Couchsurfing Heaven
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
134
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Ankara,
Ankara,
Turkey
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
As I was walking to the bus station, two vicious looking dogs spotted. "Great", I thought. Another 2 dogs to hound me. They immediately came towards me and I didn't take my eyes off of them/ I also maintained my current pace of walking as I didn't want them to think I was scared. As soon as they got close, I would swing my day bag at them. They would retreat and come towards me again. I repeated my bag swinging defense mechanism each time and it worked. I was a bit afraid as they wouldn't give up. Each time they retreated, they would start fighting/playing with each other by taking turns in biting each other's neck. I thought they would want to "play" with me by taking a bit out of my flesh. I could see the bus station from a distance but yet it seemed so far because of these dogs. I just wanted to get there so I could take refuge in one of the offices of the several bus companies there. As I reached the parking lot of the bus station, an employee saw what was happening and scared them off. I was thankful.
I had some time before my bus took off so I wanted to take some photos. There were hot air balloons everywhere. It is the most popular thing to do here - to take a hot air balloon ride over the amazing landscape of Goreme. Unfortunately, my camera still wasn't working. So I took a few with my crappy disposable.
The bus ride was uneventful. We stopped a few times for breaks. I was a bit hungry because I didn't have breakfast. I wanted to get something to eat but I was conscious of the fact that it was Ramadan and people were fasting. I didn't want to be disrespectful and eat in front of them. So I just walked around the first rest area and observed what the people from my bus were going to do. Almost all of them went to buy food. I was surprised. I later learned that you didn't have to fast if you were traveling. Perfect! So I bought a small bag of chocolate chip cookies. I knew there had to be a few people on my bus that were still fasting so I went behind the bus and ate quickly - away from everyone's sight. It was probably unnecessary as the others ate openly. I wanted to make sure I wasn't making it harder for anyone who was fasting. The last thing they need was the smell of chocolate chip cookies
I arrived in Ankara at noon. I went searching for an internet café to see if Bilge replied to my last email and she did. She explained that her friend, Hamdi, would be waiting for me at the bus station. I called the phone number she provided and told Hamdi where I was waiting. Five minutes later. Hamdi came to get me. As soon as I saw him I knew he was a nice guy. Some people just have that trusting face.
Hamdi and I ended up spending the whole afternoon together while Bilge was at work. We immediately got along/ I felt that I was talking too much sometimes, mainly because I hardly met anyone in Goreme while I was there for the last 3 days. I learned some interesting things about Hamdi. He just finished his 5 months of military service and was now looking for a job (I suggested he take a look at the company I worked for). Prior to doing his military service, he graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree. And finally, he has a girlfriend in America that he is crazy about.
Hamdi was actually a God send. I told him about my bad luck with cameras and he asked to take a look at them. He immediately figured out the issue with the camera I bought in Fethiye. I thought the issue was with the memory card reader in the camera but he figured out it was the actual memory card that was the problem. So my camera actually works fine. I was really glad I had one functioning camera now. He then brought me to a Canon Repair shop to see if they could fix my other camera. I was surprised that they had one in Ankara as I was told that all Canons had to be sent to Istanbul. So I was really excited about the possibility of getting my other camera fixed. The lady said it would take 5 days for me to get an estimate but Hamdi explained my situation (that I was going to Iran in a few days) so she labeled my order as High Priority and said I would probably get an answer within 2 days. I was so pleased. My start in Ankara couldn't have been better. I met a super nice guy and both my cameras were about to be working.
After walking around the downtown area and visiting Ataturk's tomb at the mausoleum, we returned to his apartment and just hung out waiting for Bilge's arrival. Bilge arrived at 630 and when I saw her I had the same reaction as when I saw Hamdi. She looked like a super sweet person that I knew I could trust right away. We all decided to go out and have supper together at a local Turkish restaurant. Although Bilge and Hamdi do not fast during Ramadan, we waited until the prayer after sun down. While having supper, I learned all about Bilge. She has 3 masters - one in Civil Engineering and the other two in the areas of earthquakes and restoration. Very smart woman. She also had a lot of energy which made it a lot of fun.
After supper, we grabbed a few beers from the local corner store and returned to Hamdi's place. Hamdi's roommate, Deniz, joined us. It turns out that Deniz is going to the University of Arizona on a basketball scholarship. That is quite impressive as they have an amazing basketball program. Maybe I will see him playing NCAA basketball on TV one day. We all had a great time together. We couldn't have hit it off any better. Since they learned that I was going to India on this trip, we decided to watch a travel documentary on this country. Later on, I showed them a lot of my pictures and videos. The all got a kick out of seeing the chubby version of Dino. The whole time, we never stopped talking to each other. I knew it was going well when we all took pictures of each other.
At around 1130, Bilge took me to her apartment. When we arrived, I was introduced to her mom. What a wonderful lady. She made me feel like her place was my home as well. I knew where Bilge got her friendliness from. The mom was very enthusiastic about my stay and wanted to know all about me and my trip. All of us stayed up until 2 am just talking. I was so glad I picked Bilge when I was looking for a place to stay. She is fantastic. Her friend Hamdi is a great guy and her mom was so welcoming. I look forward to spending my next few days with them.
