lavanderblues

Saturday, June 16, 2007

new domain =)

hello, from today I'll be blogging at www.lavanderblues.com. I've finally done it up =) The archives haven't been transferred over yet, so all the older posts will remain here. Thankyou!

lin~*
2:19 am

Thursday, June 14, 2007

turkey part ii

cappadocia - my favourite place of the whole trip

kissing the camel. taken by my turkish tour guide, who was really experienced at getting the angle right!

the houses cut into the soft rocks of the fairy chimneys. the people here used to live in these structures until recently when the govt forbade it.

inside one of the fairy chimney houses. it was decorated really nicely.

in the tiny tunnels of one of the underground cities in cappadocia. it is supposed to be 10 storeys underground, we managed to explore 3 storeys of it. the bore of the tunnels were so small i had to duck walk through most of them.

i got to try my hand at making pottery too. wore a pair of gross pants, and made a bowl w a hole in it, even after much help from the master. a career in pottery is so not for me.

one of the local dishes we got to try along the 10hr bus ride to cappadocia: plain yoghurt with honey and poppy seeds. super super good! the sweetness of the honey masked the tart sourness of plain yoghurt that i dislike, and the poppy seeds added texture. totally going to make this again at home =)

at the salt lake. the ground's all salt, and its so white it almost looks purple. i took lots of jumping shots here =P

luscious, cheap cherries bought at a road side stall!

with our tour leader cynthia, and turkish tour guide cem (pronounced jem).

the grand bazaar. we bought hanging mosaic lamps and a gorgeous aladdin lamp from here!

pretty belly dancer.

on the bosphorus cruise

one of the 2 bridges that connects the continents of asia and europe, and for the turks in istanbul to travel from the residential to commercial areas of the city.

turkish baked potato with butter, cheese, and whatever topping u want!!

apparently famous mado turkish icecream.

at the spice market

lin~*
12:53 am

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

turkey, part I

just got back from turkey today. it was a phenomenal trip, in terms of sights and experiences. i got to ride a hot air balloon, sashay down a catwalk in a $2000 leather jacket, do pottery, cruise down the bosphorus straits that separates the continents of europe and asia, crawl around in caves 3 storeys underground where ancient people once lived, soak in iron fortified waters in the thermal springs, bargain successfully at the bazaars, taste new foods, meet new people... it was only not so good because my dad hurt his back, and
it caused some worry. and somehow i didnt really sleep very well in the hotels there even though the tour brought us to some pretty good hotels.

shall upload some photos now before i drift off to sleep.

the blue mosque:

with the turkish cherry juice seller who sold us overpriced cherry juice.

on the ferry ride across the marmara sea.

i got pulled out to model one of their jackets in a leather factory's catwalk presentation for the tour group. another guy from the grp also had to do it. it was klutzy, and really quite funny =P the leather was super soft though.

visited mother mary's house near ephesus. it was a rather surreal experience, even though i'm not catholic.

the ruins of a great ancient civilization, ephesus. it was a huge city, and we walked through most of it, being mostly in awe of what the ancients accomplished with primitive equipment.

(nowhere as convincing as joel's great efforts in his picture last summer, but well, one can always try)

(dad on an ancient loo. where great men once sat.)

(a carving of the goddess of victory, nike, which our sports brand is named after)

(library of celsus, 3rd biggest ancient library)

the cotton castle, millions/thousands? of years of calcium rich waters flowing resuled in calcium carbonate deposits, and the formation of a truly unique site.

and i got to ride a hot air balloon! it was so so expensive, like US180 per pax for 1hr or so, but so so so fabulous an experience. we got to see the sun rise over the hills, and the unique landscape of capadocia from air. our pilot rose us to the clouds, and down so near the rocks that we could touch the cliffs, and even between 2 fairy chimneys.

(with newfound friend diyanah =) )

at the beach by the aegean sea.

completely vile, caffeine saturated turkish coffee

lin~*
11:12 pm