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!

Friday:
Very early wake up after staying up too late yet again, to get to the airport for our flight to Daveli (I counted, it’s plane number 13 since I started in Mexico). Since Omer flies so much to check out textile factories and whatnot, we got dropped off at the VIP entrance where we had breakfast and chilled on couches until we were called. After the flight, we were picked up by the driver of his first of four factory stops of the day. As the plane had been late, there was no time to get me to the hotel so I ended up at the factory, hair unbrushed and damp from my morning shower, no makeup, wearing Merrel’s and my 60L backpack, having breakfast with the owners in the executive lounge with Omer. After tea and fresh honeycomb, we toured the floor where they make everything (except the fabric itself, that was in another part of the factory). We wandered around all the smiling women sewing bathrobes piece by piece, a pocket here, a sleeve there, and eventually it was an entire bathrobe being checked for quality and moving on to folding and packaging. I will definitely be aiming for Turkey on the labels of any towel or bathrobe I purchase in the future. After sitting in a meeting about his latest order and discussing the tweaks the samples needed (I introduced the term ‘vector’), the driver took me to my hotel. Shwank! I gathered my things and went to the bus station across the street and caught one to Pamukkele.

The countryside here is absolutely stunning, I would have been happy to make the journey just for that but I continued on past the gates anyway. I wandered the necropolis with the pamphlet I received at the entrance and the geek in me couldn’t help but wish they would let me do some copy edits for them. I still enjoyed the walk and took a lot of photos and climbed around where I could. I saw the main entrance to the city but there were a few people wandering about and figured it would be quieter later so I went toward the travertine stepped pools. They were amazing! Hard to believe they were formed naturally, so white and pure. I walked down to the bottom with my pants rolled up, and realized too late that now I had to walk all the way back up. It had been so quiet on the way down and now hordes of tourists were descending. It was a little hard on the feet at this point but I reminded myself that the more water I touched, the better, as people had been coming to these healing, mineral rich waters for millennia. Afterwards, I made my way over to the ancient pool and went for a swim amongst old roman columns and other stone detritus. While I was there, I took a moment to sit in an ancient asana in the ancient pool on ancient carved stone. Once out and dried with my thirst quenched from overpriced water, I went on to explore the amphitheater and main street of Hierapolis. I was incorrect when I previously thought it would be quieter later but I managed to stay barely ahead of the hordes and most of my photos are clear of them. There was a couple in front so I would hold the camera in position for the moment they would walk in front if a column and be hidden from view. I waited on the side of the road with a little skepticism about the bus as there were no signs or indication that one would be there, but eventually one came and I got to sit and listen to all the birds while I waited so it was all good.

I arrived back at the hotel, moments before Omer, who came bearing fancy towels and a bottle of wine that were a gift for me from the factory I had been at earlier. Also, there was a dinner invitation for us and they had lent Omer the company car to come get me. I fixed myself up so I would look less of a slob (though it’s difficult when everything in my pack is permawrinkled) The restaurant was fantastic, we had octopus, seaweed, aubergines and artichokes as an appetizer, followed by the best calamari I’ve ever eaten (fresh makes a HUGE difference from the frozen we can only get at home), followed by sea bass with stuffed mussels and the lemon wedge was in a tulle bag so that the seeds don’t fall out when you squeeze it. Oh and desert? Deep fried ice cream, heaven! A few interesting things though, I think they changed my plate about 6 times, if there was so much as a few breadcrumbs on it from what I was eating, they would swap it, and my utensils, for new ones. And the sugar cubes were individually wrapped. My hippie senses were tingling… The service was impeccable, the server would make sure to be there whenever I was coming back to the table so he could seat me and they’d try to give me a blanket every time we went to walk outside between courses. We were the last ones there and the whole staff came out to shake our hands. Definitely the royal treatment. Afterwards, our host took us out to the only 2 clubs in the town. The first one was having a grand opening and they had a live band and singer singing traditional songs that everyone joined in on and a girl from the audience hopped on stage and started bellydancing. Second one was playing Turkish house which was ok, I could have done without the repetitive beat insertion that killed all the good tracks as soon as they reached about 30 seconds, flashbacks of the Dominican! Managed to dance a little between the backstreet boys on the stage and the strippers in training on the tables with poles. It was a little weird but still quite a bit of fun especially watching my two accomplices, as they got further into their drinks. Eventually, we had to head back, ears ringing and exhausted after a nearly 24 hour day on 4 hours sleep.

Saturday:
Woke up late smelling like smoke from the bar and ridiculously sticky shoes. Smoking is illegal inside but no one pays attention the bars and Omer mentioned it was unlikely the floors had EVER been cleaned. Omer continued on his factory tours and I was a big girl and went all by myself to get a bus ticket to Antalya. Went back to pack and got on the bus, missing a goodbye from Omer by a couple minutes, and I was on my way to the coast surrounded by mountains. I thought the bus would be 3 hours instead of 4 and I didn’t realize the only stop was in the first half hour or I would’ve drank less water, but I managed to survive. I took a local bus, past a ridiculous amount of cell phone shops (entire blocks of them) and landed meters away from Hadrian’s gate (that guy got around!) this is the best maintained old town I’ve seen in any city in any country to date, pristine! Got stopped by a fellow at a spice shop and had some delicious apple/pomegranate/eucalyptus tea which I purchased a bit of, always conscious of what I can carry on my back being 6 days away from Istanbul and shipping. It will likely be drunk by then though :) I arrived at the hostel and met some great people almost immediately and 3 of us hung out for the rest of the evening chatting about traveling and what it does to you. Turns out they want to go to the same place so we’ll all be traveling to Olympos together tomorrow.

So now I’m back to traveling old school, me and my pack, it was nice to live in luxury for a bit though :) I also wanted to thank you all for reading and supporting me, I haven’t been able to respond much but I really appreciate it!

Tuesday:
 Woke up with a call to prayer over the megaphones in the area, there are 5 calls a day, fortunately I like the sound. Omer headed to work after making sure I knew what I was doing. He’s been an incredible host, setting me up with a cell, internet, train pass, maps, and helping me with absolutely everything, I wouldn’t even be able to begin to know how to thank him. I did some yoga, then geeked out on his laptop catching up on the end of Goa before heading out to get my bearings. I took the train to the last stop on the Asian side and just started wandering around for a couple hours making mental notes of the things I wanted to see when they’re open and just getting a general feel for the place. I took random photos of things while people looked to see what I was seeing. I made my way back to the apartment and Omer came home much later so we went on an unsuccessful hunt for Donar and filled up on kabobs instead (they’re not available late in the evening). The places we’ve been so far seem pretty posh but apparently they’re fairly typical restaurants here. When we got back we did the usual music bonding thing that seems to happen everywhere I go and watched old episodes of Chuck.

Wednesday:
 After finding myself freezing my butt off after nearly 2 months in 30-45 degree temperatures, combined with my formerly tight jeans that are gaping at the waist, it was time to do some shopping. Omer dropped me off at an outlet mall near his place (malls are insane here, there are TONS of them and many more being built) and I picked up some Mavi’s (still keeping it local!) and a light jacket. Verbal communication was a fail but Mavi having a poster with all their styles that I could point to? Win. Walked back to the apartment and after a quick change, hopped on the train to the Grand Bazaar. A 500 year old mall with over 4000 shops? I can handle that :) At first I was a bit surprised as I walked down streets filled with shops because I thought that the Bazaar was supposed to be covered, turns out I wasn’t even in the Bazaar yet. Umm, wow! I decided not to actually shop as I would be back in a couple weeks with a better potential to ship things home so I walked around to get a feel and ideas of what I actually wanted to buy. I had been warned about the attention I would receive so I decided to have some fun with it. I wandered completely aimlessly with the intention of getting lost and unlost as often as I felt like (there was security at every entrance so I wasn’t worried), walked past stalls selling everything from pottery, glittery lamps, carpets, jewelry, child-size belly dance costumes, and every brand name of clothing, shoes and purses you could think of, mostly counterfeit. While doing this, I had every man at every shop playing guess my language trying to get my attention, “just one question!”. One even pulled me (gently) by my arm into his shop but lost interest shortly after hearing the word ‘husband’. Another group just started listing off cities and countries randomly to see if I would respond to one, Cusco, Bilbao, Chili, etc., once I was past them, I hollered back that I was Canadian but said it in Spanish just to confuse them more. Most guesses were that I was Turkish or some form of Spanish and I’d respond in English, Spanish or French, whichever took my fancy. Embracing what some find unpleasant about the bazaar really made it fun for me as I walked around with a stupid grin messing with people. After running out of streets to get lost on, I made my escape to the outside and had to try some Turkish ice cream. While sitting, reading and enjoying, one of the fellows was drilling me with questions, ‘was I married? Do I have a sister? Is she married? Do I have a friend? Is she married? Can I come to Canada with you as friends then?’ I told him I had a brother too but unfortunately, he was getting married soon and you should have seen the look on his face! After I finished my ice cream, I went in search of a donar, found a spot and this little girl was staring at me and we kept grinning at each other. With a belly full of goodness, it was time to hop back on the train. Again, drilled with questions and interesting facts about Turkey and being told what every single stop was, even though I could read it for myself, by an older gentleman who was excited to practice English. I just wish I hadn’t been so tired at that point because I just wanted to stare out the window. Got home and had to hurry because Idil and her crew from the Burberry office in London had invited us out for dinner. It was a fancy affair on an island in the Bospherus that you had to take a boat to. Mary was originally from New York and Jacobo from Madrid. At first it felt a bit like working on Rolex when the clients are in town, trying not to embarrass yourself by clanking a fork or whatever, except after a few drinks, the conversation eventually drifted into Achbar the terrorist and Russel Peters and we all had a lot of fun with Jacobo doing little jigs while we waited for the boat to take us back.

Thursday:
 Today was by far the least exciting. My belly has not been happy. Eating street food and drinking tap water in Mexico? No problem! 6 weeks in India? A tad off here and there. And now here we are in Turkey, blah. I should be grateful though that it could be worse, I can still do most everything I want to. In fact, I think I was using it as an excuse to stay in for the day and geek out getting photos up. I had to explore a little to find a decent editor that wouldn’t involve installing software on Omer’s machine, great way to waste hours being non-productive. I found Picnik to be what I was looking for so hopefully that will make things easier for the rare days I get at least an hour or two online. I also took the opportunity to find out the story with the custom dance shoes I ordered (turns out they’re in Madrid, not Seville so I have to get that sorted Monday) and called the bank to let them know my card went awol in Bombay. They can’t send me a new one internationally so I’ll be hanging on to the visa for dear life. Contemplating putting a hole in it and attaching it to a chain or something. Also got my flight booked to Daveli. See? Exciting isn’t it?

Friday:
 Had a good scrub, managed to get the knots out of my hair finally, so nice to run a brush through it! I went back to eating Indian food as it was near the end of my time here. I went for a swim but the water turned a bit rough every time so I went for a lovely nap. Afterwards, I found Papi and we gorged on watermelon, so messy yet so good, we ate more than half a watermelon between the two of us. We wandered down the south end of the beach and climbed on rocks and discussed all things yoga, prayanama to asana to kriya. Before we were about to head back, the entire beach blacked out, so we continued to chill until the lights came back on so that we could see. After some wine and tunes, we wandered to the north end of the beach were Papi practiced some mantras and I wandered around trying to see if the sand would sparkle for me again.

Saturday: 
The hardest day, knowing it was my last full one in this amazing country. We went swimming but this time Papi scraped his forehead after diving in too shallow so we decided the sea was telling us it was time to leave it alone. Papi bleeding was the theme for the day because he also cut his leg and later on, his ear, I have no idea what he keeps doing to himself and neither does he. I had flashbacks of Adam at his first burn, I’d used up my medical kit on him before we’d even made it to the desert! After a couple more doses of dal and butter roti for me, went back to the huts and ate papaya. Also had 2 puppies jumping all over me on the beach, my little body guards that had been keeping me company the last while, chilling on my balcony at random times. My neighbour’s roommate had left her on her own but she didn’t want to join us for rum and music, can’t say I didn’t try. They’d been beside me most of the week but we never ended up hanging out, just smiles and waves and a little chit-chat.

Sunday: 
We drove the 2 hours back to the airport where Papi dropped me off. Turned out our sister’s have the same birthday so we made sure to make mental notes to call them. Once back in Bombay, I was picked up by the Anjali Inn again and went on an evening hunt for a cell phone with success. Had my final Lassi and dal and still stayed up way too late geeking out with the wifi, finally shut ‘er down and konked out.

Monday:
 Woke up at the butt crack of dawn and went to wait for my ride to the airport. Then a typical Natalia scenario plays out. There was another couple also waiting at the entrance to the hostel, Cass and Jeremy from Australia. They just happened to be going to Turkey as well, on a flight with only 30 people that goes via Cairo, the coincidence was noted. We get to the airport and I see Cass wearing a keyboard cat shirt, this is like a geek flag, so hooray! fellow geeks! We hung out the whole day, waiting for flights, getting on flights, being on flights, we had over 12 hours of travel time together so it was great, piles of stuff in common, discussions about iPhone vs Android, wifi access in India, etc. As we fly over the Nile, I compliment Cass on her eyebrow jewelry, she mentioned she got them in San Francisco, I mention I was there in the summer, she says the same for herself, she was on her way to Burningman. 3 faces light up as we recognize each other for who we are, kindred spirits. We talk and talk and she shows me a picture of her favorite camp, the skinny kitty camp. They were less than 5 meters away from me. I love being me sometimes :) Besides that little anecdote of synchronicity, the flights were fine. Entertainment was a REALLY bad movie that I couldn’t finish watching, no matter how bored I was (I think it was one of the Twilight flicks), then a really weird cartoon that involved babies coming out of coconuts and talking horses and cowboys and random chunks of meat all over the place.

I arrived in Turkey and after a lot of badly dressed queue jumping women, I finally got through and picked up my bag and Omer was patiently waiting to greet me. We dropped off my gear and went for kebabs with him and his girlfriend Idil in a restaurant overlooking the Bospherus. Omer and I spent the evening telling Idil stories of high school life in Canada which hopefully helped Idil understand a little of why Omer is such a strange cat for a Turkish guy. After Idil dropped us off at Omer’s, we stayed up until the wee hours facestalking and tweetstalking old friends. Then I slept like a baby. The end.

Title quote: A pin I got at Burningman in 2004.

Monday:
 Started our trip to the south by hitting up a body shop to fix up Papi’s mom’s car that was hit by a motorbike the previous night (bumper was knocked loose, nothing serious). It was a surprisingly smooth operation that took less than 20 minutes including tracking down a tiny part and having it replaced. We stopped on our way to Vasco and had some fresh roadside coconuts that we first drank from, then scooped out the meat of the fruit, so good! In Vasco, it was time for me to send back my second package, my bag was getting full and I had no need for the clothing I was wearing at the Ashram. This was not a smooth operation. First we checked out some couriers, too expensive, then to the post office. We tracked down a box to pack everything in, went and got tape, then it turned out it needed to be stitched into a bag, so off to the tailor’s, then off to buy fabric, then back to the tailor’s, then Papi went to hang out with his mom because he hates the post office, then back to the post office, then they wanted my passport which was in Papi’s car, then off to find a phone, first one was closed until 3 so off into the other direction, then to get a drink because I was stupid hot, had no small bills so had to find another place, then back to the post office where Papi rescued me by using his address as the default so we wouldn’t have to continue running around for more documents. All this while being stared at in my inappropriate mini dress. Ok for the touristy areas, not so much the local areas. Finally arrived in Agonda, hot and sleepy, we found his buddy Lotus who set us up in some beach huts and had a fantastic dinner of mushroom pasta in a cream sauce.

Tuesday: 
Slept. Swam. Ate. Swam. Geeked out. Swam. Went to the fishmarket in nearby Palolem to get fresh mackeral. Ate. Found a new set of beach huts because the other ones had sucky fans and it was too hot. Went back to Palolem to hang out with Lotus and friends, a brit named Sophia was celebrating her birthday and a girl named Masha was wondering how on earth I had a Russian name when I wasn’t Russian. Also, not sure if Papi was messing with me or not but we had to watch for vipers while climbing over bales of hay near Lotus’s place. Also, decided we’d be better off chilling on our beach front balconies, drinking and listening to tunes, as the birthday girl’s party hadn’t quite started yet and we had to be back in Agonda before midnight when the police blocked/questioned/etc.

Wednesday:
 Decided the new huts were a good choice except for my bathroom switch which will electrocute you slightly if you’re not careful. Beach front, cool inside, tile floors, less than $10 a night, can’t really go wrong. Got a lesson in beach living from my local mate who was noticing my hair starting to dread and knowing that I don’t intend on coming back a dread locked hippie like my brother just did, we coated my hair in coconut oil which seems to be doing the trick. I intend to try brushing it out today, I have high hopes. After a swim, nap and lunch, we headed back to the highway to hit up a cashew distillery Papi noticed the day before. We hiked in and got some Urrack which apparently is very cleansing but also gets you fairly drunk and a little stoned in the process. We also got the fresh juice as it was coming out of the pressed pile of cashew apples. The season for this is very short and the juice itself does not keep long so this was a special treat that I’ll likely never experience again. Papi had more than me and was telling stories of ‘yokes’ he’s played on people like the ‘hump here’ signs in Kerala that denote a speed bump but he convinced some tourists was a sign that meant it was a zone were people were allowed to have sex as it was illegal in private. I spent the rest of the evening making him listen to Captain Tractor.

Thursday: 
Yet another lazy day. Slept. Swam. Ate. Swam. Slept. Ate. Did some laundry, used the interwebs. Decided it was high time to start looking into what I want to do in Turkey as I’ll be there on Monday. Drank more urrack, went for a late night swim which turned out to be the coolest thing ever. There’s phosphorous in the water so when you swim in the dark and move in the water, it sparkles! So beautiful! Also busted a bloke who was wandering on my balcony and had even found the hidden key and opened the door. He said he was looking for a torch as he had lost his bag and fortunately nothing was missing at all (turns out my money belt was missing, fortunately there wasn’t much in there) but it was still weird. We chilled and listened to more tunes before I staggered into my room to sleep, and used my own lock this time from the inside.

Friday: 
(So far) Finally got my act together and had a proper morning. Started with some ocean facing asana’s, then had some poached eggs and fresh papaya juice, now I’m catching up on the blog (but will have to come back to print my e-ticket to Turkey, that sys has been occupied all morning). I’m aiming to do some more laundry, wash out the coconut oil from my hair, read more about Turkey and see if Papi is still alive after the urrack last night.