Cappadocia: The most magical place on Earth?

Hello from Istanbul!

So clearly, Alice and I made it safely to Turkey and through the first leg of our trip, and although we've already been here for 5 days, I'm just now getting some time to sit down and put together some thoughts on our travels thus far.

Sunday afternoon, after packing up my things and watching some last-minute Olympics coverage, one of my students from the summer offered me a ride to the airport in Singapore, which was both incredibly nice and incredibly important (as he was the one who managed to successfully argue with the check-in desk when they tried to skimp me on my luggage allowance).  About 15 hours later, I landed at London Heathrow, where I spent 4.5 hours clearing immigration, collecting my luggage, changing terminals, checking into a new airline, passing through security, and eating a nice breakfast, all on one of the busiest days in Heathrow's history.  Everything went okay, however (snaps to the Brits!), and Alice and I managed to rendezvous just fine at the Istanbul airport, despite hellishly long lines for both visas and immigration clearance.

Using the Istanbul metro, the two of us (and all of our luggage!) made it to the Esenler Octogar, the main bus terminal in Istanbul.  Long-distance buses are a very normal mode of transport in Turkey, and we managed to find our bus to Goreme (a town in the central Cappadocia region) with the help of some friendly bus attendants (like flight attendants, but for buses!).  Twelve hours later, we got off the bus and made it to our hotel...for the record, at this point I had been traveling for about 42 hours straight.

Alice and I were both absolutely exhausted, but our hotel - called the Kelebek Hotel and Cave Pension - more than made up for the journey.  The staff members were welcoming and attentive, the breakfast and view from the terrace was amazing, and our room was in an actual cave (see below).  Even though we arrived at about 8 AM, the staff made sure we got into our room straight away, and even let us help ourselves to breakfast even though we weren't technically guests of the hotel as of yet.

Breakfast spread at our hotel - fresh cheeses, vegetables, honey straight from the comb, and LOTS of olives.

The view from Kelebek's breakfast terrace- the pointy things are called "fairy chimneys" and are the most famous type of rock formation in Cappadocia. 

Our room!  In a cave!

Understandably, our first day we were fairly exhausted, so after a long nap we headed into town to do some quick shopping and grab some snacks and cay (Turkish tea, which is pronounced "chai"), as well as smoothies made from fresh fruit, honey, and thick yogurt (what we would call "Greek" yogurt in the US).  In the evening, we returned to our hotel to visit the hamam (Turkish bath).  After the discomfort of our travels, Al and I decided to spring for the full experience - we checked out the sauna, got exfoliating treatments, received face masks, and finished with short massages.  That evening I definitely slept like a rock!

The hamam at our hotel.  For the exfoliating treatment, they make you lie on the heated marble in the center, do the exfoliating stuff, then they cover you in bubbles and throw bowls of water on you to remove everything.  It was definitely a unique experience!

The next day, we decided to take a guided tour through an agency associated with our hotel, which ended up being us and about 10 other people from Italy, the US, and Canada.  Our first stop was a town called Mustafapasa, a city in Cappadocia with several thousand years worth of history, which our tour guide ran through in about 10-15 minutes.  Most interestingly, Mustafapasa was a place where Greek Christians, Turkish Christians, and Turkish Muslims lived (relatively) peacefully together for hundreds of years, until the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923.  At this point, Greece and Turkey did a "population exchange" - essentially a forced relocation of Muslims in Greece to Turkey and Christians in Turkey to Greece.

The large building in front was originally a church (you can see the tiny tiny spire above the apex just to the right), but when Muslims conquered the area, it was converted into a mosque.

After Mustafapasa, we drove to the Keslik Monastery, a series of caves in 4 fairy chimneys that would have once held 200-400 priests and students (about 1000 years ago).  This is the first place we got to see paintings in caves used as churches (see below), which were really beautiful, although badly damaged by soot (hence the black layer on top) and various vandalism across the ages.  We also got to see the kitchen and dining area for members of the monastery, which was really cool!

Paintings in the church (covered in 17th and 18th century graffiti).

Alice sits in the dining room of the monastery - in front of her is a table carved into the stone of the cave, and on either side were long benches for the students to sit and eat.

After the monastery, we made a quick stop to an archaeological site excavating ruins left by the Romans during a campaign through central Turkey.  Although funding has been limited and therefore excavation has been slow, there were some incredible mosaics in near-perfect condition unearthed and on display (see below).

Mosaics!

After a group lunch, we started a short hike through the Soganli Valley, where we got to see a few more churches and rock formations.  The one below was probably the coolest we saw - at the top there were two church rooms, one on top of the other, and below that (on the right side of the photo) was where families would live, cook, and raise their children.  It was amazing to me that this one big rock was an entire community, and some people may go their whole life without straying far from it.

A Cappadocian neighborhood.

Our final stop of the day was the Derinkuyu Underground city, the deepest of the 32 discovered underground cities in Turkey (the lowest level unearthed thus far is 70 meters below the surface!).  Used up until the 11th century, these cities were built to allow farming communities to hide from whatever invading army happened through the region, and they had areas designated for family quarters, cooking, worshipping, meeting, and even stables for the livestock.  Although archeologists don't really know how many people lived there at a given time, estimates range from 2,000-10,000 people, with maximum estimates of 60,000!

None of my pictures from the underground city really came out (clearly) - but as you can see it looks like...a cave.

On our final day, we visited the Goreme Open Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of dozens of Fairy Chimneys with housing and churches inside.  One of the churches, called the "Dark Church," had some of the more amazing frescoes we'd seen, and even included a rare depiction of Jesus in his teenage years!  The dates on the various paintings ranged from about the 6th to the 12th centuries, so we got to see a good mix of different styles and such throughout the tour.

After a delicious dinner of testi kebap (lamb stew cooked in a terra cotta pot which is cracked open at the table) and manti (little Turkish ravioli served in a yogurt sauce), Alice and I boarded another bus bound for Istanbul, where we arrived at about 7:30 on Friday morning.  I'll save all of our Istanbul adventures for another post, most likely after returning home to the States on Wednesday.

Wish us luck for our last few days here!

Dara

Happy National Day!

As many of you may not know, August 9 is Singapore's National Day, which commemorates Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965.  It's crazy to think that this country has only been around for 47 years - imagine if 4th of July celebrations were celebrating America's 47th birthday!

Most of my close friends have already left Singapore at this point, but I was lucky enough to spend the day with a native Singaporean - Marcus, an incoming TPP who will be starting at MIT in just a few weeks.  To begin the day, Marcus took me to High Tea at the Swisshotel Stamford, a very posh buffet on the 65th floor of one of Singapore's tallest buildings.  It was really nice to be in the AC (called "air con" here) and away from the crowds, and we could see everyone gathering at street level in preparation for the National Day Parade (NDP) from our table.

The view from high tea - crowds are starting to gather at the lower left to watch the parade.

After High Tea, we wandered out into the crowds, trying to place ourselves strategically to watch the festivities, especially the evening fireworks display.  We managed to cross the bridge in the above picture, eventually settling for a standing-room table at one of the bars on the Bay, which came at a steep cover charge (but with a "free" drink).  From our spot, we had a very clear view of the Bay and could roughly see what was happening at the Parade site.

Unlike what we consider to be a "parade" in the United States, the NDP is basically a big show which celebrates the history of Singapore, most notably its current armed forces (more on this later).  The venue in which it takes place only seats 10,000 people so it is extremely difficult to get tickets (especially for foreigners); most families watch the spectacle from home on TV.  The whole thing culminates in a large fireworks display from the center of the Bay, and many of the surrounding buildings participate in the light show as well (see below).

One of many sets of fireworks during the NDP.

As I mentioned, the Singaporean military is very present in these proceedings - we saw 3 flyovers, 6 parachute jumpers, a navy boat display, a 21-gun salute, and a massive flag flown by military helicopters in the course of a 3-hour show.  Like many other countries, Singapore has a mandatory national service requirement for all of its male citizens - interestingly enough, as Singapore was being formed in the late 1960s, the new government actually contacted the IDF in Israel so they could base their program off of Israel's system.  Singapore is located very strategically and has not always had the best political position in the region, and it really seemed as if the NDP festivities were the government flexing the muscles of its impressively large defense force.  Certainly interesting to an outside observer!

GIANT flag flown over the NDP coordinated to the President's entrance.

After National Day, I have three full days left in Singapore - today was spent at Sentosa (a resort island off the coast), tomorrow I'll be visiting the Botanic Gardens, and then Sunday I'll finally be making my way to the Jurong Bird Park.  It's crazy to think that I only have two nights left here, and that my next post will be written in Goreme, Turkey!

Happy August, and looking forward to seeing many of you soon!

Dara

PS: For a completely absurd look at National Day (as well as some strangely-placed commentary on Singapore's population issues), check out this YouTube video courtesy of a friend from MIT.  I warn you, it's pretty weird...

Thailand 2.0: Our Weekend in Phuket

Howdy, everyone!

So this post comes a little late, but I thought it was still worth it to provide a quick rundown of Chris and my weekend in Phuket, a beach island off the southwestern coast of Thailand.

After arriving in Phuket and making our way through the VERY long line at immigration, Chris and I were picked up by a driver at the airport and brought to our hotel in Patong Beach, one of two main town/beach areas on the island.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by the owner of our hotel: a very tan, very eccentric Australian man named Lindsay who was super helpful throughout our stay.  After informing us of all the potential dangers befalling tourists in Phuket (including but not limited to reckless tuk-tuk driving, drink spiking, ATM hacking, and passport theft), he sent us on our merry way to grab some dinner and explore the town.

The main bar/entertainment area in Patong Beach was about a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel, and on the way we made lots of little pit stops, checking out fruit markets, juice vendors (who made their smoothies with condensed milk and tons of liquefied sugar, I was unhappy to learn later), and the one Thai boxing stadium in town.  When we finally got to the bar street, it was complete sensory overload - neon signs, music blaring from every club, and thousands of people jostling their way through the street.  After walking up and down the length of the street once, we stopped for a quick drink at one of the many bars, and a woman who worked there insisted on playing a few rounds of "Connect Four" with both of us!  It turns out that I am very bad at this game (especially when sleepy), but Chris actually held his own and won his best-of-three.

In Phuket, even the taxis are meant for parties!

After our excursion into town, Chris and I headed back to the hotel and stayed up to watch the opening ceremony of the London Olympics (well, as much as the opening ceremony as we could stay awake for, considering it started at 3 AM Phuket time).  I think my assessment was similar to everyone else's - long, a bit strange, but overall quite entertaining.  It was definitely cool to see a few Michigan athletes in the mix!

Saturday morning, we woke up fairly early to grab some breakfast and head down to the beach.  Strong currents are yet another peril of Phuket, and if you're not smart and don't follow what the lifeguards are saying, it can be really dangerous.  Chris and I only stayed a few hours, however, taking quick dips in the sea (I've now kind of swum in the Indian Ocean!) and reading under our umbrella, trying to keep our sunburns from Malaysia out of the line of fire.

Yet another beautiful day at the beach!

After finishing at the beach, we went back to our hotel to freshen up (and apply more aloe) before meeting another hired driver to take us to the Phuket Weekend Market.  Although definitely not as big as Bangkok's weekend market, we still had a really great time, and got a chance to shop at a leisurely pace and get some final souvenirs from the southeast Asia part of our trip.  Upon returning to Patong Beach, we dropped all our goodies off at the room, then went and got our final Thai massages of the trip (5 massages after 6 total days in Thailand this summer, folks).  After getting back to our hotel, Lindsay and his partner greeted us with some snacks they had picked up at the market, which was so nice of them and a really great way to end the evening.

Sunday morning, we were picked up at 8:00 for our day-long speedboat excursion to Phang Nga bay, an area between Phuket and the mainland of the Malay peninsula.  After about an hour in a minibus and a short transit to the ferry dock, we boarded our speedboat, which we shared for the rest of the day with about 30 other guests and two tour guides (one English-speaking and one Russian-speaking).

Excited to be on our speedboat!

After cruising past some cool islands with amazing limestone rock formations, we arrived at our first stop of the day: Khao Phing Kan, or "James Bond Island."  In 1974, this island was used as a location for The Man with the Golden Gun as the hideout of the movie's antagonist, Francisco Scaramanga, and ever since has been one of the largest tourist traps in the region.   Even if I don't have a particular appreciation for all things Bond, it was cool to see, and was a nice stop to get off the boat and walk around for a little bit.

In front of the infamous island...

After the James Bond stop, we moved on to a sea canoeing location, which was pretty cool (although we weren't allowed to paddle our own boats and our driver kept harassing us for extra cash).  For 40 minutes, we were canoed through caves and cool rock formations, so much so that at points we had to duck so we wouldn't hit our heads.  Perhaps the weirdest/most interesting part of the day were seeing "walking fish," which were little fish that scuttled around during low tide getting into fights and making weird noises at one another (it's worthwhile to note that we also saw schools of flying fish that day - a weird fish day, I guess!).

Aggressive walking fish yelling at one another!

After our canoeing stop, we got back on the speedboat and traveled to Ko Panyi, a village of 1,600 people built entirely on stilts in the middle of Phang Nga Bay.  This village was built by Muslim immigrants in the late 18th century because of restrictions on land ownership to only Thai nationals; today, most of the people living there are descendants of the two original fishing families from Indonesia.  It was a nice lunch stop and an interesting place to walk around - some highlights included Chris getting handed a monkey by a local woman and seeing the "floating stadium" where the youth team practices (for more info on the town and stadium, check out this cool YouTube video).

Chris makes friends so easily.  This was right before it grabbed his nose...

The floating stadium!

In front of the village.

After our lunch stop, we traveled to one final island - a small beach where we spent about two hours swimming and relaxing before heading back to Phuket on the speedboat.  After getting back to our hotel, we changed, went and grabbed some dinner, then wandered around a bit more before turning in early, as we had to leave our hotel at about 6:30 to get our flight back to Singapore.

During the flight, it was so surreal to write "London" as my next port on my arrival card - I can't believe that I'm almost done my time here in Singapore!  The summer has flown by overall, but I'm so SO excited to head back and see my family in the US and move back into my lovely apartment in Cambridge.  I'll probably provide one more update on Singapore before I leave, then it's off to a 9-day Turkish vacation extravaganza with Alice!

Hugs,

Dara