Saturday, September 5, 2015

Trip to Turkey- Cappadocia, Ankara, Bolu

In Cappadocia, when you wake up in the morning and look out your balcony you will see hot air balloon. If you want to take a ride it will set you back USD200 per person. We decided to forgo this activity and take aleisure breakfast instead.

another view from our hotel
after breakfast, ready to do a lot of walking
First stop Pigeon Valley
As usual, the kids will always love feeding the animals. 
Uchisar castle area
the evil eye tree - for good luck
 View from across the street
We made a stop a weaving centre/ handmade carpet factory - dengar briefing- some carpets like the one below took up to 2 years to finish. We were brought into a room given tea and they started to display all sorts of carpets there- beautiful but too expensive for me.
This is silk on silk carpet- my favourite type, but it's not use as a carpet- more of an artwork- to be framed and hung. 
Next stop- Kaymakli Underground City, another UNESCO heritage. quite a number did not join us here cause some place are quite small.This is where the  Christians were living in 6,7 centuries.  There were 8 levels underground, starting at the 8th level. We went down to the 4 th level.

 It's a heavy door to open/close
 Going down
air well- to keep cool in summer and warm in winter
A perfect spot to take photos
After Kaymakli, we went for our lunch somewhere very near to our hotel. Lunch was good- we were surprised to see some of the Malaysian food being served there- rupanya chef is from Malaysia. 

 After lunch we went to the potter making place - Vanessa ceramic tiles
 Demo - kejap je dah siap satu pasu
 some of the products that they sell - I love the blue and white plate
 Very tedious to make. After the tiles, we went to turquaz and zultanite factory, all within the same complex. I did not buy anything here.
Next stop- Goreme open air museum - looks like Flintstones 
 Bergambar dulu- while waiting for the rest of the group
Side view

there are many churches here- apple church, snake church- macam macam lagi lah- can't really remember the names. from here we walk and climb to the hill at the back. If you look closely you can see it's full of people.
Time to start climbing - just have to be careful because they are many people going against your way, in some places you have to take turns going up or down.
Done- going down
 some of the walls or ceilings
 in one of the church
Almost done- the view was beautiful
On the way back to the bus- Irfan wants ice-cream- kena sakat dengan pakcik tu- as usual
 In Turkey, pistachio is the most popular nut- you see pistachio in chocolates, turkish delight, baklava...yum yums
 The next day we made our way to Ankara, about 4 hours drive from Cappadocia. In Ankara we visited Mustafa Kamal Ataturk mausoleum.  Kat sini all handphones will not work. Even if they do, somebody is probably listening to your conversation - that's what our guide told us.
surrounding view
 Bergambar dengan askar dulu- in winter they will stand guard inside the glass cubicle.

 We were lucky we managed to arrived just in time for the change of guard ceremony. Just look how high their feet is.


 After the event baru masuk mausoleum.
Downstairs they are some small museum of Mustafa Kamal history and belongings. DH strayed off and lost track of time. I had to backtrack to find him  (can't use the phone, remember?).  Cepat2 pegi bas- don't want everybody to wait for us. we had lunch here and  then to Bolu, a three hour drive.


Our hotel in Bolu was somewhere within the housing area. Ptg2 jalan2 pergi market- their veges are fresh and cheap here! Patutlah banyak hidang sayur kat sini. Look at the house - roses  punya banyak- inside you can see roses of all colours. The guy upstairs just stare at me when I was admiring the roses.
 Found a cat- main- main kejap- kucing kat sini suma jinak2
the cat followed us for some time. We didn't have any food to give. We stop by a supermarket to look for cat food but not available. Beli ice-cream for the cat, tapi bila balik we can't find the cat- last-last irfan yang makan icre-cream tu. balik hotel, had our dinner and tomorrow to Istanbul!

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