The Turkey Recap

Hey all, just finishing up the business of Turkey today and when start updating you on life in Ireland as it is thrown at me. For those of you sick of my information and description deficent posts, here is another great play by play from Beth:
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So I’ve been asked to describe the rest of the trip, not sure why b/c I’m not that great of a writer, but I assume it’s because of my extreme attention to detail (sorry so long again) that he doesn’t want to bother with.

I’ll try and pick up where we left off. However, I feel I should comment on the latest entry detailing the later parts of New Years Eve. Mom, Brian made this sound much worse. He was actually saved by me, but he used one of his mulligans (won during one of the many games of gin rummy we played) to refer to me as the “police” to save face. Even though the Blu Blockers were saved, my sunglasses (and the disco ball) did not make it home, small price to pay.

So we spent the good part of the day in the internet café last time I wrote, waiting for an overnight bus to Sulcuk, the town outside of Ephesus. This bus wasn’t as bad as the last one, but still was uncomfortably hot. We arrived in Sulcek around 9 welcomed by a downpour. We were quickly approached by a hostel worker recruiting us for a nights stay and agreed after taking a short tour of the place. We booked another 2-bedroom style room and played cards in the room to ride out the storm b/c what we were really there for were the ruins in Ephesus. Around noon the rain stopped and it turned out to be a really nice day. Our hostel worker dropped us off at the ruins site about 3km away. You are dropped in front of (big surprise) a string of market shops that sold genuine fake watches and you have to make your way to the entrance. Once inside there are tons of ruins and pillars scattered about. Not having any real idea of what we were looking at and me wanting to be the best research assistant I could be, I rented an audio guide and got map.

So areas are just labeled with numbers and you just hit the corresponding number on your guide and it’s supposed to explain what you’re looking at. It wasn’t too incredibly informative, but did offer some insight. Although after a while though I think Brian was sick of me saying “600BC, ancient theater, Hellenistic period, blah, blah, blah” so we tried to share the headset. It was pretty neat at the beginning of the tour there were sheep grazing on the mountain in the distance and you could hear the constant sound of their bells. So you basically walk through the ruins and along the pathways and come to the entrance or what use to be to The Roman Celsus Library built 125AD. However, due to the frequent earthquakes in the area it’s been rebuilt several times. I think this was the neatest thing there, but maybe because I kept seeing pictures of this thing in books, and it was very bizarre to actually be standing in front of it. With the help of Wikipedia, I’ve learned that it used to hold 12,000 scrolls and was built with an exaggerated entrance as to enhance its perceived size. The theater just past the library was also pretty neat. The audio guide says it sat 24K people, but Wikipedia says 44K. Either way is was a pretty huge theater still relatively intact. Of what I can remember it’s one of the largest, if not the largest, outdoor theater from the ancient times. What was probably most amazing were the acoustics. Brian would be on the stage and I would be sitting half way up and could hear him perfectly with him speaking in a normal voice. So that was about it for the ruins, then we thought since it was such a nice day we wanted to walk back to Sulcek. This idea did not last long as we were walking on a highway with little shoulder space and not much of a view. Next thing I know Brian is encouraging me to hop on the back of a (still moving) tractor. Putting the total hitch-hike count to 2.

The rest of the day we wandered around town, got a closer look at the castle, had an amazing salami cheese sandwich, and we headed back to the hostel. That night we headed out to some of the same streets we had walked earlier in search for some dinner. It was still relatively early in the night so we decided it wouldn’t hurt to start with a beer somewhere. I suggested a place I saw earlier in the day on our way to the ruins so we made our way over to that bar. It looked like a normal bar on the outside with neon lights and a beer sign. However, within seconds of entering we figured out I had lead us to the town whorehouse, literally. It was pretty dark inside and there were probably only a couple of other guys in there and then a table of 4 skimpily dressed ladies all eying what would walk into the door next. The waiter brought us our drinks and we people watched for a little bit and made our way out. I guess I can check that off my bucket list. So we found a place for dinner and met a nice British couple that just bought a house in Turkey. We got talking and they offered to drive us to Meryeamana (house of Mary) the next day. So the next day we hopped in with them and then they took us on a scenic drive through-out the mountains and farming villages in the area. During our drive we stumbled upon the coast of the Aegean Sea. It was so beautiful. The colors of the water were comparable to the colors in Bahamas, which for some reason was surprising to me. Anyway, after this we were headed to another bus to Bursa, though this one was only about 6 hours and not so hot. When we got there we had to take a bus and then a mini-bus to get to our couchsurfer’s apartment and arrived about 11. Brian had explained the couchsurfing thing to me but I was waiting to see it for myself. Our hosts turned out to be so welcoming and friendly. They met us at our stop and walked us back home, stopping for some food to make at their house b/c we hadn’t eaten dinner. It was a young couple still in college and during exam week. So that night we basically talked with them a little, got to know them, ate and went to bed. The next day we ventured into the city taking again a series of mini-buses and trams to get downtown. We were using an elaborate hand drawn map our hosts provided for us the night before, even labeling things as unimportant as trees. We again wandered around a little before deciding we wanted to take a cable car up the nearby mountain. After that we headed to the bath house. So I know Brian already described this a little, but as requested I’ll do some of my own. I walk in and no one immediately greats me so I have to figure out which woman hanging out in the lounge works here. I try for about 5 min (which doesn’t sound long but trust me it was) to explain that I want a massage. I was imagining Brian whizzing right through this first step with ease, so was happy to hear I was not the only one who had troubles. When that was straightened out she lead me to a small shower sized room with a little bed to change into (what I thought I was supposed to), my swimsuit. Keep in mind this room looks into the lounge I was just in, with an open door, with all old women walking around topless. So after changing into my polka dot swimsuit I’m lead to another room with a large heated marble stone table in the middle. Around the edges are ‘personal sinks’ low to the ground for people waiting to be massaged/scrubbed on the stone. The lady takes me through this room (where I get weird stares from all others, I assume b/c I had my top on) to a sauna. So in the 15 minutes that I’m sitting in the sauna, about to pass out waiting to be retrieved, I get enough courage to take my top off. Kinda like Charlotte in that one episode on Sex in the City. I’ll assume most guy readers wont get this, but I’ll just say kinda freeing. I eventually determine it’s up to me to leave the sauna when I want and I go and wait by one of the ‘personal sinks’ in the large room. I was the third person to go, so I sat there for what felt like forever just watching the other people get massaged and used a Tupperware thing provided to dump hot water over myself while waiting. I felt like a little kid in the tub. Then it’s my turn, I’m directed to lay face down on the stone while the lady using a hand glove as a scrubber and she takes an embarrassing number of layers of skin off. Just want to remind you this lady is probably in her 50s, in an old underwear-ish looking thong, and that’s it. She doesn’t speak English, but slaps my butt when she wants me to flip over, grabs the sides of my swimsuits bottoms to slide me around on the marble for me to move, and ‘re-arranges’ my swimsuit bottoms to get all areas. At one point, my head was in this ladies lap while her boobs are pretty much draped over my face while she is scrubbing my chest. When done scrubbing she rinses you. Then massages you again this time using soap and washes your hair, and then another rinse. Pure heaven! We made our way back to our ‘house’ where we met the other 2 couchsurfers that were staying the night with us. All 6 of us headed out to hang with some of our hosts friends at a local café where we just talked and had tea. The next morning Brian and I woke early to catch the bus/ferry back to Istanbul for our last night in Turkey. Upon our return we checked into the same hostel we had previously stayed and headed back to the bazaar for some last minute gifts. Brian stopped for a shave and I picked up some beers and we hung out at the hostel for a bit before we headed out for the last supper. We decided to hit a different area for dinner this night, one around Taxsim Square, a trendier and very busy area with tons of shops and restaurants. After dinner while walking back to our side of the town, we came across a Turkish soccer bar that was erupting in the final minutes of a game. So we stopped in to take in the atmosphere. Finally we made our way back to the bar we wanted to get to, the same one we went to our first night. We hung out with our hostel owner, Jon, who showed up and some other travelers while listening to some great American music. Brian also talked me into taking some sort of shot that was lit on fire in my mouth, another first for me.

All in all, it was a great trip, one of the best for me. Thanks to Brian for letting me tag along on part of his trip. He makes traveling look so easy and definitely so much fun. Hopefully, I can make another leg for more great adventures and experiences. I would highly recommend anybody thinking about doing it, to just go for it!

Cheers!

~BW
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Ya see,another friend meets up and returns relatively unscathed. Whose next?

Just to add the last of my Turkey business.

After Beth flew off in the morning, I spent the rest of the day killing time before my flight--mostly discarding extra crap outta my bag in an attempt to make the ridiculous baggage weight requirement for my flight. Was partially successful in bartering a few things off. I'll trade you two mismatched socks for your granola bar....
On my tram ride to the airport I was thinking about the two amazingly cheap flights I had found to get me to Dublin (both under $100). Then I started to contemplate why these budget airlines (RyanAir & EasyJet) are able to offer practically free flights and still be profitable. Less frills. Pay for checked luggage. No lifejackets or rafts in case of a water landing as God knows no-one survives a water landing (*authors note-I was just sharing this sentiment with the Irish family I am staying with last night when not one hour later, news broke of US Airways successful landing on the Hudson River, thus confirming for the Irish family that Americans really do know nothing), and the fact that these budget airlines using fly out of obscure airports. Then I started to think about how I was heading to the Istanbul International Aiport, which was not obscure. Then I started to sweat realizing that I had not even verified that the flight was leaving from there. My suspicions were confirmed when I got there and there was no EasyJet check in. The unhelpful information desk worker stated that the other airport was in ASIA! No joke, one and a half hours away on the Asian side of Istanbul lies the other airport. With barely any time to spare I had to cab it. A ride that almost induced vomiting in said idiot, who was trying not to think about how his ride to Asia was more expensive than his ride to Ireland.
After spending a ridiculously cold night trying to catch Z's on the tiled floor of London's Luton airport, I took the 6am flight to Dublin. When I arrived in the UK the night before I was given a 6 month visa with almost no questions asked. When I arrived in Dublin, the immigration officer sized me up and sent a barrage of questions at me. After inflating my bank account to him by 95% and a few other white lies, I was given only a 3 week visa. Although, not really a problem as I will be spending most of my time in the UK side of Ireland, it does limit where I can fly out of when do leave. Not quite the kiss and hug from Ireland I was expecting, but times are tough here and I guess they dont want any riff-raff coming in and trying to work, as if someone would try and do that.
Anyways, two of my friends Niamh Grogan and Niamh Donnellan were kind enough to pick me up from the airport and take me back to the Grogan's house for an Irish fry-up. And thats were I am stopping today as my fingers hurt. More on Ireland tomorrow.

Top of Morning to you,
Bri N