Mt. Nemrut, Mardin, Savur

I just came back from a week in Eastern Turkey and it was absolutely stunning. I was quite surprised to hear warnings from many western Turks about traveling to the East alone. But all the other travelers that I spoke with, said that the east is not to be missed. I started in Mt. Nemrut from Capadoccia, a 12 hour bus ride. I tell you, I'd take a 12 hour bus ride in Turkey over an hour in an Indian bus any day. They have bus attendants, similar to flight attendants that serve beverages, cake and ice cream! But my ride did suck because I had to sit in the jump seat next to the driver for almost the entire overnight journey. So I got to Khata and was totally jacked. I stayed in a little village called Karadut about 12km from the top of Nemrut. The pension owner told me to find the Karadut Market and talk to Mustafa and he'll help me get a minibus (this is the local transport) to Karadut. Ok, so İ'm a little nervous and skeptical about this, but quickly realize that this is the old me thinking. İ consciously change my energy and wouldn't you know, I meet Mustafa right away and end up having breakfast with him and his son at the shop. We took a ton of pictures and he gave me the shop address so I can mail them to him. İ am constantly amazed at what happens when İ stop to think about the energy that I put out into the world. It doesn't happen like a wish, but rather, it is something that İ truly feel in my heart. Sometimes İ think that İ'm thinking positively, only to realize that my thought is really negative and İ'm just 'hoping' things will work out. Funny how life has a way of discerning these things.

So, Mt. Nemrut has these massive statues at the top of the mountain, but the heads have fallen off and now they sit at the feet of their bodies. İ didn't get many pictures b/c the batteries in my - camera died - damn it. But İ did watch an amazing sunset in the desert.

From Mt. Nemrut I headed southeast, I think I was 70km from the Syrian border, to Mardin. What an amazing little town. Kurds, Turks, Arabs and Christians all live peacefully in this beautiful place. For 2 days I sat in a chai shop and looked out at the honey colored desert that stretched to Syria. It was a surreal experience...the desert is mesmerizing.

One more minibus ride and İ was in the sweet town of Savur. İ splurged on a place to stay b/c it had an amazing view of the valley below. There is a river that runs through the valley, but you can't see it because of the trees that grow around it. So from my perch all you see is a river of green snaking through the mountains. The town is smaller than Mardin and they don't see many tourists, especially women travelling alone. But after being stared at for a good long while (İ have just come to accept this - with my big sunglasses, short hair, height.. and lets face it, İ'm damn cute, well: people stare), İ was welcomed into every tea shop. The family İ stayed with treated me like a long lost relative and it was good to be looked after for a night. And let me tell you, İ needed a good night's sleep because İ was about to embark on an epic bus journey that would last 30 hours....

Capadoccıa

I've been having a bout of writers block about Capadoccia. I don't know why...I think it's because I've had a travel partner for the last 10 days. And instead of talking to you, I've been talking to him. But we parted ways in Goreme and I was more emotional than I thought I would be. It just came to be that we traveled for so long together, but I think that's why it worked, because it was easy. In my mind I thought that it would be good to do the last bit of traveling alone, but along with the rest of my planning, that didn't happen. Almost the entire time I've been in Turkey, I've been with other travelers. Sometimes I would insta-bond just because they were from California or the States or just spoke English! Only to find out that our travel styles, outlook on life, perspective on reality was different, so after an hour or a day, we'd part ways. As you know it's hard to travel with someone 24/7 and really hard when you don't know the person. So I consider myself lucky to have made a new friend and even luckier that Josh and I had such a great time exploring Turkey together... sometimes it's nice not being the driver and the navigator. So thanks, Josh, for helping me find the words when my English was limited, for listening to my crazy stories, for making great Nescafe, for calling me a hippie and for sometimes being the driver and sometimes being the navigator.

So, Capadoccia! What a fairy tale of a place. This is an area of crazy rock formations, some look like melting ice cream with caves and carvings (have you ever seen any of Gaudi's work? Look him up, check out the buildings in Barcelona), some like giant penis' (is that the plural? when have i ever had to type that word), some like mushrooms. It's unreal. We stayed in Goreme, which is a great town that blends old village with modern tourism, at the Flintstones. Yes, in a cave! It was so cool. We had tea in a tea garden where the same groups of old men gather to place backgammon and drink endless cups of tea. Oh, speaking of, I must drink like 7 cups a day, they're so small and cute, and it's such an easy thing to stop and do when your tired of cruising around. Anyway, we did an all-day tour which was fantastic except for the obligatory stop at the onyx factory. I swear, anything to get you to buy something.

I left on the overnight train to Mt. Nemrut and Josh is now sleeping in his own bed in San Francisco, I'm so jealous.

Konya

We decided to couch surf in Konya, the final resting place of the Sufi, Rumi, and home to the whirling dervishes. We found George, new to couchsurfing, and we were his first guests. OMG - he was great, generous and eager to show us his town. We arrived around 6pm and from that moment until about 1am we were non stop. We went for dinner, coffee, tea, downtown, uptown, the river, if there was a sight to be seen, he showed us. He played photographer with my camera and the results are priceless.

One thing he didn't mention was that he lives with his family, who just happened to be on vacation...except for dad whom we had breakfast with the following morning :)

Konya is the first city that I've been to (so far) where I really felt a religious presence. Women cover their heads, there wasn't a drop of beer to be found, and the city pretty much shuts down around 11pm. Ok, you're right, where there is beer to be had, we will find it. We just happened to spy an Efes sign (local turkish beer) down an alley, so we walk towards it, only to find 3 guys kind of lurking in front of a small shop that has one cooler full of Efes in a can or bottle. I mean I thought that some shit was going down! All this to buy beer. The guy almost wrapped it in newspaper but then gave it to us in a dark plastic bag. I thought for sure the beer police would hear the bottles clanking away in my bag, but we made it back to the hotel and couldn't help but laugh at yet another adventure in Konya.

Olympos, Turkey

Talk about getting sucked in...Olympos is that kind of place. Its hardly a town, more like a village or giant campsite with mostly backpackers and a smattering of locals thrown in. Its claim to fame are the tree houses; some of them are pretty cool, but most are just wood structures without a roof on stilts. I opted for the dorm and a/c. Josh and I spent 3 nights in Olympos and honestly, I don't know where the time went. It was so ridiculously hot, that even walking the 10 minutes to the beach took me 2 days. Most of my time was spent lounging and reading, trying not to move too much. After 4 days on the boat I wasn't about to break the relaxation spell. However, the one super cool thing I did was get up at the crack of dawn to watch a baby turtle, just hatched, make it's way to the sea...

I ran into a couple that I met on one of my many bus rides and we were immediately invited into the 'cool' group. They had taken over one of the harem areas and we carried on laughing and drinking until the wee hours. And so 3 days passed...I could have easily spent the rest of my time in Turkey here.

Selcuk, Fethiye, Blue Cruise, Turkey

I took the overnight bus from Istanbul to Selcuk (say: Sal-chuk). The bus system here is very easy, but we stopped like 5 times on a 10 hour journey. I stayed in Selcuk to see the ancient ruins in Ephesus, but, and this sounds so bad, after being in Petra I wasn't as 'wow-ed' as I should have been. But the place I stayed, Atilla's Getaway was well worth the trip out there. It's an oasis with a pool and tons of places to chill out with a good book. I spent 2 very lazy days lounging in a Turkish sitting area (harem), you know, carpets, pillows, no shoes, nargile (hooka). I really can't complain.

I've been surprised to meet so many Americans traveling in Turkey. In fact, I think I've met more Americans here than I have in the last 6 months. I met Josh from San Francisco and we decided that if the timing worked out with our travels we'd take the Blue Cruise together. So from Selcuk I headed to the Mediterranean Coast to Fethiye (say: Fet-ee-ya) where the boat was leaving on Saturday to Olympos. The boat is actually a gullet, but we never sailed, which was a little disappointing, but I got over it right quick after my daily morning swim in the Med. Ok, so if you haven't had a twinge of jealousy yet, now is the time to stop reading.

After 2 nights in Fethiye and 2 nights in Faralya in a bungalow overlooking butterfly valley, I met Josh on the dock and we set off for 4 days cruising the Med. I don't think I've mentioned, but it is hot here - I'd say close to 100 every day. Even being on the water it was crazy hot. So everyone took their bedding from the staterooms and slept on the deck on lounge cushions. It was so fun, like one giant slumber party. We used our stateroom as a big closet with shower and toilet. Ok, right, so there were 2 couples from Turkey, 4 people from Spain and a family of 4 from Libya.

In the beginning our group was a little shy, but by day 2 we were all friends. It was really easy to talk to everyone, even when english was limited. I absolutely fell in love with the Libyan family, and have promised that I will visit one day.

On the last night the captain promised us an evening of fun and shortly after dinner a boat pulled up to take us to the Smugglers Inn - a disco/bar on the beach. OMG, what a riot! Each gulet's passengers had taken over a harem to chill in, but our group hit the dance floor like banshees and we didn't stop until everyone had left.

One of my 'must do's' on this trip was this cruise and I'm so glad that I was able to! 4 days of looking out at the beautiful blue Mediterranean, swimming, reading and meeting new friends...this is what vacation is all about. Now if I could just stop rocking...

6 months

Has ıt really been 6 months?

I've been sitting here in this hot as hell Internet cafe in Fethiye, Turkey, reflecting on my last 6 months and I feel like you know everything already. I've shared with you what I've seen, how I've traveled, my doubts, my perspective, in fact I've been more open on this blog than I thought I would. But I'm glad you've been following me...it's nice having a bit of home while on the road

So, I think I'll try something new and tell you about my gear. I know it's not deep, but it's been with me the entire journey, so I think it deserves some mention. My pack started off at 20lbs when I weighed it at SFO way back in February. If I do say so, I packed brilliantly. Everything I brought I used. From the zip off pants-to-shorts to the sleeping sack. I had 2 pairs of shoes: Reef platform flip-flops and Clarks walking shoes. I flattened the flip flops by May, but continued to wear them until July, which was a bad call, because I've jacked my hip (but nothing that a week at the spa won't fix). So one pair of new flips later, and I'm good to go until I get home. I think I told you that I sent my rain coat home with Jennifer when I was in Greece and that wasn't a good call either, b/c 2 weeks later I was in torrential downpours in Croatia. I've changed out all my t-shirts I had in India because of the laundry situation. Washing clothes on a rock using a rock to beat them clean tends to shorten the life of your clothing, you know? I have all 8 pairs of underwear I started out with. And I know you're thinking that having chonies for 6 months is not unreasonable, but when you wash them weekly... the cuteness fades away.

Now this is not to say that I haven't done my fair share of shopping, because let me tell you London has some fabulous shopping...to date (and what I can remember) I've bought 5 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of pants, a leather jacket, several shirts/tanks, and many gift-y items. But many thanks to Zahra, Dad, Jennifer, Kelsey and Mom for taking my purchases home. On average now, I carry 12 kilos, which is about 26lbs. I have acquired 3 skirts, 2 dresses, 1 pair of jeans but I've gotten rid of 2 pairs of pants, rain coat and 3 t-shirts (replaced by tanks). The stupidest thing I'm carrying is a bottle of my perfume (Gucci II). I was missing a little bit of girly-ness, so now have this ridiculous glass bottle of fragrance. The thing I hate the most is my bag of electronics - phone charger, iPod charger, universal converter, camera cord, battery charger. I can never fold it small enough. And recently I've acquired a Kurdish rug which I'll have to carry around for the next 3 weeks, but it's manageable.

But now I'm missing my friends and family and I think that's a good indication of being ready to come home. Not to say that you haven't been on my mind the last 6 months, but rather I've had other things rattling around in there that have taken up residence lately. So I'll finish up Turkey and am thinking of a side trip to Syria (but it's so f-ing hot right now so we'll see) and move westward beginning of September. But, by now you have come to know the erratic nature of my traveling, so all I can say is we'll see :)

So, with much love...thank you for keeping track of me via the blog and for all your comments and well wishes along the way. I thought that I was on this trip alone and I needed time away, but really, you have been with me the entire journey. I am looking forward to coming home.

Istanbul, Turkey

I can't believe that I've been in Istanbul for a week! I stayed in a great youth hostel in Sultanamet for the first 3 nights and took in all the touristy sights: Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, riding the tram, kebabs, baklava, etc. The Big Apple hostel had a great rooftop terrace, where after a long day of sights, the beer tasted even better. The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia were definitely my highlights, each domed and outrageously ornate. Going into the Blue Mosque, you have to cover your head and legs and take your shoes off. When I got in, I was totally overwhelmed...by the smell of feet. It was a hot day and holy shit, it was horrible. But after my eyes stopped watering, I was able to sit and reflect. Even though there were a maddening number of tourist groups, I found it quite peaceful.

Istanbul is such a cool city - half of it is on the European side and half in Asia. The Bosphoros Straight is the dividing line. I cruised out to an island one day...I swear I'm going to buy a boat one day...and worked on my tan :) The city has great energy. I had dinner with some people from the hostel and we ended up in an area where block after block are restaurants, bars and clubs with cafe style seating spilling out onto the sidewalk and cobblestone streets. All kinds of music competes with one another, guys are selling stuffed mussles and grilled corn on carts and persistent turkish men try to lure you into their rug shops with promises of tea.

I heard about this website called couch surfing and decided to try it out in Istanbul. Basically, its a reciprocal hospitality website where you offer your couch, meet and greet, night out, coffee/drinks to travelers from around the world and in turn you do the same when you're out in the world. The basic idea is to promote peace through learning and understanding of other cultures. So I've done my research, bc you know that's how i am, and I find Sercan (say: Ser-jan). He seems like just the type of person that I want to have in my life and I wasn't disappointed. He has hosted over 400 couchsurfers over the last 4 years and somehow always has room in his house, whether for 1 or 15. Jim and Matt, Sercan's friends, greeted me and I felt like I had know these guys forever. I was so quickly welcomed and included, I felt like I was home. We joked non stop, cooked dinner together and celebrated Jim's birthday, it was one of the most memorable experiences on my trip. I really wanted to experience how locals live, local culture and just be in it, and that's exactly what I got.

Geneva, Switzerland

Finally out of the UK! I meandered down to Geneva to visit Misty and Manfred who had baby Finn just over 2 months ago. I don't know what I was expecting of Geneva, but it blew my mind. It is absolutely beautiful. From their house on the French side, you could see Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc (the highest peak in Europe). It's so green with vineyards climbing up the steep mountains that surround the lake. I have been absolutely spoiled with my accommodations, when it comes to my friends. And Misty & Manfred's house is no exception. They are in the foothills of some massive mountains with a ski run right above them. The property is sprawling with lots of trees and yard space and they have done beautiful work to the yard. Actually props to Manfred who has rediscovered his primal roots and took down a few trees for firewood. Oh, and just to add to the atmosphere, there were cows grazing in their back yard. It was very tranquil and I found myself loosing track of time.

Misty & Manfred have always been gracious hosts and this time was no exception. Besides myself, Misty's mom was visiting for a few months. The day after I arrived, friends of theirs and their children stayed for the weekend, and the day before I left 7 of Misty's family came through. I had such a good time reconnecting with them. We chilled at Lake Geneva for an afternoon, visited the vineyards, cooked amazing meals, and lounged at the house in the sun. It was an absolutely perfect week.

Baby Finn is ridiculously cute and just along for the ride. Slept well, ate well, hardly fussed. If we could all be that lucky. Even I complain more than Finn :)

Off to Turkey for a month and if I'm lucky, Syria as well. But don't worry, I really am on my way home :) ha ha, I know what you're thinking....