Walking to Asia

So we walked to Asia yesterday…

Istanbul is split by the Bosphorus Strait into different parts: the European side and the Asian side. We have spent most of our time on the European side, so we figured we should spend our last day in Istanbul by walking over the bridge to the Asian continent:

Loads of Fishermen Line Each Side of the Bridge.

View of Asian Istanbul.

We really had no destination in mind, so we just wandered around Istiklal Avenue which is Istanbul’s equivalent of Fifth Avenue or the Champs-Élysées. Every chain store (Sephora, Diesel, Nike, etc.) lined the street. We never really get excited about shopping in cities around the world as we have all this stuff at home…

A Crowded Sunday.

Most Pairs of Chucks Were Over US $70. Absolutely Nuts.

After a ridiculously long walk in chilly weather, we rested in the hostel for a bit, and then the ladies decided they wanted to go the Turkish bathhouse for round two. (Mike chose not to go again. All he has heard is that it’s not so fun for guys.)

We went out for our last dinner of kebabs. This is pretty much all we ate in Turkey…and we loved every minute of it. The hardest choice each day was figuring out which stand we wanted them from and exactly what kind we wanted: wraps, pita, on bread, etc. The night was capped at a cheap bar where Bonnie kindly bought Mike a beer (he is her fake husband after all) and we smoked a shisha:

Team Turkey.

We like visiting with friends on this trip, but the absolute hardest part is leaving them.

Day in Bed for Cool People, Quick Day Trip for Losers

Mike still didn’t feel so good after the previous night’s dinner, so he spent  yesterday lounging in bed, attempting to nap, and trying to research our upcoming jaunts to Greece and Italy. (Have we mentioned we are sick of researching stuff? We are. We definitely know that we’d rather be gallivanting around the world than stuck at a desk, but researching destinations, flights, trains, and hostels becomes a never-ending inducer of headaches.)

Hanna and Bonnie took a ten-minute minibus to Sirince, a nearby town famous for wine and olives. Somehow they partook in neither. After a pleasant stroll to check out the local goods, they had a tasty lunch of (guess what?) kebabs:

You Can Tell It’s Bonnie Eating Because She’s Wearing Non-Backpacker Clothes.

Post-Lunch Squinty Pic.

They shopped a little bit more, attempted to avoid paying for toilets (Hanna was successful), and returned down the mountain road as carsick as ever.

The Road Out of Town.

Mike feels fine now. Don’t worry, parents.

Ephesian Ruins

The theme of our Turkish travels with Bonnie is taking it slow. Hell, we are fine with that. Yesterday we woke up around 9:30am…just in time for the tail-end of another rooftop breakfast:

We Now Expect Awesome Views at Breakfast.

Hanna contends that the breakfast in Istanbul was better because they had fake Nutella and better bread. (A tangent: after devouring all of the fake Nutella we stole, we are now almost done with a jar of real Nutella. We have a small spoon which we pass amongst the three of us sporadically throughout the day. Don’t judge.)

This Post Is Sponsored by Nutella.

The main reason we Bonnie decided to come to Selcuk was to see the ruins nearby. Boring history time: Ephesus was the second largest city in the Roman Empire, thus many a Roman ruin has been found. For all you fans of the Bible, the apostle Paul wrote an epistle to the Ephesians which is now a book of the New Testament, and the Virgin Mary allegedly lived here before she died. (After our brief hiatus from education in Australia, Kuala Lumpur, and London, we are now learning once again.)

We’ll let the pictures tell the story here:

The Great Theater. It Seats About 24,000 And Is Still Used for Productions Each May.

The Theater Was Pretty Empty, Yet a Group of Germans Chose to Sit Right on Hanna. Note Her Peeking Out.

The View from Stage.

Library of Celsus with Restored Facade. It Was Built for a Roman Governor of Asia Who Is Buried Underneath.

Ruins. Once You See Some, You Kinda Have Seen Them All...

Genuine Fake Watches? Sold.

Unfortunately our day’s activity ended on a sour note. As we made the two-mile walk back to the town of Selcuk, Hanna spotted a dead snake on the wide dirt path. She hightailed it out of there as quick as possible. No more exploration for her. Of course we saw no snakes in deadly Australia, yet we see one a few days after landing in Turkey.

We relaxed in the hotel for a bit before going out to dinner at a small kebab place with good reviews. Hanna and Bonnie got chicken skewers, and Mike got Turkish meatballs. Each meal was accompanied by delicious rice, fries, salad, and bread that tasted like tortillas. While the food was good, the portions weren’t huge. Guess we’re just fat Americans as we got a side order of greasy fries as well. As Mike tried to drift off to sleep around 11pm because his stomach wasn’t feeling so hot from the food, the ladies fist-pumped their way through an episode of Jersey Shore online. Keepin’ it classy here in Selcuk…

Will the Day Ever End?

It’s good that we actually talk to people at hostels. Otherwise we totally would have missed the boat…literally.

A kind Kiwi couple in their fifties who was staying at our hostel told us that the clocks would fast forward an hour that night because of Daylight Saving Time. We don’t pay attention to this kind of stuff on our year of lazing about, so we are very thankful we found out. (Ah, so Kiwis can be friendly and helpful. Zing.)

With the watch set ahead before we went to bed the previous night, Mike’s alarm went off yesterday at the ungodly hour of 5:15am. We finished packing, bought two loaves of delicious bread, and took the commuter train two stops. Walking to the ferry terminal in the cold, we were accosted by many taxis who wanted to give us a ride. Uh, isn’t it obvious we just got off the train and are making the five-minute walk to the ferry?

Bonnie and Hanna (both of whom aren’t lovers of water transportation) were a bit nervous about the ferry ride, but they Dramamined up. We all slept on the two-hour ride from Istanbul to Bandirma because the water was smooth as glass. No puking occurred.

Train at Bandirma.

The ferry ride led to a six-hour train ride. We all drifted in and out of sleep, but we finally got to Izmir. Not our final destination… Upon arrival at the train station, we weren’t exactly sure how we were going to get to Selcuk, the town nearest to the ruins of Ephesus. (Keep in mind that we know nothing about Turkey. Bonnie did all the planning.) We wandered around aimlessly for a while and attempted to get help from locals and the train station’s information counter without much luck. Some old Turkish woman then shoved us onto a minibus. We hoped it was going to Selcuk, but instead we were dumped off at a bus station about twenty minutes out of town. After wandering the bus station for ten minutes, we found the proper minibus that would take us to Selcuk. Forty minutes later our pilgrimage was finally over.

After almost twelve hours of travel, we settled into our nice hotel. Yes, a proper hotel. Not a hostel. (Bonnie was able to find a triple room for less than the price of a hostel. Hats off.) Turkish pizza, meatballs, and kebabs were on the menu for our dinner next door. Some YouTube videos were watched, and then we all passed out. Thank God flights were cheap back to Istanbul later this week.

Istanbul Hodgepodge

We woke up late on our last full day in Istanbul but still enjoyed breakfast on the roof. Nothing like free rolls, fake Nutella, feta, olives, coffee, and tea to accompany the amazing views of the Bosphorus Strait.

After walking around for a bit, we stumbled across an exercise park where we played for a while:

Hanna and Bonnie Now Sell Exercise Equipment on QVC.

Check out this video of the two of us pretending we are gazelles:

Once we were done workin’ up a sweat, we had the pleasure of witnessing Bonnie’s amazing bargaining skills. She really wanted a pillowcase, but every vendor wanted at least 55 Turkish lira (about US $35). She refused to pay that much but offered a 10 euro note that she randomly found in her purse from a previous trip to Spain. The vendors like to receive payment in euros when possible, but it still wasn’t enough for them. After more rummaging through her purse, she offered the 10 euros plus a whopping US $3. We kept laughing because we knew the guy wouldn’t take it. The result?

Bargaining Success. Neither Currency She Paid in Was Turkish.

Bonnie went to see Hagia Sophia, but we were content sitting outside to bask in the sunshine:

This Grand Building Has Been an Orthodox Cathedral, a Mosque, And Is Now a Museum.

In the hour that she was inside, the following occurred:

• We were offered employment in the tourism industry. A well-dressed couple approached us, asked where we were from, and wanted to know if we wanted a j0b because of our English language skills. If only we were not leaving the next day, we definitely would have accepted a job in “tourism” from some random dude on the street…
• We were approached by a twentysomething Turkish girl who wanted us to go on a tour of Istanbul with her uncle. All we had to do was jump in his car. Uh, no thanks…
• We had a great conversation with a Turkish father and his fifteen-year-old daughter. It was obvious he wanted her to practice English with us, and her skills were impeccable. Thanks to all of the TV that she watches (Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother, and the late, craptastic Two and a Half Men), she could have easily passed as an American teen. The look of pride on her father’s face when we complimented the daughter’s proficiency will stick with us. He smiled from ear to ear and kissed her on the cheek. We told him to keep letting her watch American TV.
• Throughout our days in Istanbul, we would hear the Muslim call to prayer at mosques. We were able to capture it on video at the Blue Mosque for your listening pleasure:

Rain started dropping down, so we ducked into a restaurant for a relatively cheap prix fixe dinner of kebabs, pita, and beer, all of which were a lot more delicious than we expected of the place.

The plan was to go to bed at like 10pm because we had an early morning ferry the next day. That didn’t happen. Bonnie kept talking…and talking…and talking. We sometimes have to remind her to use her inside voice.

Shoppin’ and Prayin’

We like hanging out with Bonnie in Istanbul for two reasons: 1) She is okay with walking a lot…and b) She is okay with sitting and resting a lot. Yesterday our main mission was to head to the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar. First, however, we saw the most evil cat in the world. It was quite hard to capture a picture of evil incarnate’s face, so this will have to do:

This Creeper Had Cataracts, a Paw Growing from His Chin, and a Few Dreadlocks.

Istanbul is indeed full of mangy cats. Bonnie the Cat Lover is obsessed with petting them; we keep our distance.

After this terrifying sight, we headed to the Grand Bazaar. As we have said many times before, we aren’t the biggest fans of markets. It’s all the same crap. The Grand Bazaar, however, was a different story. This is the largest marketplace we have ever been to (over 4,000 stalls), and we felt like it had a variety of different wares: lamps, pillowcases, rugs, jewelry, gold, clothes, and tea. We definitely did not see the whole thing. While the aisles were wide, they were chock full of bargain shoppers:

Note the Crowds in the Background.

Hanna Really Likes These Lamps. We May Actually Come Back with a Souvenir.

We wandered around until we couldn’t handle the crowds any longer. A quick lunch of kebabs soon followed. While on the subject, we have eaten kebabs for almost every meal here. (Well, kebabs and fake Nutella on bread which we have stolen from our hostel’s breakfast. We’re not above this, you see.)

Hanna Actually Does Eat Local Food.

The next destination was the Blue Mosque which is as impressive as it looks:

Mike Wants to Sell This as a Postcard.

Mike was able to walk right in, yet the two ladies had to wear headscarves. Bonnie had a scarf with her, but Hanna had to use one of the free ones:

Hanna Looks Like a Swedish Milkmaid. Bonnie Looks More Appropriate.

The interior is absolutely massive and ornately decorated:

Walls and Dome.

Main Area for Prayer.

Post-Visit.

Now that we are actually taking plenty of pictures again, you’re not getting all that much text. Sorry.

Food, Glorious Food

The last few days in Singapore have been all about food. We have not eaten this well since we left our families’ homes back in the States. Whatever weight we lost during the past three months is certainly being packed back on.

Yesterday Jim took us to Arab Street to grab some delicious hummus and chicken & beef kebabs. Hanna liked the area because it reminded her of Disney:

Cool Buildings.

Beautiful Mosque.

Today we all went to eat what the locals do: chicken rice. You take a big scoop of rice, wet it with chicken broth, and eat with chicken and vegetables. We went to a very popular local restaurant and gobbled up the food. We meant to take a picture, but our appetites got the best of us. Sorry, faithful readers.

Singapore is known for their food, and we have not been disappointed yet. The fact that we are getting home-cooked meals every night probably isn’t hurting things either. (We can’t express our gratitude to Jim and Sara enough…)

On an unrelated note: a very big congratulations goes out to our friends Sean and Ben who just got engaged. We are so happy for you and can’t wait for the wedding.

On another unrelated note: last night we got to watch this week’s episode of The Amazing Race. We’ve been watching this season on our netbook, so it was a nice change to watch it on a big-screen TV. For anyone who watched (uh, Ali and Ethel?), a lot of it took place in Hong Kong, and we were happy to see places that we went. We now have a better understanding of how much distance they cover in a single place…and we now know how much effort and time it takes to get a single clue.

Koh Tao Agenda

Wanna know what our day was like today? Yes? You do? Here we go.

1. Woke up around 9:30am and looked outside:

View from Our Porch.

2. Walked about 20 feet to get a nice breakfast of French toast and orange juice for Hanna and an omelet and coffee for Mike.

3. Hanna read and napped inside our little bungalow, while Mike swam in the ocean right outside:

Koh Tao Means "Turtle Island" Because of Its Shape and the Multitude of Turtles That Used to Live Here. This Guy Resides in the Water Near Us.

4. Wandered around to find a place to scuba dive but found this place instead:

No, She Didn't End Up Getting Painted.

5. Mike swam in the ocean and played on a rope swing, while Hanna read on the beach.

6. Split chicken and steak kebabs with grilled tomatoes, onions, and potatoes for lunch.

7. Booked an introductory scuba course for tomorrow.

8. Mike read, while Hanna napped.

9. Watched an episode of Survivor. (We are proud to say that we are all caught up with this season.)

10. Ate dinner: sweet ‘n’ sour pork for Mike and loads of toast for Hanna.

11. Went to bed early because we have to check-in to the scuba place tomorrow by 8:30am. (We’re switching bungalows for a night because you get a discount on rooms through the resort.)

We could get used to island life.