Shittiest day of my trip
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
122
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Selcuk,
Izmir,
Turkey
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I woke up at 630 am and took off for the bus station at 715. I found a bus leaving for Izmir at 830 which was fine as I didnt have to wait around for too long. I arrived in Izmir at 11 am and then took a van to Selchuk which was about an hour away. When I arrived in Selchuk I went looking for the ANZ Guesthouse as it was recommended to me. After I checked in, I went to chack out some of the main sights of the twon. I had a few hours to waste as I was planning on going to Ephesus at 4 pm when the sun wasnt as strong. I didnt expect to be able to se the ruins in Ephesus today as I thoiught they would be a few hours away from Selchuk. I was glad to find out that they were only 3 kms away. This was perfect as it meant that I could leave tomorrow and save another day. The first place I went to in Selchuk was ST John Basilica which was built in the 6th century. This is where disaster struck. My camera friggin broke and it was my fault. I was using the self timer and placed it on a wall so I could be in the photo. I thought the wind was a bit powerul so I just stayed by my camera to make sure it wouldnt fall off. It seemed like it was ok. After the picture was taken, I ran to my camera just in case the wind was about to blow it off and I must have jinxed myself as that is what exactly happened. The camera fell 6 feet and hit the rock pavement. The camera looks perfectly fine but the lens will no longer extract properly. When you turn the camera on, it makes the sound of a fax machine when someone puts a fax through. I am more mad about myself for taking such a stupid chance! I shouldnt have taken that picture given that I knew the risks. I guess we all have our stupid moments. However, it gets worse. I somehow managed to lose my camera case after this incident. I dont know if I left it at the Basilica while trying to fix my camera or whether I dropped it on my way back to the hostel. Inside my camera case I had about 40 Liras (about 35 Cdn dollars) and a memory card with all my Africa pictures. Luckily I backed up all my photos on a DVD and a memory stick. So it could have been worse. I also had a piece of paper with the email addresses of the Rwandan kids I met in Kinigi. However, I do have their physical address in my notebook so I could still contact them after my trip (as I promised).
I retraced all of my steps to see if I could find my camera case but I didnt. If I forgot it at the Basilica, there was no way I was going to get it back as there were beggars everywhere trying to sell fake coins to tourists. If they saw the camera case and found money in it, I definitely would not get it back. I guess Christmas may have come early for some people.
At 4 pm, I still decided to go to the ruins in Ephesus even though I was in a bad mood. I thought about how spoiled I sounded. Here I was on a great trip that most people would love to do and I was crying (not literally) over a camera. I thought about all the locals I met ın Afrıca and how stupıd ıt was for me to be pıssed off over thıs. It just seemed wrong. I just tried to suck it up sooner rather than later but it wasnt easy, admıttedly. I would have rather had someone steal the camera than me break it. At least I could have then said to myself that it was out of my control.
It was a good decision to go to Ephesus. The owner of the hostel drove me and 2 American guys (Roqi and Matthew) to the ruins. Both of the guys were teaching English in Istanbul and had a lot of interesting things to say about their experience. It helped me forget about my camera breaking which I told the guys about. They were nice enough guys and offered to take photos with their cameras and just send them to me later on. I was good with that. By the way, the ruins were outstanding. Some of the best I have seen on this trip.
At 7 pm we got a lift back to our hostel. I re-traced my steps one more time to see if I could find my camera case. It was a waste of time. I asked myself what did I do on this trip to deserve this. Then I thought perhaps something bad had to happen to me before something really good had to happen. Time will tell. I wıll stıck wıth thıs attıtude.
When I got back to the hostel I took a shower and headed to a small local hole in the wall to get something to eat. I decided to leave Selchuk tomorrow for Bodrum. I saw everything I wanted to see in one day. Besides, staying here would have meant thinking about my camera (or rather how stupid I was for taking such an unreasonable risk) more than I should.
Dino Vagabond
