Here's some photos taken from the trip from Istanbul to Bodrum, and from Bodrum up to Gökpinar...

It appears that Flickr is done Flickring, and is back to, er, Flickring...?
Anyway - they're up and running again...

The next photo upload series is  "Topkapi Palace", and they're uploading now! Although it may be till tomorrow for the comments and whatnot...
Enjoy!!

Wendy

Current Mood: sleepy

Well, gee  - I joined Flickr to host my mambo set of pix from Turkey.... and tonite they are having major site issues . Weird weird weird stuff - like photos disappearing, cross-referencing, strange photos showing up in albums...

...it's chaos.

Let's hope the gang over there can resolve it without tooooooo much insanity.

:::Raises glass & toasts that poor team of folks at Flickr.com who get to sort it all out:::

Oh - and BTW.... that cute l'il bambino that is showing up on my "While in Bodrum" set is not my photo. And as far as I know, it did not happen "While in Bodrum"!! LOL!!
:::shakes head in utter bewilderment:::

Current Mood: confused

I'm trying out Flickr for my myriad of photos from Turkey...
Only 2 groups so far... "Mehndi" and "The Grand Bazaar"
But if I like Flickr (My Friend Flickr?) I may "go pro" and pay to host with them. I like the ability to tag and caption.

Take a peek!

Wendy

I had no trouble at all with transporting my henna-kit, containing several rolled cones of my henna paste and essential oils thru customs. I also had no trouble bringing back some essential oils and about 4 kilos of henna from the Spice Bazaar! LOL!!! It was only about 6-8ytl a kilo there... which in USD is about $4.50 to $6/kilo... I henna'd anyone who didn't get away fast enough (grin) and here's a  link to some of my henna pix from the trip

 Enjoy!!

Current Mood: artistic

I'm home! I arrived late Monday night, after traveling for 20 hours in 12 hours time... Monday may have been the longest day, ever!! My internal clock is all whacko.

My boys were all so happy to see me, and we celebrated a slightly belated Mother's Day as well.

I am a changed person. I've seen so much, done so much, traveled, experienced...
I hardly know where to begin, except to keep fleshing out the bits I was able to write on my traveling laptop and begin editing the 1000 pictures I took... and begin sharing all of this with you... I hope to use my experience to answer questions that may come up for future travelers...

Hugs,
Wendy

Current Mood: exhausted

It's quarter to 10 in the evening right now... although my computer tells me it is only quarter to 3 in the afternoon back home. The almost-full moon was rising over the mountain out front, peeking thru the clouds...
Today has been a lazy kind of day... we woke up to rain, and it was a delightfully dreary cozy morning here. We've spent most of the afternoon sorting and labeling the stock of costumes, hip scarves, and skirts here at the Music & Dance Center.

Technology in the Village
After a delicious nap in the afternoon, Bulent and I spent a great deal of time fidgetting with the computers, and viola! At last! We have DSL here at the top of the mountain above the beautiful tiny village of Gokpinar! It seems kind of unreal... such a blend of tradition and technology...!

Food
The food is amazing here. The neighbor grows onions and garlic, and also we had a guest up who brought fresh lemons and oranges from his home village. The lemons were incredible!! They are humongous (one was larger than my 2 fists together) and you peel off the very outside of the rind with a knife. They are a bit dry, and you eat them with a bit of salt. They are soooooooo delicious - you even eat the inner white rind - and it is so tender and light!!

We are always drinking tea, or Turkish coffee, or Nescafe (they don't really do what we call "drip coffee" back home). The milk is the best milk I have ever had. It tastes like cream.

It seems so soon... on Sunday I will fly back up to Istanbul, and spend the night in the hotel there. I have to be at the airport at some insanely early hour on Monday, but it may not be too bad - my internal clock is all squirrely now anyway.

Current Mood: relaxed

Hello! I am here at the Gokpinar Music and Dance Center!!
It is almost 1am here- and this is not my computer - the space bar sticks badly. Ug!

It is very beautiful and peaceful here.
I will be writing about it for a long time...

Can'tupload pix- promise to create albums when I gethome!!!

Hugs to you all!!
Wendy

Current Mood: sleepy

There are updates!! They are backdated, so sift back thru...

At last I am hooked to DSL here in the Turkish city of Bodrum!!

Wendy

Hello from an ınternet cafe here ın Istanbul!! It,s about 8pm here rıght now... so ıt ıs 7 hours earlıer there. It,s been dıffıcult to get our phone cards to work from the Hotel. After we go to eat tonıght, we wıll make calls from the payphones agaın...

I have been tryıng to keep up wıth my journal on my laptop here, but so far I can,t fıgure out how to upload ıt. I,ll take care of that at my next stop - next week ın Bodrum.

I,m typıng on a Turkısh keyboard - they,ve rearranged ıt!!

So far we have been to the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace (THAT was ıncredıble!!! can you say Happy*Texture*color*artgasm???), to the Grand Bazaar, bellydancıng wıth Sema - the ınternatıonal Turkısh bellydance teacher...followed by bellydancıng ın a restaurant! What fun!! We,ve seen a cabaret show and had dınner there, and also (lookout) a Burlesque Show! It was very ınventıve and creatıve, but kınd of ın an odd artsy kında way - based on an old show lıke the Moulın Rougue ın Parıs.

Everyone ıs very nıce and helpful, eager to practıce theır Englısh. I,m tryıng to learn a lıttle Turkısh - ıt,s so dıfferent than anythıng I,ve heard!!

The men are crackıng me up - 'Hey lady, hey lady, here! you want to buy a rug!' has gotten to be the joke among us ladıes.

I was hopıng to keep updatıng onlıne as I,ve gone along - but maybe next week ın Bodrum...
I,m havıng trouble gettıng ınto my emaıl, but ı wıll try agaın later when ı have more tıme to mess wıth ıt.

Here ıs hopıng I can promıse pıctures soon - I have taken a zıllıon!!!

*hugs to everyone - I mıss you!!*
Wendy

FIRST NIGHT HERE…
Last night was so fun! We were going to meet at 8pm and go to dinner – our little group. I had about 45 minutes to kill, so I went wandering near the hotel.

Beware The Rug Merchants.
LOL. There are rug shops everywhere. They want you to come, drink tea, take a look…. It’s a conflict between Southern manners, time wasting, sales pressure (but not too much) cajoling, and Turkish Hospitality – which is famous.

Before I drop money for a rug, I want to look around, thank you very much!

The young man who “accosted” me was nice enough – chatty, eager to practice his English. We looked at the rugs in his shop, and being that I have a background in weaving, I knew what he was talking about... kilim, Turkish knots, sumak... So many designs! So beautiful!! The amount of work in one rug shop is simply staggering. However… getting out of there was problematical…
That fine line between Southern manners and Turkish hospitality…

DINNER
Dinner, at the “Cennet” (Turkish for “Heaven”…)

The restaurant that Bulent took us to was lovely. The food was simple and easy – some sort of very thin bread pancakes, with things inside – either fresh spinach leaves, or feta – something like that. In the middle of the restaurant there was a circular section where 2 beautiful older Turkish ladies were making the bread-pancakes. There was cooking upstairs, as well, and when the upstairs or downstairs wanted to signal each other, they rattled the windchimes that were at the top of the balcony (from the ground they pulled a rope to do this)

The musicians in the restaurant were incredible! Pink shirts, topped with red fez – and then they would get up and wander the tables, after which one man would hold out a tambourine for money.
When they came to our table, we got up and bellydanced! It was so fun!
Desert was baklava... yummyyummyyummyyummy...

5/1/2006 11:57:23 PM

My First Morning in Istanbul
I am awake. The time on my watch is 7am… I woke up around 6, and tried to go back to sleep. I read for awhile, but then I started writing in my head, and so I knew I needed to go ahead and get up. I hope I can find somewhere to upload this later.

Today we are going wandering in the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market, and wherever else…

No one else in my group is up yet, and so I’m down here in the lobby of the Hotel Hali, chatting with the nice fellow who is mopping the floors. He speaks a little English, and I speak no Turkish.

The sun is streaming in the front, some of the cars are driving by… the city is waking up. It’s still early, but I can’t sleep. I guess from the clock it’s like at home when I get up after falling asleep with the kids, then do some computer work after midnight… But I mustn’t think that way. It *is* morning here, and so I’m waiting until the beautiful rooftop restaurant opens at 7:30am…

I slept wonderfully last night. The narrow twin bed I had was firm (I like cushy) but it was nice. I found myself carefully not moving my legs, as if there was a cat nestled there… lol – I knew I’d miss those furry beasties!

The Turkish Cats…
I peeked out the front door of the hotel. The old Turkish lady from next door was feeding the cats, but when I walked over, she left. The cats are everywhere – last night when we were out walking we saw them peeking out, wandering nonchalantly thru traffic, eating indescribable catches…
At home, they are our furbabies, our pets – our little families. Here, they are everywhere – a part of the city. You can see their little eyes, keeping watch…
I don’t think that they are tame enough to pet. A few look ill. Many just look…. busy…

Overhead, seagulls soar, even at night – perhaps confused by the activity and lights of the city.

BREAKFAST
…is yum:
Some kind of sweet loaf bread, a bakery loaf bread, fresh creamy yogurt, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, 2 kinds of olives (maybe I might learn to like olives here?) orange slices, juice, coffee, tea, slices of a mild cheddar-type cheese, and the most incredible creamy delish fresh feta cheese in THE WORLD. Not at all the old, briny stuff we get at home. Nope. This is divine!!!

I’m sitting here in full view of The Blue Mosque, and what I believe is Hagia Sophia, off the balcony.

Oh! They are opening the huge sliding doors! It’s marvelous!! It’s going to be a beautiful day!!

There is coffee served in tiny cups on saucers, or tea ~ the Turkish word for tea sounds like “chai”. To my taste buds, the coffee is strong, and a bit bitter. It needs milk, and sugar. The sugar is in little cubes on the table, in a bowl.


Since I woke up and wandered…. *now* I feel as if I could go back to sleep. But nope, it’s a whole new day!!

Current Mood: happy

5/1/2006 11:20:53 AM
Well, it’s actually 6:20 pm (Istanbul Time) here now…. I’ve made it!!!

I’ve checked in, and had a shower. Oh goddess goodness gracious it was a ~*wonderful*~ shower!!!

This laptop is weird, but I’m getting used to it…

Landing in Istanbul was smooth and just fine. The in-flight food was great – I really recommend to anyone to order a Vegetarian meal. Even if you’re not – it’s delish!

We landed, then had our passports checked, bought an entry Visa for our passports (20 bucks – ka-ching) picked up luggage, then faced the long row of faces waiting at the welcome gate with cards with names on them. I walked back and forth a few times, and then at last! That was me!!
I took a pell-mell ride in a van along with a sweet French couple, a pair or rather chatty Oriental businessmen who chatted constantly with each other, and a rather silent fellow up front.

The drive around the streets was a bit crazy – lots of winding, turns, twists, up hills, streetcars, and beautiful sights along the way.

I saw a beautiful white/calico cat in the park – I do believe he was after a bird…
All along the streets there are shops, shops, and more shops… rugs, kilims, bellydance costumes, scarves...

Outside my balcony is the Blue Mosque. It's beautiful!!

Current Mood: relieved

06:26:24 PM
Things have changed since the last time I've flown. I kissed, hugged, then waved goodbye to my boys at the Security Gate.

Well, it's a bit of a challenge... but I'm typing this ON the plane. We arrived at RDU airport at about 3 hours before takeoff... around 3:45... By 4:20 I was thru customs & security and all ready to.... hurry up and wait.

I walked some laps, ate a snack of chicken, fries, & a chocolate milkshake (figured it would be a good thing to do) and then sat and drew...

This laptop will take a bit to get used to.

The first leg of my flight is the overnighter to London. I hope I can get some good advice about getting from Gatwick to Heathrow, since I will have to pick up my bags in between.

The flight is filling up, but not too packed.

It's neat having the small vid screens in front of each seat! I hope the movie is interesting...

And I hope I can catch a little sleep... it's going to be a long night. Or did I already say that...?

We'll see how many typos I make here... The screen on the laptop leans in a bit, so visibility is odd. Time to go... It's time to stow, I think. Take off is scheduled in 15 minutes...

ALONG THE WAY
The flight has been long – I caught a few naps along the way. The first leg was from RDU to London. I typed my first entry, drew, read, watched TV (they had little TV’s in the backs of the seats In front of us). Many folks went to sleep around 9, but I couldn’t…. not yet. So drew and watched TV. Just like at home…. But much more cramped…

I'm madly trying to get the last things together... I leave this evening!

Things to remember...things to remember...

Current Mood: excited

Well, and of course - the weather back home... (I'll need to see this when I talk to my kids back home!)

Current Mood: excited

LOL - I feel like I'm starting to get the jitters! Today has been a day of trying to organize, sort, organize, fold, put away, pack, track down...

sigh.

Printin' my e-ticket RIGHT now, tho! :-)

Thank heavens.
It's here.
I look like Mrs. Thug (no offense to actual Cavemen...) in my photo, but it is indeed MY PASSPORT!!!!!!

Current Mood: relieved

Since we are bringing a laptop with us on our journey - to upload pix and update this journal, THIS is great to know!!!

Internet Access In Turkey