Travelogue 2 -Turkey

Alright Yiwei here with today's feature on Turkey!

Now I'm sure many have probably been to Turkey because the travel agencies have been promoting them like crazy but for those who haven't, this is why you should visit it.

I'm fond of travelling with tour groups because I prefer to have a guide rather than read up on the history myself -a native guide does give the journey a more local twist, no? I chose the 10+1day Turkey Special with Chan Brothers and it cost $1788 each, for 2 people. Chan Brothers was the company I went with because I've been using them all along and since so many people use them, I have more faith in their tour managers. Things like thefts, molests can happen, but more on that in my post about South Africa (not that South Africa is so dangerous!).

I had to travel alone because my friend had been quarantined with H1N1, so I spent the entire journey sleeping alone in a room with another empty bed because their rooms are all double beds.): So began the journey as I boarded the flight by Turkish Airlines. In my opinion, I still prefer Singapore Airlines, it's so much cleaner and comfortable. I got scolded by the Turkish Airlines stewardess for trying to switch off my phone too..oh well. Landing in Istanbul at 6am, we went roamed the Sultanahmet area waiting for the Blue Mosque (main picture) to open. Men selling Simit (turkish pretzel) were out early, and it really smelt so good!



After that we took a ferry to another city, Bursa to view yet another mosque, the Grand Mosque. People were selling corn on the streets, it smelt good too but I didn't dare to try it. On a side note, the turkish have really pretty eyes!

We slept at Kerevansaray Hotel in Bursa, I was really tired this day because all we had seen so far were mosques. Not wanting to leave the other bed empty, I placed my luggage on top of it so I wouldn't get freaked out at night.

I woke up the next morning to a buffet breakfast with some really nice cherries. Remember to eat the fruits in Turkey because they taste ridiculously sweet and fresh. None of the sad-looking cherries we get in Singapore! Looking at the itinerary, I found out that we were visiting...the Green Mosque hahahaha another mosque??? But this was was special, because the tiles are dark green. Really, really pretty dark green.

Thereafter, we proceeded to Kusadasi with a special surprise along the way. Because I went in July, it was Summer and the flowers were in full bloom. Because I love sunflowers so much, these get extra space in my column:D

I'm not sure if this was just a treat organised by Bülent, my Turkish tour guide, but I do suspect not all tour guides do it. Be sure to try and get Bülent as your tour guide because he really is great. He gave us the cleanest toilets possible, which I really really appreciate because it's awful sitting in a bus for 3hours and getting down to a toilet full of pee on the floors. Do note that it's common to pay for toilets in Turkey so keep your change in handy.

After the overdose of Sunflowers, we had lunch at Köfteci Ramiz, where in my opinion, served the most awesome meatballs I've ever had.

Fine, they look more like meatovals than meatballs, but they are really really awesome. Plus, got cute guy leh! (Joanne is so gonna choke on that) One thing to note is that turkish guys are quite forward, they are not shy in showing interest in you. Getting extra dessert from that cute waiter was flattering of course, but I had a strange 40year old man shake my hand, holding on to it for a loooong time.

That night we slept at a hotel own by this man:

Hahahahaha, I can't help giggling everytime I see his picture. Well frankly I didn't like the hotel, it was creepy, the food was crap and the staff was rude. It didn't help that my room was at the end of the corridor and the light didn't work. I almost started changing but noticed a turkish resident in the apartment opposite staring, and hurried over to shut the curtains.

The next day, we went to see the Virgin Mary, turqouise and jackets. I was tired that day so I don't have nice pictures to share. But the general thing to note is with tour groups is that you will always be brought to buy something. The rule of thumb is to buy it only if you really really like it and will die if you don't bring it back with you to Singapore. That's for shops which the guides bring you to see. But for things like bowls and plates which are common in Turkey, try to buy it in the countryside (like Cappadocia) where it's cheaper. In Istanbul you'll get to shop at the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market, but the prices there are inflated. Well in general things are a lot more expensive in Istanbul.

After having people try and sell us jackets, we proceeded to Ephesus (pronounced as Efes-soos). See anything familiar?

The Nike swoosh was modelled after the Goddess Nike, and slaves used to sit on these latrines during winter to warm them up for their masters -poor things! The hole is quite big, so no fear of splattering if you have diarrhea.

After lunch, it was off to Pamukkale. The place is soooo pretty, too bad it's man-made.

It was funny seeing people trying to swim in 2cm-deep pools like the ones on the left.

We had barbequed sardines that night, it was quite delicious but had many bones. Don't be shy to wait though, because it really is the nicest fish you'll have throughout the trip! There was also turkey stew...in Turkey (cue cheesy jokes). The hotel we stayed in was Lycus River Hotel. Frankly, it was really creepy because the corridors had no lights. It was a good thing I usually eat quickly because I had to dash through the corridors with only the moonlight to guide me. yes, I am quite timid.

One thing about Turkey is that despite travelling less than half of it, it's still a huge area to cover. This meant having to endure long bus rides on certain days. The past few days were 3-4hour bus rides which I thought were long, but the one today was 8-10hours! Yes there are toilet stops, but things do get boring after a while. It's important to get an experienced (and humurous) tour guide because too much travel does get on my nerves. In my opinion I was lucky to get Bülent as a tour guide because the pit stops he made along the way really made the bus rides more enjoyable. Today we got a chance to taste poppy seeds.

Yogurt, honey, poppy seeds, and diluted apple tea. Opium comes from the poppy plant, but the seeds are perfectly harmless. They don't have a strong flavour, but provide give dishes with a really good texture. I kinda regret not buying some home because I didn't know then that they could be used in baking, and it's not allowed in Singapore): So please buy some just for the sake of it, or you could help me get some muwahahaha! Another thing to note is that the your guide will say apple tea is a favourite drink for the turkish. According to a turkish friend of mine, it depends on the region. It tastes like bottled apple tea to me, but hey we drink it for the experience right!

After the break, we drove for a bit and stopped in a poppy field. This was trespassing though because although the Turkish government sanctions the growing of poppy plants, the farmer has to be accountable for all his crops and he can go to jail if people steal them! The upside is they earn a lot selling it to the government for medicinal purposes. I went in July so I was packed for summer, shorts, and tees. However the weather went crazy that week and it was 16degrees celsius the day we stopped to take pictures in the poppy field and I happened to be wearing a dress! Thank goodness for the windbreaker I had packed for the plane ride, so please remember to bring a jacket wherever you travel just in case! I prefer windbreakers because I'm too lazy to bring an umbrella.

After the poppy field, we trespassed on a cherry farm. Some aunties went crazy and picked so many cherries -poor farmers! The cherries were sour and farmers grow them not for eating, but to sell them to juice companies. It's called sour cherry drink, and it was my favourite drink throughout the trip.

After stealing cherries, it was on to Sultanhani Caravanserai for lunch.

The pide there is really really good. Pide is like turkish pizza, but crispier. It was so tasty and we were so famished, I didn't get a chance to take a picture! We had turkish ice cream too, and like turkish ice cream in Singapore, the ice cream man tortures you makes fun of you before you finally get your cone. The ice cream man in my case smeared my hand with ice cream): He was also the creepy man who refused to let go of my handshake, staring deeply into my eyes. Umm thanks, but I'll just have the ice cream.

After refuelling, we went to Cappadocia's Dinler hotel for 2 nights. In Cappadocia, you can take a hot air balloon and the view is AMAZING. Well I didn't take it because I'm terrified of heights, but I got to see pictures from my tour mates. I swear, it sounds pricey at almost 200usd, but the view is really worth it. There are hot air balloon rides too in Egypt and South Africa, but in my opinion this is the best place for it. I felt that in Egypt, the view was better from the ground and looking at the hot air balloons. In South Africa, I would prefer looking at animals up close than peering at their backs from the top of a hot air balloon. One thing is that you have to get up early at 4am, but the view is absolutely worth it, you'll feel like your'e in another world!

Dinler Hotels is resort-style, so it was unfortunate that it rained because we had to dash to our blocks (another reason to bring a windbreaker!) Turn on the taps and you'll be surprised as chalky water fills your glass (sometimes, it's brown). I think it's pretty harmless for 2 days, but if you're paranoid then stock up on mineral water before going to the hotel. Mineral water is so cheap anyway, and one tip is to buy a huge 2Litre bottle and a small so you can transfer water into throughout the journey because you will be using the same bus.

So far, I had been choosing beds that didn't face the mirror and most of the mirros didn't face the beds anyway. But Dinler, oh Dinler, was special. This hotel had not only had one mirror facing the bed, it had TWO mirrors facing both beds. Nehnehpoks, like that how to sleep right! But suck it up Yiwei, people are starving in Africa! So what I did was to block the mirror with my luggage and dump my bag on the other bed.

Unfortunately for those who signed up for the hot air balloon, it was highly dependent on weather conditions. And they couldn't fly that day because it was too windy, so they had to try again the next day.

We visited the Underground City of Kaymakli, Goreme Open Air Museum and Uchisar which are rock formations that developed over the years. I won't go into detail and let the pictures speak for themselves.

After that, we were brought to a carpet factory and a pottery factory. The wares in the pottery factory were the prettiest we had seen, but they were terribly expensive.

The next morning, something strange occured.

I woke up for breakfast and had someone ask me,

Her: Hey were you outside your room this morning?

Me: No, why do you say so?

Her: The Indonesian lady and her mum said they saw you walked out of the corridor, and asked the tour guide why you weren't going for the hot air balloon.

Me: ???

Thinking it was another joke by one of my mischevious group mates, I dismissed it with a laugh. When he finally came to breakfast I laughed at him, only to have him stare seriously at me and ask what happened. Oh boy, things were not looking good. I decided to ask the Indonesian lady,

Me: Hey, I heard you saw me this morning?

Her: Yes we were going to leave when we saw you, so we remembered to change into our shoes.

Me: Are you sure you saw me? I was asleep at 4+.

Her: Yes, we saw you walk out of the corridor in your shorts and your windbreaker.

A windbreaker, which I must say nobody else will ever have because it's this horrible shade of hot pink. The strange thing was, I wasn't asleep at 4+ but I had woken up because I heard laughter in the corridor. I was creeped out, but then again it was them and not me who saw things so I tried pushing it out of my mind. The amusing thing was the tour manager from Chan Brothers grabbed my arm in the bus and asked, "You really didn't go out of your room this morning?!?!?!"

From Cappadocia, we departed for Ankara. Along the way we made fantastic pit stops, sampling melons and taking pictures at a salt lake.

The guide cutting melons:

Ankara was a fast stop, where we had lunch and visited the Ataturk Mausoleum. I met my Turkish friend, Luko there so I spent my time chatting rather than taking pictures.

It was back to Istanbul the next day and we visited the Grand Bazaar. Not many pictures here as I was busy looking for things to buy. Since the place was full of tourists, the prices were much steeper too. I did buy a few magnets, but it was after a lengthy haggle with the shopkeeper (who later issued me a marriage proposal haha!). If you really have to buy something at the Grand Bazaar, don't be ashamed to slash the price by half. From the initial price of 16liras, I managed to haggle it down to 8.75liras -and that's from someone who hasn't haggled by herself before! A useful term for haggling is "daha ucuz", pronounced as daha oo-joos. It means cheaper, and the salesmen were amused when I used it.

After shopping, we transferred to our Wow Hotel. Okay cheesy name, but the bedroom was really WOW. This was the only hotel with a single bed, but my single bed was probably king-sized, even larger than those with twin beds! The toilet was so nice and clean, and the breakfast was so awesome!

One special breakfast item is raw honeycomb. They literally have a huge slab of honeycomb for you to scoop at. Even if you don't like honey like me, do try it because this honey tastes a lot better than whatever honey you have ever tasted! (Plus it's fun to scoop at.) That night, we went to watch some belly dancing but because I'm using a small point and shoot camera, it was pointless trying to take pictures in the dim light. I didn't really enjoy the show anyway because I thought it was too commercialised. I'd much prefer watching whirling dervishes, but it wasn't part of the tour package. The food was meh.

The next day was free and easy and the group alighted in Taksim Square. We travelled to Dolmabahce Palace by subway with Luko to guide us.

The queue for tickets took us 2hours, and we still had to queue for the guided tour!! It was really beautiful, but we weren't allowed to take pictures within the palace. We also had to queue again for guided tours!! We spent ages in there. If you want to shop, I suggest staying in Taksim Square.

After Dolmahbace, it was back to Istiklal Street as we shopped like crazy. Some of the sales there are really cheap, my tour mates went crazy digging through the sales in Zara! Do note that not all goods are cheap because Turkey's import tax is higher than ours. Didn't have time to take pictures because I was so exhausted from the day's activities.

The next morning, we went to the Spice Market. In my opinion the things there are better than the Grand Bazaar's, and they sell food too. The usual things people buy home are pistachios and turkish delight. The pistachios taste a lot better than those we get in Singapore! I do suspect cheaper turkish delight can be found elsewhere but I didn't hve enough time anyway. I did buy dried figs for my mom which were marvelously vacuum sealed to retain their freshness.

We rounded off the trip with a cruise along the Bosphorus, the strait dividing Istanbul. Turkey is advertised as the place with both Europe and Asia because Istanbul is split in 2 halves, the Asian and European side. Frankly I could have taken a similar cruise myself for a lot less, but there's the hassle of getting to the airport myself.

We got off the ferry at Ortaköy, a really really romantic place.

It's quite an artsy place and there were many stalls there selling an assortment of accessories and souvenirs. I was too busy soaking in the atmosphere and stuffing my face greedily with Kumpir, which is the most ridiculously-priced piece of potato, but also the best I've ever eaten.

Omggg look at that delicious salt!! You get to choose what fillings you want, and they kinda mash the middle of the potato so it's easier to scoop. I think it cost 8liras (almost 8sgd), but it was so delicious!

So rounds up my trip to Turkey, stay tuned for more from us!