My holiday started with me being post-call after a 27admissions night as a GS HO in HPB and me going post-call at 5pm with my reg bidding me farewell with "thanks for working so hard last night, enjoy Turkey, get urself married to a rich tycoon over there!"
I rushed home and packed furiously as i haven done an iota of packing since i was too exhausted working 14 hour days. So needless to say, i did close to zero research on the trip as well. [unlike my Japan trip which has been planned to perfection, as i spent every waking hour not mugging for MBBS, doing my research, so those were alot of waking hours.]
We went ot the airport at an unearthly time of 3am and flying SQ was a world of difference from the budget airlines we usually take, i fell asleep instantly.
We had a brief stopover in Dubai, which is full of pictures of high tech buildings and rich people, you can almost smell the money in the air.
hmm.. potential husband, mr oil tycoon??
And finally we arrived in Turkey!!
Where we took a train bringing us to the city centre of Istanbul.
Check out the first truly Turkish sight we saw:
If a Turkish man making doner kebap doesn't yell Turkey, i dunno wat else does.
So being famished, we immediately set abt eating our first kebap sandwich in Turkey.
And it was goooooood.....
Our first meal in Turkey. I also like to call it Exhibit A.
[Over the course of our 8 day trip, we saw and bought from many many many more Turkish men shaving meat from kebab, such that if i were to see this sight in Singapore now, my immediate response is to gag and run away]
1st stop = booking our bus tickets to Capadoccia
Apparently, it is the done thing to travel between states in Turkey by bus. SO i asked Catechol before the trip if we should check out the bus timings and book the tickets first. But he says there;s no need to as there's this place where everyone goes to get tickets and that's the only place to go.
[can i mention here that for our Japan trip i read up on ALL the shinkansen lines and learn how to read their timetables so that i can figure out the EXACT train we need to take everyday]
So we followed a pack of ang moh tourists to this 'place' which is essentially a ginormous car park with rows of shops all selling bus tickets and vendors shouting and touting at the top of their voices (there were at least 100 shops, they were numbered so i'm not exaggerating.)
We wandered abt looking for a company that offers a direct route to capadoccia, which was surprisingly impossible, i think it had smth to do with the weekend. We finally found one which spoke english, open ot negotiations and promised us a free shuttle bus to our destination from the place that they're dropping us.
We worked out the timing details, paid for our tickets, dropped off our haversacks (mine weighed almost half my weight i think) and went off to do our first sightseeing in Turkey!
My MO asked me, "what do u do in Turkey?" I said, "see mosque lor" And he thought it was hilarious.
Very funny meh?
We went to this place called Basilica Cistern.
It's kinda like an underground drainage system that they used in ancient days. the moment you descend the stairs, and the cold air hits you in the face, it was just such an awe-inspiring sight, with a goose bumps raising and spine tingling eerie atmosphere.
With flash - it's actually really dark
just imagine this scene as far as the eyes can see
And as you navigate the walkways and peer into the stillness and darkness of the waters, you can almost picture moving shadows just beyond your sight.
We had Turkish Apple tea here. Very nice and romantic
We then visited Topkapi Palace (*coughs* e spelling is smth liddat lar.. so long liao can't really remember).
It's another must-go place.
A really nice way to spend the afternoon exploring the different museums and looking at the nice buildings.
But the real reason to go is this:
The awesome view
That's the 'Bosch' sea i think (Again *coughs* my geography not very good) Separating Turkey and Greece.
We had lunch there, which was another delicious doner kebab sandwich (you may start counting the number of kebap we ate if u so please) and a can of SGD7 dollar coke.
It was totally worth it, it was just so shiok and chillax there. To this day we still talk abt the $7 coke with fondness.
We hung around and briefly visited some more mosques, then it was time to go pack dinner (make a guess wat we dabao) and catch our overnight bus to Capadoccia.
It was on the bus that we first we began to suspect that maybe negotiating such a cheap price may not be such a good idea after all.
Cos we were placed right at the very end of a very crowded bus, where we were surrounded by noisy local kids and the air con was very stuffy.
I was amused though, by the fact that the bus came with its own Bus Waiter, who goes abt spraying Turkish perfume on our hands and giving out plastic cups of water.
[It gave us great amusement to compare the various 'services' offered by these bus boys on future bus trips.]
All in all it wasn't a very comfortable trip, with the bumpy ride and the cramped seats.
But what shocked me, made me flabberglasted, and so darn terrified was this:
At 3am, they woke us up and told us to alight with our luggage.
So Catechol and I sleepily got off the bus, and asked abt the shuttle bus, the bus boy pointed vaguely in a north wardly direction, and the bus drove off with ONLY the two of us alighted.
We then looked around us and fully took stock of our situation.
Because they dropped us off in front of a closed and deserted taxi company in freakin middle of nowhere. with NO buildings OR bus terminals that can be seen for MILES. And there weren't even any cars on the road.
I've never felt so scared EVER in my life, not even that time when Sm and I almost got caught in the middle of a gang brawl in London or that time when we got hopelessly lost in Japan for 3hours.
stay tuned for more turkey adventures...
Next up, how we got out of our predicament..
the beautiful Capadoccia with its fairy chimneys
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