Girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd yourrrrrrrrrrrrrr LOINS!! It’s going to be a long post.
Excuse me miss , EXCUSE ME MISS , Let me tell you one thing!!
I would just like to start this blog post with something I have figured out thus far during this trip. Panhandlers, street vendors, taxi folk and restaurant hounders in Turkey lovvvve to harass you. Now ,that in itself you cannot fault them for because it is their job and how they make their money. HOWEVER, one would think that after you have said NO for the 57th time that they would take a hint, because no one, NO ONE can be that OBTUSE! If they don't then I cannot be held responsible for my follow up actions. Now I don’t like being rude so I have started to take PRE-EMPTIVE measures ! Have you ever realized how people quickly stop talking to a crazy person? Seriously, just act crazy when you are being harassed! It’s amazing! ORRRR what R-wheezy and I have also found useful is speaking loudly to people in a completely different language. Why yes I might look like a speak English, BUT I am going to answer you in a completely different language and then proceed to have a conversation with you in that language, and you may or may not participate in said conversation, why? Because you have been harassing me with your “ Excuse me misses , can I tell you one thing” and your “HELLOS” and your “ Wait a minute , I have good deal for you” , but no, I don’t want to listen to you anymore , I’ve heard all the ‘one things’ you could tell me and when you said “Hello” I said “ Goodbye” but since you won’t stop I am going to act crazy. I will have a few ‘one things’ to tell you in a language that you can’t understand while my voice raises a few decibels , starts to sound like a cacophony and my eyes roll to the back of my head and I dance like I’m having some kind of fit, and you will stand there and listen to me. Why? Because now it’s my turn to tell you one more thing.
I would just like to start this blog post with something I have figured out thus far during this trip. Panhandlers, street vendors, taxi folk and restaurant hounders in Turkey lovvvve to harass you. Now ,that in itself you cannot fault them for because it is their job and how they make their money. HOWEVER, one would think that after you have said NO for the 57th time that they would take a hint, because no one, NO ONE can be that OBTUSE! If they don't then I cannot be held responsible for my follow up actions. Now I don’t like being rude so I have started to take PRE-EMPTIVE measures ! Have you ever realized how people quickly stop talking to a crazy person? Seriously, just act crazy when you are being harassed! It’s amazing! ORRRR what R-wheezy and I have also found useful is speaking loudly to people in a completely different language. Why yes I might look like a speak English, BUT I am going to answer you in a completely different language and then proceed to have a conversation with you in that language, and you may or may not participate in said conversation, why? Because you have been harassing me with your “ Excuse me misses , can I tell you one thing” and your “HELLOS” and your “ Wait a minute , I have good deal for you” , but no, I don’t want to listen to you anymore , I’ve heard all the ‘one things’ you could tell me and when you said “Hello” I said “ Goodbye” but since you won’t stop I am going to act crazy. I will have a few ‘one things’ to tell you in a language that you can’t understand while my voice raises a few decibels , starts to sound like a cacophony and my eyes roll to the back of my head and I dance like I’m having some kind of fit, and you will stand there and listen to me. Why? Because now it’s my turn to tell you one more thing.
So here’s the main course , what’s been going on since Fethiye? A couple days after my last post R-wheezy and I packed our back packs and took our very tanned selves to Selchuk where we couchsurfed with Aydin the owner of a carpet shop. The owner’s of these carpet shops are trying to keep alive that art and style of weaving without outsourcing it to underpaid, starving children. The patterns are absolutely beautiful and hopefully a couple of them will grace the walls and floors of my house one day because the talent needed to create them is unbounded. While here we also roamed St.John’s church and the ancient city of Ephesus with its marble streets and columned alleys adorned with old, chiseled marble and stone sculptures. Sometimes I wish for magic powers. Mine would be the ability to touch something and know its history. I always get this craving when I walk somewhere with a very distinct and rich history. You wonder what gladiator walked in the same steps as yourself at that moment, or slave or Caesar lost his life in this town and why? You wonder about treasons committed, love found, stories and histories created. If you are like me, you always want to know more. Hence the quoting which heads this post by Rene Descarte
After Ephesus, R-wheezy and I hightailed it to Bergama. Here we celebrated Eid while staying at the Athena hostel which was an old Ottoman building that had been restored. We were awakened every single morning between 4:30 and 5:00 to beating drums, loud megaphone singing and the call to prayer. I finally figured out sleeping with my earplugs was my best bet to sleep in late. While there, we visited the Red Basilica, Dilikili beach (Aegean Sea) and Akropol. In all of Turkey and even more so along the coasts it seems that everyone uses solar panels. Seriously even the farm houses and what seemed to be the not so well off people had 2/3 solar panels installed on the roofs of their houses and even motion sensor lights to conserve energy. How come we don’t do that? Are we really so unwilling to front the money initially because we fear minor inconveniences and a minor decline financial gain? We will not be here 100 years from now but at the rate we are consuming our resources without replenishing, what will be left for our progeny?
From Bergama we took the midnight bus from Izmir to our friends apartment in Istanbul. Just so you know I would always recommend the Kamil Koc bus service to anyone traveling by land around Turkey. They’re great, friendly and very reliable. In Istanbul where we met up with the third of our traveling Trio we had our last fill of Doner kebabs, fish sandwiches, I caught a case of pink eye ( YEAH I did!! ) bought some scarves, saw the Hagia Sofia, the cisterns and Topkapi Palace where I saw the worlds 4th largest diamond that was made into a ring. Seriously, this ring was the size of my palm. How would one subtly show off a ring like that? There was nothing subtle about sultans back in those days. Them, their harems, and clothes that looked big enough to fit giants. To anyone that cares Turkey is one of the most beautiful places I have been to. I would recommend that everyone visit if provided with the opportunity. I am certainly glad I did.
After Ephesus, R-wheezy and I hightailed it to Bergama. Here we celebrated Eid while staying at the Athena hostel which was an old Ottoman building that had been restored. We were awakened every single morning between 4:30 and 5:00 to beating drums, loud megaphone singing and the call to prayer. I finally figured out sleeping with my earplugs was my best bet to sleep in late. While there, we visited the Red Basilica, Dilikili beach (Aegean Sea) and Akropol. In all of Turkey and even more so along the coasts it seems that everyone uses solar panels. Seriously even the farm houses and what seemed to be the not so well off people had 2/3 solar panels installed on the roofs of their houses and even motion sensor lights to conserve energy. How come we don’t do that? Are we really so unwilling to front the money initially because we fear minor inconveniences and a minor decline financial gain? We will not be here 100 years from now but at the rate we are consuming our resources without replenishing, what will be left for our progeny?
From Bergama we took the midnight bus from Izmir to our friends apartment in Istanbul. Just so you know I would always recommend the Kamil Koc bus service to anyone traveling by land around Turkey. They’re great, friendly and very reliable. In Istanbul where we met up with the third of our traveling Trio we had our last fill of Doner kebabs, fish sandwiches, I caught a case of pink eye ( YEAH I did!! ) bought some scarves, saw the Hagia Sofia, the cisterns and Topkapi Palace where I saw the worlds 4th largest diamond that was made into a ring. Seriously, this ring was the size of my palm. How would one subtly show off a ring like that? There was nothing subtle about sultans back in those days. Them, their harems, and clothes that looked big enough to fit giants. To anyone that cares Turkey is one of the most beautiful places I have been to. I would recommend that everyone visit if provided with the opportunity. I am certainly glad I did.
Dubai – Everything is big and overdone here. Everyone drives an SUV. Palm trees grow where they don’t belong. There are skating rinks, waterfalls, zoos and aquariums in malls. Can’t say I’d do it again.
PS pics to come soon.
Yours Truly
PS pics to come soon.
Yours Truly
Dee.
