Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Turkiye thru Anzac Eyes
Turkiye thru Anzac Eyes
Here\'s the summary of a recent diary of one Australian friend who has recently been in Turkey... Just take a chance to read what she\'s been up to...
------------------------------
So off I drift to ISTANBUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!!
The next morning, oh how wonderful!!! A whole new city, a whole new country!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!
Explored. Visited the sights. Saw the street. How wonderful. Ate, showered, slept. Enjoyed the fact that there was not an Israeli in sight. Slept, read, went online, slept, checked out the shops, went to bed.
The place was a dorm hostel, restaurant and bar. Nice small and cosy. Very friendly all the staff I met. Although I hadnt even paid or anything, they were sweet as about me leaving some stuff behind while I went to Capadocia ...and they even let me shower the next day after I checked out of the other place...before my bus to Capadocia the next night. A really lovely bunch of people. All Turks, barely much English but they were all so friendly and helpful. I emailed Simone straight away to tell here this was where I was crashing when I got back. Simone was planning on making Istanbul before ANZAC Day so I said this is the place.
................................... ............... ................................... ............... ................................... ....
Hmmm its the 28th now. I obviously just decided to stop the other day. Hehe. Anyway I\'m typing at the Orient Hostel\'s free internet on crappy computer which has been down the last 2 days and only just got working again...
Anyway...so off I head to Capadocia. Beautiful spectacular scenery is what this place is famous for. Many many valleys of what they call fairy chimneys, people lived and still do live in these rock formations that go up like chimneys, hollowed out inside...the whole area is soft volcanic rock and they\'ve just carved into it, houses in the cliff, caves everywhere... many colours depending on something to do with the lava I suppose...Rose valley, well thats obviously pinkish, theres red valley, pigeon valley, shark valley, honey valley a beautiful ellow...many many beautiful walks I had around the area. I started off in the sort of \"central town\" Goreme, took me like 2 weeks to learn how to pronounce that!!! I had bought a tent in Istanbul and I found a cave and camped out there for 2 nights. Visited Avonos, a cute little town about 10km from Goreme where there are a million and one pottery shops - thats the town\'s trade. Anyway I visited it solely for this one place, Chez Guip. Good old Mr Guip once had a girlfriend from France, 25 years ago. She stayed three months learning to make pots then left ...and she left him a piece of her hair to remember her by...well he treasured it and popped it up on the wall ....other students came and asked what it was all about...and when they heard they also left behind hair....well 25 years later, you walk into this massive long huge room and holy shit!!! \"Silence of the Lambs comes to Capadocia\" its almost a horror movie, the dim lighting just adds to the effect. Tourists come from all over the world to cut a lock of hair, stick it to a piece of paper with their name and email and country and pin it to the wall. So I did too.
I spent a couple of days hitchhiking my way round Capadocia. Easy as pie, all towns are only like 10=15 km apart. Met the loveliest people on my travels, out here very very few know more than one or 2 worlds of
English, but we get on just great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, I was drifting along on my way to this place called Soganli Valley which was suppose to be very beautiful...I was leaving one town and walking to a place where I could hitch a ride...when I hear this honking behind me. And who should stop but a carload of Aussies. They stop, ask me where I was from and when I said Australia they said where do you want to go we\'ll take you. Turns out they were filmakers - making a documentary ....mainly focussing on Anzac Day but also some of the more touristic aspects of Turkey - thats why they were in Capadocia. They were really lovely, took me back to their hotel so I could have a shower and clean up, then we had a chat about what I was doing over breaky. Anyway, the head dude who\'s project is was - John had actually done a trip similar to mine - backpacking on next to no money, travelling alone, meeting the locals...10 years previously and he was pretty impressed with
what I was up to...I mentioned some of the places I had been, things I had done...and one thing struck John - the day previous I had helped a guy who owned a fruit shop chop up potatoes for his cows. So John wanted to know if it would be alright to go back and reenact that scene for the camera...then they would drop me off wherever I wanted to go after...I said sweet as.
So one thing lead to another and we ended up chopping potatoes, interviewing a guy in a carpet shop about his views on the ANZAC history, taping prayers in a mosque, visiting Avanos again, the open air museum....and at the end of the day the guys taped me going hunting for a place to pitch my tent...sooooo!!! Maybe in one year, if John\'s plans go to plan, I might get 3 - 5 seconds on national TV!!!
So I visited Soganli and another lovely Valley, huge it was, called Ihlara...did loads of wandering and walking had a great time. Then after Capadocia I headed to what Lonely Planet called a \"Conservative little town\"- they reckoned no beer, cover your head, millions of mosques, people unfriendly...well that was all bullshit. Loved the place, stayed two nights. Sure the people of Konya are far more religious and practice and show
it then anywhere else Ive been in Turkey but they were as friendly as you can imagine!!!! I had a great time wandering round a totally boring city full of mosques just chatting to people who barely spoke a word of nglish,
checked out a few mosques, millions as I said, plenty of choice, the markets were great, found a date sstore that let me eat like half a kg of dates over a couple of days for free so I was in heaven...yeah I had a good time there in Konya.
Then after 2 days I hitched a lift to Ankara. Now this was interesting. I hitched a lift with a guy who sold textiles. He picked me up and we cruised along, stopping in the towns along the way for the guy to go to stores
and sell his stuff. He couldnt speak any English at all, but it was really interesting. Anyway he was a damn good salesman, sold nearly everyuthing by the time we got to Ankara. Rocked up there in the afternoon and went to
tourist info...lonely planet described this info place as a glorified souvineer shop, not very helpful - god they\'re full of bullshit. Sure there were lots of things to buy but the dude there was TOTALLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!! He was completely falling over himself to help me and the others there, and I told him I wanted to get to Istanbul on an overnight train or bus, whichever was cheaper. So he got on the phone and rang round and came up with a damn cheap bus! He was just amazing!! But the best bit about him
was that he used a slang saying you know that really impressed me. He said. I\'m not so sure about the trains,\"I\'ll call them and get the story straight from the horse\'s mouth\" Oh I loved it he was such a cool guy.
Actutally, something interesting, have any of you guys every met anyone from Iceland? Well they do exist and guess what, in the info place I MET TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Couldnt believe it, they were lovely and we exchanged emails because we\'re both planning to do the silk road.
So I head back to Istanbul. Lovely. Lovely Lovely. Get back about 7am and head back to my LOVELY HOSTEL for a damn good shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I must go to work so ta ta for now. I
will continue tomorrow...
................................... ............... ................................... ............... ................................... ....
ANZAC Day 25 April comes. The night before, well that WENT OFFFFFFFFFFFFF I mean there was everybloody backpacker in town out. A big night. We didnt get to sleep till 5am...then got up around 7am to clean...normal night I suppose... hehe this gets funny. I thought that my tour bus left for Gallipolli at 6.30pm but when I got a nasty feeling and checked the details online...I found it was 6.30am!!!!!!!!!! OOPPS So I was suddenly rideless to Gallipoli. Thank god Paul is such a decent guy, I ended up hitching a ride with his buses, down and back for free. Sure I had to sit in the a?sle because the bus was packed, but I was soooo grateful. It was really really awesome. See what I mean? Turks are incredible people. Friendly, generous,
helpful, genuine... sure there are a few bad eggs in every bucket, but these guys...they\'re great!!!!!!
Heavenly father we are moved with emotion as we gather at this place, where Australian and Turkish troops confronted one another in battle so long ago. As we remember their heroism, courage and sacrifice, grant that this service will inspire us to work for peace and justice in our world fraught with strife and hostilities
Amen
\'\'Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives...
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference betwen the
Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours...
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears,
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land
They have become our sons as well\'\'
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 1934
................................... ............... ................................... ............... ................................... ....
Istanbul is great. Sure its a sprawling city, mostly westerised, trying desperately to get itself accepted into the EU, taxes are high, the weather isnt great at the moment, but its a far more western and liberal city than anywhere else ?ve been in the middle east, women have as much opportunity as we do, as much choice, sure there is no social security so life would be hard if you did not have a job...Turkey is a mix of the old middle eastern ways being slowly upgraded to EU standards and being sold at Western Prices. Turkey is not cheap. It is exactly the same for most things - food - accommodation - transport - as Australia, but the standards arent as high - other things - like alcohol ? mentioned are far more expensive than Aussie. The locals are a mixture of \'\'Hassel Hassel Hassel\'\' to being completely lovely and friendly. Again it depends where you are in ?stanbul...
?.
Just went to the bank before ? came here and a whole section of the tramline had been cornered off because an unexploded bomb had been left there earlier. ? can just imagine it, they\'ll have it in some lad somewhere and there\'ll be 10 Turkish men in uniform all crowded round smoking and jabbering away, each trying to pretend he2s cool, calm and collected and knows exactly what is going on.
?ts the Turkish way.
My Love to everone. Look after yourselves.
xoxoxo
Here\'s the summary of a recent diary of one Australian friend who has recently been in Turkey... Just take a chance to read what she\'s been up to...
------------------------------
So off I drift to ISTANBUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!!
The next morning, oh how wonderful!!! A whole new city, a whole new country!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!
Explored. Visited the sights. Saw the street. How wonderful. Ate, showered, slept. Enjoyed the fact that there was not an Israeli in sight. Slept, read, went online, slept, checked out the shops, went to bed.
The place was a dorm hostel, restaurant and bar. Nice small and cosy. Very friendly all the staff I met. Although I hadnt even paid or anything, they were sweet as about me leaving some stuff behind while I went to Capadocia ...and they even let me shower the next day after I checked out of the other place...before my bus to Capadocia the next night. A really lovely bunch of people. All Turks, barely much English but they were all so friendly and helpful. I emailed Simone straight away to tell here this was where I was crashing when I got back. Simone was planning on making Istanbul before ANZAC Day so I said this is the place.
................................... ............... ................................... ............... ................................... ....
Hmmm its the 28th now. I obviously just decided to stop the other day. Hehe. Anyway I\'m typing at the Orient Hostel\'s free internet on crappy computer which has been down the last 2 days and only just got working again...
Anyway...so off I head to Capadocia. Beautiful spectacular scenery is what this place is famous for. Many many valleys of what they call fairy chimneys, people lived and still do live in these rock formations that go up like chimneys, hollowed out inside...the whole area is soft volcanic rock and they\'ve just carved into it, houses in the cliff, caves everywhere... many colours depending on something to do with the lava I suppose...Rose valley, well thats obviously pinkish, theres red valley, pigeon valley, shark valley, honey valley a beautiful ellow...many many beautiful walks I had around the area. I started off in the sort of \"central town\" Goreme, took me like 2 weeks to learn how to pronounce that!!! I had bought a tent in Istanbul and I found a cave and camped out there for 2 nights. Visited Avonos, a cute little town about 10km from Goreme where there are a million and one pottery shops - thats the town\'s trade. Anyway I visited it solely for this one place, Chez Guip. Good old Mr Guip once had a girlfriend from France, 25 years ago. She stayed three months learning to make pots then left ...and she left him a piece of her hair to remember her by...well he treasured it and popped it up on the wall ....other students came and asked what it was all about...and when they heard they also left behind hair....well 25 years later, you walk into this massive long huge room and holy shit!!! \"Silence of the Lambs comes to Capadocia\" its almost a horror movie, the dim lighting just adds to the effect. Tourists come from all over the world to cut a lock of hair, stick it to a piece of paper with their name and email and country and pin it to the wall. So I did too.
I spent a couple of days hitchhiking my way round Capadocia. Easy as pie, all towns are only like 10=15 km apart. Met the loveliest people on my travels, out here very very few know more than one or 2 worlds of
English, but we get on just great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, I was drifting along on my way to this place called Soganli Valley which was suppose to be very beautiful...I was leaving one town and walking to a place where I could hitch a ride...when I hear this honking behind me. And who should stop but a carload of Aussies. They stop, ask me where I was from and when I said Australia they said where do you want to go we\'ll take you. Turns out they were filmakers - making a documentary ....mainly focussing on Anzac Day but also some of the more touristic aspects of Turkey - thats why they were in Capadocia. They were really lovely, took me back to their hotel so I could have a shower and clean up, then we had a chat about what I was doing over breaky. Anyway, the head dude who\'s project is was - John had actually done a trip similar to mine - backpacking on next to no money, travelling alone, meeting the locals...10 years previously and he was pretty impressed with
what I was up to...I mentioned some of the places I had been, things I had done...and one thing struck John - the day previous I had helped a guy who owned a fruit shop chop up potatoes for his cows. So John wanted to know if it would be alright to go back and reenact that scene for the camera...then they would drop me off wherever I wanted to go after...I said sweet as.
So one thing lead to another and we ended up chopping potatoes, interviewing a guy in a carpet shop about his views on the ANZAC history, taping prayers in a mosque, visiting Avanos again, the open air museum....and at the end of the day the guys taped me going hunting for a place to pitch my tent...sooooo!!! Maybe in one year, if John\'s plans go to plan, I might get 3 - 5 seconds on national TV!!!
So I visited Soganli and another lovely Valley, huge it was, called Ihlara...did loads of wandering and walking had a great time. Then after Capadocia I headed to what Lonely Planet called a \"Conservative little town\"- they reckoned no beer, cover your head, millions of mosques, people unfriendly...well that was all bullshit. Loved the place, stayed two nights. Sure the people of Konya are far more religious and practice and show
it then anywhere else Ive been in Turkey but they were as friendly as you can imagine!!!! I had a great time wandering round a totally boring city full of mosques just chatting to people who barely spoke a word of nglish,
checked out a few mosques, millions as I said, plenty of choice, the markets were great, found a date sstore that let me eat like half a kg of dates over a couple of days for free so I was in heaven...yeah I had a good time there in Konya.
Then after 2 days I hitched a lift to Ankara. Now this was interesting. I hitched a lift with a guy who sold textiles. He picked me up and we cruised along, stopping in the towns along the way for the guy to go to stores
and sell his stuff. He couldnt speak any English at all, but it was really interesting. Anyway he was a damn good salesman, sold nearly everyuthing by the time we got to Ankara. Rocked up there in the afternoon and went to
tourist info...lonely planet described this info place as a glorified souvineer shop, not very helpful - god they\'re full of bullshit. Sure there were lots of things to buy but the dude there was TOTALLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!! He was completely falling over himself to help me and the others there, and I told him I wanted to get to Istanbul on an overnight train or bus, whichever was cheaper. So he got on the phone and rang round and came up with a damn cheap bus! He was just amazing!! But the best bit about him
was that he used a slang saying you know that really impressed me. He said. I\'m not so sure about the trains,\"I\'ll call them and get the story straight from the horse\'s mouth\" Oh I loved it he was such a cool guy.
Actutally, something interesting, have any of you guys every met anyone from Iceland? Well they do exist and guess what, in the info place I MET TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Couldnt believe it, they were lovely and we exchanged emails because we\'re both planning to do the silk road.
So I head back to Istanbul. Lovely. Lovely Lovely. Get back about 7am and head back to my LOVELY HOSTEL for a damn good shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I must go to work so ta ta for now. I
will continue tomorrow...
................................... ............... ................................... ............... ................................... ....
ANZAC Day 25 April comes. The night before, well that WENT OFFFFFFFFFFFFF I mean there was everybloody backpacker in town out. A big night. We didnt get to sleep till 5am...then got up around 7am to clean...normal night I suppose... hehe this gets funny. I thought that my tour bus left for Gallipolli at 6.30pm but when I got a nasty feeling and checked the details online...I found it was 6.30am!!!!!!!!!! OOPPS So I was suddenly rideless to Gallipoli. Thank god Paul is such a decent guy, I ended up hitching a ride with his buses, down and back for free. Sure I had to sit in the a?sle because the bus was packed, but I was soooo grateful. It was really really awesome. See what I mean? Turks are incredible people. Friendly, generous,
helpful, genuine... sure there are a few bad eggs in every bucket, but these guys...they\'re great!!!!!!
Heavenly father we are moved with emotion as we gather at this place, where Australian and Turkish troops confronted one another in battle so long ago. As we remember their heroism, courage and sacrifice, grant that this service will inspire us to work for peace and justice in our world fraught with strife and hostilities
Amen
\'\'Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives...
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference betwen the
Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours...
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears,
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land
They have become our sons as well\'\'
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 1934
................................... ............... ................................... ............... ................................... ....
Istanbul is great. Sure its a sprawling city, mostly westerised, trying desperately to get itself accepted into the EU, taxes are high, the weather isnt great at the moment, but its a far more western and liberal city than anywhere else ?ve been in the middle east, women have as much opportunity as we do, as much choice, sure there is no social security so life would be hard if you did not have a job...Turkey is a mix of the old middle eastern ways being slowly upgraded to EU standards and being sold at Western Prices. Turkey is not cheap. It is exactly the same for most things - food - accommodation - transport - as Australia, but the standards arent as high - other things - like alcohol ? mentioned are far more expensive than Aussie. The locals are a mixture of \'\'Hassel Hassel Hassel\'\' to being completely lovely and friendly. Again it depends where you are in ?stanbul...
?.
Just went to the bank before ? came here and a whole section of the tramline had been cornered off because an unexploded bomb had been left there earlier. ? can just imagine it, they\'ll have it in some lad somewhere and there\'ll be 10 Turkish men in uniform all crowded round smoking and jabbering away, each trying to pretend he2s cool, calm and collected and knows exactly what is going on.
?ts the Turkish way.
My Love to everone. Look after yourselves.
xoxoxo