BootsnAll Travel Network



Asia Miner…

Celebrated Yom Kippur with a large breakfast before heading to the famed ruins of Ephesus.  Felt no guilt whatsoever…I’m sure I’ll have a forced fast on a 20-hour bus trip before long…

Ephesus is known for being the best-preserved Roman city in the Eastern Mediterranean, wanted to check it out while in the neighborhood.  It was impressive – but so were the crowds of tourists.  You can definitely get a feel for how the city was laid out – a fair number of structures are still partially standing.  But fighting through the crowds was a drag – it’s a place to visit once, then be glad it’s over.

eph1eph2eph3

Walked back to Selcuk from the ruins.  Came upon the Artemis Temple, once a massive place with 127 columns, one of Pliny’s 7 ancient wonders of the world.  Now there’s a single column standing – which made me wonder, why just one?  Seems strange – shouldn’t there be zero, or perhaps four?  Anyway, not many crowds there – that was a relief.

Stopped at Amazon Restaurant for lunch – was famished after ruin-hopping.  It was still Yom Kippur, but by now it was clear I’d not be adhering to the ancient fasting custom so I might as well go for broke.  Had an Efes beer, appropriately, then some fried cheese with the juiciest tomato I’d ever had, and finally a good chicken dish.  My table was outside and there was the barest glimpse of the Artemis Temple.  Pretty cool – sitting, eating and drinking, with a view of one of the seven ancient wonders.  Must do this more often…

Took a long nap, then got up and went for a run along the highway.  Then had dinner at the Nazar Hotel’s rooftop resto – the mother, Ayse, can really cook, I had an eggplant moussaka dish that was dynamite.  The sun had set by the time I got up there so my photo attempts weren’t impressive.  Oh well.  Selcuk has a citadel that reminded me of Jodhpur’s Meherangar.  Look it up online if you really care…

Finished ‘Live from Jordan’ by Ben Orbach, the book’s about an American student of Arabic who spends a year in Amman and Cairo.  Quite a singular experience – he really got inside the seams of the local culture.  I didn’t find his analyses or philosophy all that deep, but they were a hell of a lot farther along than anything put out by the Bush Administration.  I wish we had more people like Ben Orbach…

My phone connection stopped working.  ‘SIM not available’ was the message.  Weird.  Checked into Turkcell the next day – turned out I had to ‘register’ the SIM card with the government.  I knew this was too easy – Turkey is liberalizing but it still has a degree of control and ‘war on terror’ that exceeds what you see in the West.

You can’t access YouTube here – apparently it has something to do with al-Qaeda or Kurdish terrorist videos being posted there.  Or something like that.  The bigger issue for me here is that the Turkish keyboard is torture – there are two letter ‘i’s here, and the more common one lacks a dot above it – this key is in the place of our ‘i’ with the dot.  I couldn’t access my email on a regular computer till I figured out the ‘i’ trick.  By the time I die I will have seen nearly everything, my friends…

Meanwhile, my back was starting to bother me…again.  It had been almost two years since my previous flareup, and that persisted for many moons, till I saw the blessed chiropractor Dr. Pardis in Cebu.  I decided to put the running on hold for a few days and switch to yoga, that might help.

At the same time, the markets were crapping out.  I felt a bit bad for myself, with a bad back and a shrinking portfolio.  But I quickly snapped out of it – I don’t really have any grounds to feel sorry for myself.  Better days are ahead, my friends…am I starting to sound like John McCain??  In the second Pres. debate he claimed to know how to take care of so many things that I almost switched my vote to him…

All that said, I was starting to mull the prospect of returning to work in some capacity.  Had interesting email exchanges with some friends and I might do a call or two later this month to investigate further.  Might be a good idea to bring in some fresh cash in the next year or two, given the dismal economic prospects…but it will be hard to set aside the travels and buckle down.  Let’s see where this all goes.

Went to Bodrum after Ephesus/Selcuk.  Bodrum’s on the southwest coast of Turkey, right where the Aegean turns the corner to the Mediterranean.  Herodotus, the ‘father of history,’ came from Bodrum, known as Harlicarnassus back then.  Now it’s a major coastal resort – I wanted to check it out briefly.  I had considered instead going inland to see ancient Afrodisias, an Ephesus-like Roman ruin, with a fantastic name to boot – the antecedent of ‘aphrodesiac.’  But my back was sore, I didn’t feel like tramping around more ruins, and I felt like getting back to the cooler coast.  Also, Bodrum has its own ancient wonder – the Mausoleum, the tomb of former king Mausolus.  More on that soon…

As I awaiting my bus to Bodrum, I watched Friday prayers at a mosque near the otogar.  Muslim prayers are fairly athletic – lots of standing, kneeling and abasing.  Active much like yoga is…and Friday prayers are lengthy, it’s their holy day.  I must have watched for a half hour before my bus started to roll.  Maybe these Muslims are onto something…

The bus left 90 minutes after scheduled, I was a bit annoyed as I’d sort of rushed to get to the station on time.  Generally Turkish buses are on time so this was the first cock-up – not that big a deal.  Sitting near me on the bus were a few Kurds traveling from Turkey’s southeast Kurdish areas to Bodrum for work.  Nice guys.  At one point the bus sped by a fake speed trap – literally, a cardboard or wood police car mock-up – a decent artistic effort, and a cost-effective way to deal with speeding.  I’ve seen another one of these since.  Clever.  Is there a market for designing and marketing these things?  Ari, what do you think?  The bus driver didn’t get fooled, he plies this route every day…but even if it fools a third of drivers, it’s probably cost-effective.

Got to Bodrum, checked into Sevin Pension, which was a solid little place.  The manager seemed to do everything there but wash the floors.  My room was OK – clean but a bit cramped.  Dumped my bag and raced to find Turkcell Extra, the mobile phone company’s shop.  Got there, talked with the rep and learned to my chagrin that I’d need to buy a new SIM and register that one.  Ugh – not that cheap.  Did it – had to sign about 6 forms and the phone still didn’t work.  Was told that the government had to switch it on, and that it could take a bit of time.  I wasn’t able to do anything more…had to wait.  I hate bureaucracy, but what could I do?

Bodrum was nicer than I expected.  There was a definite après-season feel in the air – crowds weren’t bad, the air was cool, and the locals seemed eager for business.  Not a bad time to visit, although if you want to party hearty then summer’s the time to go.  You’d just need to book way in advance and be prepared for crowd hell.  I wasn’t in that mood so I was happy.

Had a kumpir (stuffed potato) and a couple beers, then headed back to my room early that night, Friday night.  My back was killing me – I was cranky as a result.  And I was tired from the long day of traveling.  Broke out my laptop and watched a few episodes of Season One of ‘Heroes,’ the television series.  Pretty compelling stuff – till the DVD (pirated, from Cebu) crapped out.  Torture.  Couldn’t get it going again – wound up tossing it and moving on to Season Two.  Obviously, missed a bunch of episodes so might try to find Season One when next in the Philippines.  The problem is that they churn out these DVDs in batches, so all of them might be screwy.  Could suck it up and buy Season One from Amazon…we’ll see if I find myself dying to make up the lost episodes.

Woke up cranky – bad back, bad markets, bad DVD.  Continued feeling bad until I went down for breakfast and saw the manager’s friend moving himself around in a wheelchair, then a middle-aged woman with a walker.  The wheelchair-bound fellow turned out to be a lovely guy, he told me about his buddy, a yoga teacher and masseuse who had spent years in Calcutta and who could come over and minister to my back later in the day.  Hallelujah.  I had considered going to the hammam (Turkish bath), to get a massage, but this sounded better, if perhaps more costly.  I was not price-sensitive at this point.

Managed to walk over to the city castle, which is now an ‘Underwater Archeological Museum.’  The castle was built by the Byzantines, then taken over by the Knights of Rhodes, before falling to the Ottomans.  There was a sign there to the effect that the museum is not underwater, it just displays objects found underwater.  Duh.  I can only imagine cretin tourists asking stupid questions and requiring a sign like this to be posted…

Some terrific exhibits here.  One room had ancient glass objects found on the ocean floor from wrecks, some of the pieces were from the 14th century BC.  Wow.  These things are still around and largely intact…and I can’t even find my Zeta Psi beer mug?!

Another room had pieces found on the Uluburun wreck, also from the 14th century BC – the oldest wreck ever recovered, near the coast in the 1980s.  Simply awesome.

ulub

Very good museum, despite it not actually being under water…

Went back to the hotel and got my massage.  The fellow looked like he spent a good chunk of his life in Calcutta – wild hair, bone-thin, and a wide grin.  He spent an hour beating the crap out of me and it really helped.  I felt about 50% better afterward and crossed my fingers for further improvement over time.

Walked to the Mausoleum, which is now in pieces.  Apparently it was in decent shape, albeit largely buried, till 1522, when the Knights broke it up to reinforce the castle (now underwater museum), which fell to the Ottomans anyway.  Nice job guys – destroy one of the seven ancient wonders to work on your crib.  Thanks.

mausoleum

Heard that Thailand and Cambodia are fighting over a temple near Angkor, and a patch of forest.  Reminds me of one wag’s line about the recent Ethiopia-Eritrea wars:  ‘two bald men fighting over a comb.’  This should put a nice dent in their tourist sectors.  Nice job, guys…

Sevin Pension has wireless, called friend Steve, who splits his time between the RP and the USA.  He’s in New Hampshire right now, plotting his return to Dumaguete in a few months.  His portfolio has taken a real beating, for some reason he’s had and kept most of his money in Toyota stock – hmmm.  Also got a call from fratbro Ari, who manages money and claimed to have about US$9 left.  Might be a good time to buy plutonium…

Sevin’s outdoor café plays the funniest 70s and 80s music.  Haven’t heard some of this shit since I was in Manila.  ‘Reunited’ by the Greg Kihn Band.  Classic.

Saturday night – back felt better so went out for a while, but not big-time.  Bodrum has a huge night scene, this place must really go off in season, but now it was fairly calm.  Went into a place appropriately called ‘First Stop.’  Got an Efes beer, poured it into a mug.  Bartender soon came over and tried to do the same, but I had beat him to it – and we both had tried to get every drop out of the bottle and into my mug.  I teased him about being slow to the punch.  He laughed.  I swear that Turks must be some of the nicest people on the planet – right up there with Filipinos.

Went out and saw a bit later the Halikarnas Disco.  This place is renowned for being the glitziest place around, and probably one of the wildest/most technologically-advanced discos in the world.  It doesn’t really get going till 1 a.m. or so – I didn’t hang around for that, but wouldn’t mind returning some day to participate in the mayhem.

It wasn’t that exciting an evening – lots of Brits and Turks sitting around sucking on beers and watching soccer.  I turned in around midnight and rested my back.

Was heading to Marmaris the next morning.  Got up, had breakfast, said bye to the manager and the guy in the chair, who was about to buy a glass-bottom canoe or two and start up a business.  I gave him my email and asked him to keep me posted – we had hit it off pretty well.

Marmaris is another largeish seaside resort town.  Not that historic as far as these places go, but apparently situated on a stunning peninsula which you can check out on a motorbike.

The Red Sox and Rays split the first two games of the American League Championship Series.  Fingers crossed.  The Rays look tough this year.

On the bus to Marmaris read a book given to me by Ellen of Key West, whom I’d met in Istanbul.  This was ‘Leap of Faith’ by Jordan’s Queen Noor.  What an unusual life she’s had – started life as a fairly average American and wound up married to King Hussein.  The book was pretty good, at least in the early going.  In the intro the Queen thanked many people, among them her cousin Pedro Arboleda.  I had a colleague at Monitor by that name, might email him and see if he is indeed the Queen’s cousin.  That would be random…

Got to Marmaris – took a dolmus (minivan) from otogar into town.  Wound up far from where I wanted to be.  Took an expensive taxi to ‘Bar Street,’ my hotel, Hote Begonya, was apparently around there.  But it was not – thanks, Lonely Planet.  No hotel around there.  Took another pricey taxi to an area where there were supposedly many hotels and pensions.  That there were, but my preferred place was full.  Torture.  Ended up walking around, and found an ‘apart-otel’ that seemed OK.  Price was right – room was actually a suite of sorts.  Not super nice or spotless, but for two days perfectly doable.

Walked to the beach to relax.  Passed by a Hotel called Otel Nadir.  Great name, like the Chevy Nova marketed to Latin America.  Wondered if ‘nadir’ meant anything in Turkish.  Remind me to look that up.

Got a chair at the beach and passed out.  My hotel search in the heat had been taxing.  And my back still hurt.  Incredible how much of a toll having a sore back takes – I can probably only muster half the joie and energy I usually have.  Gotta take care of this ASAP…

Took a nap, then got up and practiced yoga for an hour.  That seemed to help substantially.  My joie rose and I went out.  Walked downstairs and asked the receptionist where I could hire a scooter for a ride around the peninsula the next morning.  He in turn walked me over to his manager, a fellow named Ismail who was working the café floor just outside.  Ismail turned out to be a terrific guy – lives half the year in Britain, has a British accent, and couldn’t be more personable.  I wish I drew energy from fellow humans like this guy does.  Anyway, he gave me the card of a rental place, then encouraged me to hang out at the café.  I did – had a couple beers and chatted for an hour or so with him.  He’s also heavily invested in the markets and we traded sob stories for a while.  Then we got into his shweet Mercedes and he drove me over to Bar Street for a look around.  Poverty is indeed a relative term…or frame of mind.  Keep that in mind, young Slone…

Marmaris was sort of growing on me.  My initial impressions had not been great – otogar far from the center, rip-off taxis, hotels not where they were supposed to be.  But the Atay Apart-Otel, which I hadn’t really taken to, had turned out to be more than OK.  Room was fine, and the café was fun.  Sometimes I’m guilty of adhering too much to my guidebook for lodging options – or maybe it’s just that I’m a bit lazy and don’t feel like doing much online research or hoofing it around with my pack.  When it comes to big cities with poor value lodging, I do spend time online and do my homework, otherwise I’d get ripped off.  All that said, I buy a guidebook to give me recommendations, so I’m surely not weird or alone in this regard.  It’s just that there are often diamonds in the rough that I miss…also, places listed in the guidebook seem to experience price hikes that defy gravity.  My guidebook was published in April 2007 – add a year onto that, so the data is about 2.5 years old.  Some of the hotels I visit have nearly doubled their prices in that timeframe – a bit excessive, methinks.  Being listed seems to encourage these places to raise their prices – while those places not listed, or new, must try harder.  More on this later…

Had a few beers at the many places in Bar Street, ate some manti (dumplings) at a little outdoors café, and chatted with a few Germans.  That felt like a night, so walked back to the hotel.

Checked email, then reached the hotel.  Saw Ismail sitting with a couple at the café, he hailed me and I went over to say hi.  He invited me to join them – why not.  The couple were Welsh, Joel and Nina, and they were good fun.  Had a couple more beers and talked politics with them – I do enjoy telling non-Americans about what’s going on with the current elections.  We were on the same page, so no real arguments, just a lot of back-slapping and cheers going round.

Next morning, got up and looked to rent a motorbike.  This proved more difficult than envisioned.  I had the card for a place near the hotel, walked there, not open yet.  Saw another place, but it only rented cars.  Oh well – waited around till 10 a.m. till the first place opened.  Went there a bit after 10, a counter window was open and music was blaring, but no human in sight.  Yelled, rapped on the door, no one.  Eventually went back to the hotel, saw Ismail, he called and got the owner, who wasn’t at the shop, and anyway they had no bikes to rent.  Ugh.  Ismail just pointed me towards the beach road and said to head to the right, I’d see a place sooner or later.  I was kicking myself for not taking care of this the previous night, but I had been weary and generally you can’t find much fault with me when it comes to planning things like this – I deserve a break every now and then.

I walked for a while, thinking about the twin themes of personal responsibility and resignation.  As I just wrote, almost always I’m very good about taking care of administrative crap like booking a hotel or renting a bike…often it’s just out of my hands.  For instance, I had tried to call Hotel Begonya in Marmaris before arriving, but hadn’t gotten through.  That might have told me something (i.e., it no longer existed), but often phone numbers change.  My point is that I’m starting to feel like there’s a threshold for me that I’m starting to see more clearly – I can only do so much, at which point it’s not fair/realistic to expect me to try harder.  The issue for me is that when I hit that line, I get a bit depressed/resigned – and I was feeling this way as I trudged along, looking for a bike.  I really wanted to get on a bike and speed along the coast – it was supposed to be a classic day-trip.  But I didn’t feel, with my sore back and slight hangover, like searching for hours.

This concept of a personal responsibility threshold is a bit of a trap for me.  I guess one solution is to try to push the threshold; being willing to try/search harder, while annoying, will at least likely be better than my becoming depressed.  I thought about this and decided to look for another 15 minutes.  And I turned the corner and saw two Yamahas with a ‘for rent’ sign on them.  Hallelujah.

That was the start of a brilliant day riding around the Hisaronu Peninsula.  Some of the best coastal views I’ve ever seen:

pen1pen2pen3

Meant to follow the road around the peninsula – not all that straighfoward, given the mountainous nature of the peninsula, which meant that roads converge in the center.  Slightly confusing – I had a couple false trails which later forced a course correction.  I followed what must have been a logging trail for miles, over scrum and rocks.  Clearly not the suggested road – oh well.  It was all good, though – I covered all sorts of terrain and felt comfortable on the bike, hadn’t ridden in months.

Stopped in the nice little harbor town of Bozburun, had lunch at Fishermen House, run by a local fisherman and his family.  Had a great kalamar tava (fried calamari – ten times as good, and cheaper, than a similar dish in Istanbul).  And some nice dolma, stuffed grape leaves.  Very pleasant to just sit there and watch the boats in the bay.  Thought about going for a swim at the local beach…and at some other beaches along the route…but I wasn’t that impressed with the Aegean beaches, at least those I saw.  A bit small, rocky, and modest.  I guess the Goan and Philippines beaches have spoiled me!

Got back to town.  Superb day, was happy I’d forced myself to go and track down a bike that morning.  Walked over to Turkcell Extra’s shop in the town center – my phone still wasn’t working.  The guy there told me that the government sometimes took a while to register a phone, it could take 10 days.  Hmmm – that wouldn’t be good.  But what could I do?  Here again, a case of personal resignation…I trudged back to the hotel.  Hell, it wasn’t the end of the world, it’s just convenient to have a mobile to call hotels, friends, etc.  You know – how would you do without a mobile these days?

Back was feeling much better, despite the dodgy mattress at this hotel.  Must have been the massage plus the yoga.  I was feeling good about my short Marmaris stay – the Atay had been solid enough, and Ismail and the Welsh couple were good company.

Read the Queen Noor book for a while, did some yoga, then went down to the café for beer and dinner.  Joel the Welshmen walked by en route to the internet café, and soon returned to join me.  Nina wasn’t feeling well, she was staying in, so Joel and I ramped up our beer consumption and soon Ismail came by to chat as well.  Funny how fast social networks (real ones, not Facebook) can form.  I had been in Marmaris for a day and a half and already felt like I had a crew.

Good time of year to be here.  Not that many people, quite relaxed.  Enough of a crowd to scare up some trouble if you really want it.

The US$ is strengthening, for some reason.  Some comfort in the midst of all this turmoil.  At least the market bounced back early in the week, up 900 points on Monday.

Joel and I were still sitting at our table, drinking Efes beer, when two scary English harpies came by.  One, with big blonde hair and an armful of tattoos, asked in a cockney accent if we knew where to get a taxi.  Joel cringed at the sight and sound of her, a countrywoman…I nearly did as well, but just pointed her across the street, where there was a taxi stand in plain view.  The woman was a true beast.  Sometimes I forget that America doesn’t have a monopoly on morons – we do have a plurality, though.

Turned in.  Was traveling the next day, on to Fethiye.  Got up, filled up the bike and returned it.  I’m always happy to get these things off my hands, I worry about someone stealing them.

Checked emails.  Got a comment on my blog from Ellen from Key West, she of the Queen Noor book.  She had just gotten back to the States from Jordan and had read my recent blog entries…seemed to enjoy them.  Also got an email from college buddy John and a few other friends.  Before I knew it, I’d spent an hour sitting there and had to return to the hotel to pack up and head off.

Hopped on a bus to the next seaside town, Fethiye, a larger place where I’d only have one night.  A friendly Turkish guy from Fethiye was on the same bus, and gave me some tips for the place.  Chatted for a while – he told me that he earns 700 Turkish lira a month as a bartender.  That’s not much loot – only about US$525/month.  And prices aren’t that cheap, so his purchasing power is weak.  How do people make ends meet??

He showed me to the proper dolmus when we reached Fethiye.  Got dropped off fairly near my hotel, Hotel Horizon, which required a trudge up a steepish San Francisco-like hill.  Reward:  superb views of the harbor.

feth1feth2

Fethiye was pleasant enough, but it seemed mostly given over to two of my least favorite things:  shopping and real estate sales.  I’m sure there’s much more, but that’s what I saw during my 20 hours there.

Ate a doner kebab while walking around.  Felt something wet on my pants – was it raining?  Not raining per se – instead, it was raining doner kebab sauce on my white t-shirt and pants.  Yay.  Returned to the hotel and washed them off, then showered and changed.

Best thing about Fehtiye, IMHO:  fish dinners.  You go to the fish market, pick out a fish, get it weighed and costed, then choose one of the restos ringing the fish market and get them to cook it for you.  They charge about 4 bucks to cook the fish, plus they give you a salad and some pita bread.  Not bad at all.  I had a half-pound sea bass, which cost about US$8, plus the resto cost.  Delicious fresh fish and meal, and pretty cheap.

Read in the newspaper that Robert Mugabe is already reneging on his deal with the opposition.  Figures.  You heard it here, a few weeks ago.  The photo of Mugabe in the paper was something out of George Orwell’s worst nightmares – the epitome of a totalitarian madman:

mugabe

Also read that John McCain wants to lower the capital gains and dividend tax rates.  Not too sure that’s what we need right now – if you lower capital gains tax rates, you might encourage selling of shares, not capital formation, at least not in the near-term.  And we do need to fix things in the near-term, Johnny.  Then again, he’s on the record as being clueless about the economy.

In the middle of the night, I awoke to the most incredible thunder and lightning.  Truly biblical – the sky and earth seemed to shake with the booms.  The sky lit up like it was daytime.  Rain was pounding down.  Hadn’t seen a storm like that in ages.  Went back to sleep, somehow.]

Next morning, caught a bus to my final stop on this round of Aegean/Mediterranean Turkish spots, Kas.  I’d heard terrific things about Kas, including the de rigeur kayak trip where you go over the submerged ruins of a Roman town.  Got to Kas – a tout was at the bus station, and convinced me to go with him to check out his hotel.  As I mentioned earlier in this post, I’m probably not spontaneous enough about investigating ‘unlisted’ lodging options, so this time I gave in and tried to keep an open mind.  I suppose, with touts, that I’m closed-minded because I’m skeptical of places that have touts in the first place.  But there could be multiple reasons – the place is new, it didn’t get looked at by the guidebook authors for whatever reason, etc.  I went with the fellow, and he took me to Kalahay Hotel.  This place turned out to be a huge gem, and probably much better than the places in my book which I was set on looking at.

Kalahay had spotless rooms with ensuite, a nice rooftop café, an adventure booking office to handle kayaking, diving, etc., wireless internet, you name it.  All for about US$18 a night.  Excellent value, all round.  Very pleased to wind up in this place.

Had a beer on the roof, took some photos.  Watched a seagull fly around the bay for 15 minutes – desperately wished I could join him.  Jonathan Livingston Slone.  Talked to the people downstairs, they got me a kayak trip the next morning, and a dive trip on Friday.  Easier than expected – not something I can say that often.  No emergence of depression/resignation.

Went to sunbathe on a nearby beach…which turned out to be more of a ledge than a beach, but no problem.  Actually quite a glamorous setting, waiters running around serving drinks and all that.  Caught some rays, then returned to the hotel to swim in the pool there.  Yep, the place also has a decent pool.  Kas must really have a plethora of hotels for a place like this to be so cheap.  Had a swim, then went up to my room to read and relax (even more).

kas1kas2

Checked emails – got an email from friend Hira in Chiang Mai, he’s a 60+ Japanese retiree whom I met there in a yoga studio in late 2005.  He writes and sends friends his ‘postcards,’ short essays on life there.  He’s a perceptive and thoughtful fellow – I love his writing.  Perhaps I should gather the docs and share them with you at some point…remind me please.  This latest essay concerned sumo wrestling and how this once-noble sport has become crass and winner-take-all, with Mongolians and other foreigners brought in and lesser talents treated like animals.  One trainee was recently beaten to death in his dojo.  Food for thought…

Watched a Saturday Night Live video, with Tina Fey spoofing Sarah Palin.  Brilliant.  Tina Fey is a comic goddess, and SNL has a new raison d’etre.  Maybe there’s a silver lining in McCain picking her, after all.

It occurred to me that there’s perhaps also a silver lining to the Iraq War – we might finally have learned the lesson that it’s stupid to start a war on the Asian mainland.  We should already have learned that with Vietnam, but perhaps we only learned that we shouldn’t find in East Asia.  Now we’ve found that lesson also applies in West Asia.  Or, as Bush’s daddy once said (as played by Dana Carvey on SNL), we have learned the lesson of Vietnam – do not start a war in Vietnam.  Even the midget guy in ‘Princess Bride’ knew that Asia is a quagmire – I guess W. never saw that movie…

Am loving Kas.  It’s much smaller than Bodrum, Marmaris or Fethiye, and has a nice vibe.

Went for my first run in a week . Back felt fine.  Still a bit sore, but not crippling.  Had a beer afterward at Harry’s Bar, a good little place on the arcade.  Then went to a Turkish resto and had their signature dish, hunkar begenda, lamb cubes over eggplant and rice.  Delish.  For dessert, had asure, a fruit/nut/bean pudding that, as legend has it, was served on Noah’s Ark when they ran out of everything else.  Good, not great.  Much prefer kazandibi, baklava, supangle, etc.

Market falling again.  Whatever.  Feels like a bad round of a video game.  Am seriously thinking of taking a chance and buying some shares…might take a year or two for a rebound, but the upside can and should be huge at some point.

Went sea kayaking today.  There’s a ‘sunken city’ off the coast near Kas, near Kekova, and there are kayak trips over the ruins and around the coast.  Went with a small group, guided by Murad, an irreverent Turk who as it turns out has hung out in Goa.  Murad and I got along very well and traded lots of stories about the pleasures of Goa.  As for the kayaking, it was super – not the ruins, which were barely detectable, but the entire glorious day out on the bay.  My tripmates were mostly Aussies and were a lot of fun…we went swimming, had lunch on an island with a neat little village to explore, and ate some excellent peach and banana ice cream in a small shop overlooking the bay.  The island had a bunch of Lycian sarcophagi that were probably 2,500 years old.  Just to put things in perspective, you know…

Photos from the day  weren’t great.  Water got on the outer lens of my waterproof camera case when I took shots above the seas…and the underwater shots I tried, of the supposed ruins, didn’t come out at all.  I guess my technique of simply dunking the camera and hoping for the best was a shit idea.  Oh well.  A few of the OK shots from the day:

kek1kek2kek3kek4

Ellen told me about a Rolling Stone magazine article about John McCain, which I read online.  Fairly disturbing character portrait – basically said that McCain is a spoiled Navy brat whose daddy got him nearly everything he wanted and overrode normal requirements and protocols to do so.  Not out of the ordinary when it comes to people like these, but it did seem completely at odds with McCain’s bid to portray himself as a man of the people who fights the power.  Hardly.

Watched the third and final Pres. debate.  Pretty annoying – McCain kept bringing up ‘Joe the Plumber,’ a shmuck who got in Obama’s face in Toledo, Ohio recently and complained about Obama’s tax proposal.  Meanwhile, turns out Joe, who supposedly wants to buy his own plumbing biz but is concerned about paying more taxes under Obama, isn’t even qualified to be a plumber in his home district, and is farther away from being a real entrepreneur than, say, your household pet is.  He’s being besieged by reporters and is a 15-minute celeb – giving interviews while leaning against his Dodge SUV.  This man is McCain’s meal ticket??  I think not.  Besides, McCain was his usual erratic self in the debate, misspeaking and throwing out 3-4 erroneous accusations with each volley that Obama patiently caught and corrected when his turn came round.  McCain needed a moon shot to advance in the polls…but he was probably at his worst.

I really do think his age has something to do with it – he’s just not steady.  Mark my words – within 2-3 years McCain will be diagnosed with a nervous/mental disorder.

Called Dad and chatted about politics and the economy.  Things seem fine at home – he’s ignoring the market woes and I think that’s the right call.

The Red Sox are down 3-1 to the Rays.  Tonight’s the 5th game.  They’ve come back from these sorts of deficits before, but it ain’t looking good.  Fingers tightly crossed.

Going diving tomorrow morning.  Turkey is a great place for adventures – motorbiking, diving, kayaking, hiking, and paragliding.  Tomorrow night am getting on a 15-hour bus ride overnight to Istanbul, where I’ll meet college friends Dri and Lisa, who are also sisters (to each other, not to me).  Am excited about hanging out with them in the big city, and probably traveling with them out to Cappadocia a few days later.  A few more weeks in Turkey are warranted, methinks.  So hang loose and stay close, Wanderlust Heaven readers.  I’m not going anywhere (where there isn’t internet access, that is).  Over and out.

fake watch



Tags:

One response to “Asia Miner…”

  1. Don Miller says:

    At least this year’s World series won’t be lopsided like last years beat up of Denver. It is good to get some new blood.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *