I Lied...

I didn't post pictures. I've instead chosen to use my rainy and cold final days in Istanbul to look forward to my trip to India. It's been interesting to think about the final leg of my journey--an ambitious attempt to explore SE Asia and meet up with friends of friends and friends. My excitement and anticipation for the month or so that lies ahead has pretty much overshadowed my time in Turkey, a country that I don't think I've given enough credit for it's beauty or the hospitality of its people. Still though, I flipped a coin a couple of months ago (seriously) and it decided that East was where I'd go. Since that moment, I've been thrilled for the sights, sounds, smells, and overall chaos of what lied ahead. After all, I get to explore Rajasthan by train, fly to Kolkata for chai and street food, cross the border into Bangladesh before heading up to the tea plantations of Darjeeling, then back to Kolkata for a flight to Bangkok that serves as a prelude to my short journey to Hong Kong--where I will eat like a king--and finally arrive back in Thailand for two weeks of Phad Thai and more welcomed chaos. If I'm able, I may sneak towards Cambodia to visit the temples of Angkor Wat. Though, that may be too ambitious (if there is such a thing). I've learned so far that you'll never be able to do a place justice by how long you stay there, who you meet, or what you see. Instead, you have to trust yourself--your gut--and go when you're called to go by whatever God, winds, waters, or chance that moves you in that direction.

I've been thinking a lot about what I've learned from travel so far--mostly because I've been asked quite a bit in the last few days. I'm not entirely sure--mostly because there is just so much to think about. Certainly, I've learned the above--to trust myself more. I want to say that most of the answers will show up when I'm back at home, perhaps working or going back to school. You know, that the difference and resulting changes are going to be evident in my future and the way I conduct myself throughout my upcoming years. But it's kind of a cop out, so that I don't really have to answer the question. When I do figure it out, I'll do my best to let you know, one way or another.

Anyway, I'm just wondering out loud... Wish me luck in India (mostly for having a strong stomach).

Cotton Castle

I've been in Turkey for quite a while now, but despite the time that has passed or the fact that I've been to three different cities and seen some of the world's most fantastic building and ruins, I can't help but feel like I've done a better job of seeing the pillow case at each of the accomodations I've been in each of the cities I've gone. And well, it's because I have.

Being sick on the road is probably one of the most uncomfortable, trying and boring experiences that you can possibly have. You get homesick because of the lack of your normal comforts--like an ability to have good food (its never guaranteed... especially in Turkey), or the ability to do nothing but watch TV. Being sick, sitting in a dark room, unabel to sleep while I twiddle my thumbs has probably been one of the only moments when I've missed television. That sweet, mindless, senseless, horrible, awful television...

Anyway, I've never been able to handle boredom well, o despite my groggy sickly state, I've managed to move right along and see many of the things I've wanted to see since planning on coming to Turkey and at the same time slow down long enough to have some pretty colourful conversations with Turkish hotel owners...

I got to Istnabul early in the morning over a week ago, and instead of taking a bus-fairy-taxi combo across the Bosphorus, I caved in and snagged a posh shuttle to the Sultanahmet area of the city (which pretty much equates to Old Istanbul) where I would reside in my sickly stupor. Though, it was about a half hour into the ride until I realized I even had the cold... After a lengthy bout with start and stop traffic, we finally made it over the bridge and onto the European side of the city, which really just means on the other side of the straight. We then also inexplicably switched drivers, and homebody proceeded to almost hit 5 street signs, 4 animals, and 2 people. I counted. It was nuts, but I made it, then slept for 15 hours until the next day. And despite seeing Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, and taking a cruise down the Bosphorus, that's pretty much all I did in Istanbul until leaving for Selcuk.

The Blue Mosque at night...

The inside of Aya Sofya. It's renowned for its ridiculously large and unsupported dome.

It probably wasn't the best thing for my illness, but I took an overnight bus to get to Selcuk. It was the usual, 10 hours on a bus, cross some water, pass out, wake up, cough, pass out, and you're there. Except of course, for the Frenchman who decided that he wanted to try to curl up like a cat in the seat next to me, making for a relatively awkward and uncomfortable ride. I made the most of it though, watching out the window and marveling at the incredibly flat landscape of Turkey. I couldn't believe that the country was that flat... I was thinking it was almost reminiscent of Kansas until the outlines of this giant hill appeared from nowhere as we came upon the coast. It's kind of interesting, because I think that I could remember nothing else about Turkey, but I'll always remember being slightly startled by the appearance of a hill... Trying to explain it is kind of hard...

Got to Selcuk, and well, slept. Aside from a brief stint searching for some grub and a little conversation, it's pretty much all I did. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to talk with this guy Jimmy--a pretty well-traveled former Turkish Military Officer--who revelled me with his story about how he once threatened an Australian Visa Officer by telling her he'd stick a bomb up her butt for treating Turkish people who wanted to visit Australia like second-class citizens. [You're always initially taken aback by stories like this, and are probably pretty apt to look at Jimmy like he's insane and criminal, but you've got to wonder how many Visa officers treat people like shit on a daily basis. It's pretty easy to abuse you're power despite the fact that people try incredibly hard to do everything right in order to just get a stamp on their passport... I'll bet that he did everything right, and just ended up flipping... It was an interesting conversation to be a part of though...] It was, well, interesting. I didn't really know how to respond aside from eating my food and nodding my head. He ended up getting his visa though, mostly because he was in the military, and police couldn't do anything to him, or so he told me...

I awoke the next morning and headed off towards the ruins of Ephesus. They're immaculately preserved, though there is a lot of plaster involved. It definitely gives you one of the better ideas as to how an ancient city looked. For me, that was kind of a donfall, as I've found if there aren't really colorful things to see, then I at least like to imagine how shattered relics 300m apart were actually connected... The facade of the library (below), however, was spectacular. It was built around 100 AD, and the detail is just incredible...


Since then, I've lodged up in Pamukkale about four hours down the road. The city itself is on the map as a result of its travertines--structures developed as the result of a stream rich in calcium bicarbonate.


Some of pools that develop...

It would be pretty easy to blame it on the illness, but I've found myself pretty bored in Turkey. I honestly don't know what I would be doing if it weren't for the fact that I've been so sleepy. Food is kind of bla, I'm starting to feel like everything looks the same, and history just doesn't seem to interest me. I guess you could call it a funk, or maybe things just move a little slower here. Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to getting to India--though there is still a lot more ahead in my trip through Turkey.

Istanbul

I've been wanting to visit Turkey for a really long time. Ok, well, I've been wanting to come here ever since I wrote three term papers on the country during my last quarter at the UW. Although I've been relegated to a dorm bed in Istanbul, it hasn't taken too much to realize I'm in a place steeped with history. Almost everybody and their mother has played a part in the history of the country--the Byzantines, the Ionians, Christians, Muslims, the Ottomans, and the list goes on and on. Nowhere is it more evident than Istanbul either. In its buildings, its streets, its people, its religion, its precarious positioning in Europe AND Asia, as well as its carpet shops. Ok, well not the carpet shops. At least that I know of... Anyway, you get the point. Turkey is an incredibly unique place.

So I made it to Turkey in one piece, but I'm afraid that I'm sicker than I've been on this trip so far. No, it's not the normal stomach woes that come with eating twelve hour old street vendor food. It's the classic chest cold. The "I can't sleep for more than one hour without waking up in the middle of the night and coughing my ass off" chest cold. The cool part, if there is such a thing, of being sick while traveling is that you have a lot more time to hang out, relax, and reflect on what exactly it is you're doing, have done, or will do. It's something that I've probably been needing to do for a while, so really the illness has been pretty well timed. Plus, all pressures to visit Istanbul's famous sites have been alleviated by my hostel's proximity to EVERYTHING, which has made it easy to roll out of bed and stumble to a museum or two during a day.

Oh, and why is it that you always want to go home when you're sick?