Hatay Istanbul

At about noon, Murat came to move me to the University. He is my Turkish guide and has become my bodyguard. He carries my laptop case (yes Jacob, it's true) and he calls to see where I am when it's late (yes Woody, sound familiar). He is 25 years old and so good at his job. He works for the producers of this festival and also for the Blues Festival which is next. He has never been to the States but wants to go to Alabama because of the people he has met who are on the Blues ...

... 6 months, and doing it came as a chore. The absence of a purpose, a deadline and the rushing also made me uneasy, and possibly homesick. And that is a hard thing to get yourself to do: to enjoy yourself.

So we sat on the top of the world, surrounded by red-firs and red dust, and a gym, of which there seemed to be many in Istanbul, spotted in various places accross the city. It was good. There was no pressure to have fun at that point.

Later, on the ferry back ...

... we are ready to move on.

We will be bringing you updates from our time in England and America from time to time on this very same blog. But first we will be compiling some stats about our trip (since Andrew keeps up with this stuff) that you may find amusing.

So we say Bon Voyage to Turkey and hello to England.

... peo ple and genuinly helpful especially the guy who waited with me for 90 mins to catch my bus 4 . Egyptians. Egyptians were ok alot of people warned them about me but I had no problems. They are quite different to the other people in the region so it is quite intersting meeting them 5. Lebanesse. Prob t he least freindly nation of people I have ever meet. Did not li ke them much at all Best Food 1. Syria. The Humous and little ...

... architecture and mosaic tiles of jesus, mary, and john the baptist.  then visited the blue mosque [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ah med_Mosque_(Istanbul)], to which we arrived right as they were beginning the call to evening prayers.   we were invited inside and allowed to witness the entire ceremony.  the koranic recitation and the ornate (blue-hence the name) tilework and calligraphy were mesmerizing.  hit me as i was walking across ...

... I was weaving in and out of them, creating an awesome work out for myself. I'm sure I looked like a fool but i didnt care; I had my music and my muscles were in pain and I was loving it! Then on my way back tothe hotel I was runnig down the hill, but didn't recognize the street. i started to panic b/c it was already 9:40pm. While panicing, to add to my already increased HR, a taxi driver decided to wave hello to me & could only do so by driving onto ...

... fluted ceramic tiles in blue and green. Don't wait long for the metro, have found information in a readable alphabet, know which one we want, get seats. Too easy! It is a quick run to the next station, emerge from the wrong end as usual, orient ourselves by the sun, also recognise the large supermarket building. We are prepared to take any bus, but a 67 comes along, so take it all the way home, actually passing our ...

... him several times, that it`s not something we do in my country (at that moment he`d bite my arm), that it`s not relevant to my culture, and tell him to never try it again; or he`d say e.g. "don`t be so cold" because I didn`t want to put my hand under his arm, or especially hold his hand. I didn't want to be rude, because I could tell he was trying his best, so I`d be explaining to him my reactions one by one. He really did do so much for us - he was our guide, he`d shown a lot of ...

... Horn meets the Bosphorus. The Topkapi Palace is set in marvelous grounds and we felt privileged just to be wandering though its many courtyards. One negative as we entered was that there is no discount for children, no family ticket, so we had to buy 4 adult tickets - 40 Lira to get in, Having seen historical sights all over the world I'd have to tell the Ministry of Tourism over here in Turkey that if they continue to rip people off in visiting their monuments and ...

... on Oceans 13, Vacancy, and ...... Die hard 4. I know, but we had a few hours to kill before our shuttle bus to Cappadoccia, and it was air conditioned, and in all fairness, atleast Bruce Willis takes the **** out of himself. ok I'm off, Milli can write more later Milli: Yes. The hostel was good, situated near everything we wanted to see. The city was HUGE so it was lucky we found the place. Very pretty but a bit too much bustle and leering. A combination of underdeveloped South East ...