Cappadocia 卡帕多西亚

Posted on November 15, 2017 by The Traveller

The whispers in the morning
Woke me up
Of me sleeping light
I helplessly sigh
Even though I have time
I quickly walked up
Of seeing the hot air balloons
On the mountain side
Sound of my heart beat
Travelled thr morning light
Of me leading myself
Finding for a good site
The sun unwillingly woke up
And birds flying up high
Of hundreds balloons floating
What a beautiful sight

I was a cave man in Cappadocia because I stayed in a cave. Most of the hotels here are built in or near to caves. In fact, the whole city is surrounded by caves.

I shared the cave with a few people. There is no fan, no air-con and no window but the place is cooling.

I got out of the cave and started to explore the place for a few hours.

I took the Green Tour and visited the underground city and other places.

The guide took us to a restaurant (pay for your own drink and food). The tour ended up with a soak of our feet into the water.

Ankara 安卡拉

Posted on November 4, 2017 by The Traveller

I took the midnight bus from Cappadocia to Ankara. I though I could save the cost of the hotel stay and sleep in the bus. However, I just couldn’t get a good sleep in the bus. When I reached Ankara at 7am, the hotel was kind enough to let me check-in early. Till then I managed to sleep for a few hours.

Breakfast is included in the room rate. For dinner, I went to the nearby food store and had some Turkish food.

The hotel that I stayed is a bit off the city. When I asked the hotel staff for the nearby places of interest, he pointed me to Anitkabir which is about 20 minutes of walk from the hotel.

This is the colonnaded tomb for the former president, Kemal Ataturk, with a marble hall, turrets & museum.

There was a change of guard when I was there.

I took the bus and went to visit the ancient castle. The place is built on a rocky hilltop, offering panoramic views of the city in all directions.

I continued with my journey and saw many interesting buildings.

Istanbul 伊斯坦布尔

Posted on October 22, 2017 by The Traveller

There is a fire burning in my heart,
I have to cool it before I could start.
There is an excitement growing within me,
I have to stop it before I am not me.

First arrival in Istanbul got me so excited to see such a beautiful place. The Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Museum and Basilica Cistern are just within minutes of walk from the place I was staying. The Tram station is also nearby. Actually I walked most of the time instead of taking the tram.

Yes! I joined the free walking tour.

Met up with the local people.

There are armed soldiers and military vehicles around the tourists area.

This is the train station.

You could take a boat ride.

The place where I stayed provide breakfast with a nice view.

The local food

Pamukkale 棉花堡

Posted on October 17, 2017 by The Traveller

From Canakkale I took the bus to Pamukkale (S$38). This was a long and tiring 8 hours ride and the bus stopped in Denizli instead.

At the bus terminal, I approached a policeman to ask for direction and finally I landed up in a small and cosy hotel (S$31) with a mixture of Turkish and Western buffet breakfast

The next morning, I went to the bus terminal and took the mini bus (S$1.58) to Pamukkale.

When I got off the bus, someone from a nearby travel agency approached me asking whether I would like to join a day tour of Pamukkale for S$54. I told him I would consider about that.

After about 10 minutes of walk, another man approached me asking me to join his tour for S$36, which is one third cheaper that the earlier approach. His group had 2 Canadians, 2 Indians, one Korean and 2 Singaporeans. Without second thought, I joined in the tour.

Later I found out that the middle age Singaporean couple is a pilot and a teacher. I also saw 3 young Malay Singaporeans while waiting for the tour.

This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a natural site for hot springs. The place is rather small but it had some remarkable spots, such as the Roman Spa and Roman Theatre.

Pamukkale means Cotton Castle in Turkish

Canakkale 恰纳卡莱 / Troy 特洛伊

Posted on October 5, 2017 by The Traveller

From Istanbul I took a 46 seater air-con coach to Canakkale for S$27. This is an interesting 6 hours trip where we were served a few rounds of drinks and biscuits in the coach by an uniformed coach attendant pushing a small foldable trolley. It’s like the service in the plane. Very impressive!

Upon reaching the harbor, the coach just drove into a ferry. In fact there were 3 coaches and other vehicles in the ferry. It took about 30 minutes to cross the sea. I heard that they are going to build a bridge so that the coach could drive directly from Istanbul to Canakkale.

When I was on the coach, I caught up in a conversation with my seat partner. He gave me direction as where to alight from the coach and how to locate the hotel that I have booked from Agoda.

There is the Trojan Horse replica that was used in the movie “Troy”.

The next day, I took the mini bus (S$2.70) to the ancient city of Troy. The entrance fee into Troy was S$11.25. This is a must visit place in Turkey but there is physically nothing much to see except the wooden horse and stones. Spending an hour is more than enough. I will suggest that you watch the movie Troy and read something about the place so you will appreciate the visit more.

On the way back to the hotel, I went to the market and bought a watermelon. I shared the fruit with the three locals I met.

Turkey 土耳其

Posted on October 3, 2017 by The Traveller

太阳在天空呼唤, 欢迎到这里游玩.
我正在路边迷茫,谁愿成我的旅伴.
太阳可是在加班, 阳光照耀在路上.
从六至晚七时半, 向外来游客诉玩.
太阳你真是麻烦, 快召月亮来接档.
星星你也快出来, 有你路已足够亮.
我要向太阳告狀, 这几天你可好狂.
把我晒成了肉干, 这可没什么好玩.
我请水神来帮忙,下点雨给我清凉.
等候海风快到来, 为我指出一方向.
这几天我在路上, 从白天走到傍晚.
初到这神秘地方, 也不能说太冤枉.
然而这是土耳其, 拥有神奇的力量.
心中充满了希望, 感觉到人间天堂.
这次土耳其之行的经历也太丰富了!

Share with all on some of the pictures I have taken during my trip to Turkey. Turkey is a big country and you can spend more than a month travelling around but I only stayed there for 12 days. From Istanbul I took the coach to Canakkale, Pamukkale, Cappadocia, Ankara and back to Istanbul, with stops of a few days in each place. The weather was very hot when I was there in August. The days were long and I was almost “burnt to death”. This made me wrote something about the sun.

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