I forgot something in the last post...hard to believe I know, that thing was like a short story...so you get two in one day.
All throughout our trip the locals have been welcoming and helpful but the guy on our bus from Fethiye to Kas gets points for the most persistent. If you remember from a few posts back, Josh's evaluation of the bus companies we take is solely based on whether or not they give out cakes. Our bus ride to Kas was only supposed to be a couple hours which usually means you may get some water, if you're lucky some tea. When the guy...I'm not sure what to call him, the bigger buses all have one or two guys whose job is to give out drinks and get your bags out from under the bus when you get to your stop...came by with his little cart Josh got some coke and I got some juice. Then he said tea or coffee? He said it like it was a question but when we said no he poured the hot water anyway. Two drinks wasn't too bad but a few minutes later he was back with bottled water. He proceeded to hold it up with a questioning look on his face but again when we said no we got a cup of water anyway. His generosity had convinced Josh that either we were also getting cakes, or he was having fun filling the tourists up with drinks when there was no bathroom on the bus. The trip ended with no cakes so either he was having a little fun...he did have a silly grin on his face everytime he poured a drink we hadn't really wanted...or we must have looked really thirsty and just didn't realize it.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sun, Sea and Sky
There's something about being near water that makes me smile. Case in point, as we came over a hill and around a corner on our bus ride from Fethiye to Kas four days ago and were surrounded on three sides by bright blue sea I was instantly filled with joy and could not get the smile of my face.
I should go back though, since some very exciting fun happened in Fethiye. Actually first I should say our good weather luck kind of ran out when we left Selcuk and it rained the whole day while we traveled to Fethiye which wasn't so bad since we spent most of the day on the bus. It did make the 20 minute walk to dinner from our hostel not so fun...my so called waterproof jacket isn't so waterproof, more like somewhat resistant. The next day was looking like it might be the best valentines day ever but we woke up to rain and clouds which put a bit of a damper on things...literally. It did start clearing up around 11am so we decided to make an attempt at paragliding, yup that's right, running off a cliff and hoping the parachute stops you from crashing into the trees below. After about 30 minutes on a winding road along the sea (no guard rails) then onto a dirt road that became a rocky path we were at the jump site. Our pilot told us to take a look around and 5 minutes later came to tell us that it was too windy to land so we wouldn't be taking off...probably a good idea...and back down we went. All was not lost though, on the way back to town we got dropped of in a place called Kayakoyu. It was largely abandoned after WWI and the Turkish war of independence when Greece and Turkey swapped their Christian and Muslim populations. Problem was there were a lot more Ottoman Christians that Greek Muslims and so lots of Turkish towns were never resettled. Two churches are still intact but the rest of the hundreds of homes and buildings that used to make up the town have started to crumble. We spent a good hour or two wandering in and out of buildings, scared up a few goats and came across some cows and exited at a ticket booth...the one where we entered was closed...which we walked by as nonchalantly as possible, not wanting to make them think we thought we should have paid. When we got back to the hostel we had company, a couple from New Zealand, Sonja and Murray, and we watched a crazy lightning storm before going to bed and hoping the weather would clear by morning...and it did! By 1pm we were up in the sky about 1500m, a little cold, but having an amazing time. Our run off a cliff was more like walking down a hill but it was pretty amazing all the same. To get down our pilots...we went tandem...suggested we try some tricks. This consisted of a crazy spin move where you're basically horizontal and then huge swooping circles to pull out of it. It felt like my stomach was in my throat...the contents of Josh's ended up on the beach when he landed...but a few seconds later we were on the beach. We went back to Fethiye planning on catching a bus to Kas that night but missed the last bus while we were having lunch so we trekked up to the ruins in town instead, thus concluding the best day after valentines day ever.
Back now to the bus ride to Kas. That day the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky and our hostel had a view of the harbour and a Greek island in the distance. A much smaller town that Fethiye there were lots of little shops to look through and we had lunch along the harbour. There seemed to be a gang of town dogs that ran around town and a few had found sunny spots in the outdoor cafe to take a nap. Josh has taken to naming all the dogs we meet. In return they seem to expect a sampling of our meal but they've so far been unsuccessful. The next day we rented scooters along with Sonja and Murray who showed up later the day before we took a trip to a couple sights a few towns over. First was a place called Ucagiz where we took a boat trip to see the ruins of a crusader castle in Simena, and then floated over the sucken city that used to be on Kekova island. Two earthquakes collapsed the town a few meters under the sea but you can still see the ruins on a calm day for about a kilometer and a half along the coast. After our little boat trip we hoped back on and went to a town called Demre and saw the ruins of Myra and the church of St. Nicholas who yes you guessed it, became the legend that is Santa Claus. Our last stop was a small beach where the gulet ships that take people on 4 day cruises in the summer were all up on shore, in various stages of repair and refurbishing and then we were off, 45 km back to Kas through the hills. It was probably the coldest 45 minutes I've experienced in a year as the sun went down and the wind became less than warm, but we were welcomed back to our hostel with a dinner of barbequed fish, soup and salad. Josh and I set out on our own yesterday without the scooter. We took a dolmus (public minibus) out to the ruins of Xanthos and then Patara, both ancient Lycian towns. We had both places all to ourselves which was kind of nice. What we didn't realize was that Patara is a little more than a few kilometers off the main road and there isn't much public transportation back and forth. A farmer picked us up on the way down and took us as far as the turn off to his house...he also gave us two cucumbers and an orange, gotta love Turkish hospitality...and then we walked probably about an hour down to the ruins and the beach, 18km of white sand. Josh didn't quite appreciate the walking, especially as on they way back we weren't sure if we'd have to walk the whole way. In the end we walked up past where we had be dropped off before but then were able to catch what I think was the local school bus up to the main road. It was full of kids who took great joy from saying hello and what's your name over and over again.
Now we're in Olympus staying in a 'treehouse'. Basically a little wood cabin on short stilts. There are some that look a little more like treehouses but they aren't heated so they're a no go in the winter months. This morning we walked down to the beach and through the ruins of the ancient town. We didn't quite get to see all of them because the waves are a little too high today and it would require getting more than a little wet to get to the otherside of the creek that runs from the beach up through town. We had planned on hiking up to Chimera to see the famous eternal flames but it started raining just before we started out so we're now waiting to see if the weather will clear...which is why I've had time for this long winded post. Hopefully those of you who actually made it this far think it was worth it.
I should go back though, since some very exciting fun happened in Fethiye. Actually first I should say our good weather luck kind of ran out when we left Selcuk and it rained the whole day while we traveled to Fethiye which wasn't so bad since we spent most of the day on the bus. It did make the 20 minute walk to dinner from our hostel not so fun...my so called waterproof jacket isn't so waterproof, more like somewhat resistant. The next day was looking like it might be the best valentines day ever but we woke up to rain and clouds which put a bit of a damper on things...literally. It did start clearing up around 11am so we decided to make an attempt at paragliding, yup that's right, running off a cliff and hoping the parachute stops you from crashing into the trees below. After about 30 minutes on a winding road along the sea (no guard rails) then onto a dirt road that became a rocky path we were at the jump site. Our pilot told us to take a look around and 5 minutes later came to tell us that it was too windy to land so we wouldn't be taking off...probably a good idea...and back down we went. All was not lost though, on the way back to town we got dropped of in a place called Kayakoyu. It was largely abandoned after WWI and the Turkish war of independence when Greece and Turkey swapped their Christian and Muslim populations. Problem was there were a lot more Ottoman Christians that Greek Muslims and so lots of Turkish towns were never resettled. Two churches are still intact but the rest of the hundreds of homes and buildings that used to make up the town have started to crumble. We spent a good hour or two wandering in and out of buildings, scared up a few goats and came across some cows and exited at a ticket booth...the one where we entered was closed...which we walked by as nonchalantly as possible, not wanting to make them think we thought we should have paid. When we got back to the hostel we had company, a couple from New Zealand, Sonja and Murray, and we watched a crazy lightning storm before going to bed and hoping the weather would clear by morning...and it did! By 1pm we were up in the sky about 1500m, a little cold, but having an amazing time. Our run off a cliff was more like walking down a hill but it was pretty amazing all the same. To get down our pilots...we went tandem...suggested we try some tricks. This consisted of a crazy spin move where you're basically horizontal and then huge swooping circles to pull out of it. It felt like my stomach was in my throat...the contents of Josh's ended up on the beach when he landed...but a few seconds later we were on the beach. We went back to Fethiye planning on catching a bus to Kas that night but missed the last bus while we were having lunch so we trekked up to the ruins in town instead, thus concluding the best day after valentines day ever.
Back now to the bus ride to Kas. That day the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky and our hostel had a view of the harbour and a Greek island in the distance. A much smaller town that Fethiye there were lots of little shops to look through and we had lunch along the harbour. There seemed to be a gang of town dogs that ran around town and a few had found sunny spots in the outdoor cafe to take a nap. Josh has taken to naming all the dogs we meet. In return they seem to expect a sampling of our meal but they've so far been unsuccessful. The next day we rented scooters along with Sonja and Murray who showed up later the day before we took a trip to a couple sights a few towns over. First was a place called Ucagiz where we took a boat trip to see the ruins of a crusader castle in Simena, and then floated over the sucken city that used to be on Kekova island. Two earthquakes collapsed the town a few meters under the sea but you can still see the ruins on a calm day for about a kilometer and a half along the coast. After our little boat trip we hoped back on and went to a town called Demre and saw the ruins of Myra and the church of St. Nicholas who yes you guessed it, became the legend that is Santa Claus. Our last stop was a small beach where the gulet ships that take people on 4 day cruises in the summer were all up on shore, in various stages of repair and refurbishing and then we were off, 45 km back to Kas through the hills. It was probably the coldest 45 minutes I've experienced in a year as the sun went down and the wind became less than warm, but we were welcomed back to our hostel with a dinner of barbequed fish, soup and salad. Josh and I set out on our own yesterday without the scooter. We took a dolmus (public minibus) out to the ruins of Xanthos and then Patara, both ancient Lycian towns. We had both places all to ourselves which was kind of nice. What we didn't realize was that Patara is a little more than a few kilometers off the main road and there isn't much public transportation back and forth. A farmer picked us up on the way down and took us as far as the turn off to his house...he also gave us two cucumbers and an orange, gotta love Turkish hospitality...and then we walked probably about an hour down to the ruins and the beach, 18km of white sand. Josh didn't quite appreciate the walking, especially as on they way back we weren't sure if we'd have to walk the whole way. In the end we walked up past where we had be dropped off before but then were able to catch what I think was the local school bus up to the main road. It was full of kids who took great joy from saying hello and what's your name over and over again.
Now we're in Olympus staying in a 'treehouse'. Basically a little wood cabin on short stilts. There are some that look a little more like treehouses but they aren't heated so they're a no go in the winter months. This morning we walked down to the beach and through the ruins of the ancient town. We didn't quite get to see all of them because the waves are a little too high today and it would require getting more than a little wet to get to the otherside of the creek that runs from the beach up through town. We had planned on hiking up to Chimera to see the famous eternal flames but it started raining just before we started out so we're now waiting to see if the weather will clear...which is why I've had time for this long winded post. Hopefully those of you who actually made it this far think it was worth it.
Friday, February 13, 2009
From the Mediterranean...
After a week in Turkey I thought I'd fill everyone in on our travels so far. First, I think I had a permanent grin on for the first three days. I did keep wanting to speak to people in Arabic but that doesn't work so well here. There are a few words here and there that are the same but it's mostly a completely different language. Oh, and while people thinking you're married to your brother might not be the greatest thing in most circumstances, it does wonders for warding off the Turkish men. The only downside is the stories of really awful pick-up lines but I'll trade that for hassle free travels any day...especially after six months in Egypt. People are kind of surprised to find a brother and sister traveling together. Most of them think they'd kill their sibling if they tried traveling together. Josh and I have been good so far. Probably helps he's easy going...I think one of his highlights is the chocolate cakes and tea we get on our bus rides...easy to please
In Istanbul we did a lot of walking, and saw the main sights...Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, and the pedestrian areas around Taksim Square. We also saw our first pro-football (soccer) game when we met up with a bunch of architecture students from the UK staying at our hostel. The game wasn't the greatest I've seen since it apparently didn't have too much meaning, but just going to the game is an experience in itself...you'd never find fans like these back home.
Next was a VERY early morning wake up to catch the ferry across the Marmara Sea and then a bus to Canakkale where we stayed one night to see the ruins of Troy. The ruins aren't that amazing but you go just to say you were there. It's also where we met two Aussie girls were trying to catch the same bus as us down to Selcuk...near Ephesus...one of them is from a town called Oakbank which was quite the coincidence. For those of you that don't know I grew up and went to school in a town called Oakbank. We were in Selcuk for three days and saw, in order, Ephesus, Merymana (the place they say the virgin mary died), Sirince (an old greek town known for their fruit wines), and Pamukkale. In Sirince we wandered into a jewelry shop only to find out that the jeweler there made all the jewelry worn in the movie Troy. I'm now the owner of a pair of earings worn by whoever it was that played the part of Helen...all you sceptics out there can keep quiet, there were newspaper clippings and everything.
Now we're in a seaside town called Fethiye and hoping for good weather so we can do some hiking the next few days. That's all for now...I'm not sorry to say I don't miss anywhere or anyone right now... life is great
In Istanbul we did a lot of walking, and saw the main sights...Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, and the pedestrian areas around Taksim Square. We also saw our first pro-football (soccer) game when we met up with a bunch of architecture students from the UK staying at our hostel. The game wasn't the greatest I've seen since it apparently didn't have too much meaning, but just going to the game is an experience in itself...you'd never find fans like these back home.
Next was a VERY early morning wake up to catch the ferry across the Marmara Sea and then a bus to Canakkale where we stayed one night to see the ruins of Troy. The ruins aren't that amazing but you go just to say you were there. It's also where we met two Aussie girls were trying to catch the same bus as us down to Selcuk...near Ephesus...one of them is from a town called Oakbank which was quite the coincidence. For those of you that don't know I grew up and went to school in a town called Oakbank. We were in Selcuk for three days and saw, in order, Ephesus, Merymana (the place they say the virgin mary died), Sirince (an old greek town known for their fruit wines), and Pamukkale. In Sirince we wandered into a jewelry shop only to find out that the jeweler there made all the jewelry worn in the movie Troy. I'm now the owner of a pair of earings worn by whoever it was that played the part of Helen...all you sceptics out there can keep quiet, there were newspaper clippings and everything.
Now we're in a seaside town called Fethiye and hoping for good weather so we can do some hiking the next few days. That's all for now...I'm not sorry to say I don't miss anywhere or anyone right now... life is great
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Temporary change of location...
So for the next 3 weeks or so this blog will actually be the adventures of Stephanie and Josh in Turkey. We've spent the last couple days wandering the streets of Istanbul, which I love, and are hopefully catching a ferry south tomorrow morning, but not before ending of our first stop at a football match with our new friends from London. I'm not going to promise much in the way of updates because well, I'm on holidays...if you want you can check out Josh's blog at joshdyck.blogspot.com...
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
More photos
Mom and I on top of a small "mountain" in the sinai desert
My camel...he never spit once...camels do fart a lot though
Sunset over the Nile in Luxor
Tea in a Bedouin village
Dad killing me at cards
Mom and I in front of .... can you guess?
Our Bedouin guide making bread for breakfast
Mom and I in front of our candle lit campsite
Monday, January 26, 2009
Weekend getaway
Okay so the getaway wasn't so much mine as it was my friends' who came to stay with me while they visited Aswan. Catherine, who I went to Siwa with, is leaving Egypt next Saturday, and her friend Joel is on a break from university here, so they came to visit. They arrived on the train on Saturday morning and while they toured around the islands and west bank in Aswan I spent a few hours at work. I should probably preface the rest of this post by saying that I also woke up Saturday morning and was unable to see across the Nile because of the thick dust that had settled over the city. They had a great time and I went to my very dusty office. By the end of the day my voice was on the verge of disappearing but I was otherwise having a great time. I met them afterwork at a restaurant for some tea and cake with four Canadians they ran into while checking the opening times of the museum and then we got a taxi back into town for dinner.
I took the next day off and the three of us hoped in a microbus for the 4 hour ride to Abu Simbel (only 40km from the Sudanese border) which is on the shores of Lake Nasser. It is the largest man made lake in the world, 310 miles long, and was created when they built the high dam in Aswan. It pretty much flooded all of the land previously inhabited by the Nubians as well as covering up numerous historical sites. The temples of Hathor and Ramses II were two of 14 structures that were taken apart and rebuilt on the shores of the lake by UNESCO. The whole production in Abu Simbel cost only $40 million dollars...only. They're really well preserved because they were covered by sand for thousands of years. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside but you can get an idea of the size of them from the outside.
After a long 4 hour ride back we bought food in the market to cook dinner and spent the evening at my flat. They left this morning and I was back to work. I still can barely talk and I feel like I've coughed up a lung today but the dust has gone and my homemade chicken noodle soup should help clear things up. I'm also thinking that if this is the only sickness I've had here I'm doing pretty well. Many people end up with stomach bugs and we all know what that can lead to so a sore throat isn't too bad as long as I don't cough up a lung...which feels like a real possibility right now.
Friday, January 16, 2009
I'm back!
The last month has been a busy one but I'm back to blogging (sorry to those of you who have been checking only to find my now month old post) and at work after two weeks off while my parents were visiting from Canada.
I'll start with work and end with the fun stuff...not that work isn't also fun! Now in my fifth month in Egypt I can say I'm feeling more connected to life and my work here. Relationship building in a new place always takes time but I feel like I'm slowly creating a place for myself at work and in my friendships both at work and otherwise. The week after the feast holiday we took the kids on a small field trip to one of the islands in the Nile that has a botanical garden. You'd think that living beside a river would mean that people would be fairly comfortable in a boat, but I realized that assumption was misguided as there were many nervous kids and adults whenever the boat was rocked by waves from some of the larger boats on the water.
The photo documentation of the kids stories has taken a bit longer than I thought to get up and running, but what has started to come in has been really great and has helped
me to get to know the kids better and see the impact of the project over the past number of years. It also looks like I'll be testing out my teaching abilities as some of the staff and older kids want me to start holding English lessons. Schools in Egypt to teach English, but as in Canada with French, most people don't use it enough to actually learn and retain the ability to speak it well. I think I'll be learning a thing or two about English grammar along the way too!
Now for the past two weeks that I spent with my parents. They arrived late on New Years Eve and actually took the same flight from Cairo to Aswan as the director and accountant of EACID so they were well looked after for the last leg of their journey. After getting back to my flat I got to open my Christmas presents...they actually had a whole suitcase just for me! Even though I live in Aswan, we didn't actually spend much time here and by the second day we were packed up and off until the day my parents left for Canada.
We started with a felucca trip down the Nile which didn't actually get very far because the winds meant we had to track back and forth across the river all day, only actually making it 10km downstream. Despite the short distance we had a great time, ate well, and slept on the boat on a beach on the bank of the river.
The next morning we were picked up and taken to Luxor, stopping in to see the temple at Edfu along the way. We only spent one night in Luxor and spent the next day touring the we
st bank with Mohamed who is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the hist
ory there. He also invited us to eat with his family later in the afternoon and we spent the rest of our day with them and I now have an adoptive family in Luxor where I'm welcome to visit anytime. Next on our itinerary after taking the night train to Cairo was the pyramids at Giza. While some of the significance was lost since my lonely planet book was our only guide, they really are amazing to look at. Before that day I had only seen them from afar when they looked like little minatures of the real thing.
The next day we took an early morning flight to Sharm el Sheik where we were met by our guide for the next 3 days. We drove to Dahab where we ate and collected supplies befo
re driving on the desert road to meet our camels who would be our transporta
tion for the next two days. We met them in the middle of no where and after we packed up...and they snacked on the card board boxes that had been carrying our water...we were off into the wilderness of the Sinai desert.
We stopped in a bedouin village and Naiomese tombs before setting up camp for the night. Sleeping under the moon and stars was amazing, if not a little cold, and after 7 hours on the camels the next day I was ready to rest muscles I haven't used in awhile. We
left our camels and camelier in the desert and drove to Saint Catherines for a quick meal and then an early bedtime. After only four hours of sleep we were awake and dressed for our hike up Mount Sinai with about a thousand othe
rs to watch the sunrise. We were told that is is "scientifically the best sunrise in the world"...which we decided afterwards might be a slight exageration, but the novelty of seeing the sunrise from the top of Mount Sinai was worth it and was made even better by the fact that we were taken up the back way and were able to hike most of the way up and down all on our own.
After coming down off the mountain we changed into clean clothes, had a good breakfast and then went to visit St. Catherine's monastery, said to be the oldest operating monastery in the world and the place that preserved the Christian faith through numerous attacks and persecution. My dad was determined to actually talk to one of the monks there to ask if he could "borrow" his prayer beads as a gift for someone back home, but we had to settle on some from the monastery gift shop as the monks time was dominated by a greek couple who appeared to be there for the day. Our trip then came full circle as we drove back to Dahab. We had decided the day we arrived that an extra day there instead of in Cairo might be a good idea and it was well worth the $10 each to change our flights and relax in Dahab the next day. Reading and relaxing on the beach and watching the sunrise over Saudi Arabia then next day was well worth it as we braced ourselves for returning to the chaos of Cairo. We spent the next two and a half days in Cairo visiting the old Coptic Christian center of the city which contains churches and synagogues from the 3rd and 4th centuries, braving the bazar at the Khan al Khalili, and exploring the churches at Manshiet Nasr, or Garbage City, as it is sometimes more commonly known. We also had dinner with Reem and Rachel who work for the project and live in Cairo. My parents last night in Egypt was spent on the train back to Aswan where I took them to see the office, meet my coworkers and watch the sunset over the Nile. We had a great dinner and then walked back through the bazar (much more calm that the one in Cairo) so my parents could pick up a few last things to bring back. After repacking a few things we were off to the airport and they started their 24 hour journey back to Winnipeg. Just like that I'm back on my own, and back to work. It's been great to reconnect with people here. Even the guys at the grocery store and vegetable stand have asked where I've been.
That pretty much sums up the last month or so. Christmas came and went fairly uneventfully since people here don't celebrate until January 7th, but I did get to skype with my family while they opened presents on Christmas morning and talk to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins while they were together to celebrate Christmas. A year ago I never thought I'd be blogging from Egypt and the next months most likely take me place I can't yet imagine so stay tuned! ....I promise to be more regular with my updates!
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