were rewarded with delicious lunch waiting for us, though we paid to pay for our own VERY EXPENSIVE pepsi (YTL 3!!) - what a rip-off.
Our last major stop of the day was at Selime Cathedral, which we arrived after driving through what was known as the "Star Wars" terrain, rumoured to be very similar to that you saw in Star Wars (though of course, it's probably all CGI in Star Wars).
I guess the most interesting thing about the tour was actually the random mix of nationalities we had, but predominantly Asian though - we had 2 taiwanese, 2 japanese, 2 koreans (the 2 koreans & japanese actually didn't know each other before the trip), 2 singaporeans (us), 1 kiwi and 3 turks I think. It was really nice and friendly cos we had the opportunity to interact with each other on the minibus, during the trek, and during lunch.
That pretty much sums up our tour of Cappadocia and stay tuned for our adventures in Malatya!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Chapter 278 - Back with a Vengeance
(this is from Hayate no Gotoku... very nice... Got so many anime episodes to catch up on!!!)Well, I guess I really should carry on with my adventures in Turkey, now that i've gotten over the first hurdle of the term (handed in my computing project~!).
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Days 4-5 (4-5 Dec 07) - Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
We arrived in Goreme in Cappadocia after a TWELVE-hour bus ride from Istanbul to a somewhat cold morning. After checking into our hostel (Traveller's Cave Pension), we had a little wander around the area. Our initial plan was to see the Goreme Open Air Museum, though we ended up being distracted by some other stuff (read on...).
The landscape around Cappadocia is fairly unique in the sense that it is mostly volcanic tuff that has been shaped by weathering (both wind & water) over the years, to become what it is today. There are many houses that have been carved into the stone, and because they used to light candles at night, the houses were also known as "Fairy Chimneys". I imagine it must have been quite cool then to see the houses at night....
One of the "houses". There were lots of these in the valley we went through, and you could just climb into them as you like.I guess the highlight of the morning was the Love Valley. It's not hard to see why they called it the "Love Valley" if you were to see the photo below..... ;p
One of the 
And no, these weren't sculpted by hand (I think.. correct me if I'm wrong). Though they are REALLY HUGE... They are at least 20m high (at least)...After lunch (Kebabs!), we decided to rent a scooter to explore the area around Goreme, since it was starting to get cloudy, plus we were a little tired of walking. And because Keng Rui isn't too confident on the motorbike, in fact, hasn't ridden one before, we rented just ONE scooter and I had to pillion KR. And nope, I don't have a scooter license.. haha.. But we were only scooting away at about 40-60kph anyway... ;p
See the camel-like rock in the background? This place somewhat reminds me of shi2 lin2 (literally translated to Rock Forest) in Yunnan, China actually... After returning the scooter, and listening to Osman (from Silk Road Travel), share his woes about his Taiwanese girlfriend (i thought it was quite an interesting story really), we went for dinner at the neighbouring restaurant, where I tried Testi Kebab (don't misread the first word!). It's basically a pottery kebab, where they cook the meat and vegetable in an earthern pot and then you have to hammer it open to eat it. Very cool.
I shall write about Day 5 tomorrow, otherwise it's a bit of an overkill I think... :)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Chapter 275 - Kebab Kingdom, Part II
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 abloody 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!
.... 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
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
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Chapter 273 - The Reality Strikes
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....
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 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
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Chapter 269 - Merhaba
It's now 7.30pm, we're in Erzurum now, waiting for a bus to Mardin which is due to leave at 9pm. It's -10 degres celsius (yes, minus), hence we're slacking in an internet cafe killing time. It means I get to catch up with my anime (bless whoever created Youtube!), and I also get to "connect to the world"!
I keep forgetting to bring my card reader in my daypack, so I haven't been able to upload an photos yet, but I will soon enough. :)
Anyhow, I thought I'd say something about the Turkish keyboard... There's a post at on Wikipedia about the Turkish keyboard. But basically, the main difference is that they have TWO "I"s on the keyboard, one with a dot and one without. So they look like : "I,ı" and "İ,i".
It's quite confusing, cos when I want to type a capital I, I need to look for the I without the dot, and a small i, I have to look for i with the dot. To solve the problem, I've managed to change the keyboard layout to a US keyboard... ;p
Also, there're FIVE additional characters: ç (or C with a pubic hair, as Keng Rui calls it) ş (s with pubic hair - hmm.. this sounds a little wrong), ğ, ü and ö.
And unlike the Iranian computers, the Turkish ones don't have annoying filters which block sites like Facebook (!!!! - imagine days without Facebook!!!), and are pretty fast - though most cafes tend to be a little smokey... :(
For now, I shall go watch some more anime... hehe...
I keep forgetting to bring my card reader in my daypack, so I haven't been able to upload an photos yet, but I will soon enough. :)
Anyhow, I thought I'd say something about the Turkish keyboard... There's a post at on Wikipedia about the Turkish keyboard. But basically, the main difference is that they have TWO "I"s on the keyboard, one with a dot and one without. So they look like : "I,ı" and "İ,i".
It's quite confusing, cos when I want to type a capital I, I need to look for the I without the dot, and a small i, I have to look for i with the dot. To solve the problem, I've managed to change the keyboard layout to a US keyboard... ;p
Also, there're FIVE additional characters: ç (or C with a pubic hair, as Keng Rui calls it) ş (s with pubic hair - hmm.. this sounds a little wrong), ğ, ü and ö.
And unlike the Iranian computers, the Turkish ones don't have annoying filters which block sites like Facebook (!!!! - imagine days without Facebook!!!), and are pretty fast - though most cafes tend to be a little smokey... :(
For now, I shall go watch some more anime... hehe...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Chapter 269 - Once in a Lifetime
After spending about 6 hours out in sub-zero temperatures, 5 cups of tea, a ride in a police car & a stop at a military checkpoint (or rather IN a military checkpoint), and plenty of luck, we have finally arrived in the city of Kars at 1800m elevation. Insha'Allah as they say.
There are two words that I will commit to memory after the series of events that happened today Bayram - which means festival in Turkish and Tuzluca a village in the Iğdır Province.
The Blow by Blow Account
After crossing the border to Turkiye from Iran last evening, we hitched on a ride (for YTL5 though) to the town of Iğdır. This guy who was on the same ride with us suggested we go to his hotel, which we did, and found out we had a pretty shite room, which was freezing cold (it was some minus 4 degrees outside, and felt quite the same in our room even with a TINY radiator on).
We awoke and set off just before 8am to find a desolate town. Asking whether there was a minibus to Kars (our destination), we soon found out there wasn't any today, and everyone was muttering the word Bayram (pronounced Buy-rahm). We soon found out what Bayram was because we saw lots of cows and sheep being transported on lorries and also lots of people were walking around with knives and some were cutting up the animal in their front yard - Eid ul-Adha or Hari Raya Haji as we know it - which is a sacrifice festival in case you don't know.
Of course, because Keng Rui and I are now "experienced" hitch-hikers, we thought we'd hitch-hike to Kars, since that was pretty much our only option (unless we were to pay some 150 YTL for a taxi of course). After standing on the main road for about an hour or so, we managed to hitch a ride to Tuzluca, a town on the way to Kars in this army officer's car. (our Turkish is fairly good now we thinks... ;p)
At Tuzluca, we were dropped at this junction which leads off to Kars in one direction. And it is at this junction that we were destined to spend the next 4 hours or so in the freezing cold (about -2 degrees). During this four hours, we were kept company by a bunch of boys (aged probably 10-19 years old). We were even brought two cups of tea by this auntie (bless her) and given sweets by the kids. We were also taken in the village centre where we were told would have more chance of a ride (otostop - Turkish for hitch-hike), but to no avail (avada yok - no cars). Basically, we had everything except a ride, because it was Bayram and noone was out...
Finally, around 2pm, these two guys came to us (after half the village had come and talked to us... seriously... they kept coming to meet us) and told the kids with us that maybe we should go to the Police for help since there was no point standing out there forever. So we walked with the kids to the police station.
At the police station, we were shown to this cafeteria where we were offered tea (it was our FIFTH cup of tea of the day btw...) and we got to use the much needed toilet (bursting bladders not very good in the cold). We waited for about 10-15 minutes before this officer came to us and told us to follow him. We got into the police van, and were told we would be taken to the next junction leading to Kars. And so here's our ride in a police van... Travelling in style indeed... ;p
We soon found out that this junction was also a military checkpoint. (In Turkey, the military are still fighting the PKK - Kurdish militants especially near the border areas, hence there are military checkpoints at strategic locations on the highways.) We were ushered into their guardroom where we sat chatting to this guy serving his "NS", while we were wondering if we will ever get to Kars. About 15 mins later, we found out that the guards outside inspecting the cars were actually helping us look out for an empty car that we could ride to Kars and there was one finally. (We didn't even have to do the hitching ourselves! how convenient... :) ).
So off we were in this little Opel to Kars, around 2.50pm, after spending 4 hours waiting at Tuzluca and then at the police station and the military checkpoint. When we got to Kars and checked in to our Hotel (Hotel Temel - A MILLION TIMES better than the one we had to put up with last night - nice and warm complete with our own ensuite facilities + TV), we could have counted ourselves as the luckiest people in Turkey today. What an incredible day it has been.
Right now, I'm safely tucked away in a corner of an internet cafe, while it's -6 degrees outside, after having a nice doner kebab and rice. This feeling is bliss and all I could ask for really... :)
[edit]Kenny is suffering from anime-watching withdrawal symptoms!!!!!!!!!!![/edit]
There are two words that I will commit to memory after the series of events that happened today Bayram - which means festival in Turkish and Tuzluca a village in the Iğdır Province.
The Blow by Blow Account
After crossing the border to Turkiye from Iran last evening, we hitched on a ride (for YTL5 though) to the town of Iğdır. This guy who was on the same ride with us suggested we go to his hotel, which we did, and found out we had a pretty shite room, which was freezing cold (it was some minus 4 degrees outside, and felt quite the same in our room even with a TINY radiator on).
We awoke and set off just before 8am to find a desolate town. Asking whether there was a minibus to Kars (our destination), we soon found out there wasn't any today, and everyone was muttering the word Bayram (pronounced Buy-rahm). We soon found out what Bayram was because we saw lots of cows and sheep being transported on lorries and also lots of people were walking around with knives and some were cutting up the animal in their front yard - Eid ul-Adha or Hari Raya Haji as we know it - which is a sacrifice festival in case you don't know.
Of course, because Keng Rui and I are now "experienced" hitch-hikers, we thought we'd hitch-hike to Kars, since that was pretty much our only option (unless we were to pay some 150 YTL for a taxi of course). After standing on the main road for about an hour or so, we managed to hitch a ride to Tuzluca, a town on the way to Kars in this army officer's car. (our Turkish is fairly good now we thinks... ;p)
At Tuzluca, we were dropped at this junction which leads off to Kars in one direction. And it is at this junction that we were destined to spend the next 4 hours or so in the freezing cold (about -2 degrees). During this four hours, we were kept company by a bunch of boys (aged probably 10-19 years old). We were even brought two cups of tea by this auntie (bless her) and given sweets by the kids. We were also taken in the village centre where we were told would have more chance of a ride (otostop - Turkish for hitch-hike), but to no avail (avada yok - no cars). Basically, we had everything except a ride, because it was Bayram and noone was out...
Finally, around 2pm, these two guys came to us (after half the village had come and talked to us... seriously... they kept coming to meet us) and told the kids with us that maybe we should go to the Police for help since there was no point standing out there forever. So we walked with the kids to the police station.
At the police station, we were shown to this cafeteria where we were offered tea (it was our FIFTH cup of tea of the day btw...) and we got to use the much needed toilet (bursting bladders not very good in the cold). We waited for about 10-15 minutes before this officer came to us and told us to follow him. We got into the police van, and were told we would be taken to the next junction leading to Kars. And so here's our ride in a police van... Travelling in style indeed... ;p
We soon found out that this junction was also a military checkpoint. (In Turkey, the military are still fighting the PKK - Kurdish militants especially near the border areas, hence there are military checkpoints at strategic locations on the highways.) We were ushered into their guardroom where we sat chatting to this guy serving his "NS", while we were wondering if we will ever get to Kars. About 15 mins later, we found out that the guards outside inspecting the cars were actually helping us look out for an empty car that we could ride to Kars and there was one finally. (We didn't even have to do the hitching ourselves! how convenient... :) ).
So off we were in this little Opel to Kars, around 2.50pm, after spending 4 hours waiting at Tuzluca and then at the police station and the military checkpoint. When we got to Kars and checked in to our Hotel (Hotel Temel - A MILLION TIMES better than the one we had to put up with last night - nice and warm complete with our own ensuite facilities + TV), we could have counted ourselves as the luckiest people in Turkey today. What an incredible day it has been.
Right now, I'm safely tucked away in a corner of an internet cafe, while it's -6 degrees outside, after having a nice doner kebab and rice. This feeling is bliss and all I could ask for really... :)
[edit]Kenny is suffering from anime-watching withdrawal symptoms!!!!!!!!!!![/edit]
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Chapter 266 - Kebab Kingdom
It is day 7 of my trip in Turkiye, and it's been absolutely brilliant thus far - great fun and awesome food.
After 7 days, maybe I should write briefly about the things I've experienced so far in Turkiye.
1. WC
Toilets are really well sign-posted here - only thing is that hardly anyone of them is free-of-charge. You have to pay between 0.25 - 1 YTL (about S$0.30 - S$1.20) to go in and it's not like it's very special or clean either. You can even get a receipt I think cos there's a cash register.....
Also, gone are the days of seated toilet bowls - it's back to the good ole' days of squatting on flat land. No flush either - you fill a bailer at the side with water to flush the toilets.
2. Japan? Korea?
Due to the influx of Japanese and Korean tourists, and of course the lack of Singaporean travellers, we're ALWAYS asked if we are from Japan or Korea. And none of them seem to understand that Singapore is not a part of Japan or Korea (at least they don't think that Singapore is in China).
Also, foreigners are adorned with the best service and everyone in town comes to greet you when you eat in a Kebab saloon. They even call their friends to come togawk look at us. And everyone tries to show you to different places - having a foreign friend is like having a trophy..
Though having said that, the locals here are really hospitable. We even got invited to a house for lunch which we didn't have to pay for, and got treated to free tea a couple of times (tea drinking is a HUGE culture here - we have at least 3 cups each day)
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I think this is as much as I can write on this Turkish keyboard. It's agonising typing on a foreign keyboard. For now, I shall be off to check my Facebook account, which I have noticed is FLOODING me with messages. Gule Gule!
PS. And photos will have to come at a much later time. There are some real nice shots though.... :)
After 7 days, maybe I should write briefly about the things I've experienced so far in Turkiye.
1. WC
Toilets are really well sign-posted here - only thing is that hardly anyone of them is free-of-charge. You have to pay between 0.25 - 1 YTL (about S$0.30 - S$1.20) to go in and it's not like it's very special or clean either. You can even get a receipt I think cos there's a cash register.....
Also, gone are the days of seated toilet bowls - it's back to the good ole' days of squatting on flat land. No flush either - you fill a bailer at the side with water to flush the toilets.
2. Japan? Korea?
Due to the influx of Japanese and Korean tourists, and of course the lack of Singaporean travellers, we're ALWAYS asked if we are from Japan or Korea. And none of them seem to understand that Singapore is not a part of Japan or Korea (at least they don't think that Singapore is in China).
Also, foreigners are adorned with the best service and everyone in town comes to greet you when you eat in a Kebab saloon. They even call their friends to come to
Though having said that, the locals here are really hospitable. We even got invited to a house for lunch which we didn't have to pay for, and got treated to free tea a couple of times (tea drinking is a HUGE culture here - we have at least 3 cups each day)
---------------------
I think this is as much as I can write on this Turkish keyboard. It's agonising typing on a foreign keyboard. For now, I shall be off to check my Facebook account, which I have noticed is FLOODING me with messages. Gule Gule!
PS. And photos will have to come at a much later time. There are some real nice shots though.... :)
