Thursday:
Woke up, ate, curled up in a hammock with Sandra reading. Went back to Lilliput for lunch and long discussions about everything. Decided it was time to check out Arambol after Sandra had heard from her friend Rico who was her travel mate and fellow fire performer earlier in her journey (according to random people that recognized her from YouTube, she’s quite famous in Bristol).

We were in for a treat, Hilight Tribe was playing and it was an incredible show! Amazing music, the mixed scent of incense and Kashmiri hash along with stunning fire performers and dancers. We fell in love with Arambol in a very short time :) After dinner, Sandra, Rico and I walked with our arms out and our heads tilted back on the beautiful long stretch of beach.

The way back was difficult though. Average price for a ride from Arambol to Anjuna is 450 on the street, 500 through a hotel. Since it was quite late, we were being asked for 1000, finally a driver said 700 and we considered it a late night tax and hopped in. He drove for a bit, stopped the car in the middle of nowhere and told us it was 700 EACH. Sandra and I were firm in our ‘hell no’ and I pointed out I’d spent 3 months in India in 4 different provinces and there was no such thing. We payed attention to all the road signs just in case he was taking us somewhere else and kept our phones handy. He ended up dropping us off in an abandoned market in the middle of the night in the dark about a 25 minute walk from home. Thanks again for cell phones which also do double duty as flash lights!

Got home safe and sound and even after the unfortunate ending to our evening, we were still in love with Arambol. Sandra decided to move there the next day :)

Friday:
Moving day! We went back to Arambol with Sandra’s things and got her set up in a hut on the beach for significantly less than what we were paying in Anjuna. Our driver was the opposite of the last and quite entertaining, apparently Swedish girls are the easiest and Canadians are hard to get. Also, the Russians are fine because they bring their own women but the Israeli’s have a thing for the local girls.

This place is hippie/performer/awesome heaven! We wandered around the Magic Park to meet up with Rico and check things out before he had to teach a workshop and Sandra and I shopped in the village. The village was kinda neat, we had people recognize us from hilltop the week before. Sandra was the performer and I was the girl who ran across to get the drummer drumming. Met a swiss girl, Jaqueline, who makes beautiful macrame and visited (I would run into her several more times after, she was lovely), we smelled different teas, battled with ladies with broken math. I met a Bengali girl who says my ear tattoo means something different in Bengali, sounds like it will be fun tracking down the meanings, that’s 3 now.

At sunset, everyone gathers on the beach. Everyone as in the large foreign community that continually shifts throughout the season in Arambol. People play their instruments, play with yoga and perform with props, or just sit in contemplative silence while the sun goes down.

Saturday:
Took things a bit easy on Saturday. Whatever the belly bug was that I had in Turkey was back and making me look 4 months pregnant, lazy with no appetite. I spent some time blogging and tweaking the dreads and went to a place called Tantra to drink Lassi’s and tea with Steve and Papi. Took a nap in the hammock and managed to drag my lethargic self to the Saturday Night market.

Many lovely things from everywhere! Even found a great shop run by some Calgary boys and bought a beautiful wrist cuff from a Spanish man who makes them himself. Ran into several people I knew; Jelena, Sparrow, Jaqueline, even the happiest man ever from last year. Feeling at home just in time to pack up and leave again!

After Adam left, Sandra and I went back to the beach to try to find some better finger chips and relax with our books. We stopped at a beach bar and laid on chaises drinking mohitos which maybe wasn’t the greatest idea. We were being asked every 5 minutes for something and then ended up getting very expensive fake henna done. (fake because the stuff from Hampi is really just permanent marker ink) We’ve finally figured out not to give much leeway to the women, they are tricksy. Their math is broken, very guilt pressury, (promise my friend?) and they know this and know that if they bother you enough, you’ll pay to get them to leave you alone. The girls themselves are very sweet and interesting to talk to, the businessy end is just what they’ve been taught to do. We also giggled quite a bit when a housy remix of Christmas carols started playing. We certainly did not get very much reading done.

Went back and konked out for several hours, when I awoke, I had henna on my face and Shreta and Wayne had come by for a visit. There was a party at the guest house again. I can apparently sleep through anything when I need to. After a lovely visit they were on their way, shortly after, Wayne’s brothers Kurt and Krishna showed up for a visit and some dancing.  It was great to actually see their faces after 7 months of facebooking with them. Went back to sleep through the music again after they left. Seems to be a bit of my pattern, do a whole bunch of stuff for a few days, then lay low for a day to catch up physically and mentally.

Tuesday, was the first of several girls days which have been lovely. Went to the internet cafe and caught up on things for a couple hours. Back to the beach, this time Cafe Lilliput. We went to the upper balcony and had our first dose of actual Indian food. I missed you mushroom mutter! The scenery was lovely as well as the music, no messed up raucous tunes distracting the conversations. We’ve also taken to pinching eachother to return us to the moment, we both have busy brains and the tendancy to lose ourselves planning if we’re not careful. Walking down the street and pass a cow? Pinch. Sitting in the shade with the sea in front and a lovely breeze? Pinch.

Went back to our rooms to get ready for the evening. We had to test out Shiva Valley to ensure it would be an appropriate location for my birthday festivities the week after. It passed. We adopted ‘George’ who has been abandoned by his Israeli friends, and when we were crossing the rocks to get to the other side of the beach, we adopted Steve, an Oregonian who has been a good addition to the conversations. Once there, I managed to find Jelena and her brother and noticing that it was our first time really dancing together (not counting breakfast bowl dancing at BM in ’09) and that we had had to come to the other side of the planet to do it. The music was really good and I’m starting to learn to keep my eyes open when I dance because I keep losing my balance in the sand otherwise. Not even sure how I got in the habit of closing my eyes but I’ve been annoying myself with it since I noticed a while back. We didn’t shut down this party, it went until past midnight but when you’re expecting the night to end at 10:00 and you’ve been dancing hard with that in mind and it goes way longer, one can be pretty exhausted.

Wednesday was less exciting but no less enjoyable. We hung out with some cows and drank ginger tea. I moved back to the room with the hammock which was pleasing, trying to figure out if I’ll be able to fit one on my balcony… My dreads have started to completely fall apart, apparently my hair is too healthy. This is what I get for never dying it and rarely heat treating it. Papi was kind enough to share his experience and come over to start unhealthy-ing it so that they can start behaving better. I think they’ve gone from age 2 (not listening and running amok) to about age 4 (starting to figure out that mommy knows best but still tripping up the stairs). Soon they’ll be in the awkward, gawky years.

Went to the Wednesday market, almost overwhelming! Didn’t even know where to start and ended up mostly wandering around, noting how everything was what will be later sold in festival markets back home. Also inspiring us to create more. Instead of seeing something cool and thinking, I want that, we look and think, I can make that, but with a tweak here and an adjustment there and maybe a little… It will be interesting to see what I’ll be able to pull off by festival season :)

Slept about 4 hours. Even on the other side of the planet, my body still likes to wake up at 8. Apparently time zones have nothing to do with it. Wandered about the beach a bit a bit and found internets and met one of my neighbours who would become a constant companion. His name is ‘George’ from Iran. His name has been changed to protect his identity. He’s been living in India for about 5 years as a student and is currently partying his ass off until his arranged marriage takes place in a couple months. He’s a little afraid of his future wife that knows nothing but the studious boy he’s been portrayed as. I mentioned it’s highly likely she’s thinking the same thing and to just be open and honest from the start, he might be surprised. He’s pretty much the comedian of the place and occasionally introduces himself as ‘Insane from Iran’. You can tell he’s been here a while in that he adds where he’s from in the introduction as he knows the question will be asked within seconds anyway if he hadn’t already provided the answer.

Heard from Jelena, YAY! And Adam and Sandra, YAY! And made plans to meet at Shorebar and then check out the Saturday night market. I had no idea how to get there so ‘George’ offered to show me and we hung out with his friends until Jelena and her friends showed up. Later on Adam (after a brutal 16 hour bus ride from Bangalore!) and Sandra arrived so I had 3 much loved Albertan faces to keep me company, bliss! We sat and chatted until it was too late to go to the market, and continued to chat until Shorebar packed up and turned out the lights. Adam and Sandra made plans to join me in Anjuna the next day as they were both staying in boring Panjim.

Slept in finally and got Adam and Sandra settled at Sai Prasad and it was time for the beach!! We had some ‘finger chips’ (fries) and booze and then Adam and I ran across the beach like 5 year olds and jumped in the ocean. We thought we had avoided most of the rocks but I still scraped my ankle, at least stingy salt water is good for it. We danced around the water for a bit before drying off and heading back to do the lame but necessary things like laundry. What a difference in mid season! It’s ready the same day! No having to wait 3 days in monsoon with nothing every really drying and a musty smell that never goes away.

Then it was off to Hilltop, where I had gone dancing last April. Much more crowded, much more people to meet, and a lot of fun. I danced, Adam and Papi played with Poi, Sandra hooped. I played with both the poi and the hoop and managed to not injure myself or anyone around, but just barely. Law here means the music shuts down at 10:00. Or depending on who’s been paid off, sometime between 10 & 4. This time it was around 11:00 and then everybody’s left wondering what’s next. A fellow in the crowd happened to be a fire juggler. Another from South Korea, happened to have a drum. So a big semi circle developed around the drunken fire juggler with some serious skills and the crowd created a rhythm with the drums, clapping, someone had a shaker, another kinda beatboxed for a bit. Once the juggling was done, he joined up with another fellow and they played with fire staffs and did some crazy cool stuff. Afterward, there was a lull and I was all, ‘SANDRA GET IN THERE!’. I ran over to the drummer on the other side and his rubber arm was twisted to play more and then Sandra worked her hoop magic for a while. The crowd dispersed when the lights started going out and we hung out with a couple from Puna until security finally convinced us to leave. 2 nights with Adam and we shut it down both times :)

In the morning, we did a quick run to the market before Adam had to leave. Thankfully, we passed an elephant so he was all happy as he hadn’t seen one yet and he’s been in India since Jan. Somehow after that and him packing, there was still time for a beer but just barely. While we were sitting a young Russian fellow came back from the rocks gushing blood from his foot, I’ve never seen so much blood all at once in real life. He just kept saying ‘no problem’ while they finally convinced him to elevate it while I went for my first aid supplies. He got bandaged up with my antibiotic ointment from my dogbite in Turkey and sterile gauze (my first aid kit is very international with the random supplies I’ve picked up along the way). We tried to tell him to not go in the sand and keep it clean but he proceeded to get a tattoo right there and I saw him the with the same bandage the next day, and it was filthy. It’s that whole youthful invincibility thing I suppose, I just hope it doesn’t get infected. Somehow in the bloody chaos, Adam made it to the airport in time and after several delays and missed connections, made it to Kolkutta where he’ll be working until he returns to Canada in April.

Last day of work before the trip started proved to be rather hectic, missed a lunch date and stayed a bit late and a doctor’s appointment ran way longer than expected. Managed to fit in a lovely Thai dinner with Karen and Malik though before getting to the airport. I arrived in Vancouver,  a little delayed, they kinda laughed because I was worried the delay would mean a sidetracked backpack, I’m too used to the paranoid 3 hour early arrival at airport mentality. I had a wonderful chat with the attendant at the ticket counter about Flamenco and India (she’s Indian and her daughter dances Flamenco with one of my instructors) and magically I was upgraded to business class for the longest leg of my flight, Vancouver to Taipei (thank you!). Lots of lovely legroom but I tend to sit in padmasana most of the time anyway and as I was reading about Thai monks (thank you Paul), it seemed appropriate.

Once in Taipei, I met a couple who live just north of Vancouver who have been traveling the world on a regular basis since the early 70′s as well as a man from Manchester who had been stuck at the airport for days due to multiple delayed flights. These were the faces that would keep me company for my brief stint in China. Being there made me wish I had more time so that I could visit my sister and her family who moved there in August last year but it was not  in the cards and I’m fortunate that she will be returning for nearly 2 months in the summer. From there, I flew to New Delhi and OMG I’m in India!!!

Night and day difference from last year’s dumbstruck arrival. Mostly because that was night and this was day. And it’s a shiny new airport. And I knew what I was doing. Shared a cab to Karol Bagh neighbourhood with an Australian couple who was staying near the Major’s Den, where I was staying. It had the same trees out the window that I had at the Ashram and it was a little chilly *gasp* and the room was bigger than the flat I’m moving into when I return home. Basic, clean, cheap, and walking distance to what I might need like internets and water. I checked mail, made photocopies of my passport, and then dodged rickshaws, cows and motorbikes like I’d never left. Had an early night so that I would be ready for what the next day would bring. A 7:00am cab ride to the airport.

Once at the airport, I met some other Calgarian’s who were en-route to Varanassi for a wedding and we chatted until it was time to board our flights. Mine was delayed for 2 hours, no surprise, the fog was thick and as I’ve flown to Goa 3 times now, it was nothing new. I had no connecting flight so the only thing I had to worry about was my ride waiting for me on the other end. I tried to call but couldn’t get through and ended up with a phone number from the attendant that insisted I take it and call him if I ever return to India. My lily white skin is making me stand out a lot more than last time where I was darker when I started than my touring friend Neena, who is Indian.

Finally got to Goa, grabbed my pack and my friend Papi was waiting with his ancient and much beloved Enfield named Edna that was just fixed that morning after a year and a half in hibernation. Riding 70km on the back of a motorbike with my pack was not as scary as it sounds but it did feel like I had ridden a camel by the time I got off. I keep having to insist that it’s not Edna, it’s me, as Papi is very sensitive about Edna’s feelings.

First stop was Ainsley’s bar, Shooters in Baga. Ainsley had recommended a place for me to stay so we left my pack and went to go check it out. Got there and the Psy was pumping and there were hammocks!! Done. Went back for my bag and some rum and once back at Sai Prasad, danced on the rooftop with my new neighbours. This is what I came for :)

Saturday:

Today started with excitement over Spain and sadness over leaving Turkey. It quickly turned to panic. Omer suggested I do my web check-in before Idil came to go for breakfast. That is when I discovered my flight was for 6:00am, not 6:00pm and it was 9:30am. (these were the papers that went AWOL in Goa) Enter the feeling of absolute panic that is impossible to express and you find yourself wandering in circles because you have no idea what to do. Thankfully Omer is an experienced traveller and we were soon going over the options. I called the airline in Spain and as expected, you snooze you lose, literally. Then we started looking to see what the cheapest option was including planes and trains. We couldn’t book stuff online for some reason and we had to go to the airport anyway to mail my package so I packed my bag in weak hope that it would get sorted and get me to Spain in time for Monday. At the post office it turned out the machines were down for the weekend and now I was stuck with a box of stuff on top of everything else. Back at the airline desk that was supposed to open at 1:00 but it was 1:45 now. Turns out my flight was transferable, umm, awesome! The flight were sold out until the next evening though, boo. Unless I wanted to upgrade to business class, for a mere 197euro instead of the original 519euro, SCORE! After warm goodbye’s and inexpressible gratitude to my saviour and companions from the last 3 weeks (seriously, Omer even changed my Turkish Lira for Euro’s), it was off to wait until check-in an hour later. I waited in the slow going lineup until I realized I could go through the VIP one with people wondering what was up with the backpacking hippie girl in first class, I flew through with no extra charge on the box of stuff and up to the lounge where I had something to eat and access to wifi. Got a whole row to myself on the flight and a great dinner, the plane was nothing fantastic but I had piles of space and played musical chairs confusing the poor guy in front who unexpectedly tilted back to hear my clattering dishes that thankfully never spilled. Next flight, back to the VIP room in the gorgeous Barajas airport in Madrid with power to charge the iPod and on my second flight, I had all of business class to myself. The flight was shorter than I thought and next thing I knew I was in Seville. I decided that the box was a bit of a pain but also good because now I’d have a larger wardrobe to work with for the month. I took a cab to the Samay hostel which is fantastic, after some twittering and facebooking, I climbed on my bunk and went to sleep.

Sunday:

I missed the sun! Oh heat, how I missed you too! I’m sitting on the rooftop at the Samay drinking tea and blogging at my leisure while my stuff waits in storage for when I go to my apartment later. I’ve been trying to figure out where all the places I need to go tomorrow will be and found that everything is pretty much walking distance. I’ll be taking a walking tour later to get my bearings and getting my plans for tomorrow tighter. I’m loving the ability to understand the majority of what people say and everyone has been so helpful! From the couple on the plane who gave me their daughters info in case I need it, to the futball scout who made sure I got to my next flight, to the cabbie who took me to the hostel, to the people at the front desk. Men actually offer their seats to women, stand up when you come near, ladies first through every doorway… I’m home.

Thursday:

Today was finally the day to see all the things people come to Istanbul to see. After going past blocks and blocks of fabric shops, cell phone shops and Mosques, I got off the tram at the Sultanahmet station. My first stop were the Basilica Cisterns, eerie yet beautiful and almost solemn. They weren’t originally on my list but they came highly recommended from Omer and I’m glad I went. Next stop, ice cream. The crowds were kinda insane in the main center so I wanted to chill for a bit before things got crazy. I was expecting these crowds in India, not here, what was nice though was seeing Indian tourists, I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing women wearing sari’s. While I sat I was approached by multiple fellows wanting to practice English on their ‘day off’, one went away on his own and wasn’t too bad, the other seemed like he would follow me to every site so I got rid of him by taking his number and saying I would call but I didn’t. I definitely prefer wandering at my own leisure and not feeling like I have to keep a conversation going. I checked out the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the familiar arches, domes, intricate mosaics and tiles, stained glass and lanterns were stunning. Next stop, Ayasofya. Again, wow, the golden incredibly high domes, the Arabic influence seamlessly blended in with the Roman, has to be seen to be believed.

The highlight for me though had to be the Archeological Museum and the Topkaki Palace. I was originally going to save it for the next day but Omer suggested I did it then and there. I ended up spending 4 hours in total compared to less than than 2 hours for the previous 3 places. The museum had an enormous collection and I kept thinking I had come to the end of it but would find a whole other wing or floor of history. Millenias of statues and artifacts, gaining more detail as the centuries moved forward in the collection. My favorite was the Necropolis, here were all the portions of the tombs that were missing from the sites. The most amazing item in the collection had to be Alexanders tomb though, absolutely incredible. I finally made it out of the museum and was surprised there was still daylight, I felt like I could have spent several more hours but I was getting tired and a little overwhelmed, so much to take in! From there I went to explore the Topkaki Palace Museum, the highlight there being the treasury. I’m not even kidding, there were emeralds as big as my fist and an 83karat diamond. Drinking flasks with matching pen boxes coated in rubies, diamonds and emeralds. I even saw a jewel encrusted throne that was a spoil of war from the Moghul’s in India to tie my journey together nicely.

It was definitely a successful day of sightseeing. It ended with a light dinner after the previous days excess that included shrimp and Iranian watermelon. Only one day left!

Friday:

As I saw the sights yesterday, it was time to wander in Taksim, where people go to see and be seen. I was surprised at the large military presence but they were just preparing for labour day as it would be the first time in decades that the area would be open after violent protests the last time. I hadn’t meant to buy shoes, I was going to wait until Spain to replace the ones I had bought last summer in San Francisco that were now falling apart. I saw some from a local brand that I couldn’t resist and fit the bill of being comfortable, flat, and wearable with jeans and skirts. I walked up and down the area a couple times, stopping in familiar shops to browse and Lush, just to smell it. Afterwards I sat in one of the many alleyways of cafe’s to drink some tea and people watch. I then started the hunt to figure out how to get back to Sultanahmet. In the end I had to call Omer who shared the secret I was lacking, I needed to go underground, which would explain why I couldn’t find the funicular earlier. Once there, I decided to brave the Bazaar again to pick up a few things to send home. This time wasn’t quite as entertaining as it was quite busy so instead of being approached by everyone to enter their shop, I had a hard time getting attention in the shops I entered. I feel I did well, the people I dealt with gave me appropriate prices except the guy who tried to sell me a necklace with plastic beads for 25TL, saying they were glass, he even went down to 5TL but the fact that he was dishonest in the first place kept my feet moving in the other direction. Once I had what I had come for, it was back home with a stop at the mall to pick up a few necessities, like cartoon bandaids for my improving wound. Tea tree oil I think is what finally got things healing again, it’s no longer swollen and it doesn’t hurt as much.

Back at Omer’s it was time to get dolled up for a friend’s birthday. It happened to be at the restaurant I had been wanting to take Omer and Idil to so it worked out well. Everyone was really welcoming and the birthday girl asked if she could hate me because I was going to Seville, danced Flamenco, spoke Spanish and was half Spanish as we walked arm in arm to a Cuban club. What a perfect way to transition from Turkey to Spain! There was a live band and on the breaks, very familiar music that I can’t help but dance to. There was a large group of us that took over an area of the bar where we all danced together amongst the couples that knew how to dance to Salsa and Merengue, mine was way too rusty to try with a partner! I gave out my contact info so we could all keep in touch in the future as we all hugged and cheek pecked our goodbyes once the length of the day started to show on our faces, with regrets we hadn’t met sooner. Omer and I finished the night with some Russel Peter and I slept like the dead.

Monday:
Woke up at a relatively decent time, mostly because I had a flight to catch. At the airport my bandage was apparently a security risk but on further exploration, it turned out I wasn’t hiding any weapons in it. I ended up with some obnoxious toddlers behind me who kept kicking the seat and shrieking but somehow I survived my 14th flight on this incredible journey. Still amazes me that they feed you on a 1 hour flight, everywhere but North America. At my recieving airport in Keyseri, I got introduced to the airport cab driver mafia. The only way to make it to the bus station without a reservation on the shuttles (only place I’ve heard of this need, apparently it has to do with the cabbies exerting control) is to take a 35TL ride that takes about 10 minutes. Considering my hostel only cost 14TL a night and the flight from Istanbul was 69TL, that’s a little steep. Also, the whole way he was trying to convince me to let him take me the whole way for the discount price of 100TL instead of 120TL. The bus would take 3 hours and cost me 25TL so it was really a deal. I told him I would take the bus. Which cost 10TL and took 45 minutes. The hostel was great, they picked me up from the bus station in Göreme where the 2 German girls there were stunned that I had a never-been-full 60L, 14kilo backpack for 5 months, when they could barely hold themselves up with thier packs that could fit a half grown human and were traveling for a much shorter duration. Travel gear comparison has been interesting, from girls packing several hair appliances to men with packs so huge they never intended to carry them (umm, why not take a suitcase with wheels then? Just a thought) Sorry, jaded tangent :) I got set up in my cave, the hostel was carved out of one of the fairy chimneys that make the area famous. I went for a bearings gathering wander and on my way back a little boy thought it was hilarious to chase after me with his little legs and hit me with a stick. Fortunately my bag was between my butt and his stick so I laughed with him. I also did a little shopping as I saw a skirt that will serve me well in my early lesson days when I arrive in Seville. I had a light dinner and visited with the people who owned it then went to bed relatively early, it was cold and I only had one full day to explore an area that needs at least half a week to enjoy properly.

Tuesday:
Woke up and went for breakfast and noticed another solo traveller, Josh from New Zealand, who had also arrived the previous day. Turns out he also only has one day, is on a sabbatical (on his 6th month of an 18 month adventure), is a programmer, is half Spanish (from Mexico), hates pineapple on pizza and ketchup on breakfast food like me, stayed at the Nirvana hostel in Delhi (I was able to confirm that I was correct as to where it was located as mentioned in my first blog post from the trip) and had stayed in the hut next to mine at Sami’s in Agonda a couple months previously. We decided we must have been twins in a past life or something, it was a little uncanny. Anyways, we decided to join forces for the day which worked out well because we both saw and did more than we would have otherwise.

First stop, the underground city. I unfortunately can’t remember the particular one we went to but it involved taking a bus to Nevsehir and transferring to another from there. It was pretty fascinating seeing an entire city carved out of rock and piles of fun exploring every pathway we could find, regardless of wether it was marked or not. I had a headlamp and he used his camera for light and we crawled and slid and bonked our heads into narrower and deeper passages until we would reach whatever end there was then go find another place to explore. I was also enjoying being ridiculous and making up explanations for what all the things were, like the holes in the ground were where the dwarves that lived there pickled human invaders. Yeah I know, that’s how I roll. Who needs a guide when I’m around? I figure there’s this thing called google where I can look up the goods and probably learn more anyway.

After our escape from the Fratelli’s, we went on a battery hunt for Josh’s camera and indulged in some ice cream before heading back to Göreme with a need for power, the batteries and for our bodies. It was starting to rain so we took shelter in a restaurant with bean bag chairs and I had Manti, which came highly recommended from Idil and I have to agree, I’m a fan. After filling up, the rain had slowed to a barely-there sprinkle and we went on to the next part of our mission, the Göreme Open Air Museum.
Turns out it closes at 5:00, it was 4:00 and we still had to walk 1.5km to get there. We figured what the hell and went anyway, worst case there were plenty of places to explore in the area outside of the museum. We got there and the sign said 6:15, then the man said 7:00, plenty of time then! We again went and explored every cave and nook we could find, we found proof of our dwarf theory base on the size of the graves carved out everywhere. There were so many churches and it was like there must have been a church decorating contest or something because each one was more elaborate than the last. A lot of them had been damaged by invaders though and most of the faces were gone from people hucking rocks at key places on the images. In the end it didn’t take us very long to go through the whole site, including my slow ascents and descents because I’m a big scaredy cat when it comes to heights.

We determined we still had enough time before sunset to go for a wander in the area. The place is amazing and makes me feel pretty guilty about not spending more time in the Albertan hoodoos. We found a sortof path that I had to slide down on my butt to get to. We wandered along and somehow it turned into a dried creek bed. The path got sketchier and we found ourselves thanking our time in India for the weight loss that allowed us to squeeze around the boulder that was blocking our path. Unfortunately, about 15m later we came to the edge of a drop too steep to navigate so we had to turn back. I decided it was because we had missed the other side of the view on our way in and we needed to see it.

We arrived back at the hostel and I met my new roomate, Sebastian the dutchman who had hitch-hiked the whole way from home. He was disappointed that I recognized him as Dutch by his accent and not his height but with a younger brother who is definitely not Dutch and even taller, it was an honest mistake to have not called it out. I had to cut the visit short though in order to make my appointment at the Hamam.

It was definitely a unique experience, one that I look forward to repeating especially now that I know what to expect. I arrive and am instructed to strip and wear a sheet. I’m a prude and wore my bikini bottoms. I was then ushered to a room where they painted my face with a creamy, gritty mask. I was then ushered to the steam room and at this point I start to feel odd. There were only men. Through the glass I could see them, near naked, getting scrubbed and soaped and it was a bit awkward. In the meantime I’m cooking in the sauna silently panicking about my lack of a bikini top under the cloth and terrified I’m going to be scrubbed in front of all these men. I incorrectly expected the woman to come back and get me but I couldn’t take the heat in the sauna anymore so I stepped out where the scrubber man sent me to rinse in the shower. Thankfully at this point they indicated I had the choice of being scrubbed by a woman which I gratefully accepted and was taken upstairs to an entirely different section where there were only women. Why on earth they didn’t take me there to begin with I’ll never know but it did make for an interesing first time experience. Once there, they scrubbed off a large portion of the tan I’d had from Mexico and India, then rinsed off again, then my attendant took a cloth bag from where she squished out a bazillion bubbles onto me and then proceeded to clean me while massaging in the process. Then another rinse in the shower, then a dip in a cold jacuzzi, then another rinse and finally I was ready to get my squeaky clean, super soft, and much paler self into my clothes. I thought my skin was soft before thanks to scrubbing with sand in Goa but nope, I’m even softer now. If only my skin wasn’t so dry here, I’ll likely switch to oil on my skin like I did in India once I get to Spain. I finished off the long day with a dinner of ramen. I loves comfort food.

Wednesday:
Time to fly again! At the airport I met a couple from Seattle after I noticed a Vancouver Olympics jacket. She had thought more people would have called it out but I was the first. They also told me about Korean spa’s that I’m now going to try to seek out, it sounds amazing! On the flight I sat next to another couple who had been visiting thier daughter who is also on a journey of the same length and works on the interwebs too, she’s visiting way more countries though. I’m pretty happy with my schedule but I’m all old and stuff and I like spending longer times in less places, could be because I’ve mostly been with locals the whole way so I’ve been able to get more out of the places I’ve been to than most people would. Anyways, got back to Istanbul and started researching which classes to take once I get to Seville and started some laundry. I can’t read Turkish though and ended up with my clothes in curtain mode so Omer had to help me figure it out when he got home. Idil came to get me in the early evening where I went for a laser treatment, way cheaper than back home and it was nice to be girly at a salon. From there, it was mall browsing and I hit up the Mavi store again for a couple t’s for Max and I. Then we met Omer for hot wings! These were fire roasted and way better than the ones at home. We stuffed ourselves completely, especially with the desert that was way bigger than expected. The only downside to the place was the fact that we were beside the incinerator for warmth but they were burning plastic, they literally put full garbage bags and empty bottles in directly which may be related to all of us having headaches later and poor Idil even got sick. When we got home I got a lesson on how to make turkish coffee which is pretty elaborate but faster than I thought, too bad I don’t drink coffee, this would be the way to have it if I did though. Tomorrow, Istanbul!

Title: reference to the Flipadelphia episode of ‘It’s always sunny in Philadelphia’. It got stuck in my head everytime I heard or read Kapadokya.

Kapadokya from Josh’s perspective: joshuas odyssey

Friday:
Woke up after what felt like 10 minutes but was actually 4 hours when Omer got back. The magic 8 ball on the iPod convinced him to join me for Infected Mushroom, it said he might not like the show but he would appreciate the music. Then the magic 8 ball told us we should go for Mexican. We took a bus to Taksim and we went to The Bronx, only to find out the concert was sold out, I asked if it was possible to try later in case people didn’t show up. Off we went for Mexican, I missed salsa and guacamole so much! After stuffing ourselves nicely, we walked around and tried the club again, no dice. We walked around some more and went back about 20 minutes before the concert was to start. I was starting to think the scalpers might be a good idea. We waited, and waited, all the time the staff were suggesting everyone without tickets should go home. I decided 12:30 was my cut off, and we continued to wait while you could hear them starting to play inside. About 12:20, I figured it was a no go but Omer convinced me to hang on, we were rewarded with tickets not 2 minutes before my cut off. In comes the grin that would remain on my face until I fell asleep 3 hours later. There was a girl beside me and we both knew all the lyrics and watched out for eachother amidst the crazy hippies jumping all over the place, they were forgiven for the frequent toe squashing though when one of the girls got me closer to the stage and smelled my hair for some reason. Turkish hippies are weird. The venue was great, the shape of the stage allowed a lot of interaction, it was also really cool to see the guitarist as it’s a different one who plays in North America. After the encore, we booked it for some fresh squeezed OJ and into a cab home, the club was still pumping but I got what I needed. Omer ended up enjoying the music but not the hippies (go go magic 8 ball!), he jumped into the shower the moment we walked in the door and washed the hippie cooties off, I’m surprised he didn’t burn his clothes.

Saturday:
Woke up to meet Idil and go to the Bospherus. After a lot of touring around, we found a place and had a delicious late breakfast. Afterwards, we went walking and played on the exercise machines which are in random locations all over Turkey and look like kids rides as they’re painted in primary colors. We headed back in the late afternoon and Omer and Idil went out for a show while I geeked out on the laptop. The end.

Sunday:
Slept in ridiculously late, so lovely! Omer helped me book my flight to get to Kapadokya on Monday as my credit card doesn’t seem to like the Turkish Airlines website. Omer and Idil took me for proper Doner that was served with pickles that taste almost exactly like the ones my grandmother used to make from her garden in Sylvan Lake. We then went for a wander in the Ortakoy neighbourhood which reminded me a little of Granville Island for some reason. We checked out a mosque and went for some tasty desert. I had baklava (of course) and Idil had a waffle smothered in white chocolate and layered with fruits. Apparently the baklava wasn’t good enough so Omer is going to make sure I have some of the good stuff before I go. We discussed the cave man show they saw the night before and the differences in body language between countries, yes, no, ok, etc. After a phone call to some of Omer’s friends, we went to visit them in the beautiful neighbourhood they live in. The husband is from Utah and the wife from Turkey and they have the most adorable daughter, Leila. Jason told stories of his travels including raves about Kashmir which Omer’s been trying to talk me out of. Obviously I’ll pay attention to the news over the next month or so before I book anything. He’s also a music teacher and has been making a guitar for Leila and treated us to some of the most intricate classical guitar playing I’ve ever heard. The topic turned to the Turkish versions of American chocolate brands and Omer and I made it our mission to pick some up on the way home and have a little binge while watching Russel Peters.

In other news: The adrenaline from the dog bite killed the parasite, all is well in that department except even my new jeans are a little big already. I can bandage the wound myself now and the healing is progressing well, only a little bit of pain now, I’ll be good by the time I start dance and technique classes next week :)

Wednesday:
With limited mobility in my arm, I managed to still shove all my gear in my bag, including my still wet clothes, albeit not in the desired configuration. At breakfast we discovered the only times we could continue on were at 10:00am and 10:00pm and as it was 9:30am, we decided our only option was to run for it and say an unexpectedly early goodbye to Patara. Once at Fetiyeh, Danny and I went our seperate ways after I convinced him I wasn’t going to die of rabies. He had nearly a week longer to make it Istanbul and I was still aiming to make it to Infected Mushroom, even though I had been unable to procure tickets due to an error in the online form. From Fetiyeh, I took a bus to Hydin, then transferred to a bus to Selçuk, the whole journey took about 6 hours. I was adopted by a woman on the bus who made sure to point out food and restrooms at every stop and also showed me photos of her children and late husband. The scenery on the drive was pretty incredible, likely the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, I tried to lock every image into memory knowing it would be impossible but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. Once in Selçuk, I followed the directions in the pamphlet from the dude at the bus station in Fetiyeh (it had been one of the places on my list from Danny’s LP anyway) and shortly afterwards, I was on my way to Atilla’s Guesthouse with Carlos. Atilla’s was fantastic, as were Atilla and Carlos, it was easy to tell they lived for this place and had worked really hard to make it what it is. After settling into the Harem as the only occupant, I was still freezing so I wandered next door to the Diesel factory where I found a few items to suit the cooler clime that I was later to discover, were not actually made in Turkey. I hung out with a Brit named Caroline who was part of a large group that had been touring since Syria who was kind enough to help me change my big gross bandage and chat while I accidentally got drunk off of Atilla’s Very Scary Cherry drinks. This time when I say I staggered back to my room, I’m not exaggerating. It was good though, I’d had some issues sleeping of late and I slept like the dead that night, something my body was in need of.

Thursday:
Woke up at a decent time, had some breakie then caught a ride with Carlos to Ephessus. At this point, I’ve seen lots of ruins and doorways and theatres and whatnot so it was a little same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Then I turned a corner and was confronted with the Library of Celsus. Wow. That’s all I can say. After making my way through the rest of the site, I saw a sign for the cave of the 7 sleepers so I figured I’d go explore. The instincts of the 15 year old girl who walked from Whyte to the west end of Edmonton at 3 in the morning kicked in but I made the mistake of rejecting them and thought I was lost and tried to cut through an orchard and accidentally woke up a guard dog and ran like hell, long past the distance of his chain that I had instantly mentally calculated, then went back the way I came, later to discover my original path was correct. Now in Selçuk, I went to the tourist office for a map and realized I had apparently walked right past one of the seven wonders of the world. Feet tired and sore, I trudged back and walked around the Basilica of St. John before heading down to the Temple of Artemis. Apparently it was one of the seven wonders of the *ancient* world because all that was left of the temple and it’s 127 columns were two pillars in a swamp. Now it’s been about 15km of walking so I went back to the bus station where Carlos picked me up again. Back at Atilla’s, Caroline helped me with the bandage again, now I have more mobility but still a lot of pain. I chilled and finished my book, drinking rum and anticipating the BBQ the crew at Atilla’s were preparing for us. The food was fantastic, as was the company. I was talking to this kid about music and I was listening to his favorite band, I noted the similarity to The Tea Party and was answered with a blank stare and then felt really old when I realized he was a toddler when I had started listening to them in high school. After dinner, I hung out with Atilla and found a kindred spirit and promised if the unlikely opportunity arose, I would return and work there for a summer and at the least, drag Max there for a week. Shortly afterwards it was back to the bus station for the 12 hour overnight trip to Istanbul. The bad part about the bus was that somehow I was wide awake AND my neighbour pretty much sucked. He sang to himself, snored and whimpered (reminiscent of the sound Johnny made while being dragged drunk and unconscious into the kitchen at the Altadore house because he was snoring too loud) he also kept shifting into my space which made getting comfortable impossible. The good parts were Turkish twinkies which are filled with chocolate stuff instead of white stuff, meeting another burner (Turkish San Franciscan) and the fairytale scenery out the window as the dawn arrived, psy pumping from the iPod.

Friday:
Arrived exhausted and got on a minibus to what I thought was my destination, turns out it was going to a further neighbourhood as the staff I talked to didn’t pass the info to the driver to make the detour for me. The driver did give in and take me where I needed to though after seeing my wounded arm and confused expression, one of those times where being cute is useful. While making the short walk from the dropoff point to Omer’s, I was surrounded by flags of all sizes everywhere, ginormous ones strung between buildings and off bridges and in windows as today was a national holiday. We celebrated with pomegranite/apple/eucalyptus tea I brought from Antalya, newly christened as candy tea. Then Omer went out and I slept for what would turn out to be much longer than I thought. To be continued…

Sunday:
Woke up and ran around the beautiful old town in Antalya clicking photos before it was time to pack up and head out to the next stop with my new travel mates; Danny, the Aussie author, and Maria, the beautiful Danish flight attendant. We took the tram to the bus station and after a quick stop at the loo, ran after our bus that was starting to drive off with our packs inside with the bus staff running and pointing us into two different directions. We arrived at our destination, Bayram’s Pansiyon, and were surrounded by tree houses, citrus trees and hammocks as well as all the fantastic travellers and staff we would be spending the next couple days with. After settling in to our room to the sounds of Manu Chao and Nirvana, we took a wander to the beach alongside the ruins of ancient Olympos. We spent the evening in deep discussions on a platform of carpets and pillows and after dinner, the discussions turned into hilarious descriptions of turtle sex, amongst other things, from Kelsey, our Seattlite who appeared with Danny #2 (I have sound recordings of random frog sex from that night too). After some battles trying to figure out how to close the door, which needed the key, and get power, which also needed the key, we got extra blankets against the cold and called it a night. Did I mention the only light was red? There was much giggling about the ‘sex light’ that wouldn’t turn off.

Monday:
Ate breakfast with Danny, Maria and Kelsey, Danny#2 was climbing a mountain elsewhere. Breakfast topics included furries, beastiality and evolution. I miss Kelsey already. Maria, Danny and myself went off to explore the ruins properly and we got all excited when we discovered this was where Marcus Aurelius was buried. There would be no turning back until we found his grave. We hiked into what seemed the right direction and ended up in a citrus grove where we ate a stolen orange, best one I’ve ever tasted! and found a turtle in the clear stream we washed our hands in (it was not having sex). We searched every confusing pathway and ruin and finally found where he had been buried with his family almost 2000 years ago. Pretty cool walking the same grounds as the philosopher emperor. We found our way across the river and started trying to find the access point to the Genoise castle, I stumbled on the rocks and got my shoes and pants drenched so I got to be the rock scrambling scout to make sure of where we were going before anyone else fell in. We found the path eventually and made our way up and were treated to a beautiful view of the cove below us. Maria found a skull and we spent time up there trying to figure out what it was from, it was decided it was a frog, no a hippo, no it had to be a goat. Got back to the hostel and took up Marnie (staff) on her previous days offer of a tarot reading. It consisted of flipping over cards and trying to interpret the pictures as we had no idea how to read the Turkish interpretations or names on the cards. I looked into them a little further online and it turns out they were fairly accurate. My past was an inverted wheel of fortune, my present, the hermit, my future, the three of cups. Not bad for a couple of girls with no clue about what they were doing. Afterwards, more chilling and chatting, I received a call from my friend in Istanbul letting me know that Infected Mushroom was going to be there! After excitedly trying to figure out how to get there in time, it was off to bed.

Tuesday:
Said our goodbye’s and shared hugs with the friends we had made and took the shuttle to the bus stop. Once there we had to say goodbye to Maria who was off to Antalya, then Istanbul, with the hopes of flying back to Belgium which could prove difficult given the state of flying in Europe right now due to the volcanic ash. We’ve met many who have been stranded for some time, one family was supposed to fly out the day everything was shut down which was over a week before. On the bus to Patara, we got stopped by the police who took everyone’s ID except for ours and held us there until everyone had been checked. It was a good opportunity to at least stretch the legs. We arrived at the Flower Pansiyon and had homemade Gizleme and got to watch it being made and then cooked over a woodfire. Then the dog ate my arm. Got taken to the doctors and antibioticked and bandanged and supplied with a ton of gauze and ointment to maintain it for the next while. The dog had it’s shots up to date and had acted out of character apparently, he had let me pet him but when I scratched his ears, the next thing I knew he was hanging off my arm with his teeth embedded in it. We took a quick wander around the village and walked along some beautiful scenery as that’s all that there was time for after the adventure with the pitbull, then I practiced some poi to test the limitations of my arm, and chilled on another platform with pillows and rugs. There will be no yoga or swimming for a while but hopefully it will be good enough for Flamenco in time for Spain. Going to bed early as adrenaline rushes make me sleepy, g’nite!