Dubai in One Word - HOT

I had to fly from Istanbul to Dubai, since a safe overland route was unavailable. My first time on a Gulf Air flight via Bahrain (wish I could've stopped over!). The Muslim guy sitting next to me wouldn't stop reciting the Koran. It was stressful at first, but an adult Waru tried not to let it bother her (thinking that she needs to respect other people's religion...) and even helped the guy turn on the reading lights when the main ones were turned off.
Before the plane landed, an announcement was made regarding Ramadan practices in UAE - "It is forbidden to eat and drink in public during daylight hours." Took me by surprise, since I had the impression that Dubai would be a bit more religiously relaxed...

I splurged on accommodation in Dubai. It was only for 1 night and I wanted to be near the airport. Dubai is notorious for the lack of taxis available on streets. Depending on the hotel's location, it could take around 2 hours just to get to the airport! Of course, the hotel car is always an option, but why pay more than double the taxi fare?!
Anyways, it was nice to sleep on a real bed, with soft white sheets, plush pillows, and a thick comforter : ) Don't forget the in-room shower and bathrobes. TV too! What luxuries.

Immigration was a breeze. Free visitor permits for Japanese citizens :)
I hopped on a cab, which took me to the hotel in less than 15 minutes. It being past midnight, there was very little traffic.

After grinning at my accommodation for the night, I realized I was hungry and thirsty. Luckily, there was a 24 hour supermarket a few blocks down. This place sold random food (excluding alcohol, of course) from random countries. Pocari Sweat, for instance, was cheaper than what you pay for in Japan. The pork section is in a separate room, with a warning sign "Not for Muslims" at the entrance. Quite amazing. I was having a fantastic time walking through the lanes of a Dubai supermarket at 2am.
I bought myself some fruit drinks and instant noodles (great variety available due to the large Asian population). The IN-ROOM hot water pot came in very handy!

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, ready to do some Dubai sightseeing. I only had about 12 hours before my flight back to London, so I needed to get going.
I went down to the concierge (YES, a concierge!!!) for advice on the day's route. Aside from the self-proclaimed 7 star hotel, I had no clue what else was in the city. No guidebook either. His rejected suggestions included the Emirates Mall (I can't buy anything), indoor ski center (done it tons of times in Japan when it was still open), and the tallest building in the world (so far away!!!).
In addition to the famous hotel, I settled for the indoor "posh" souk (close to the hotel and a convincing "Very nice. It's air conditioned" comment by the concierge) and the gold souk.

Having decided on the route, my next question was transportation. "Only taxi" says the concierge. "About 1 hour to the indoor souk." OMG!!! How much is this going to cost me?! Granted, taxi rides in Dubai aren't that expensive considering the distance. But I wanted to do this as cheap as possible. So the conversation continued:
Waru (W): Can I walk to the hotel from the indoor souk?
Concierge (C): It's hot.
W: But it's walkable?
C: It's VERY hot. You are inside now so you don't feel it, but IT IS VERY HOT outside.
W: (Thinking, whatever) What about to the gold souk?
C: Only taxi
W: (Thinking, You can't be serious). OK. But from the gold souk back to this hotel, I can walk, right? It doesn't look that far on the map. See. (Traces route on map)
C: (Starting to give up on my persistence against cabs) Yes, you can walk. But it's not that close. And IT'S VERY HOT.
W: Thanks. (Smiles and leaves with map in hand)

Getting to the indoor souk did indeed take close to an hour. The shops were pretty lame. Having been to the markets in Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey before, this one was nothing but disappointing. Completely touristy and too clean. A souk isn't supposed to be clean!!! (Although clean toilets are always nice.)
The souk (more like a mall) is actually part of a hotel/conference center complex. I took a short stroll around the area – hot but so far bearable. Doesn't this totally remind you of Las Vegas?!

Instead of hopping onto a taxi as advised, I decided to walk to the 7-star hotel Burj al-Arab Hotel. Can I just say that it was EXTREMELY HOT??!?! So the concierge wasn't kidding...
I seriously thought that I was going to pass out with heat stroke. I just kept pushing myself to walk fast so I could get out of the heat!
I got to the hotel, took some photos, and walked on. You need a reservation ahead of time to go inside the hotel, even to go into the bar up top. It would've been cool to go, but Waru doesn't believe in spending money on alcohol (maybe she should become a Muslim), was too lazy to make the reservation last night, and didn't think a bar would be fun solo anyways. I don't know why I even bothered to go there...now that I look back on it, a postcard would've sufficed...

The map showed there being a beach right near the hotel. Might as well check that out too. Only problem was that you had to walk past the entire hotel complex in order to get to the public beach area. Which turned out to be quite of a long walk... I came to a point where I could no longer stand the heat/sun, that I had to walk into the adjacent hotel. Nicely air conditioned. I sat and rested in their lobby for over an hour before I calmed down enough to venture out again.
The beach was pretty. Absolutely no shade, as you can see. How can beach-goers stand that?!

The one good thing about having taken the walk was that I was able to discovered a public bus that would take me to the gold souk. That concierge lied to me!!!
I stepped into the little glass-walled bus stop for a pleasant surprise - powerful air conditioning! Awesome.
I never got a chance to hop on the bus though. I waited and waited and waited. The buses came and came and came, but they never made a stop. Because the buses were completely full. Not a single additional passenger could fit.
So, what happened after several buses passed by was that an unmarked car stopped in front of the bus stop, and I got on along with another man who'd been waiting for the bus with me. A black cab, I suppose. We picked up 3 other Palestinians on the way, who were eventually kicked off because they refused to pay the quoted fare. I was slightly concerned at first, being the only female in the car (with 5 Arab males) and not knowing what the heck was going on. But the guy did get me to my destination. All good.

The gold souk was another disappointment. Maybe because I'm not really interested in gold jewelry. There's an adjacent spice market as well, but I don't know...it still lacked the character seen in other Middle Eastern souks.
And it was unbearably hot in there. I just had to get out! I was basically dripping with sweat even without moving. That's how hot it was.

Tired and hungry, I decided to head back to the hotel on foot. I wanted to walk alongside the Dubai creek for a while. Nice old boats.
Then I turned towards the main street, hoping to find some food on the way back. But it's Ramadan. Nothing was open. Oh no!!!!!
I never made it back as intended. It was SO DAMN HOT (I checked the weather report later on, and it was around 41C. No wonder)! I gave up on the walking and started looking for a cab. And that's an herculean task in Dubai during the day. I walked past several hotels and shopping centers without a cab stand. I couldn't walk any further; I just stood and waited, along with several other people in front of a hotel. Luckily, a cab stopped nearby to let a passenger off. I ran and jumped in before anyone else. I had to get back to some air conditioning ASAP.

Once back at the hotel, I learned that the hotel restaurants were open. Even though it was completely over my budget, I didn't really care at this point. I didn't think I could hold off on the eating until I got to the airport lounge. So, I ordered tonic water (developed an addiction during my travels) and a nice vegetable curry. Happily unhungry.

I had a couple more hours until I had to leave for the airport, but there was no way I was going out again in the heat. Reading in the lobby seemed like a better idea. At least until the sun cooled off. At which point I walked to the nearby shopping centers (there's shopping everywhere in Dubai) and bought nothing.
It took me at least 45 minutes to find a cab to take me to the airport!!! But I had this really awesome female maniac driver (all decked out in her head-to-toe Muslim wear), who rushed me there very quickly.

Allow me to end my Dubai story with the airport's duty free. It was a crazy madhouse. I usually don't buy anything at duty free, but I needed to spend my remaining Dubai cash. I had to wait over 30 minutes in line to pay for my chocolate covered dates while my flight was being called. The reason being that there was a looooong line of Africans stocking up on soap, laundry detergent, Tang, toilet paper, etc. They sell Costco-sized everything; I've never seen a duty free shop like it. It was definitely my most memorable shopping experience in Dubai!

Ottoman Turkey

I would've loved to head further east towards Middle Eastern Turkey. However, since I had a flight to catch in a few days, I had to turn back. Not directly though. I decided to take a detour to Safranbolu.

From Kahta, I took the night bus to Ankara, and then switched buses. Safranbolu's bus station is a bit out of the way. But Turkey's buses are awesome in dealing with that – they provide free shuttle service to the town center. I finally had the chance to take one. Not that it was anything special...just a minivan with the bus company logo.

Safranbolu is known for its traditional Ottoman architecture and saffron (hence the name). Not much to do there, except enjoy wandering through the narrow cobblestoned lanes and admiring the houses. You can go into some of these houses, as they have been converted into museums. But why bother paying an admission fee when the hostel I was staying at was a perfectly fine example of an Ottoman home! It was so beautiful, with dark, old wooden ceilings, walls, and floors.
The best part of all was the family running the place. They had this little baby boy, and it was wonderful to listen to both parents take turns singing traditional lullabies while rocking their handmade cradle. So peaceful... Something like that seems so rare these days.

There's this hill in town that provides an excellent view of the area. You can go most of the way up on your own, but to get to the "summit", which is probably only approximately 50m higher, you need to pay 2YTL. OK, it's not much cash, but honestly, what difference can 50m make?! I was happy with the view anyways, so I decided not to pay. But when I returned to the hostel, another traveler told me that for the small fee, I get a complimentary drink up there. Not a bad deal... The following day, I went up there again. Hehe. Did a fair bit of reading on the bench while enjoying the view and a cup of tea.

Safranbolu has GREAT food. Even though the options were limited during the day due to Ramadan, no worries. I commuted to the same place for lunch 2 days in a row. They served this absolutely delicious ravioli-ish thing with sour yogurt. Sounds a bit weird, but let me tell you...it's YUM! And there's this other place a bunch of us from the hostel went out to one night that had tiny freshly made dolmas (stuffed grape leaves). Again, covered with sour yogurt. More YUM.
Of course I tried their famous saffron tea as well...rather tasteless in my opinion. Have had better teas for sure.

So, after my 1 night, 2 days stay in Safranbolu, I boarded another night bus back to Istanbul. My last. I've counted – 5 overnight bus rides in 2 weeks. Sigh.

Big Heads on Nemrut

Not many people have heard of Mt. Nemrut in eastern Turkey. I don't know how I originally found out about it (maybe on someone's travel blog???), but I was determined to go see the massive head statues atop the mountain.
Unfortunately, it's not the easiest place to get to, especially out of season. During the summer, agencies run 2 nights/3 days tours from Cappadocia itself. I was hoping to get on one of those, but September isn't summer anymore.
My research showed that Malatya, Kahta, and Adiyaman are the 3 main cities from where you can go to Nemrut. I heard that Malatya has great overnight tours run by the city to see the sunrise. Daily in summers only, of course. Knowing my luck, I'd get to Malatya and be stuck there without a tour.
So, I went around the travel agencies seeking recommendations. Everyone came up with a different answer. Not good for indecisive Waru.
In the end, I bought a bus ticket to Kahta (with a "surcharge") because the sign said Kahta (Nemrut), and I assumed it was the closest one.

From Goreme, there are no direct buses. I had to transfer at Kayseri for a long overnight bus. The Kayseri bus terminal is one of the best ones in Turkey I've seen so far – very modern, bright, and clean!!!
The bus agent invited me into his office, and since I had about 2 hours to kill, I accepted the invite. We chatted randomly while drinking tea. When he was handling customers, I glanced through my guidebook. Whereby Waru proceeded to have a PANIC ATTACK!!!! Right on that page was something like, "Warning – There have been reports of robbery at bus terminals. Agents can offer you drinks spiked with sleeping medication." Holy sh*t! Was my initial reaction, but as you can tell, nothing happened. The dude just turned out to be a nice, friendly, chatty agent.

I went to the only cheap accommodation in the town (the rest were starred hotels). And what a shi*hole this place was!!!
First of all, I was led to a tiny, dark room. Said NO. I preferred an ensuite room with breakfast included for the same price. The front desk agreed, so I checked in. The manager then shows up and says that for my rate, I get no breakfast. Waru has a fit, and doesn't back down. Breakfast agreed.
Now, for the tour to Nemrut. I was the only guest at the hostel when I arrived, so negotiations were rather difficult. I went around every single hotel in the city to see if they had any tours going that day. NO LUCK.

Let me just say that Kahta itself is a sh*thole of a town. Really. Completely lacks any character... As soon as I arrived, I knew I wanted to see Nemrut and get out ASAP. I was desperate to get on a tour that day so I could leave on the earliest bus the following day.
Maybe I would have to fork over the cash for a private tour...I'm sure it would be better than having to wait for a group to show up and stay in the worst hostel in the worst town for an indeterminate period of time....
But then a couple from Slovenia shows up early in the afternoon!!! And they wanted to go to Nemrut for the sunset. Yaaaaay. My saviors :)

We boarded the minivan - 3 passengers + 3 drivers (don't ask). On our way, we stopped by some smaller ruins, including an ancient bridge and a tomb with this really cool relief:Nemrut itself is a tomb, or funerary sanctuary, built years and years ago by some King Commagane (hey, that's where the name of that hostel came from!). He decorated both the east and west sides of the mountaintop with several enormous statues of heads, lions, and eagles. You need to hike up there from the visitor's center.
Something I wasn't expecting, but not too bad at all. Just freezing and windy. I'm glad I went for the sunset instead of the sunrise...imagine the cold then!
I have to admit that I was initially a bit disappointed once I got to the top. The statues on the western side were arranged very orderly, like something you'd see in a museum, and took away the ruin-ness. Plus, they placed barbed wires around the whole entire area, which prevented you from getting close to the statues. Darn it. It wasn't like that in the past...
But the eastern side was waaaay cooler, especially with the great lighting from the sun setting in the west. I have no clue what these heads mean, but they were an awesome sight. Glad I came.

Once the tour was over, I ran over to the bus station to see when I could leave the lovely town. Not until TOMORROW EVENING!!! Arghhhhhhh. Well, no choice. At least the hostel had a sitting area where I could waste away the hours reading my interesting book (Animals in Translation – I highly recommend it). And I could have breakfast until noon.

By the time I got back to the hostel, it was late in the evening. The hostel manager was SUPPOSED to buy me chicken kebab (long story), but OF COURSE the SNEAKY son on a bi*ch disappeared and never delivered on his promise. Damn him.

I'll end this entry on a positive note - The Slovenian couple made pasta for me!!! How sweet :)

Enough Caves

I think I had too much fun on the scooter yesterday.

Our full-day tour, on a minivan, through the outer regions of Cappadocia seemed so low key in comparison.
We had a really good laugh in the beginning though. We were doing the rounds of introductions, and it turned out that everyone in my row was homeless and unemployed! All of us decided one day to leave our jobs and to travel for an indefinite period of time. Nice!

Stop #1 – Pigeon Valley. We already went there yesterday... But you never get tired of the great scenery :)

Stop #2 – Ihlara Gorge. This is apparently a MUST DO hiking course in Cappadocia. Very short (1.5hrs) and easy, which is to my liking. The canyons itself are nothing out of the ordinary, but what makes it unique are the numerous cave churches (Byzantine, I think) dug into them. They're widely spread apart, so we only got to see one near the entrance. But given all the caves we went to yesterday, one was enough to get the general idea. After the hike, we got to have lunch on one of these man-made pieces of land in the stream. Lovely location, except for the swarms of bees everywhere!!! We couldn't relax at all while eating. Oh, and lunch was included, but they get you with the drinks. How sneaky!

Stop #3 – Derinkuyu Underground City. This was definitely the highlight of the tour. Unfortunately, I have no photos since I'm incapable of taking good photos in the dark. I should take lessons and buy a tripod...
As the name suggests, it's a complete city built underground. 8 floors, with schools, living quarters, stables, kitchen, cemetery, storage rooms, wine making rooms, etc. Like a maze. I can't imagine what the living conditions must've been...it's so dark, moldy, and claustrophobic! Some of the rooms were so small, they seemed like coffins. It's not that people normally lived here. They used the city as a hiding place when they were under attack (religious persecution, I believe).
The engineering skills that these people had (more than a thousand years ago!) are amazing! Huge ventilation systems and round, strategically-placed sliding doors to keep intruders out. Really cool.

Stop #4 – Another cave city complex. I apologize for the vagueness and lack of enthusiasm. When you see cave, after cave, after cave, they start to lose their appeal.

Stop #5 – Onyx factory. Basically a gift shop stop. No shopping for me. Found this interesting tree nearby though:

So, with the tour done, it was time to say goodbye : ( My travel buddy for the past week had to go back to Istanbul on the night bus for his flight back to Japan the next day.

And I think I'm done with Cappadocia as well. Except for the hot air ballooning (way too expensive!), I think I've done and seen everything I wanted to in this region.
Where to next??? I know I want to head further east to Mt. Nemrut, but I can't figure out which city to make my base.

Cappadocia on Scooter

After viewing the sunset in Pamukkale, we hopped on a minivan from the travel agency, got dropped off at the Denizli bus terminal 2 hours before our bus' departure time, chowed down a kebab, paid 0.50YTL to use the bathroom, and finally boarded our so-so bus. I fell asleep as soon as I sat down – exhausted from being outside and moving around the whole entire day!
By the time I managed to open my eyes, we were already in the Cappadocia region. And it was perfect timing for the sunrise!!! (Good thing, since I was never able to wake up early enough to actually catch the sunrise during my stay here...lazy)The bus arrived in the town of Goreme (headquarters for Cappadocia tourism) around 8am. We looked around a couple of hostels and chose the one with dorm beds in a cave room. Hey, we were in Cappadocia; we had to try out the cave rooms! I thought it might be a bit moldy, buggy, and cold, but no problems at all. The caves kept the bugs out and the heat in pretty well : ) FYI – Cappadocia gets very cold when the sun's not out.

It's a bit difficult to explore the region on foot. Most of the sights are spread apart (some more than an hour away by car), and there are a lot of hills.
Big question – join a tour or try to get around independently?
We decided to rent a scooter for the day to check out the more nearby places on our own, and then to join a tour the following day for those that are farther away.

Of course, I had no clue how to maneuver a scooter (I still don't), and I've never been on one before. Thank goodness those scooters are made for 2 people. I can just ride in the back. Easy : ) Works out cheaper, too, since we could split the costs.

To sum up the day's events...we did A LOT in one day!
We first started in the little town of Uchisar, known for its cave castle at its peak. It was a great first stop, providing us with a glimpse of the Cappadocia landscape. To get a good view of Uchisar itself, we rode to "pigeon valley":Pigeon valley is so called because of the many tiny caves dug out into the side of the cliffs to serve as their nests. People used to collect their poop for...something...I don't remember. Sorry. Now, though, there aren't that many pigeons around, which suits me just fine. I hate those flying rats!

Before heading back towards town, we stopped by an ice cream stand for some of those famous, stretchy Turkish ice creams (dondurma). The guy wouldn't stop calling to us in his limited Japanese,「美味しいよ〜」,「美味しいよ〜」! Annoying. And our purchase didn't shut him up either! Anyways, I don't particularly like dondurma. Looks cool, but too sugary sweet for my taste.

Next, we headed to the other side of town in search for those mushroom-shaped houses that Cappadocia is famous for. But we took a wrong turn somewhere, and ended up in a little, old cave town. There were very few tourists there, and we basically had the whole place to ourselves! We went up, down, in, out...exploring all the nooks and crannies of the cave. Really cool. They even had cave churches with simple, yet beautiful, wall paintings. Being an unguarded sight, I admit that some caves were a bit gross...smelly garbage and stuff. Made you not want to think about what went on in there, you know.

On our way out, we got good directions from a local on how to get to the mushroom houses. Once we made the right turn on the road, we saw them immediately. How CUTE!!!Wind and sand were a bit of a problem, but I had a lot of fun walking around. You can even climb into some of the houses to see the living quarters.

After seeing sooooo many caves earlier in the day, we were a bit caved-out by this point in time. But, we went to the Goreme Open Air Museum anyways. It was very similar to the caves at our unplanned stop, just a lot cleaner. There were more churches (and better preserved too) there as well, which was a bit different from what we'd seen:I don't think we enjoyed the museum much, though. We were out of there in less than an hour. Just too tired. Remember, we've been moving non-stop since yesterday morning!

Back at our hostel, we finally got off our feet. If only for a brief period. Because we wanted to go to Rose Valley for the sunset! A few km hiking path takes you there, but we weren't in the mood to walk. Since we had the scooter, why not ride?! The hostel owner looked at us a bit funny when we told him we were going there on the scooter. We couldn't figure out why he gave us that look until we started riding...the path is all soft dirt. Rough for the scooter, poor thing. We ended up falling over a few times, but that added to all the fun. Hehe. But when the path started to go along a cliff, we opted to walk the remaining short distance to the top to be on the safe side. Up top, we had a wonderful view of the entire valley. Needless to say, the sunset there was great!
Oh, and while we were waiting for the sun to set and looking over the valley, we realized that there was a paved path nearby. Why didn't the hostel owner tell us about this?!

And then the time came for us to return the scooter :( He was such a good boy. The scooter. I miss him already... Mr. Scooter enjoying the sunset after a hard day's work:

Drying Springs

From Selcuk, we took the morning bus (more like minivan) to Pamukkale.

Our first task when we arrived in town 3 hours later, was to purchase bus tickets to Goreme. We had originally thought about spending a night in Pamukkale. But since people at the guest house told us that half a day was more than enough for sightseeing, we decided to head straight out on the night bus.
The first ticket agency we went to (basically the one right in front of where we got dropped off) quoted 50YTL. "There's only 2 seats left. 1 bus only. You have to buy now." Whatever. Sounded sketchy.
I looked around for an official bus terminal without luck. Apparently, Pamukkale itself doesn't have a bus terminal; it's in Denizli. Agencies can, however, transport you over there to catch the bus.
Back in town, we looked for more agencies and found one operated by a semi-Japanese. She quoted 40YTL and offered to keep our bags for us until we left. Deal.

Pamukkale is well-known for its hot springs and steps of white travertine (I think that's what they're called).
You walk towards it from town, and you see this massive wall of white.Then, you walk up the incline and are met with gushing water. Shoes off of course.
Once at the top, you see rows and rows of little white pools containing blue water.The place is amazing! And fun too. In some areas, you can even go into the pools for a dip! We didn't get the chance since neither of us had a swimsuit on us...dumbo. Look how cool this dog looks in there!

Unfortunately, there are some pools that are completely dry.
Most, I think, are being fed with water by man. You notice the change in water levels throughout the day. For instance, the water was pouring out of the pool edges on our way up the first time, but was just trickling on the way down.
The story goes that in order to make the place more tourist-friendly, the Turkish government built roads and a park at the bottom. Which, of course, caused the natural springs to dry up. How sad. Just another example of the negative consequences on nature that result from human intervention. Oh well.

Amongst all this natural beauty is the ancient city of Hierapolis. Basically, more Greek ruins complete with agora, baths, library, and circular theater. I have to admit that I wasn't too into them, given that we just came from Ephesus and the natural pools leading up to the city were a much better site!
In between the natural spring pools and where the ruins of Hierapolis begins is a pool where you can swim in the supposedly "natural spring" water for a hefty fee. Not only that, the pool contains some ruins itself. We had no intension of getting in the water, but sneaked in for a peek. The water looked absolutely disgusting! Algae and other gunk floating around everywhere. GROSS.
On a side note, for some reason, Hierapolis is considered a UNESCO world heritage site, but not Ephesus. I disagree with UNESCO; Ephesus is much cooler!

After we made a complete tour of the area, we went back down into town for a quick lunch/dinner combo before heading back up for the sunset.
It was SOOOOOO beautiful!!!

And guess who I ran into up there?!?!?! The mother-daughter pair I traveled with for a couple of days back in Romania! We didn't think we'd get the chance to meet up again, with our plans being completely different. Hence our final goodbye dinner in Brasov. It turns out that they fell behind on their plans, and are still traveling through Turkey when they should already be in Greece. Haha. Does anyone stay on schedule?!

Let the Turkey Tour Begin!

As soon as I decided to skip the middle east this time around, I hopped on an overnight bus to Selcuk.

Before I get into that though, let me talk a bit about Istanbul's metro/tram network. It's horrible. Well, that's not fair. I mean at least they have a network, right?!
Inconvenient may be a better expression. Because the various line are not really interconnected. That is, you have to get out of the station and take a walk (sometimes a hike) to transfer lines. Of course, you are charged for each ride.

Back to my original story – to get to the autobus terminal, I needed to make a transfer. I got off at the stop and looked for the next train...nowhere in sight! The streets were totally crowded and I had no clue which direction to head. Thank goodness 2 girls offered to take me there. And carried my luggage too. The kindness of strangers : )

Turkish buses are awesome! At least this one was, with a steward on board to serve snacks (mostly cakes) and drinks. The seats were quite comfy, too. Slept like a baby.
(But I have to admit that my luck on buses kept going downhill from this day on...)

Arriving early in the morning, I headed straight to a guest house. Since I was using a Japanese guidebook for Turkey (the Lonely Planet Middle East being utterly useless), most of the guests there turned out to be Japanese. Including one guy who was actually on the same bus from Istanbul.
I agreed to stay at this place only if they were willing to drive me up to the Ephesus ruins. I don't mind walking 2km downhill in hot weather, but uphill is another story. And I didn't want to haggle with a Turkish cab driver.
They said they'd take me in the morning. After dropping off my bags and having some sweet Turkish tea (complimentary drink), we headed out. The other guy who just arrived joined me for the free ride. He ended up being my new travel companion : ) We were both traveling in the same general directions for the next few days.

What amazed me most about Ephesus was the crowd. OMG, there were so many people!!! Look at this!Where did they all come from?! The town (Selcuk) seemed pretty dead, so they couldn't be staying there. But since Royal Caribbean logos appeared everywhere, I assume they were on a day outing from their cruises.

Ephesus is pretty large, especially if you take in the smaller ruins on the outskirts.
My two favorites:
- Library. Fascinating, just as in the pictures. The facade can't be described in words alone. Of course, this is the highlight of the whole complex.- Toilets. Must've been cold in the winter to have to sit on stone toilets. No privacy either.They have a nice theater as well, but theaters all look the same to me – circular rows of seats. Not very interesting.

Since we came to Selcuk just for Ephesus, we decided to walk around the entire complex. Underneath the HOT, BLAZING sun, might I add. Nothing particularly noteworthy to be seen that far out, except old churches that you have a hard time telling were in fact churches. And old men trying to sell you "Babylonian"coins. There were also some heaps of ruins that wouldn't let us in, claiming that they closed at noon. Right...I think they just wanted some money.

Back in town, we picked up some lunch (cheese-filled pancakes) and went to whatever sights it had to offer. Like the museum and some mosques with beautiful, mis-matched carpets all over the floor.

Back at the guest house, we met up with some of the other Japanese guests and decided to have a dinner of kebabs at the roof top. With some drinks, of course : )
Great sky:

No Syrian Visa

I spoke to my mom about heading towards the middle east on my own after Turkey. Surprisingly, she didn't say anything...which I interpreted as, "Fine. It doesn't matter what I say. You do whatever you want anyways."

So, I dragged my mom to the Syrian embassy on Friday. Got there at 11:32 – TWO minutes too late. They wouldn't open the door for me : (
Oh, and they don't have an afternoon visa session opening either. Lazy people.

I had originally intended to move out of Istanbul on Sunday night, after my mom left for home in the morning. However, I had to stay an additional night and wait for Monday if I wanted that Syrian visa. And I did.

Monday morning, I was at the embassy by 9:30am. Filled out my forms and handed them in along with my photo and passport.
"Where is your letter from the Japanese consulate?".
DAMN. I heard mixed stories about the need for that letter, so I had taken the chance to apply for the visa without one. But since they requested one, I had to head out to the Japanese embassy nearby.
BUT. It turned out to be a public holiday in Japan = closed embassy. Highly privileged people getting both local and Japanese holidays off!
This whole thing turned out to be a FAILED attempt.

When I asked about getting the visa at the border, they just blew me off and said it was impossible. I knew that wasn't true – I've heard of people getting it at the border. It's just very time-consuming, and the buses don't wait for you.

I didn't want to stay in Istanbul for another day, and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting the visa at the border. Plus, I didn't think Ramadan was the best time to travel through the region.

So...I've decided to just give up on my idea of traveling through the Middle East. At least for now.

Istanbul for the 2nd Time

As with Athens, I've been to Istanbul before.
As with Athens, it was the 1^st visit for my mom.
Therefore, as with Athens, I took in all of Istanbul's major attractions for the 2^nd time.

I'm glad mommy offered to pay for the entrance fees; they were outrageous!!! Prices must've more than doubled over the past few years.
Although I enjoyed the Hagia Sophia the first time, it was a huge disappointment now. I don't exactly know why...just felt dark, dreary, and dusty. I think the place was waaaay too overpriced for what it had to offer. I took a lot of photos there last time, but I didn't even take the camera out of my bag this time. Even though the blooming flowers in the garden were nice.
On the other hand, the Basilica Cistern and the Dolmabahce Palace were better the 2^nd time around. I love the reflection of the columns on the water at the cistern!!!

My mom and I did a lot of things differently than when I traveled through the city with my friends. The biggest difference being that we walked or took the subway everywhere. I don't know why I relied on taxis at a younger age. I must've been more spoiled back then; Now, I know the importance of being saving pennies.
Anyways, we walked all the way from Sultanahmet to Dolmabahce and further on to some market near the Asia-Europe bridge. I was so cranky by the time we reached the market (took about 2 hours on foot!) that I didn't even try the huge baked potato with all-you-can-choose toppings that the area is famous for. Regret.

But, we did try a ton of other Turkish food that I never got a chance to the last time. Everything was DELICIOUS, except for the mackerel sandwich (サバサンド). Japanese guidebooks rave about it...I ended up giving mine to the cats. It was just too fishy for my liking. I think it could've been edible with rice and soy sauce, taking out the skin and black meat (gross!).
Of course, you can't go wrong with any kind of kebab. It' just SOOOOOOO good : ) Although I can't vouch for sheep yumminess (don't eat them), everything else that can be kebab-ed was awesome.

Another Turkish deliciousness comes in the form of bread. Yes, baguettes. For 1 TYL, you can buy a roll that is undoubtedly the crispiest-on-the-outside, and the fluffiest-on-the-inside. Loved it.

You'd think it being Ramadan, food may be hard to come by. Not at all. Muslim food-rule seems to be quite lenient in Istanbul itself. However, there are strict observers for sure, making the dinner-rush a nightmare. Seriously...right before sunset, there'd be a long line in front of each and every restaurant – Muslims waiting to get their hands on food!!! Mom and I quickly learned to eat a bit before sunset to avoid the wait.
Ramadan has its positives though – special desserts!!! Gullac was the MOST AMAZING thing!!! It's sort of like a milk pudding/pastry with pomegranates and walnuts. Had one almost every day (along with Turkish coffee). Aghhhhhh....Miss it already. Mom was going to buy back a "gullac-making kit" but was discouraged after being told that they are extremely difficult and time consuming to make properly.
They also had a bunch of other pudding-ish desserts (forgot their names already) that were high on the yummy scale as well.
I'm glad I came to Istanbul during Ramadan. Otherwise, I would've been stuck with just a baklava for dessert, and I absolutely HATE them.

Enough about food.

One final Turkish experience – the hamam (Turkish bath). Having been geared for foreigners, the place was rather expensive. But I think it was worth it...you know, to try it out for the first time (although probably not too authentic).
Let me just say that I have never seen so many naked Caucasians in one place. I haven't gone to a nude beach (at least not yet), and you don't get to see many of them at the Japanese hot springs....
Aside from the nakedness, however, the hamam was great. The fat Turkish woman scrubbed me hard enough to remove all the dirt I've accumulated over the past several months on the road. I felt so CLEAN and rejuvenated afterwards.
Mom mentioned something about looking for one near home so she can get dad cleaned up. I wonder if she ever found one.... I could probably use another deep cleansing by the time I stop by home.

Oh, It's Ramadan

How Waru realized it was Ramadan:

1. We arrived in Istanbul late at night.
On our way to the hotel, we passed right by a brightly lit Blue Mosque with some phrase I couldn't decipher. Looked very tacky. I didn't recall the mosque being this way when I was last in Istanbul (how many years ago was that...Seven???)

2. Around 4am in the morning, we were rudely awakened by drum beats. Some idiots were playing the drums on the streets. Seemed like they were making their rounds.

3. The next morning, we went to the Blue Mosque in the morning. The square inside was full of book stalls. OK...I'm 99% sure that this wasn't there 7 years ago. Something is weird..

4. Returning to the hotel for the evening, we walked by the mosque again. The whole entire street was a carnival scene! Food stalls (like this candy one) and shops everywhere!!! I'm positive that I didn't see this last time.

5. Once again, drum beats before sunrise.... What the heck?!

6. I took out my guide book to do some research. A phrase jumped out at me – something like "the area around the Blue Mosque is lined with food stalls to celebrate Ramadan". Could it be?!?!?!

7. Confirmed my theory with the receptionist downstairs.

Took a while, but at least I finally knew what all the lights & action were about.

Hiking the Samaria Gorge

Mom wanted to do something different. Not shopping, not museums, not wandering around cities and ruins.

So, why not hiking?!?!?!Located about 3 hours from Chania (there's a direct bus, easy to get to!), the Samaria Gorge offers an excellent hiking course. Excellent because it's 95% DOWNHILL or flat! And there are quite a few rest stops with nice toilets in between. It doesn't get any better than this : )
The hike took us about 6 hours. The scenery itself is pretty, but nothing spectacular. The first part (downhill) through the woods could be anywhere in Oregon. The latter part (flat) along the gorge could be any narrow gorge. I think it would've been better if there was a lot more flowing water. But then again, I guess if the water was flowing, we wouldn't be able to walk in the gorge.The only problem was the lack of shade...it was so hot and sunny out there, I think I turned another shade darker by the end of the day. The overpriced diet coke at the finish line hit the right spot!

Anyways, the hiking course is primarily a one-way route.
(I didn't run into any during my hike, but I'm sure that there are some crazy people out there who'd want to go the opposite direction and climb uphill)
Meaning that you don't end where you began. The end to this route was a tiny tiny town, with one of the most remote, peaceful, and beautiful beaches I've ever seen. The turquoise water was absolutely clear, so many fishes!!! I'm not a beach person, but I seriously thought that I'd like to come back here with a swimsuit someday.However, being in the middle of nowhere, the place is accessible only by boat. And they only have one boat a day back to another town with bus connections to Chania. That meant we had to wait 5 hours. Which we didn't really feel like doing; we were a bit tired.
Thinking we had no other option though, we grabbed some lunch at a beach side shack. Disgusting cheeseburger. Yuck.
To kill time while waiting, I took out my guide book and noticed that there may be a boat to a separate town with bus connections to Heraklion. We needed to return there tonight anyways, for our flight out tomorrow. I ran back to the boat ticket office and inquired about it...and there was indeed a boat leaving in 30 minutes. Perfect!!! I love it when guide books turn out useful : )

It took us the boat ride (45 minutes) and 2 buses (one of them with a chain smoking driver), but we finally made it back to Heraklion before midnight.
EXHAUSTING day...

The Venice of Greece

Chania, in western Crete, is also known as "The Venice of Greece". At least that's what Lonely Planet says.

We took the bus (~4 hours) to spend a night there. The town is quite small, and can be covered on foot in about 2 hours.
Once we started walking around, I had the unfortunate luck of running out of memory on my SD card. I sat on the sidewalk and started deleting some photos, which gave me free space for about 10 new pics. Not enough. Whenever I saw other tourists taking photos, I'd mumble something like, "Not fair! They can take as many photos as they want!!!" with a sad look on my face. Mom got fed up and MADE me buy another memory card. We went to every single electronics store, camera shop, and supermarket looking for the cheapest one. We were both exhausted when I finally bought one (at the first shop, of course).

Anyways, I guess Chania does have a sort of Venetian atmosphere. The faded, old buildings on narrow alleys certainly seem comparable. But with the crucial elements of water and gondolas missing, I don't know...
Interesting find at the market. Rabbits. I couldn't figure out why they had to leave the hind legs furry. Anyone know??? Oh, and the vendor down the street served delicious grilled calamaris and an unidentifiable leafy, soggy veggie that I absolutely fell in love with. Since I never discovered its name, that was the first and last time I had the pleasure of eating it. Sad.

UGLY Knossos

Heraklion was a dead city when we arrived. Yes, it was a Sunday night, but nothing was open! Except for the Chinese restaurant by our hotel. The noodle soup wasn't too bad.

Bright and early the next morning, we headed out to Knossos. I've heard so much OF Knossos (not ABOUT), I thought it was going to be this awesome sight. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a huge disappointment instead. Apparently, the place was in such a disastrous condition when it was discovered, that the archaeologist decided to use his imagination for its restoration. And what a horribly tacky imagination he had; he should've left the place as it was. It just looked too new and colorful now. Come on...Knossos is ancient. Why not leave it looking old?!I did enjoy the frescoes, though. Some of the patterns seemed rather familiar (but don't know exactly from where). I was thinking that it would be cool to finally see the real thing. Until I realized that all of the frescoes at Knossos are REPLICAS! The actual ones are at the museum. Damn it.
A greater damn it when we went to the museum and discovered that only a quarter of the exhibition was open. This turned into a f**k for me when I found out that the only fresco that was NOT on display was the one I wanted to see most!!! (FYI – it's the dolphin one for those of you familiar with Greek history) To make myself feel better, I bought the postcard...

For the rest of the day, we walked, walked, walked and ate, ate, ate. Starting with the town center. With the shops now open, I tagged along my mom as she went on a search for her spoons (yes, she collects those too). Followed by a late lunch of grilled sardines (mmmmm!). Then, we went to the pier and headed towards the lighthouse at the tip. We must've walked for about an hour, but that only got us halfway. Since I didn't feel like going any farther, I dragged my mom back after some whining. On our way back, I found a tiny bakery with a huge crowed. Sweet aroma... A new pan of custard pie was out!!! We bought one, of course, and devoured it on the bench nearby. YUMMY. I wanted another one (wish I didn't have to share!), but mom wouldn't let me. She thought we should have a proper dinner instead. Chinese again...

Beautiful, but a bit too touristy...

One of the reasons why I decided to include expensive Greece in my "backpacking" trip was because I've always wanted to see the white-washed buildings and blue-domed churches of Santorini. I've drooled over its picture-perfect postcards and posters for many years. With mom chipping in for 85% of the costs during this portion of my trip, why not?!?!?!

Day 1 - We took the slow ferry from Athens. Although the crossing took over 8 hours, it was cheaper than I expected at 27 euros. Plus, we got to see some other islands (OK, I admit that we only saw the ports, but at least we got a sense of what's on offer there. Nothing much, I have to say. Seemed like just lazy, hot beach towns). AND, we had a very scenic entry into Santorini – little white towns dotting the top of dramatic cliffs. How cool!!! I've never seen anything like it before.
The port was in utter chaos when we docked. Good thing I arranged a pick up beforehand. Otherwise, we'd probably be stuck at the port for a loooooong time...
It was late in the afternoon by the time we got ourselves settled at the guest house. For the remainder of the day, we wandered around Santorini's central town of Fira. The place is a complete tourist town. Nothing but hotels, restaurants, and gift shops! But as we kept walking along the edge of the cliff for a while, we caught site of those blue-domed churches : ) They are so cute!!! (I must say that the dust covering the top bugged me a bit though...) Being orthodox churches, we weren't allowed in with our shorts and tank tops. Boooooooo.
After returning to Fira, we grabbed a kebab (it's amazing how you can get a cheap kebab anywhere in Europe!), and watched the sun setting in the ocean. Beautiful sight.

Day 2 – I never knew this before I got to Santorini, but a volcano & hot spring tour is apparently a MUST-DO tourist activity. We signed up for the morning tour on our second day on the island.
The meeting place was at the bottom of the island...some hundreds of cobble-stoned, donkey poop infested stairs down. There was a cable car option, but mom has a policy of “walk down, ride up”. The walk was extremely stinky due to the donkeys, made worse by the summer heat.
Nothing spectacular about the tour, I must say. A dormant volcano is a dormant volcano. Lots of rocks, soft sand, and bare surfaces. The walk up to the crater was a breeze, though, given that it's basically at sea level.
The hot spring, on the other hand, was quite interesting. There's a small area around a rocky beach that's dirty yellow and lukewarm. Smells a bit rusty too. With all the slimy moss (???) growing on the rocks and floating in the water, it definitely wasn't pleasant. Just took a short dip, and we were both out of there. The worst part of it all was that we had to swim like a 100m to get to the spot...getting to the shore was easy, but I nearly drowned on the way back. Waru is a terrible swimmer, often getting panic attacks when there are waves and her feet cannot reach the bottom. (FYI – she did pass the college swimming test with flying colors though!) Anyways, this ocean hot spring was the first for me, but I don't think I'll ever go back. Unless it's in Japan. In my tiny brain, hot springs = Japan.
After we got back from the tour, we took the bus to Oia on the western (I think) edge of the island. It's where a ton of postcard photos are taken...white buildings, blue domes, and windmills. No doubt the place is gorgeous, but it seemed even more touristy than Fira! Is that possible?!?!?! Nonetheless, I had a fantastic time walking through the town – taking great photos and discovering the yummiest milk pie : )

Day 3 – Beach day. Funny because neither of us are big beach people. But the white, red, and black sand beaches are what Santorini is famous for...who could leave without at least seeing them?!
So, we spent the morning at the red beach, and the afternoon at the black. We didn't even have our bathing suits with us! Basically, there's only 1 bus every 1.5 hours to/from the red beach and it takes about 1 hour each way, so a lot of time was consumed by transportation. More frequent buses run for the black beach, but we had to go all the way back to Fira to catch one.
Observations: Red beach has dark red pebbles. Black beach has black sand. I don't know why, but both were below my beach expectations. I think I prefer white sand beaches...
We didn't have the chance to go to the white beach because we didn't feel like chartering a small boat and getting ripped off in the process.
Quite miraculously, I ran into my college classmate at the black beach!!!

Day 4 – By this time, we'd had enough of Santorini. It is only a small island, you know. We had the whole morning to kill, until our late afternoon ferry to Crete. Not having a plan, mom decided that we should go back to the red beach to pick up some pebbles.
Let me clarify....my mom collects rocks/sand from her travels. She wanted to add the red/brown pebbles of the beach to her collection. Begrudgingly, I followed.
It's OK though. We went back to Oia, too, and she bought me another milk pie : )

Ruin-ed Out

I met my mom at the airport, and the first thing she asked me was, "When are you going to stop traveling? When are you going to start working?" Damn it. I was VERY annoyed. And this came up every single day... How fun, huh?!
Well, it was OK when she wasn't saying these things. It was nice to have a travel companion and someone to enjoy the sights & food with, even though there was some nagging!

This wasn't my first time in Athens – I've been here with my friends back in college (wow, LOOONG time ago!). So to be honest, I didn't care much about the sights here. But since it was the first for my mom, we went EVERYWHERE over the next 2 days!

Starting with the Acropolis. It never hurts to see it twice! But I have to say that it seemed more ruined than last time...if that's even possible. Not much of the originals left, and STILL undergoing major renovations. I doubt it's ever going to be complete. They even had train tracks there, which I don't remember seeing before.
Like my previous trip, the next stop was a downhill walk to the ancient city of Agora. More Acropolis-like temples and remaining columns.
Followed by the archaeological museum (why can't they clean the place up?! I did enjoy their ceramics collection and frescoes though), more ruins (in the form of Hadrian's Library, Roman baths, temple of Olympian Zeus, etc), and a funicular ride to the top of Lykavittos Hill for a 360 degrees view of Athens.
My mom loves walking, and I think we even managed to see some ruins that I previously missed (like the huge cemetery complex of Keramikos – lots of wandering turtles!). We also went to the central market to drool over the fresh seafood (too bad hotels don't have self service kitchens) and buy some yummy figs : )

Before leaving Athens, we decided to take a day trip out to Delphi. By then, we pretty much had enough of Greek ruins, but we wanted to get out of the city a bit. Meteora would've been ideal, but it was too far...next time!!!

Delphi is about a 3-4 hour bus ride from Athens. On the way, we passed by a cute little town in the mountains (I think it's a ski resort during the winter – lots of Rossignol, Solomon, etc. stores). At times like this, I wish I had a car...the luxury of stopping anywhere (including toilets!). Anyways, the town of Delphi, completely tourist-oriented, is about a 1km walk from the ruins & museum. I have to say that the only difference I perceived between Delphi and the ruins seen in Athens was the location. Delphi is located in the mountains, surrounded by olive fields. No buildings nearby. Otherwise, they are similar complexes (although maybe a bit smaller in scale) with a temple, theater, and residential/storage areas. Oh, and there was a cool gymnasium complex at Delphi, except that you couldn't get close enough to get a good view.
I think it's still part of Delphi, but further down the road is another temple. Of Apollo, I think, but could be totally wrong. (Waning memory) Doesn't this look like some sort of army building?!
I'm sure that the darker portions are the originals. But with so little left, I'm always amazed at how archaeologists can figure out what the complete structure looked like before falling apart. Well, I guess that's the requirement for the job...