More Picture on 14th April (Turkey Trip)

Kids having dancing lessons (Cumalikizik Village)

View of Cumalikizik Village

Turkish Mussels for Sale! (YUM!)

Apple Tea At Tan Kaferterya

Cats Sunbathing outside Restaurant

View of Muradiye Complex

Bread on Sale...

Delightful Turkey Trip 12th - 21st April 2008 Part 2

14th April 2008 - Day 3

After a scrumptious breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we set off to visit the "Ulucami"(Grand Mosque). We had to wear a scarf over our heads and take off our shoes when visiting the mosque.

Inside the mosque, we can see lots of islamic words written in caligraphic styles. Some of them looked like flowers, others has complicated shapes and motifs. There were some construction going on inside the mosque. The mosque is really huge! I really love to see the ceilngs as they are always very asymetrical and have very beautiful carvings!

Interiors of Ulucami

There's a bazaar not far away from Ulucami - Koza Han - which used to be a silk market in the past. There were many souvenir shops in there, but most of them are selling Figurines, Silk Scarves and Shawls, table-cloths... There was a very nice courtyard downstairs and there were people drinking tea there! We went downstairs to take a look before going back to our 'assembly spot'.

Koza Han

Courtyard in Koza Han

After that, we proceeded to vist the Green Mosque and the Green Tomb. Unfortunately, there were some construction works going on at the Green Tomb, hence, we could only see scaffoldings and huge sheets covering the structure... Oh well! The Green Mosque is just diagonally across the Green Tomb. The mosque got its name due to the GREEN TILES that were used to build the interiors of the mosque.

Entrance to the Green Mosque

Inside the Green Mosque

We were very lucky to be given a chance to go up to the "Sultan's lodge" to take a look from the view of the interior of the mosque from above. The Sultan has to offer his prayers in a separate room because he was afraid of being assasinated. The steps up the "Sultan lodge" was really steep and narrow! I wonder how small-sized the Sultans were in the past??

Anyway, it was very peaceful in the mosque (almost like any places of worship). The mosque was really BIG! There were even rooms on the right to accomodate people who would need to stay over the night!

There was a souvenir shop around the corner. Some of the tour members need to change currencies, while the rest needed to use the rest room. The souvenir shop had very nice decor and most of the handmade plates were very pretty!! So tempting!!!!

Pretty Handmade Plates

Following this, we made our way to a little village called "Cumalikizik" (what a mouthful!!!). The place was very serene and quiet... with rocky & narrow paths, which amazingly, big cars could pass through! We managed to get into one of the villager's house to see how their house looked like... The sofa was left in the open!!! What would happen if it rains? The old man was still laying cement over the the walls, wonder what was he doing?? There was also a huge hammock near the 'kitchen' area!!!

Villager's House in Cumalikizik

After we left the house, we went to the school to take a look! The kids were having dance lessons in the field. The children looked so lovely!! and the boys so mischievious!

After taking pictures with those kids, we left to get lunch. Lunch was quite impressive as we were going to the 'castle area' for our meals! Main course would be BEEF KEBAB!! Slurp!!!

Beef Kebab at "Daruzzuyafe"

We had to make 2 stops in between our journey before reaching our hotel for the night - Hotel Tatlises (Kusadasi).

The first stop was Tan Kafeterya where we had a glass of apple tea each. There was a windmill and also swing on the field of this cafe! So 'holland'!! Anyway, this was our first taste of the apple tea - its really SOUR!!!

"Very Holland" setting

The second stop was at a Petrol Station where we bought 2 bars of chocolate and 2 packets of chips. Ironically, we didn't manage to eat 1 of the packet of chips and had to bring it back to Singapore!! hahaha

At night, Lucia, Ah Leng & I went to explore the surroundings of the Hotel. Initially, Raymond & Jessie came along with us as we thought we could still be in time to shop at the local supermarket!!! Oh well! We didn't manage to venture too far out! Just went to a spot where we could take some pictures of the ships docking near part of the Agean sea area!! If only I am in Greece!! AGEAN SEA!!! SANTORINI!! OHHHHHHHHHH......

More Pictures on 13th April (Turkey Trip)

Street View of Taksim Square

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

View of Hagia Sophia

Cats in the Topkapi Palace

Courtyard (Topkapi Palace)

Building in Topkapi Palace

Nice flowers in Topkapi Palace

Structure in Hippodrome Square

Delightful Turkey Trip 12th - 21st April 2008 Part 1

"Yesterday... all my troubles seemed so far away ...
Now it looks as though its here to stay
Oh, I believe in Yesterday" - The Beatles, "Yesterday"


Its been 10 days since I'm back from Turkey. I still can hear the laughter from my tour group... the meows of the beautiful Turkish cats... the wails of the sirens of the ambulances in Taksim Square in the middle of the night!!! and not forgetting the automatic 'morning call' - prayer calls close to 4:50am in the morning blasted via speakers from most of the mosques within close proximity to each other.


The 12th April was a hectic day for me as my good friends and I went to watch "We Will Rock You" at the Esplanade at 2pm to celebrate my birthday. After which we went for a quick dinner at AzabuSabo Restaurant at Marina Square. They were so SWEET - giving me a "Jump!" Red Mayday T-shirt, with Stickers (imported all the way from Taiwan), a PRINTS Journal and a very "PC" Birthday Card.


YS was so sweet to give Ah Leng and me a lift home after the dinner as we had to be at the airport by 9:10pm.


Our flight was TK0066 and it would take off at 11:20pm. We took the Sky Train to T3 to sample the perfumes but had to quickly rush back to T1 around 10:20pm to get ready to board our flight! Such a rush!!! The flight was quite full and we saw tour groups from Hong Thai Travel & SA Tours as well! Seemed like a lot of people were going to Turkey during this period!


We arrived in Istanbul around 6am (Turkish Time) on 13th April 2008. Our first stop was to go to the hotel to pick up the other half of the group whom arrived the day before. The hotel was located in Taksim Square, which was a bustling shopping street. We went down to take some pictures of the surroundings and got to know this couple - Raymond and Jessie.


This was the monument standing in Taksim Square. There were lots of beautiful tulips planted around this monument. Tulips are in season in April. Our guide told us that tulips had originated from Turkey, but the King of Holland loved them so much that he brought the seeds back and cultivated and made them the national flower of Holland. However, the name "tulip" actually referred to "turban", the real name of the flower should be "la lae". Someone misheard the King of Holland's question and gave the wrong answer.... OOps...


Our first tourist destination was the Topkapi Palace. WOW! The palace was very near to Hagia Sofia Museum, as well as the Blue Mosque. However, there was this cycling competition going on. Hence, after we visited the Topkapi Palace, we were quite 'stranded' due to the barricades that was stopping us from crossing the streets to visit the Blue Mosque.


The Topkapi Palace was quite huge!!! There were so many exhibits in the Palace Grounds. I thought the courtyards were very pretty! There was this 89 carat diamond in one of the display rooms... The story behind this was quite absurd - In the past, when people do not know the value of diamonds, they actually threw it in the rubbish dump! And in the end, this was being traded at a 'flea market' for 3 silver spoons... If only I owned that piece of diamond... Right now, I would be a BILLIONNAIRE!!!!!


Sometimes I also wonder how those soldiers could go to war with so heavy armoury! Hmmm...


We had to miss our Iskander Kebab due to the stupid Cycling Competiton. Our lunch venue changed to "Grup Saray Restaurant". We were so hungry we mistook the appetiser as the main course!!! By the time the main course came, we were too full to finish the rice and the 'chicken tandori'. Nonetheless, lunch was quite scrumptious!


appetiser main course

After lunch, we took the coach to the harbour for a ferry crossing to Yalova. We had our first taste of Turkish tea on board the ferry... tastes very much like the English Breakfast tea, but I like the way they put it in those little transparent glasses.


Turkish Tea




Our hotel for the night was quite GRAND... well... from the outlooks of it. We stayed in Bursa Kervansaray Termal Room 514. There was even a balcony where Ah Leng could air her 'flaky jacket'! haha...



View from Hotel Room Balcony

We quickly washed up a bit and went to the hotel surroundings for a quick look before meeting at the restaurant for our buffet dinner.

As we were pretty hungry, we stopped by this Pastry shop - UN & PA Pastaneleri- by the corner of the road and bought some Pretzels and Eclairs... YUMM! They tasted HEAVENLY!!!!



Pretzels & Chocolate Eclairs


That sums up my first day in Turkey...

Iron Man - 29th April 2008

Watched Iron Man with YS last night at Lido.

The show was fantastic!

Loved the beautiful sports cars in the show... as well as how cool they made technology seems to be - the simulation when Tony Stark was building his Iron Man Suit, those deadly weapons which was used to protect but turned to tools of death.

Gwyneth Paltrow looked so anorexic! ARGH! She just looks like a bamboo in the show - tall and skinny, though she didn't wear green or grow any shoots!

Robert Downey Jr is a fresh face to me, and in certain angles, he reminded me of Hugh Jackman!!! but of course Hugh Jackman is better looking!

May - June 08 are exciting months for blockbusters! I watch to catch "Speed Racers", "Indiana Jones", "Wanted", "Spy Game", "Kungfu Pana" next!!!!