Turkey 11 : From Asia to Europe..

Ever wondered where did Asia ends and Europe begins??

Where is that damn racist line that divides slit-eyes from large eyes with long lashes....flat nose from sharp nose...hairless chest from sexy hairy chest? Thank god for the not hairy chest though.

Well, the answer is this...


A river running through Turkey....one lone river that cleverly divides the East from West...Asia from Europe....


Not too clear but the yellow sign says "Welcome to Europe".

To get to the next destination, the Blue Mosque, we had to travel from continent to continent!!




You might think that, this is just one river and that there must be little or no difference at all on both banks....WRONG!! Crossing this river marks a significant cross from Asia to Europe. The buildings on the European side have taller, and significantly more buildings, of European Architecture of course...


Asia side have shorter, lesser buildings...less organized and built sporadically....


Old couple dating out under the sun....how sweet...but you don't see this on the Asia side....

The difference don't just lie with the buildings...even the people dress differently, drive different cars, acts differently! And to think that both side is separated by only one river...like crossing from Penang and Seberang Perai. Amazing and intriguely interesting.....


All this...European side. Asia side mostly have kebab shops..

How, why the government do this is a mystery I'd like to keep and never find out. But once again...the stark difference is so...amazing!! As if the one river acting like an impregnable invisible wall fortified by the stubbornness of communities wanting to retain old values and of communities wanting change and globalization.

The buildings, cars, lifestyle, clothes, culture, social norms....I almost expected the roads to changed from driver's side right, and driver's side left somewhere in the middle of the bridge.

This really is a cross from Asia to Europe.

Turkey 10: Turkish Carpet

"Turkish Carpets....the most famous in the world. Plenty of people from all over the world comes to Turkey just to buy these carpets! And they are hand woven, which makes them more special!!" *smiles :)*

says the Fat Basturk. Once again....him and his bragging. Why does he feel so proud at other people's achievement?? Sigh...and more than once I saw the owner giving him stares as he blares on and on about carpets....weren't the owner supposed to be giving the talks instead??

Anyway, the next visit was a carpet factory . Now you might think that a visit to the carpet factory may be boring and a waste of time....well, it is....but not a complete waste of time. After a short while...I mean, after Fat Basturk ran out of things to bullshit about, the owner took over the talking and FINALLY...something worth listening to.


The talk were quite informative and interesting, minus all the horribly misplaced sense of self satisfaction "someone" was doing earlier. Turkish carpets were and still are famous because they discarded most of modern technology and concentrate on the human skills when it comes to carpet making. And also because they weave in two knots instead of one knot, like carpets all over the world.
Two knot weave carpets are considerably stronger....and according to the guy, world's most powerful vacuum will not be able suck out any of the threads.

You may think "Wow....", but to me, it's really just another useless fact etched onto my brains forever.


All weaves are laboriously done by hands....one time consuming weaves at a time. That means that time consumed to finish a carpet increase in proportion to design and size. small ones like this takes a bout a month or two to complete.


This one takes 8 months to finish....and even big ones such as this is done by one person. Teamwork is actually a killer here. After a work such as this completes, the weaver's hands would be swollen, and since petite, small hands are favored to do this kind of work, she will be forced to take a break...



This guy is the specialist...he came out with a book, "10 ways you can boil your cute little silk worms"....a best seller in Turkey. With a sadistic smile on his face, he demonstrates how he can get the strands of silk from the cocoon....seems to me that he feels great pleasure and satisfaction for every possible moth that he kills.

"Eats a hole out of your jacket...this little buggers" says the man...


Later, we were guided to a hall with a number of carpets hung on the wall...

We were actually seated on the other side of the hall...was going to take a group photo when one of them said "The carpet on that side looks better!!" ....

silence pass....

They gave each other a knowing look...then suddenly, all of the started running across the hall!! The hall was actually thundering with the sound of their foot steps as they rushed across the hall...ignorant to everyone else who were looking.

And it was HI-LA-RIOUS!! Practically laughed my ass off when I saw them took flight and create a mini earthquake...laughed harder when I saw the surprise look on few of the Japanese as they stare in disbelieve...hahahahha...they were like　 (・_・;)

Priceless...


After the commotion and "after shocks" subsided, the owner and some of his workers start laying out carpets of various size and colors before our feet.


This was supposedly a rare piece...made with wool off white and black sheep. Apparently, black sheeps are rare...which made me think, "Black sheep of the family" actually meant that you are the special and treasured one in the family...not the weird one.

The reason all those carpets were laid out before us was because...well, marketing time. He didn't spend all his time talking to us about carpets for nothing!! And my....my...he is quite a talker...


I bought a carpet for myself. Cost me 10000 yen or Rm300 for this piece. Some of them said.....okay, Lim Chin Wooi(2nd guy from left from the group photo above) said that it was too expensive and not worth it....well, it may be so, but it reminds me of all the good times I had in Turkey, so I don't regret buying it at all!!

However, my housemate said that it resembles a prayer rug....yeah, why didn't it occur to me when I got it!! Still...I don't regret it..

Okay, having wasted both time and money here...time to move on and head to our hotel for the night. But before we leave...


Can't resist taking more pictures ...heh heh

Ehem....I didn't realize it at that time but looking at this picture again, it suspiciously looked like the leg was suspiciously positioned at a even more...
*cough*
suspicious
*cough*
place.

Turkey 9 : Turqouise

Ever heard of turquoise?? Of course you have... We've all had the argument of "What color is that?" You say blue, the other guy says green...you two going at each other till a girl comes over and point out that it's turquoise, ending the fight and embarrassing you at the same time...we all had that, remember?

This time, we were brought to a Jewelery shop specialize in turquoise stones....

The manager was a well spoken man who speaks fluent Japanese...which is just boring. Came halfway around the world to Turkey, only to here some Turk speaking Japanese to me. Doesn't he understand that we ARE on vacation? We need to rest our ears and hear other language, dude!! Speak Turk, man!

Sigh...okay, I'll be "generous" and give him credits for being able to give a good, long, boring "lecture" about turquoise in Japanese....how are they mined, what kinds are there...blah blah....wtf?? Came halfway around the world to Turkey, only to hear some Turk giving lessons in Geology?? Doesn't he know that we ARE on vacation? We need to rest our brains and not doze off during another boring lecture.

So...desperate to escape the boredom, I decided to entertain myself by asking Fat Basturk where did the name "turquoise" come from.....he smiled one big smile and says,

"Well, young man, the name turquoise came to be as Turkey was famous for it's precious stone. You just can't find this rocks anywhere else! Most of the world's supply of turquoise comes from Turkey. These stones are special, unlike gold and silver which is so common....turquoise however, can only be found in Turkey. And that's why it's called turquoise....it's specially from Turkey!! *smiles*"

Being a self respecting student, I can't help but raise an eyebrow and critically doubt his "wisdom". Oh...my fingers just can't wait to log on the internet and find out the "truth"....

True enough, Fat Basturk was once again full of bullshit...

The word turquoise was derived around 16th century from French from the word for Turkish (Turquois). Turquoise does not occur in Turkey but was traded at Turkish bazaars to Venetian merchants who brought it to Europe. Interestingly, the modern main source of turquoise is the US...hah! Can only be found in Turkey my ass....

Anyway, have to say that the Jewelery on display were quite beautiful and exotic. Unfortunately, photos are prohibited...so, no pictures here.

But I have to say that the "jewel" of the shop wasn't a bluish green stone, it is instead a tall, slender waist, voluptuous, long legged, sharp nose lady with a bewitching beauty. Certainly the best sight I've seen whole day!! Pictures with her, however, was not prohibited...


Totally charming...

It all started with me(I think it was me) striking up a conversation with her....

Me: So umm.....do does the price differ according to purity of these stones??
Girl : No..not really.
Me: Wow...you speak good English!
*Flirt mode ON*
Me: And you look young too...you are still a student, right?
Girl: *laughs* Yes...I'm a student and I'm just doing part time here...
Me: A student huh? Wow...let me guess, you are 23?
Girl: Yes...how did you know?
Me: Because I am 23 too...haha. Anyway, what do you study?
Girl: Electrical Engineering....and my BOYFRIEND is an Engineer in England.
*Flirt mode...off*
Me: Oh yeah? Well, I have a girlfriend in Japan too...

Normal harmless conversation follows afterward...kinda awkward but I did my best to come up with a topic to talk about. Anyway, unlike most pretty girls who tend to be proud(girls, don't take offense...I'm just generalizing), she was very friendly and very nice.
And it's a surprise how she manage to be at the right place at the right time for us to take picture with! You see, we were allowed to wander around after the boring Geology lesson...and she just happen to show up wherever we were!! So, sensing her generosity, we took turns taking personal pictures with her...

This picture with her ended being our most precious picture of the Turkey Trip...

Turkey 8 : Cavemen Architects..

And the journey continues....and unlike Malaysia where you get to look at boring palm trees along the highway, we got to look at endless dirt in Turkey. Even the Fat Basturk got tired of talking...we had to travel along roads like this for....hours...

But luckily...


Luckily we have fellow Lim Ming Rong who tirelessly "entertained" us with his stories. To think of his stories....the amount is just staggering....so much that at one point, my ear actually hurt. But entertaining nonetheless...


And I meant the word "tirelessly" as he is still talking when I took this picture. Wow....I bet his tongue can lift a 10kg dumbbell..hahaha. Sorry dude, no offense.

Anyway, the view that night was very very special...the population there on the outskirts are spread about. So, the lights you see at night are not clustered, like cities and small towns.
Looking up at the skies where the stars are shining proudly, and then looking again at the lights from houses as if they are reflecting the skies....just breathtaking....


Our journey continues through a small town, hard to imagine how people live out here...there's shortage of water, electricity don't look like it can support air conditioning in every home, no internet, no mall....how do they...no, why do people live out here??


Our next stop is.....Well built caves!! While cavemen elsewhere live in a hole cut into rocks, Cavemen in Turkey are well to do architects....they have higher standards. Look at their "caves". Who ever heard of caves with door and windows??


These are what I call Bungalow caves...it's got a nice view over a valley...ancient Cavemen movie stars and Cave Rock stars used to live here.


This is NOT a camel...it is a Ferrari of the Stone Age....

Anyway, see how big it is?? This Ferrari can spit out a stream of smelly goo as well!! Moments before we took this picture, a group of unfortunate Japanese got caught in the Ferrari's sneeze..




After a lot of picture taking....or should I say after taking a lot of picture involving Li Jia, we later got invited to a Cave House. The caves in Malaysia had paintings on the wall right?? Well, Turkey's caves have wallpaper!!

Anyway, once again the Fat Basturk starts talking about how great the People who lived here. How they manage to dig a big square hole out of hard rock...and how they ate "Olive" in there...bla...bla...bla...jeez....what's with this guy and Olive..
We got trap here listening to Fat Basturk's ranting...why is he keeping us here when there's much better view outside?? Ok, this is a nice place to visit as well but why for an hour?? We are here to see Turkey, not listen to him talk!!

And we had to listen to him talk on the way here!!!

Anyway, our ordeal ended and once again I was allowed the luxury to take photos of the picturesque view outside..





Being in modern civilization all the time.....it kinda awes me to know that such beauty like this exist. Incomplete....yet so beautiful...untouched by time and modernization....

or

You could say it's just a big piece of rock with holes in it and us tourist got tricked into thinking that this is some kind of beautiful .....thing....

Hmm....

Turkey 7 : Who is Mevlana??

We spent the night at a hotel at the base of the mountain. It was a very lovely hotel with a very lovely hot spring pool...

So, 3 guys; me, Boon and Chin Wooi decide to take a dip at the very lovely hot spring....and as soon as we opened the door, we were greeted by a equally lovely girl in the spring. Chin Wooi reacted like how all guys should react ...

"WAH...Leng Lui ah!!!

And then we proceeded into the shot spring where we "discussed" further about how good she looked and how good her body looked...you know, guy's topic of conversation...FYI, we were talking in Chinese so that she won't understand what was said..

Now, we were VERY VERY sure she couldn't understand what was being said....we met her again the next day at another hotel during dinner time. Lining up behind Boon, she suddenly asked "Where are you guys from?" in Mandarin.....IN MANDARIN!!! Damn, she understood everything that was said at the hot spring!! Can you imagine how embarrassed we was?

"WAH...Leng Lui ah!!!

Hahaha......never fail to bring a smile to my face every time I reminisce this scene.

Anyway, our next stop was Mevlana's Tomb.



Had no clue who this dude was or what he did, but he seemed to be some kind of prominent figure among the Muslim community. At first impression, he seemed like a nice, humble fellow. I mean, judging the plain, gray wall on the outside....plain floral designs carved into wood. And I liked this dead fellow right until the moment I stepped into his tomb.


In contrast with the surrounding plain area, the area around his tomb was lavishly decorated...mostly floral and star designs, the walls was decorated all the way up till the ceilings! Oh, what a S.O.B!! Ehem...S.O.B here translates snobbish old brat...but you knew what I was saying, right? I could have swore that a few parts were decorated with gold leaves...


Anyway, there was a lot more in Mevlana's Tomb but since pictures was not allowed inside(the pic above was taken from Wikipedia)....can't really show you what I saw but I will try my very best to be descriptive.

The "eye"

A holy book....not sure if it was the Koran or not but it's some kind of holy book....had a picture of an "eye" in one of the pages. The pupil was decorated with star patterns, the "white area" of the eye was decorated with floral patterns and the eyelids was decorated with leaves.

My interpretation of this was how Mevlana saw the world....mother nature and the universe. That we must treasure the nature as it is a big part of life. Astrology played a big part in ancient times as means of directions(until someone discovered GPS was more convenient).

Curious with what it actually meant, I approached the Fat Basturk to obtain more information on it. He earlier pointed at the book and mentioned that

"This is a very important book for us Muslims. All self-respecting Muslims know about this. "

Guess what he said when I asked him?

"It doesn't mean anything."

What the hell?!! Then why would they purposely showcase that particular page? It must have some significance...most of the decoration in the tomb are of stars and plants...as is the eye....and you're telling me it don't mean squat??!!! Bullshit!!
FYI, Turkey's main souvenir is a piece of colored glass shaped like an eye....that Fat Basturk!!

The pope's hat

Also on display, a big hat that curiously had the same shape as the Pope's hat. And I don't just mean slight resemblance, the hat had the exact same shape!! Although the color is a dull green with more stars and plants pattern, why the same hat? Either the Pope or this dude Mevlana is guilty of plagiarism!!

The violent holy books...

A few books which Fat Basturk disturbingly labeled as "the holy Koran". Funny that he tried to avoid my lifted eyebrow when he said so. Pitied him a little so I decided to allow him a little breathing room...
Anyway, there were three books in total on display...

1st book : A picture of a Sultan or someone with high social status on a death bed

2nd book : Picture of a war. People were trampled beneath a war horse. The enemy they were fighting were clearly Chinese as they were drawn with paler colors and a slanted eye.

3rd book : Picture of a picnic under a tree in a meadow....presumably heaven.

Look, call me racist but don't these books show what people can do in the name of religion? A man of status dies, and a war ensues. Revenge. Revenge,in the name of religion. Why is it that people get more violent the more they believe in religion??

Muhammad's Beard

Now this is just plain silly...beard cut off from Prophet Muhammad.
Okay, I admit that I can get pretty biased when it comes to holy figures. But what's the big deal with Muhammad's beard? Yes, I know he's the prophet, the one man entrusted with the holy words of god. But why the beard?
And why do people get so damn proud just because they have seen "the beard"? Especially the Fat Basturk. He was so proud he was "one of the few people on earth who have seen the beard", that I couldn't help myself and asked

"So, this beard is holy?"
"Yes"
"Oh, so you mean that everything about the holy prophet is holy and sacred?"
"YES."
"Okay....so, where's the holy scissors that cut the holy beard? Don't they keep those around somewhere?"
"Uhh....I...uhh...well....erm...."
"Okay, forget that question. On what occasion was his beard cut? What significance does this piece of beard bear?"
"I...I don't know."

Hmm...seems to me that this guide likes to not know about anything. Fat Basturk....

Turkey 6 : Mountains washed white..

The next place we stopped at was Pamukale....a place I like to call the biggest and most beautiful fake tourist spot ever....makes me wonder why is it even listed on the World Heritage List.



This place....is a place where the top of the mountain is washed white. THEY say that it has got something to do with minerals in the rocks. Rain falls, dissolves it in water and some kind of chemical reaction then happens, leaving the bedrock white in result.
Now...when we went there, they told us that there's lesser water than usual. Apparently, they controlled the volume of water flowing onto the bedrock...

Oh....so they do have control over the water flowing in...hmm....

If you ask me, I THINK that they somehow secretly mix in bleaching chemical in the water....let it wash the rocks, then BOOM! You have yourself a World Heritage Fake Tourist Spot...


Seeing how tourist flock to this place, kinda wished Malaysia had done something with one of our Mountains as well..
Oh, we all had to remove our shoes before stepping on the bedrock....apparently white gets dirty fast.


They even created steps for us to climb just in case we got bored of...well...a white piece of rock.


This was how the water gets directed away from the bedrock.....this was definitely man made.


Couldn't resist the temptation to stick my feet into hygienically questionable drain. Remember what I said about the bleach in water?? I could have swore that my leg hair that got soaked was a little bit blonder than the rest of my leg.....


Still....I suck my feet in the drain again. I'd risk my leg any day of the year just to get to sit beside a gorgeous lady....ehem, yes, I do think that Fang Zyin is gorgeous...


I find this place rather special....I mean, it's not everyday you get to see white mountain top that's not snow. And the view from there was just breathtaking...

You see the city down below? I didn't see any commerce buildings there....just hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops. A whole town surviving on tourist coming to soak their legs in drains near a white bedrock....it's amazing how much life a World Heritage Fake Tourist Spot can bring...


Honestly, I thought this place was just plain fun....we had a lot of fun taking funny pictures here. So, yeah, we had fun...and in this picture, we tried to express what we felt about the place..

This place is as cool as us...

Turkey 5 : Some Roman leftovers called "World Heritage"

Since I'll be cursing and complaining about the Fat Basturk a lot, I might as well post up a picture of what he loves and talk about most...


Behold!! The great Olive Tree!! All hail Olive...all hail Olive....

Now, back to the main story....

I don't think I have mention this before but Turkey gave me an impression that it is one very messed up country...why? Well, they practically have every sort of architecture of every age!! And as I listened to Basturk nag about Olive trees...I witnessed the age of men as I traveled along the road to ....ermm...sorry, forgot the name of the place...


Once again...the hotel we departed from...


Is this what they call Third World? Looks a lot like Kelantan or Terengganu to me....


View of a great town that stretches to the horizon...


Then, as if transported by time, I'm brought to the time of Adam and Eve before they ate the forbidden fruit and "became adult"...

*In the background*
"And now on your right, another meadow being prepared to plant Olives we turks are so gawd damn proud of...blah...blah...oil...blah...olive..."


Reaching our destination, I realized that I'm transported to the time of the Romans!! or what's left of the Roman empire....

Despite my lame caption for the picture above, I was actually awed by the spectacle before me. What was shown above wasn't exactly Roman ruins...but it's more to ruins of various empires. Since this is near the sea, it was somewhat an important city dealing with trade. Various empires have rendered this place to ruins, rebuilt on it, only to be captured by another empire....and this went on and on for many many years. As a result, this city became a place that possess different architecture of various empires...Romans, Persians...etc


The empires who captured this city.....they must have been poor, or they were environment friendly people because they reuse the fallen pillars and walls to build a new one. Ehem...very sorry to have misled you on "different architecture of various empires"


Look at them two.....notice how they are built from different types of stones. Oh btw, I'm talking about the two pillars behind the girls...







Of all the pictures I took, this one inspired me the most....made me feel that I must not get fat and must remain in shape even in old age so as not to block the path.....


This....this is one of the earliest blogs...written by the great Caesar himself. The text speaks of how his fat soldiers stopped the attack of enemies by blocking the pathway to the city...


The "Bibliotek"...it's said that, the library was sandwiched between two buildings, so, to make it look bigger, the pillars in the middle was built thicker than the ones at the end so as to create an optical illusion that makes it look more spacious.


The pillars on the upper level are built thinner than the bottom ones to create the same effect...


The theater....the place where many people fell asleep to some boring play.


Then Boon and Friends came along to cheer the people up...



One last look at the great theater...and with that we ended our tour at...aww shit, what's the name of the place....Anyway, it was truly a beautiful place. Being in Asia for so long, seeing all this was truly an eye-opener...never knew the world was this big. Oh, throughout the whole tour, Basturk was giving some kind explanation on the site, but I found out that I can get more info by reading the information boards posted along the way.
I once tried to test that guy by asking him about what I read from the info boards....and as expected, he don't know anything!! He said "that there's no such thing...where did you heard that from, you annoying spectacled Malaysian??". I answered by "I read it from that info board behind you, you Fat Ignorant Basturk..." He must have hated me for that as he ignored most of my questions after that!! Haha....1 for Malaysian 0 for Olive loving Basturk...

I didn't mean to humiliate our guide, Mr. Atilla a.k.a Fat Basturk but I was merely curious about how much he knows about the place as he have been there many many times...

And I regretted testing him about his knowledge....I was sorry...truly sorry.....you see, after the tour, he tortured us with more stories when we get into the bus!!!