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....