A Novel Path – Tales of an Adventure Goddess

I learned something new about the Muslim culture tonight…I remarked to Gokce on the teleferik (gondola) ride up to Eyup, a small mountain overlooking the Golden Horn, about how nice the planted flowers looked on all the gravestones. Then it hit me. I asked why the graves looked more like flower boxes with headstones than graves with headstones. While we pop people in fancy, overpriced wooden and metal boxes varying between $1,000 and $5,000, secured inside a cement box in an attempt to prolong the dead from becoming worm food, Muslims have the right idea. They cut to the chase by wrapping their dead in a sheet and burying them inside a cement box with no lid. Frankly, if I wanted to be buried instead of burned to grey ash and boney bits, that’s the way I’d like to go…at least at these cemeteries, the plants are allowed to stay. I’ll stick to my cremation ending though because I’d rather have my grey bits corked in a test tube, taken by anyone who travels to a place I’ve never been and spread my ashes there. That way I can truly say I’ve left a mark on every country I’ve been to…albeit this time a grey spatter pattern.

The same will happen with Croatia as I am on bandwidth and gig restriction with the ridiculous, archaic internet system here.

In the name of laziness, I’ve decided to post all of the videos I’ve recently uploaded here instead of referring to old blogs. Most, if not all, of the videos you have not seen yet. Thank you YouTube, for saving me memory and bandwidth!!!

THAILAND

I’ve come to realize the importance of elephant crossing signs. I think this one is directly proportional to Murphy’s law.

Views from a reggae bar on Phrom Thep Cape in Phuket.

Perhaps you too have lost that loving feeling…

INDIA

Cochin – Not all crabs like to become dinner.

Kerala – Views of the backwaters out the train window.

Thekaddy – All the green stuff is tea. Tea, tea, and more tea.

Amritsar – Video footage from my seat on a bike-rickshaw tour.

Amritsar – Heavenly sounds from the Golden Temple (sorry that the video isn’t longer…)

Periyar Reserve- Video footage from the highest point in the Periyar Reserve as well as a video of how much I love walking through weeds.

Periyar Reserve – India’s version of a motorboat.

Corbett National Park – Why do I always get the a…

Mumbai – Crazy cab ride with a ‘Cinci’ boy crying out for his mommy (sadly the cries are drowned out by the traffic).

Agra – Taj Majal 360 degrees from the backside.

Squint to see it, but it’s the Indian version of a lawnmover driven by cattle. Double-edged sword – use petrol or contribute to greenhouse gases?

ITALY

Venezia – Probably my favorite video of all. In Venezia, the Island of Murano, they make the instruments they play with!

Roma – The Trevi Fountain…it’s big…really big. And yes, I threw a Euro in backwards just to prove I am a tourist.

Roma – Note the guy in the purple/blue jacket. These people ruin Italy and the entire experience of going anywhere in Italy.

TURKEY

Istanbul – Views from Galata Tower.

The call to prayer as heard from a Metro stop.

My other roommate in Istanbul…Black, white, furry, and annoying as hell at 04:00.

As if eating Bambi wasn’t enough, I decided to become Bambi, just for a night, because you’ve never experienced Istanbul unless you’ve ice skated in an open-air mall in Levent, your fears of nose-diving into the ice drowned out by “Loosen up my Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls and “Pass that Dutch” by Missy Elliot. That said, it’s been a high school senior (17 years) since I’ve been on skates…and waaaay back when I was, it was also…for just one night. While the skates here at the mall ice rink were piss poor and far from pro, they gave my ankles just enough support to stand reasonably comfortably. Sadly that had no bearing on my inability to skate. I really did look like Bambi, legs ready to splay out from under me, but the good news is that I DIDN’T FALL – NOT ONCE! If you know me, this is a really proud moment to savor, for at least two more days. I did get video and photos of this moment to pass along to the folks at home who are wondering why I would choose to ice skate in the middle of Turkey. The answer – because I can! This will be the second best way to spend $6 US (aside from Dino Golf in Karon Beach, Thailand).

PS – That is my roommate is narrating in the first movie, and well, she agrees I suck.

It was an experience like any other, and what made it even more so was that my Turkish roommate had never done it either. I spent hours milling through websites, looking for the perfect one…When I came across something that looked good, I asked for her Turkish approval (since most of the website was in Turkish), and we caught a ‘taksi’ to Beşiktaş. While the taksi driver sped through traffic, lunging around blind corners, and cutting people off, I felt beneath the seat for my seat belt hoping to find it and strange feeling things not so much. The only one I found must have been for the middle seat because it wouldn’t connect with my belt. I guess I will be making my father a millionaire, dying in the back of a Turkish cab.
[read on]

At any given moment (except on the bus), I can look around and see at least a dozen smokers in view…first glance. Every other person walking in Taksim, up or down the cobbled streets, is lighting up. The local bar is awash in a cloud of smoke, dangling above the patrons heads. Between that, and the obsession with dairy products (no meal is complete without yoghurt, creme, milk, or cheese), I started to wonder if Turkey was a death trap for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Before I found myself with a headache from staring at a computer screen, I pulled a few facts. [read on]

You’d think I was in Los Angeles with all of the people dressed in fashionable black, but the hundreds of people coming at me all with pale skin and dark hair – no blondes or anorexic actresses in sight – tells me otherwise. [read on]