lavanderblues

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