5 days in TURKEY

*******UPDATE********
-It's photo-time!!


The Blue Mosque... on a Bosphurus Cruise.... City of Istanbul... Alice, myself & David


the Aqueduct... Alice & the Grand Bazaar... checking out a carpet shop...


inside Hagia Sophia... am obelisk in Hippodrome


The remains of the City of Troy... in the first pic, all that land shown beyond the fence was once covered by sea.... the trojan horse, not the original!


at Anzac Cove... Chunkun Bair (where the NZ service was held)... David in one of the trenches



...at Lone Pine where the Australian service was held... camping in the freezing cold....

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I'm baaaaaack!!!!

I came back from Turkey late last night and what can I say about the place.... it was just OK. Not so bad... not so great (the tour company we went through were mainly to be blamed). I went on a Superior 5day tour around Turkey with two friends who got me intrigued in going to check out a whole new world and in particular to celebrate Anzac Day in Gallipoli. From the moment we arrived at the Airport and saw our tour guides, all went down hill. There was no greeting of "HELLO, WELCOME TO TURKEY!!!" or the likes but a hand gesture from one guide pointing us to make our way to the right to meet some other tour guides. No smile, no nothing. Funny enough, our names weren't even on the list and they didnt know which hotel we were meant to go to!!! After waiting and waiting whilst they called the company and waiting for more Aussies to arrive, we finally got to our Hotel only to have to wait several more hours for more people to arrive. The whole journey was definitely about testing our patience with all the waiting we had to do. Waiting for our guide.... our bus... the next service.... the next site visit.... our hotel.... ahhhh!!! We spent more time travelling around (even by foot!) than getting to see the landmarks of Turkey. Oh how the tour company needs to step up on their whole tour organisation process- all was just disappointing.

ANYHOW, the site visits were beautiful, I must say. We visited the Blue Mosque, the amazing Hagia Sophia Mosque that was once a church, Hippodrome and in particular Troy where you see the Trojan Horse. We checked out a carpet shop (it's amazing how many people on the street try to sell you carpets!!!) and we camped overnight at Anzac Cove, where the Australians and NZ troops landed. It was freezing cold that night and everyone was cuddled up in their sleeping bag on the grassy site. It was unbelievably cold!!! I felt so sorry for those who came late and had to sit and sleep up in the spectator seats because there were no rooms below on the grass where we all were lying down. There were so many Aussies, it felt like I was back home!! Well, sort of anywayz. Can you believe that my two friends and I were practically the ONLY asians on the whole tour??? There were probably one or two more people from other tours but that was it! We stood out like a sore thumb. The Turkish people would often come up to us and say "Konichiwa"- hmph! At one stage I even got photographed by a local girl whilst putting on my shoes to go to the toilet at Anzac Cove! And then one guy would ask to take a photo with me! Strange ay?!! We attended the Dawn Service early next morning and slowly made our way to Lone Pine for the Australian Service before going to Chunuk Bair to have a glance at the NZ service. Oh what a long and tiring night and day it all was!!

Turkey is not as cheap as what people have told me and it's practially dollar to dollar with the Australian currency. We went to a club one night and can you believe my so-called "vodka & orange" drink was charged at 18Lira?!!! Which is more or less equivalent to $18AUD!! Sheesh!!!! They ripped us off coz initially we asked them how much and the dude wrote down 10.00TYL and we were happy with that price and went along ordering about 2 drinks each. Sheesh!!! What a mistake ay?! -Thats Turkey for ya, they just love to rip you off. A dude on the street once tried to sell me an Istanbul book for 27Lira and slowly his price dropped all the way down to 7Lira!!! I didn't buy it though. All is such a shocker for me. Turkish people aren't happy people also (well, to all those I met on this trip that is). They don't smile. Or maybe they just don't like to smile. No one seems nice at all and I really think they need some Customer Service skills taught to them. The only thing I liked about Turkey were the amazing historical sites. Wow! I took sooooooooo many pictures but will have to upload it another time.

I didn't have any expectations of Turkey and the tour (mainly because I didn't have much time to think about the whole thing) and I'm glad I didn't! I know for sure now that I am NOT a tour-kind of girl and would rather hop on a "Bus About" and travel from one place to another at my own pace than go in a tour group and feel the need to have to talk to people only because everyone else around me is talking. Hmmm... yes sadly enough, I'm definitely not a tour kind-of-girl. At least I gave it a go right?! It's all great and all, but it's just not me. I like to get to know people also, but I like to do it all at my own pace.... and with fewer people at a time ;) I'm sure my girlfriends back home know that already!!! -especially you Oanhsta!

Gosh girls, you sure know how to get a girl all teary here!! I was reading through your emails today and I'm missing you guys heaps!! Looking at the photos from Lan's websites, I could only wish that I was there to enjoy Huey and Bunnary's special moment together with the whole lot of you. AHHHH! These days I've been really wanting to have some D&Ms with you guys but thats just impossible. It's not the same but luckily I have people here who I can talk to =)

My plans for the next few weeks....
- Amsterdam for a week from Sunday 30th
- Then find work!!! I have plans to give a whole new career a go. I don't know how it will all turn out but I'm giving the job as a Carer a go. Hopefully a live-in carer where I get to live with the people who I work for. I want to look after the elderly or the young with disability and I've spoken to several people on the trip in Turkey and they told me experience is not really essential. Even some ads I've seen states EXPERIENCE NOT ESSENTIAL. TRAINING WILL BE PROVIDED. So all that gives me hope to try something I've been wanting to try for some time now. This journey i'm on is definitely an exciting one I just don't know the outcome!
- Work for several months and then I have plans to travel to Switzerland, France, Italy, Egypt and the Greek Islands. Working in London definitely gives you a better opportunity to check out Europe and make the most out of everything! I can't wait to work!

Scary thing is, people have been telling me I will definitely stay longer than I've intended, ahhhh!!! Mum's gonna kill me if that is so!!

:O