ephesus and the end of ramazzan

11/13/04

yesterday, as usual, we took another long bus ride. we’ve been taking long bus rides practically every other day now, and this one was about 6 hours from cannakale to selcuk. i havent mentioned this before, but in many places in turkey, they pour a few drops of this special lemony cleanser stuff into your hands. you then rub your hands together and they get disenfected and smell nice. they’ll do this on buses sometimes or in public restrooms. well, the bus guy was walking up the aisle to pour a few drops of the stuff into my hands, and somehow the little filter thing came off and he ended up dumping like a whole cupful of this lemony stuff all over my hands. doh!! my hands were completely drenched!!!

after the lemon incident, we got the rest of the way unharmed. the hostel that we’re staying at is pretty crazy. on one hand it’s hella cool: they have a chef to cook food, drinks for sale, tons of dvds to watch, guidebooks to use, and a travel agent on hand to help book trips… but they’re all crazy anal here. there’s tiny little signs all over the walls about not doing laundry in your room, or not taking your key w/ you when you go out, and not to take boardgames upstairs, etc etc etc!! they even gave us a tour when we got there and went over all these rules w/ us personally!

11/14/04

it’s halloween!! well, maybe not exactly halloween, but sorta! ramadan ended yesterday and everyone here is psyched!! after ramadan they have this 4 day holiday, and hella shops and restaurants are closed. we walked up to a standto buy a coke today, and the guy had a plate full of all sorts of different candies and cigarettes that he was just giving out to people for free! it turns out, that this is a common thing during this holiday, and kids actually go door to door and get candy from all the different people, just like halloween.. but they dont even have to dress up!


would you like some candy and lemon antiseptic?

the main reason why people come to selcuk is because of the ruins of ephesus nearby. we spent a few hours wandering amidst the ruins and it was really cool. the two biggest things were a *huge* theater with rows and rows and rows of seats, and the (rebuilt) remains of a library. it was unfortunate that the most interesting here was actually a rebuit reconstruction, but it still looked very impressive.

when we got back from the ruins we were starving, but on the way to dinner, we got intercepted by a carpet salesman. he invited us into his shop as a lot of the carpetsellers do. usually we say no, but i figured what the heck, may as well try it once and we made sure to let him know that we were not in the slightest bit interested in buying a carpet. the converstaion we had w/ this guy was actually really interesting and we learned a bunch of stuff. for instance, girls are often told by guidebooks to buy a fake wedsding ring to wear, or to tell people that their “husband” ias waiting in the hotel. well, apparently, the shop owners etc are not dumb. they’ve seen this trick a million times, and if you’re wearing a cheap cheezy ring, they’ll know instantly if you’re lying. these guys deal w/ customers day in and day out fopr years…. they know everyones little tricks. this guy also talked about what he thought about toursists of different nationalities, difficulties of dating in turkey, that people in this coun try were brainwashed into thinking that Ataturk was a great leader when according to this guy, he was a ruthless dictator, and lots of other stuff. this guy was a bit odd, but talking to him was really interesting.

after dinner, caryn and i had some beers and plahyed backgammon. i didnt really know how to play, and caryn hadnt played in years, so we both kinda sucked. i wont mention here who the winner was, but lets just say it wasnt caryn ;).

late at night, around midnight, we got hungry again, and went searching for food. we could find only one place open. the guy who owned the place had his wife cook up some really really good food for us and talke dto us for a bit. he was sooo proud of his wife’s cooking and also of his restaurant. i guess bill clinton or maybe the secret service that was w/ bill clinton ate there several times and his business cards had a photo of bill and bhis family at ephesus. he also had like 10 humongouis guestbooks full of people’s thoughts on his restaurant. i guess he’s owned the place for 17 years…

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DING DING DING!!!!

TODAY I’VE BEEN ON THE ROAD FOR 2 MONTHS!!!!

it’s crazy that i’ve been out here for this long! i feel like i’ve seen and done so much already… i’ve been to 7 countries and have seen more stuff in these last 60 days than i would normally get to see in years. i’ve been able to live out of a backpack, be constantly on the go, and change languages on the fly. i’ve ridden buses, metros, cable cars, trams, ferries, taxis, planes, and even camels. i’ve gotten from eating fish and chips to snails to tapas to shish kabobs. i’ve battled off carpet sellers, camped in the desert, seen ruins, gone clubbing, and even took a turkish bath.

it’s been a wild crazy ride, and i still have 10 more months of it to go!! and, from now on, the countries will only get crazier… we’ll go to the middle east, deep into africa, and all around asia. i can’t wait!

i hope you guys have been enjoying reading abouit all of it. i totally appreciate all the comments etc that i’ve gotten from all of you. anyways, i’d love to know exactly who all is reading my journal, so if you’ve been reading, or if you’re kust reading now… leave a comment in this post to let me know who you are. i’d love to hear from ya… and that means you too elena!!!

oh yeah, one more thing… i’d like to appologize for the spelling etc in this journal. honestly, i am really not terrible at spelling, and i know how to use punctuation. it’s just that i’m usually in such a hurry, and tired, and using weird keyboards etc!!

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galipoli

we saw the battlefields of galipoli today. yesterday was spent on a bus traveling. the buses here are actually pretty sweet. they give you muffins to eat and water and sodas to drink every hour or so. thats more than we got on our last few flights!! we arrived in the city of channakale on the west coast of turkey last night and had another delicious turkish dinner… the food here is so good!!

the battlefields of galipoli ais where there were crazy battles during WWI between the turks and the british and anzac (australian new zealand army corp) forces. the allied forces invaded turkey and there was this crazy standoff for months, but eventuall turkey was able to drive the allies off. the trench fighting was insane, and i guess the trenches were sometimes only like 25 feet apart!! you were soo close to your enemy, for days an days on end!! we walked around the area and got to see a bunch of the actual trenches and barbed wire and stuff. there were also cemetaries. tons and tons fo cemetaries. it was insane to think just how many people died here… and this was just one battlefield out of tons during WWI. it was all so eerie to think about… and also to think about how so many of the soldiers were only 18 years old (as they are today). kids practically!! little kids living in trenches for days on end with bombs flying everywhich way and bullets whizzing by constantly. if you poke your head out of the trench…. it’s over!

there was one particularly interesting story we read up there. at one point ther was a cease fire. all the troops in the trenches were treating their wounded. all of a sudden the british general saw one of his men laying on the ground in the middle of the battlefield, badly injured. but there was nothing to do! if he crawled out to help, he would be shot instantly. no one could leave the trench. then all of a sudden he saw someone in the turkish trench raise a white pair of underpants up high in the air. everyone was dead still and quiet. at this point a turk crwaled out of his trench, walked through the field, picked up the injured british and carried him to the british trench, dropped him off, and ran back. everyone was in shock!! this guy risked his life to save an injured enemy. anyways, i thought that was really cool.

we walked around these battlefields w/out any water unfortunately and soon were extremely tired and thirsty. the hike back down was another 3 km!! doh! we started walking back when all of a sudden this Turk in a tractor pull sup and offers us a ride! there wasnt anywhere really to sit in the tractor (one seat) so we just sat on thes panels by the driver and held on to dear life!! it was a crazy bumpy ride and so rough, but it was really cool anyways!! after he dropped us off, another random minivan pulled up and gave us a ride the rest of the way. sheez… turks are sooo nice!!

for dinner we took a break form turkish food and had steak and macaroni and cheese. both were way different than what we expected, but still very good.

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third time is a charm!

so today we went back to the syrian embassy for the 3rd day in a row. this time, finally, we were able to fill out a visa form. when we had come to turkey, our visas had cost us 20 bux each. we didnt know how much the syrian visas would cost, but just to be on the safe side, we brought 60 bux each. well, it turns out that the syrian visas are crazy expensive (for americans. they are cheaper for other countries)!! the visas cost $105 each!!! so, we forked over the money and were told to come back later.

the syrian visa application is pretty crazy. it asks all sorts of questions like what is your religion and what are the names of your mother and father. one of the questions on the applications was whether or not we had been in “occupied palestine”. it’s pretty crazy that syria (and most of the other middle east countries) wont even let you in the country if you’ve been to israel. if you have an israeli stamp in your passport, you’re automatically jacked. most of these countries dont recognize israel as a country at all, and the syrian visa form wouldnt even mention isreal by name. it seems so wrong and backwards to me that a country would impose rules like that… but then i guess our own country has made it illegal for its citizens to travel to cuba, so we have some hatin’ it laws of our own. oh, and another interesting thing i learned about syria: it didnt allow the interent until the year 2000, and even to this day, certain sites are blocked by the government and are illegal including yahoo and hotmail!

anyways, 3 hours after we dropped agfter our applications, we came back and *finally* had our visas!! it only took about 1 million days, but we finally got them. oh, and the other thing that we got today was ISIC cards (international student identification cards). sure we’re not really students, but we were at one point right?? that’s good enough!! these cards can get you discounts in tons of different places, and i hear that in syria especially, the savings can be huge!

so now it’s our last day here in istanbul. although i’m excited to be seeing something new tomorrow, i really did have a good time here. this city is really cool. as i said, it’s super modern, but witha slight middle eastern twist and tham makes it really interesting. the people here are really friendly and really funny as well. we’ve had so m any random conversations on the street w/ turks who are standing in front of their stores. yeah, sure, they try to get you to come and sample their wares, but there’s no high pressure like there was in morocco. they have no problem taking no for an answer. they say random funny stuff like “hello, i am here, let me help you spend your money!” or “you must come in.. you break my heart!!” or “please, maybe you come back tomorrow, you will see us by my beating heart!” etc etc. so many rando lines, and they are alsways smiling and laughing along w/ you. unlike in morocco, where people dont really give you the time of day if you dont buy from them, here everyone wants to shake your hand, help you with directions, give you advice, etc etc even if you dont go into their shop.

we’ve definitely met and interacted w/ some interesting characters. from the waiter at a restaurant “hello, i am here! i am charisma!!” to the people who work at our hostel. for example: for dinner tonight we went to the grocery store and bought pasta, tomato paste, etc. we thought it’d be interesting to eat in for a change. well, the gvy that works in the hostel saw how much paste we were using, and exclaimed that there is no way we could use that much and that we only needed to use like one tenth of it. at this point, he grabs the pot from us, and cooks the sauce, mixing in oil, pepper etc, drains our spaghetti, and does absolutely everything for us! he doesnt take no for an answer, and pretty much wouldnt let us do any of it ourselves. so nice!!

even though we didnt do anything really substantial over the last couple of days, it’s still been really cool. wandering around the ramazzan festival at night, eating at our favorite restaurant over and over again, checking out the Taksim area, and just hanging out. today, while we were waiting for our visa applications, we wandered around taksim (the main shopping district), and i started really wanting to buy some new clothes. here in turkey, everyone dresses all stylish, and the whole place is filled to the brim w/ all sorts of clothing shops: Diesel, Puma, Adidas, armani… you name it, they’ve got it. all i have is the same damn clothes that i’ve been wearing over and over for the last 2 months, and i really wanted something new. i bought some pants, but even that doesnt seem to be enough… i wanna buy hellza stuff. another thing i really wanna buy is new music. i have an mp3 player, but no real way of getting new music onto it. i cant buy cds, since i have nothing to play them on! oh, and i want to buy a cell phone since i miss having one… and i wanna buy…. heh, the list goes on and on.

after the visa place, we went to this outdoor cafe on Divan Yolu (the main stret in the old town) and got some coffee and smoked a nargileh, with honey tobacco this time. this particular shop was really cool. really chill outdoor place, with mellow music, lots of couches and chairs, and it was just really nice. also, lots of other people were smoking nargileh as well, so we didnt feel that weird. we also had some apple tea and turkish coffee. turkish coffee is sooo good! they mix the very fine grounds right into it, so it tastes extra good. of course, that means you cant drink the last few sips or you’ll get a mouth full of grounds!

following the coffeeshop, we came back to the hotel and had the pasta dinner that i mentioned earlier, and that’s pretty much it for istanbul….

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we’re never leaving turkey

we woke up early today to once again try to deal w/ the syrian visa issue. ugh! we called the Us embassy and were told that we could get the letter of recommendation from them if we came by. we were worried we wouldnt have enough time, so instead of taking a bus, we got a cab. well, it turns out that the american embassy is HELLA far. we drove forever and ever. and then we still kept driving for days. and there was hella traffic. finally we got there, grabbed the letters, and cabbed it back. halfway to the syrian embassy, i all of a sudden realized that in my tired haze that morning, i forgot my money belt (w/ passport) in the hotel. DAMN!!! so now instead of going straight to the embassy, we had to stop by the hotel. we were really pressed for time, and caryn was sure that there was no way we’d make it to the embassy by 11:30 when it closed… but i decided to try anyways.

we got to the hotel, and to save time, caryn hit the atm, while i ran to our room to get my passport. but caryn had the room key!! so i had to find the maid, and have her cal the front desk, and then let me in the room. i finally got my passport, and sprinted to go meet caryn (after running up and down 5 flights of stairs). we hopped in another cab, and slowly (damn traffic) made our way to the syrian embassy. it was gonna be really close. finally we got there and ran up the stairs arriving out of breath at the door at 11:35. turns out we had remembered the time wrong. it closes at 11am. crap! all of that for nothing. and we had ended up spending almost 40 bucks in cab fare!!! ouch!! we were so annoyed. so, it turns out that the syrian embassy is open only from 9:30 to 11am. 1.5 hours a day!!!! what kind of work week is that?!?!?!?!? arrrgghhh!!! so it looks like we’re still stuck here. hopefully tomorrow we’ll finally apply for the visa.

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even more stuck

we made our way across town today to go to the syrian visa. bad news. turns out that first of all, if you want to get a visa from there, you have to get there before 11:30 which we didnt. secondly, they said that we have to get a letter of reccomendation from the US embassy in order to get a visa. from what i’ve read on lonely planet, it’s near impossible to get this letter. crap. we tried to locate and call the Us embassy, but unfortunately, both phone numbers that we had for it were no good. we got a cab to go there, but upon arriving it turned out that the Us embassy *used to* be there, but now was located across town. arrrgghh!! anyways, now we have to wait till tomorrow to try and get this letter and hopefully get to the syrian embassy by 11:30. if we succeed, we’ll be able to leave istanbul the following day. we’ll have ended up staying here for 7 days instead of the 3 we initially planned. on the other hand, if we cant get this visa, there is no way for us to get to jordan from here (syria is in the way) and we’ll probably have to end up buying plane tix which are bank. *sigh*.

didnt do too much else today. we ate again at our favorite restaurant. heh, this is the third time we’ve gone there in the last few days, but we just cant resist it!!

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stuck!

we were planning on leaving istanbul this morning and venturing southwards to the nect town in turkey, but instead we’re stuck here (heh, not a bad place to be stuck though!!). 11 days from now, when we leave turkey, we’re plannig on going to syria next. the problem is that you cant just get a visa for syria at the border like most countries… instead you have to apply for a visa at a syrian embassy (or by mail). well, the only syrian embassy in turkey is here in istanbul, so we have to try and get this visa before we leave the city. of course, we didnt realize this till yesterday, and it’s the weekend, so we cant do anything till monday, and even then it will probably take at least a day to get the visa. so until then, we’re just gonna chill here.

we were feeling extremely lazy today, so we really didnt do much. we just went down to Taksim, which is this super popular and crowded shopping district full of stores, restaurants, bars etc. for some reason, i’ve become all interested in history over the last couple of weeks. considering just how much the middle east is in the news lately, and the fact that we’re going there soon, it’s pretty sucky that i actually really dont know too much about it. i really want to read about it’s history and find out how it came to be as it is. not only that, but considering that i’m jewish, i really know virtually nothing about israel and it’s conflict w/ palestine other than the absolute basics. if i’m gonna understand these countries that i’m traveling to, i need to get a little more info than i get from just seeing some sights and sampling the local cuisines. so, my main goal in Taksim today was to find some books. in the end, i bought Middle East, a brief history of the last 2000 years by Bernard Lewis and From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. let’s hope they’re good!!

so, other than just shopping around, we really didnt do much else, so i guess that’s it!

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