I found my rebound camera
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
125
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Fethiye,
Turkish Aegean Coast,
Turkey
Saturday, August 23, 2008
After I checked in, I booked a 4 day Blue Cruise along the Meditteranean. People I met along the way said it was the best thing they did in Turkey so I decided to do it as well. I was already a bit over budget on my trip. What did it matter that I went a bit more over budget? I paid a little more than I would have liked but they only had one spot left for the next day. Part of me thinks the guy used a classic sales pressure tactic to get me to book right away. I asked if he could lower the price a bit and he flat out said he couldnt. Maybe it was the best deal he could give me. Anyhow, I asked him if I could see the passenger list to get a sense of who I was going to be with. There were only going to be 10 people on the boat and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be with couples or people who couldnt speak English. The guy said he didnt have the passenger list with him but I didnt have to worry as there are always young people. I still booked. I was afraid that the spot would be taken and that would have been a bad thing as they were fully booked the day after.
The next thing I did was look for a camera. I ended up finding out about Turkey's version of Best Buy and made my way to one of their stores. Unfortunately the closest store was a 45 minute walk from my hostel. At least I would get a good look of Fethiye for the one day I was here. I looked at their web site before hand and comparted their camera prices to those on Best Buy's web site. All the cameras here are over priced but I was just going to bite the bullet and get something half decent. I decided I would buy a camera that was 300 liras (would have cost me the equivalent of 175 liras in Canada). It was thebest I could do.
When I got to the store, I told the store clerk which camera I wanted. I tried getting themm to lower the price but haggling was reserved for the markets, not a retail chain store. Unfortunately, all they had was the store model. I really didnt want to get the store model as hundreds of people alreay put their hands on it and I wasnt about to get something that seemed used. So I just bought a disposable camera that I would use for the Blue Cruise. I would find a camera later on.
As soon as I walked out of the store, I saw another electronics store and decided to walk in to see if they had the camera I was looking for. Bingo! They did. And it was the same price as the previous store I went to. So I bought it. I finally had a new camera. It was only 3 days since I broke my previous one but it was long enough. Unfortunately, the manual was in Turkish but all canons pretty much work the same so I was sure I would be able to figure it out (my previous one was a Canon as well). I also bought a 2 Gig memory card and a battery recharger . My shopping was done.
By the time I got back to my hostel, I was absolutely drenched in sweat. I just cant believe the heat here. It is about 40 degrees every day and very humid. I put my T-shirt along my bed post and you couldnt find one dry spot. I quickly took out my camera and tried it out to make sure it worked. It did. Unfortunately, I couldnt get my battery re-charger to work. I thought it was defective. A few people in my room took a look as well and they couldnt figure it out. I really didnt want to walk all the way back to the store but I paid 20 liras for it and I couldnt afford to lose it. My finances arent going the way I planned. So I decided to go back. Because I onlyhad 1 clean shirt left, I didnt want to wear it just so I could get sweat all over it. So I grabbed my sweaty T-shirt from the bed post and put it on and walked back to the store. Of course, when the store owner plugged in the re-charger it worked. I knew that was going to happen! So I walked all the way back. I definitely got a good look of Fethiye (twice) froma ll the walking. It is a pretty town. Too bad I couldnt stay another day. On the way back to my hostel, I came across 2 Turkish weddings. The receptions were in two separate school yards. It was actually very well decorated. I thought it looked fantastic. They had streamers connected to each of the 4 basketball nets. All the tables were within the square that was created from the streamer connected basketball nets. The tables and chairs were really well decorated. The tables were covered in white linen and dark red ribbons were placed on the chairs to give it a celebratory feeling. I watched one of the weddings for about 10 minutes from the opposite side of the fence. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. Next to me was a old chain smoking Turkish lady who was selling balloons to the guests. I liked her strategy. Her baloons were all blown up and taped to a 15 foot stick. She would lean the stick over the fence so the kids could see. Of course once the kids saw the ballonns, they harrassed their parents until they got one. I loved it!
I got back to my hostel at around 10 pm. I was absolutely starving. I bougt groceries earlier in the day so I made myself a tuna sandwich. I am trying to save some money now that I spent 300 lira on a camera and another 330 lira on my cruise. I will try to eat like this as much as I can stomach it.
I then showered and later spent some time chatting with the Aussie girls in my room as well as some English guy. I went to bed at 1 am a bit exhausted. I will have 4 days ahead of me where I will be doing nothing but reading, relaxing, swimming and of (fortunately) taking pictures.
Dino Vagabond
