The pictures are up!!!!

Yes, finally you can see with your own eyes some of the crazy things we wrote about on our blog. There are many many pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

Click here to see them.

yes, please

istanbul, take two.

we definitely feel more comfortable with the city, though the millions of shopboys shouting "yes please, hola, g'day mate, this is my store, i give you best price, can i marry you?" was bad enough the first time.

we just went a little nuts at the grand bazaar, but feel confident that we got some deals. at least that's what they led us to believe.

tomorrow morning we take a very very early shuttle to the airport and then it's off to amsterdam...oh yes...

growing pains

we find ourselves on our last day in cappadocia. it has been very cool. it looks like the moon here -- actually, parts of star wars were inspired by this place, or so they say. we rode horses at sunset, took a verrrry long tour yesterday, took a hike on which we thought we were lost for hours, but turned out to be next to a main road and had only been hiking for 45 minutes...good times. it is hot here, but definitely not as bad as olympos. that was insanity. this town is not big enough for all of us, though. every time we leave the hotel, we see every single person we've met here.

last night we spent two hours trying to remember the theme song from 'growing pains.'

as long as we've got each other, we can take anything that comes our way...

boat + vandana = bad

we are at the treehouses in olympos. our "room" is literally a treehouse with gaping holes in the walls/ceiling, and a mattress on the floor. i think i'm what you'd call a "luxury traveler" -- this kind of stuff doesn't fly with me. i think i got a tummy illness from the nasty food (the guidebook also warns against "sewage" in the beach water near here. yummy.) but i'm feeling a bit better.

we had to cut the boat cruise short (thank god) as i was seasick and going crazy from the heat, waves, and the smell of sewage from the pump toilets in our our "cabins." not to mention the seven bikini-clad australian party girls, who we dubbed the spice girls, a.k.a. the seven spices. one night was more than enough, though we had signed up for two, and the rest of the passengers (the seven spices, three canadians, two turks, and an american peace corps volunteer living in azerbaijan) were staying onboard for three nights.

the most dramatic part of the cruise was when i swam in the middle of the ocean for the first time in my life and was promptly bitten/stung by some sort of sea creature on my rumpus. sea anemone? urchin? jellyfish? who knows. it wasn't serious, but it did require me to sit on a block of ice for half a day. i am officially done with the sea.

last night we did a ridiculous hike in the dark to see there eternal flames called "chimaera" on top of a mountain. it was sweaty and ridiculous, especially when we reached the summit and there were about a hundred russians shouting and drinking wine. i would swear i dreamed it all up, but sarah can back me up that it was real. and surreal.

next stop, cappadocia, which is supposed to look like some kind of moonscape. cool.

havoc at hamam

three things to note:

1) it is about 10 thousand million billion degrees here.

2) i am not american. when i say that i am from america i get incredulous looks until i say i am from india. suddenly i am legit. most people believe that sarh is american but they are more pleased when she explains her russıan and german heritage. although hindu and jewısh do not go over as well.

3) computer keyboards in turkey are dıffıcult to work with, as there are different letters, like ı (i wıth no dot, pronounced uh) and ş and ç. sorry if i hit the wrong one.

so havoc at the hamam happened when we went to the hamam in selçuk on ladies only day. an argument broke out when an irish woman insısted that since sarah and i had paid more than the locals, we should get to go first. the turkish women, many of whom were large and burly, did not lıke this at all. we composed a song about it all that we will gladly perform for you. it ınvolved a fast-paced dance sequence and a choreographed fıght.

tomorrow we start the cruise. i can only hope it is as entertainıng as the rest of this trip has been.

Gilligan & Co.

We find ourselves among tourists (not Turkish ones) here in Seljuk. The waitress at our hotel is from Sacramento. A curious place indeed. Last night we went to a local bar and taught the tourist crew how to play Set. Got some funny pictures, which, at this rate, we will not get to share with anyone until we return.

We are visiting another hamam today, and have spent the morning booking the rest of our itinerary, which now includes...a two night cruise! I'm hoping to find a Gilligan's Island-like crew on board, and plenty of island hopping and sunbathing. As many of you know, I am not the biggest fan of the ocean, but when in Turkey...

Ahoy, mateys!

merhaba

We are having some difficulty uploading photos to the blog...we will try posting them before leaving turkey tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Still here in istanbul. Yesterday we randomly went to a coffee shop and met a turkish man named "mike" (that's his chosen name -- apparently he picked it from some cowboy novel) who owned the shop/hotel. He has been to san francisco a million times and turned out to be very helpful. He introduced us to some american girls who were staying at his hotel. We ended up cruising the grand bazaar and spice bazaar together, and then sarah and i went to a hamam (turkish bath house) where burly turkish women scrubbed the living daylights out of us. it was delightful. we finished our evening with a friend of mine, anita, who is living in istanbul. she took us to a very busy section of town near taksim square, which is much less touristy (meaning much cheaper). we went to a few bars and spent a while laughing at a group of college-age european exchange students. the highlights were when the DJ played "istanbul (not constantinople)" and "hava nagila." oy vey!

More to come fans. Something tells me this is just the beginning...