Muslim Turk vendors sell Christian memorabilia. When asked. Answer : "Religion on side. Business one side. No mix. " Many have to learn from them. Mrs Chua, as usual, was busy browsing. This is the "Third eye,"
"Bin (That's what she calls me) please don't ogle until like that..."
She is the Malaysian delegate at the belly dancing show.
One of the many cafes at Taksin Road, in the middle of the city, across our hotel.
On a hot air balloon with Esther drifting over Cappadocia with bewitching landscape of spectacularly eroded tuff or hardened volcanic ash. Some are called "Fairy chimneys."
The astounding scenery from the hot air balloon. You can see the sun rises in stages over the sharp cliff. Awesome! ( So was the ticket. But who cares? Life has to be lived to the hilt!)
This is the famous Blue Mosque which takes its name from the blue Iznik tilework decorating its interior. Serene and almost magical at night when flood lit. Its minarets circled by keening seagulls. I experienced the grandeur and omniscience of God, Allah, Jehowah .... Why quarrel over His might name ? or Who owns this or that name?
Lunch at one of the restaurant hewed into the volcanic rock. The tables and seats are also all hewed out of volcanic rock. We had grilled doves which seemed to be top on the menu.
This is the great library at Ephesus. Only the facade but no books.
Have you read Homer's Illiad- Trojan horse ? Its reconstruction at Hisarlik.
The Romans were impossible ! They loved to do things together : gluttony, bathing, body massaging, sex orgy and you won't believe that they also loved to defecate together. This is a Roman public toilet. Public in every sense of the word. They did it together while watching the world went by. Btw, yours sincerely took a peep down the toilet hole and saw that a stream that flowed through thousand of years ago to flush away their deposit is still flowing to this day. So, the Mrs and I took the chance to try one. Cool !
Pamukkale has spectacular white travertine terraces. The terraces formed when water from the hot springs loses carbon dioxide as it flows down the slopes, leaving deposits of limestone. The layers of whiteclacium carbonate, built up in steps on the pleateau, have earned the name Pamukkale or "cotton castle."
(Yours sincerely saw this at Kunming, China but it is now that massive as this one. Mother Earth is a great artist.)
Goreme open-air museum with concentration of rock-cut chapels and monasteries. We visited a church totally hewed out of volcanic rock with frescoes on the ceilings and walls. Awesome !
General observation :
The city of Istanbul or Constantinople is massive. It is divided into two and joined by a bridge. The western part of the city is in Europe and the people are very modern like their European counterparts. Due to flight delay, we touched down at 1 am and was driven through the city to our hotel. The city was wide awake and bustling with people!
If you are visiting just bring along some salad dressings. Their salad is a staple dish and is eaten sprinkled with bland olive oil.
Thanks for visiting. Go see the world. You will never fall off the edge of the world. Christopher Columbus can vouch for that. The sun also rises on the other side of the globe.
Carpe diem.
4 comments:
hi there Mr Chua, jus to let u know, i've linked u up in my blog.. keep writing... Turkey looks wonderful
=)
pa, ur blog frozen already?? *hehe*
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
quite interesting article. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did you learn that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
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