Wanderlust Heaven!

I got up on Friday, after a fine 9-hour sleep, and joined Dri and Lisa on their tour of Cappadocia.  They had rented a car and driver and were touring in style – Cappadocia’s sights are spread out so this is the best way to see ‘em.  We spent most of the day being hard-core tourists, and checked out:

-the Goreme Open-Air Museum (my second visit, first was with NYC Brian the day before)

-the Uchisar castle, a massive rock with the interior hollowed out and stairs leading to the top

-the Zelve Open-Air Museum

-Pigeon Valley

-and a few other spots

One superb place was called Tipikturkevi, it’s a ‘typical Turkish cave house’ not far from Goreme where our driver, Fasli, took us.  The proprietor, Ismail, is a cool old guy who’s been written up in the New York Times.  His place is functional with a touch of luxury, and next time I’m in the area I fully intend to relax there for a few days.  He showed us around the place, which is relatively expansive – but by far the best part was just lounging on his balcony, overlooking the hills and ‘castles,’ listening to our driver play the sas, a guitarlike instrument.  We drank some of Ismail’s tasty Cappadocia red wine while we listened to Fasli, who spent many years as a professional musician.  He nearly blew us off the balcony with his traditional songs…yet again proving my old point that the world is full of mediocre businessmen and lawyers who are well-off and talented artists who can’t make ends meet.  Something worth solving.

The fellow on the right is a mediocre businessman and mediocre musician.  No talent whatsoever…

Got back to Goreme around 6 p.m. or so.  Exchanged texts with Brian, who was getting ready to leave for Istanbul – he was up for having a beer so we met again at Silk Road.  He’d also done an all-day local tour and had a good day of it.  We said our goodbyes – although we’d just known each other for a day or so, we’d had a week’s worth of political conversations and I think our paths may once across cross, in NYC or somewhere out here.

Checked the news on my Treo – learned that former Celtics owner Harry Mangurian died.  He was the owner when Larry Bird was drafted and owned the team throughout the 80s, a glorious stretch when regular millionaires were still able to own NBA franchises.  Now valuations are such that you either need billionaires or group ownership.  I think there are at least 3 guys who co-own the Celts today.  Which reminds me, opening game was the other night (we won) and they raised the championship banner – gotta find that video and watch it.

Also had to make a follow-up phone call to Blue Cross, my health insurer, to make sure they could still use my old cancelled check for the monthly withdrawals for my new policy.  This was a bit of a cliffhanger…was placed on hold for 15 minutes…good thing Skype calls to the US only cost 2 cents a minute!  Finally the woman got back on the line…I was on the edge of my hotel bed…and she said it was OK.  Whew – otherwise I’d have to use the last check I have with me, and spend a fair amount of loot to mail it securely to Blue Cross.  I wonder why these sorts of things have to be so complicated – I would have preferred to handle the entire thing online, with no human interference.

Was a bit worn out from the day of sight-seeing, so decided to take it easy and not hoof it out to Urgup for dinner with Dri and Lisa.  Anyway, had a call scheduled with my brother-in-law Dave, so just had a quick dinner and a couple beers before the call.  The point of the call was to exchange thoughts on a couple business ideas of mine…Dave had some ideas too…we chatted…we’ll see what happens.  On my plate:  going through my entire list of contacts and brainstorming opportunities with those that seem promising.  I won’t say any more than that right now…

Another reason for taking it easy that night:  we were going hot-air ballooning the next morning at 6:30 a.m.  Getting up that early is alien to me, particularly when it’s cold out.  But I set my alarm and got up, no problem.  It wasn’t like I was going to a business meeting…I was going ballooning.

While I sat on the toilet, at 5:30 a.m., I heard the muezzin calling out the prayers.  Didn’t recall hearing the call so early before – then I remembered that I hadn’t been up so early in ages.

Got to the balloon staging ground, they were blowing up dozens of huge balloons, pretty nice business – all cash, about US$200 a head.  Didn’t see any security around – in the States there would have been robocops all round.

Our pilot was an Aussie named Dave who was terrific – irreverent and experienced, the best combination if you ask me.  On the balloon with us were a family sporting ‘Turnip Tours’ parkas, they’re a family from Minnesota with a Germanic last name that translates as ‘turnip’ in English.  Aha.

Dri and I were psyched for the balloon ride.  Lisa was not…but she demonstrated bravery and I think ultimately had fun.  And it wasn’t like I was the king of composure and courage either – at one point we were incredibly high up, far above the other balloons (there were about 35 balloons floating around, the panorama was awesome), and I had a moment of truth.  I wondered what it would be like to climb up and over the basket and ‘fly.’  Now, I’m not suicidal, and I’m generally not obsessive-compulsive, but I had a semi-strong urge to do this.  My fingertips drained of blood…I forced myself to stand back from the wall of the basket…and the urge dissipated in a couple minutes.  Fairly scary.  I went sky-diving many years ago, and I think it’s time for another round.  I’m talking about sky-diving with a parachute, of course.

Some shots from the air:

When we landed, right near a cemetery (poignant, no?) we got out and were promptly served some champagne and given certificates proving that we survived the experience.  It was a bit chilly out and one of the Turnips, appropriately named Bayle, got into the minivan to warm up.  Meanwhile, the vehicle meant to transport the balloon (we landed on the back of a pickup truck) had a major flat tire, and the ground crew were hard to work dealing with that.  I kept drinking champagne with Dave, who has a pretty nice life – it was 8:30 a.m. and he was already done with work for the day.  Nice work if you can get it.

We were driven back to our respective hotels.  I crashed and awoke around noon – I think Dri and Lisa did the same.  I was feeling a bit guilty about sleeping so much, even though the chilly weather deserved some of the blame.  Rode my Yamaha out to a hiking path near the Goreme Open-Air Museum and went for a long walk.  I was planning to walk for a couple hours, then turn back, but after an hour or so the path got surprisingly muddy and also very narrow, and I wasn’t in the mood for bushwacking and mud-wrestling, so turned back.

Got back to my hotel, burned a CD with my Turkey photos for Dri and Lisa, who were doing the same for me.  Between us we had a great set of shots – I later sent one to Tufts University Magazine for our class notes.  Nothing like making people who are sitting at their desks feel inadequate…

Had a goodbye dinner that night with Dri and Lisa, who were taking off for Istanbul early the next morning.  Went to their hotel to pick them up – they were staying in a very nice cave hotel place called Elkep Evi Pansiyon.  Walked down to Ziggy’s Café, an upscale place.  Had a good bottle of Cappadocia white…and an odd yet tasty pasta dish with strips of dried beef.  The owner was a woman who’d moved to Cappadocia 17 years before, back when the area was probably Turkish hippy central.  She’d named the café after her deceased dog, who by the look of the image on the café door was a cool-looking creature.

It was hard to believe that Dri and Lisa were close to the end of their holiday – probably a lot harder for them to believe it than for me.  We’d had a great time hanging out together.  Dri showed me her iPod Touch, which Lisa had bought her.  Amazing device – useful in so many ways.  But I think I’ll wait for the iPhone to get beefed-up and turn into more of an iPod, then pick one of those up.  The fewer gadgets, the better.  I did mournfully look at my Treo, which is decidedly unsexy, but is still highly practical.  Is that a good description of me as well??

The motorbike ride back to Goreme was absolutely freezing.  Getting off the bike was like coming up with a brand new yoga pose…I celebrated my success by visiting a couple local bars (it was Saturday night), Flintstones Cave Bar and then Fat Boys.  Both were pretty good – somewhat full, had some good chats with locals, and filled up on Efes Beer.  One thing I asked the Turks about was where to go next – I was leaning towards Sanliurfa, to the southeast, near the Syrian border.  This place is a regular stop in eastern Turkey, and supposedly was the birthplace of Abraham.  It’s also near Mt. Nemrut, a good mountain to climb.  The locals agreed that Sanliurfa would be a good place to check out…they didn’t really recommend going farther east, to Van near the Iran border, or other far east parts of the country.  I suspect it’s because there have been some skirmishes with Kurdish rebels.  Anyway, I should head to Jordan before mid-November, so probably won’t go much further east.  And I need to ensure that I’m in a good place on November 4/5 to watch the US election coverage – I think that Ankara, the Turkish capital, is the call for that.  I dashed off an email to Democrats Abroad Turkey to see if there’s any sort of ‘election party’ I can attend and watch the returns amongst like-minded socialists…

All that said, I would love to check out Georgia and Armenia some time.  It’s getting cold there now, so I don’t mind giving it a miss.  But these are the off-the-beaten path sorts of places I love visiting.

Have probably eaten half my meals in Goreme at the Cappadocia Kebap Center.  This place has possibly the best kebaps I’ve had in Turkey.  I’ve dubbed it the “Espresso’s of Turkey” – Espresso’s was the sub joint that sustained us when we were at Tufts.  No cheesesteaks here in Turkey, but the kebaps are close enough.

Had the motorbike for a bit longer, and hadn’t really opened it up yet, so took it out on Sunday for a few hours.  Tried to formulate a plan, but nothing really came together, so I just got on the bike and rode.  Aimlessness is sometimes a good thing.  After going pretty far afield I wound up in Urgup, again, and went into a modest little spot for lunch.  The proprietor was a lovely guy and we talked for a while, then I wolfed down my meal of sac taka tavuk, a hot plate with chicken, rice and vegetables – the perfect meal for cold weather.  Then I refueled and brought the bike back to the shop.  Bye bye Yamaha 100cc…

My hotel’s wireless was working pretty well, a bit slow but good enough for doing some downloading, so bought and downloaded a bunch of episodes from ‘Heroes’ first season.  The episodes, mind you, that were corrupted on the Season One DVD I’d bought months earlier in Manila.  My Season 2 DVD seems fine, and I was left hanging on Season 1, so when I saw it was on iTunes I decided to plunk down the $1.99 per episode and right this wrong.  Took a week of intermittent downloading (each episode is 500 megs) and watching, but eventually worked my way through Season One and now I feel caught up.  Damn these TV series – I’ve gotten hooked on ‘24’ and ‘Rome’ and now ‘Heroes.’  What kind of a traveler am I?

Had to clear hard drive space for these episodes, so finally moved all my photos to my external hard drive.  I just hope nothing happens to that device – it seems quite solid and probably no less so than my laptop.

Next day was considering going a ways out, to the Ilhara Valley, for a half-day hike.  But going solo is prohibitively pricey – petrol in Turkey is outrageous, and I wasn’t up for spending nearly US$80 for a hike.  So blew that off and instead did a hike closer in, to Uchisar and back via Pigeon Valley.  That was 90 minutes each way, and I walked around Uchisar and had lunch there.  Perfectly fine – perhaps less spectacular than Ilhara, but I was happy nonetheless.

The US election:  funny how it seems that issues have come to the fore and pushed demographics to the rear.  I’m sure that there will be plenty of racists who won’t vote for Obama come November 4^th, but now it seems people are focusing on the economy and a few other things, and less on race and gender.  Good – that’s the way it should be.

I was inspired and wrote an email to the Obama campaign about priorities for the next administration – which I hope and expect will be the Obama Administration, but I don’t want to jinx him.  Anyway, I wrote about a few key priorities/objectives to reach for by 2016, and how to work backwards from those to lay out strategies and tactics.  Very strategy consulting sort of thing.  Got a nice email reply from the Obama campaign – but no job offer yet.  I saved the note – if you want a copy email me and I’ll send it to you.

Caught up on back copies of The New Yorker.  Terrific article about John Stuart Mill in one of them – his argument about God was that, if there is such an entity, it must be either limited in capabilities or deeply distracted by other priorities than watching over Earth.  I found that pretty compelling – my philosophy, gleaned from an Indian shepherd, is that if there’s a God, it made the world then went away.  Close enough.

Walked around that night after dinner – at the bus station there was a lot of noise and it turned out there was a drunken brawl there.  Not something you see often in Turkey – not so much drinking here.  You do see a fair amount of loud public disagreements, Turks are fairly emotional people…but this was unexpected.  One of the boys smashed a window; eventually one of the two groups walked off.  To be continued?…

Next day I just sat around all day downloading shows and reading New Yorkers.  I hit sloth overdrive and it felt pretty good.

Thought about a strain of Americans who have showed up in some force at McCain-Palin rallies and railed against ‘Obama the Arab/Muslim.’  Incredible.  These people are Christians, and they have this kind of intolerance and hate in them?  Jesus Christ would be appalled by most people who claim to believe in his teachings.  And Colin Powell implied as much when he endorsed Obama.  Glad to see that there are still a few people with open minds and clear thinking out there.

The muezzin who call out the prayers here have huge voices.  It’s not just the loudspeakers, they are talented guys.  I’ll bet some of them are short guys, would be funny to go up the minaret and watch them doing the prayers…

Meanwhile, got an email reply from former colleague Pedro, turns out he is Queen Noor of Jordan’s cousin.  When I read her book, ‘Leap of Faith,’ she thanked Pedro in the intro and I wondered if it was the same guy.  It was.  Very small planet, friends.

Read another New Yorker article, on the Lincoln Memorial.  The point of the article is that those behind it, including Robert Todd Lincoln, the President’s only surviving son, intended for it to commemorate Lincoln’s saving of the Union…not his emancipation of the slaves.  Interesting, and I totally believe it.  At the centennial of Lincoln’s birth, in 1909, no blacks were invited to Springfield, Illinois’ centennial dinner.  In 2009 it will be the bicentennial – and on May 30, 2009, the President will rededicate the Lincoln Memorial.  No matter who wins the election, I hope and imagine that the Springfield bicentennial event will include black citizens – and imagine the feel in the air on May 30 if Barack Obama is President and in charge of the rededication.  The symbolism would be so powerful.

Got an email from friend/fellow diver Isabel in Spain.  She took the following photo – haven’t seen many better than this one.  Someone knows how to take photos…

My 5 days in Goreme/Cappadocia was coming to an end.  Packed up and prepared to take a bus to Sanliurfa.  Had to change in Kayseri, and my Sanliurfa bus departed at midnight.  Another long ride and long night.  Tried a Xanax pill that Brian had given me – I guess Xanax is a muscle relaxant and anxiety reliever.  Didn’t work that well – didn’t sleep much on the ride.  Got to Sanliurfa at 9 a.m. feeling super-groggy.  I must have looked wonderful.

Took a cab to my hotel, Hotel Bakay, a cheap yet nice place in the center city.  Unpacked and walked around for a few hours, then crashed very hard.  Much-needed.

Had read an article written about this area by new friend Jeff from Halifax (we’d met in Moscow).  He described Sanliurfa and nearby Harran and Mt. Nemrut, and his writing had helped inspire me to come here.  I was keen to see the birthplace of Abraham in Sanliurfa, and Harran, where he lived for some time with his wife Sarah.  I wondered how Abraham had covered so much ground – from what I’d read over the years and very recently, he’d been born in the Sumerian/Mesopotamian city of Ur of the Chaldees, then moved to Harran, and from there traveled to the land of Canaan, and later to Mecca.  Very long distances, even with a good camel (I’m not sure the Mongolian camels would have done the trick).

So I was resolved to get the story straight on Abraham, recognizing that myth was a large part of the story.  It took me two days, and a trip to Harran, to realize this:  Sanliurfa is actually (well, very possibly) the ancient city of Ur.  The name of Sanliurfa before 1984 was simply ‘Urfa,’ with ‘Sanli’ added then as a honorific meaning ‘great.’  Apparently nearby Antep city was given the honorific ‘Gazi’ (brave) in 1973, and Urfa was feeling left out, so the government threw them a bone too.  So:  Ur (ancient name) à Urfa (Turkish name) à Sanliurfa.  Bingo.  I think part of my confusion was simply geographic – I had not realized that this part of Turkey is northern Mesopotamia, and lies between the famed Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  Serves me right for getting lazy and not studying the guidebook more closely.  But the guidebook doesn’t actually make this point – so I shouldn’t beat myself up too much here.  I guess Lonely Planet figured that no one has heard of, or remembers the name Ur, so they don’t bother going back so far in their historical description in the guidebook.

Once I’d figured out that Sanliurfa was (possibly) the Ur, I got much more excited about being here.  This place, now so innocuous, was one of the earliest great cities of the world (at one time the largest), and a place I’d heard about in religious school when I was a lad.  I get keyed up by stuff like this.

NB:  Iraq also claims to have the biblical city of Ur, in southern Iraq.  Their site has an ancient ziggurat and other ruins, so they may have a good claim.  Also, present-day Iraq is more closely aligned with ancient Sumerian geography and Mesopotamia proper.  The Turkish claim is bolstered by the proximity of Sanliurfa to the settlement of Harran, mentioned in the Book of Genesis as a place where Abraham lived.  Who’s right?  Who knows.  Maybe we have to live with the existence of two Urs.  ‘Two Urs.’  Sound like a good title for a hip-hop song?

Went to the Sanliurfa Museum.  Saw some statues from 9,000 BC.  Yeesh.  I’d seen some very old stuff in Uzbekistan, in western Turkey, etc., but this was even older and I got a good sense for what the hell people were doing and making more than 10,000 years ago.  Urfa and Great, indeed.

Lots of friendly locals here.  I was stopped on the street a couple times by locals who spoke English – one guy wanted to come by my hotel and show me around, but that felt a bit too close for comfort so told him my wife was there waiting for me.  That got rid of him.  Another seemed to want to guide me around nearby Harran, but that didn’t sound like something I needed either, so another lie got rid of him.  Other locals were far less fluid in English, but friendly and without ulterior motives.  There’s a resto near my local called Altin Sis which has the most inredible kebaps – one’s called sarma beyti and it’s a bunch of kebap rolls with rice, vegetables, yogurt and tomato sauce, an absolutely massive offering.  The place is famous for filling your belly, and you tend to get out for under 10 lira, or US$6.  Unstoppable.

Went to the Abraham birthplace cave.  It’s in a section of town called Golbasi.  You enter a compound, take off your shoes, and go through the door.  On your right is a small prayer room/mosque, straight ahead is a small room where you can wash your hands and feet.  Just past that, through a glass window, is the cave itself.  Surprisingly low-key – none of the locals washing up seemed to glance at it, I guess they’ve seen it a thousand times.  I waited for the room to empty then took a long look at it – a piece of history, or just an old tale?

Lots of pilgrims in this part of town – which is full of mosques, a huge ruined Roman/Byzantine/etc. castle, a few ponds/canals filled with huge fish (legend has it that if you kill one, you’ll go blind, so they’re left alone), and trees.  Nice area – very peaceful.  Saw three young boys sneaking a smoke behind a mosque – some things are global.

Climbed the steps to the kale (castle), good views of the area:

After spending a while around here, walked to the nearby bazaar and wandered around there too.  Found a large courtyard, sat down and had a tea.  This, from what I can tell of Sanliurfa, is what 90% of the locals do all day.  Good for them.  This part of Turkey is close to Syria and Iraq and feels very Middle Eastern – good prelude for my upcoming months in Jordan, Israel, and Egypt.

Exchanged emails with a b-school buddy at one of the (remaining) i-banks in NYC.  He’s angling to get a package, that way he can keep his stock/retirement funds.  If he quits they’re gone.  He made the very cogent point that in b-school they don’t teach us the important things, like how to get fired or laid-off.  I like how he thinks…

Had a glass of pomegranate juice, “nar suyu” in Turkish.  Do we get many pomegranates in the US?  I recall when I was a kid my Uncle Jerry brought some over to our house and we had huge fun eating the seeds.  Pomegranate juice is popular in Turkey and it’s great stuff – a bit sour, deeply refreshing.  We need more of these in the West.  Biz opportunity?

Took a minibus some ways out of town to an area with a famous cave where the biblical Job supposedly lived while being tortured by the devil.  He stayed in the cave seven years, as the story goes, till God provided a spring whose water cleared Job of his diseases and made him whole again.  I recall that story – and it was random to be able to visit the cave where he supposedly lived.  Were Abraham and Job real people?  Part of me feels that they were – after all, we have solid historical proof that men like King Sargon of Akkadia lived before 2,000 B.C., King Hammurabi of Babylon a bit later, etc.  So they were more or less contemporaries of Abraham and Job, according to some scholars, and very possibly the real deal.  On the other hand, there’s no solid proof that I’ve heard of, and the stories surrounding them are nearly unbelievable – granted, they may simply be embellishments, but still.

Job is called in Turkish ‘Eyyup Peygamber,’ the second word meaning ‘prophet.’  Jesus is ‘Isa Peygamber,’ Moses is ‘Musa Peygamber.’  Job’s Cave is covered by a small pavilion, and you can go down the stairs into a small room and look through glass at the cave – a lot like the deal with the Abraham Cave:

Granted, these caves aren’t all that impressive.  Still, it doesn’t really matter.  I felt the weight of history when I was there…it’s possible that 4,000 years ago Abraham and Job were doing their thing right here in Sanliurfa.

Outside is the well where Job drank from and was cured.  I recalled that there was also a Job well in Bukhara, Uzbekistan – I guess there’s a competition for sites like these.  At least they’re not warring about it, not yet anyway…

Went for a run that night, first in a while.  Managed to find a flat sidewalk, not easy around here.  Checked emails.  Had dinner, again, at Altin Sis.  Cannot find a beer in this town – it’s a fairly religious and holy place.  But the food is good, so at best this will be a calorie-neutral stop.

Called United Airlines on Skype and booked a flight to Amman, Jordan for November 8^th.  Cost me 40,000 miles, but I’ve got a lot and they start expiring in about a year, so I want to use some and push out the expiry date.

This morning I went to Harran, an hour away by minibus.  This place is apparently 7-8,000 years old, is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and Abraham and Sarah lived there for a while – presumably while waiting for their sub-prime mortgage application to clear.  Now it’s just ruins, with a new town surrounding it.  Good short day-trip.  Found a student guide at the bus station, we walked around the place for a couple hours.  There’s an area with a ruined minaret and mosque…and apparently the world’s first university, founded around 3,000 B.C., once stood right there:

Do you think they had government-funded higher education, or just out-of-pocket?

The castle is still in OK shape, not particularly photogenic though.  And Abraham’s house supposedly was here – not the house you see in the photo, but it was apparently around here – needless to say I’m skeptical:

How the bejesus do they have any idea about this?  I can understand generations passing down knowledge, but this sounds far-fetched.  Maybe if Abraham was famous in his own time, but…

Speaking of generations – bro-in-law Dave sent an email to the effect that Abraham was my great-great-great-great-great-great-etc.-grandfather.  Which is an interesting thought – if a generation is 20 years, and Abraham lived around 2,000 B.C., then it’s been 200 generations between him and us.  If a generation is 25 years, then just 160 generations.  Doesn’t sound like that much.  I’d love to figure all this out using the human genome…

My young guide also told me that Isaac, Abe’s son, lived nearby, and so did the legendary Adam and Eve.  Harran does seem an ancient place, and if the Garden of Eden existed in any shape or form, it’s likely to have been somewhere around here – in present-day Turkey or Iraq, between the 2 great rivers.  Food for thought.

Had tea at the Harran Cultural Home, a handicrafts and lodging house.  The owner’s family sat with us – nice folks.  We talked a bit about the GAP project, a huge dam project designed to tap the 2 rivers and bring water to the very dry area.  Most of the work is done and there are clear benefits to the locals, who are getting into cotton farming and have clean water to drink and also electricity – but downriver neighbors Syria and Iraq are annoyed that Turkey’s grabbing so much water.  And so it goes.

Syria is less than 20 km away.  Look at the mound/hill here – it’s in Syria.

Too bad I can’t get a visa for Syria here in Turkey.  One day, baby…

Got back to Sanliurfa.  Checked out election coverage on the web – can’t wait till election day.  Am really hoping for a Dem landslide – let’s send a message and show some unity.  The McCain campaign is getting pretty desperate, from the look of things – coming up with the most trivial of tidbits about Obama and acting as if they’re earth-shattering deal-breakers.  Enough, already.  A few more days and this 2-year campaign is over…

What else?  Got a call from an old friend who wants me to come back to work.  He has an interesting opp in India.  Might go see him in December and learn more about this.  Still can’t get excited about going back to work, but I suppose the good news and big pic is that I’m still marketable and in demand 3 years after quitting.  The salary we discussed, informally, sounded quite good.  Hmmm…

Also had a call with a former colleague whose judgment (and intelligence) is impeccable.  He thought this India gig sounded pretty good.  Gave me a bit of backbone – will do a few more calls and watch the market over the next 2-3 months, then make a call.  Still have my Middle Eastern travels in front of me, and I plan to follow through on those.  But, as Barack Obama said when he refused to cancel the first debate against John McCain, you’ve gotta be able to do more than one thing at a time.  Precisely.  Over and out.

Had a good day of diving my last day in Kas.  Met a nice Turkish couple who now reside in Tel Aviv – will probably go see them when I finally get to Israel.

Our guide for the dives was a slapstick guy named Oray.  He actually took the time to sketch out the dive geography and profile on a whiteboard.  I almost fell over – most dive guides in this part of the world are way too relaxed about this part of the job.  I was reassured and happy he took the time to make the dive better for all of us.

Across our two dives, saw perhaps more barracuda than I’d ever seen – sinister but beautiful creatures traveling in small packs.  We visited a midsized wreck that was covered in mud and thus fairly well-preserved.  And our small group of divers was well-synchronized – no lone wolves racing off to check something out 50 meters away.  Pretty close to the perfect day of diving – much better than I’d had in Ayvalik.  A shout out to Sirena Dive Shop in Kas for putting it all together – for a fee, of course.

Had lunch with my fellow divers when we got back to town.  Then we parted and I went back to my hotel to watch the highlights from Game 5 of the Red Sox-Rays baseball playoff game, in which the Sox came back from a 7-0 deficit to win.  Watched the big plays, then packed and went to the bus station to catch my bus overnight to Istanbul.  The manager of Kalahay Hotel, Deniz, gave me a lift to the otogar – I had a very comfortable stay at Kalahay and as I mentioned last week, was lucky that Deniz had come and snatched me from the bus station when I arrived a couple days earlier.  Sometimes everything works out even when you’re lazy and unprepared…

When we were diving, one of the Tel Aviv-based Turks, Erol, told me that Turkish buses are equipped with the equivalent of ‘flight recorders,’ which measure speeds and problems.  Since these were installed a few years ago, the drivers have dramatically slowed their speeds and accidents have dropped as well.  Turkish drivers are pretty wild and this was good news.

Overall, traveling in Turkey, largely by bus, is easy and smooth.  Lots of companies, lots of competition, and the buses are usually newish and comfy.  The only issue is that the otogars are often out of town and you don’t always have a servis shuttle to and fro.  Otherwise, it’s a user-friendly and flexible system.

As our bus pulled out of the Kas otogar, some mellow Turkish music came on.  We traveled for a while on the coastal road, back to Fethiye, and then turned inland and north, towards Istanbul.  I had someone next to me so wasn’t able to stretch out that much – and didn’t sleep much either.  Oh well.

As the sun set and I tried to settle and get comfortable, I reflected on recent weeks and thought that I could easily do this for years.  The traveling had been so random and full of flavor and adventure, and without much ordeal.  We’ll see what happens.

Had just finished Queen Noor’s book, ‘Leap of Faith.’  Good book through and through – right-wing Israelis (and AIPAC) certainly wouldn’t like or agree with it, but I thought she did a fairly balanced job highlighting King Hussein’s life and deeds, and I learned a lot from reading this book.  Kalahay Hotel, amongst its other charms, had a book exchange on the roof terrace so dropped this off and picked up Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat Pray Love,’ a recent bestseller which appeared a bit of a chick-book but perhaps worth a read.

Recalled that Murad, our kayak guide from a couple days earlier, had told us a bit about the Kurdish ‘problem’ in the east.  His point of view was that the fighting was mostly a smokescreen for drug smuggling on and around the border with Iraq and other nearby nations…and that prominent Turks were involved and happy to see the current instability continue.  Interesting, and made good sense.  I’m by no means sufficiently informed to say yea or nay to that, but sometimes these ethnic struggles do seem to go on forever, well past their shelf life.  Kurds more or less have a semi-indie homeland in northern Iraq these days, and while Kurds aren’t monolithic and while some certainly want to ‘liberate’ parts of Turkey as well, the drug argument is provocative and I think it holds some water.

On the long ride to Istanbul, a Turkish couple who spoke English befriended me and told me how long we’d be stopping, how much longer we had to go, etc.  As I’ve written nearly every week I’ve been here, Turks are terrific hosts and they’re amongst my favorite people.  I exclude, of course, Turkish cabbies and restaurant maitre ‘d’s.

Read for a few hours…listened to a slew of podcasts…didn’t study my Turkish phrasebook…slept a bit.  Pulled into Istanbul’s otogar around 9:30 a.m. Saturday.  Got on a minibus into the city – worked my way back to Side Pension, where I stayed before.  Istanbul felt pretty familiar, which was good – I’d be showing friends Dri and Lisa around the city, to the extent that I could.

Checked in – and wouldn’t you know it, I heard my name called, and it was Ray and Bev, the Aussie couple I’d met in Ayvalik and seen in Bergama as well.  They were staying at Side too.  World couldn’t be smaller, sometimes.  Caught each other up on where we’d been, then I dropped my pack and went out for a bit.  Ate a few things – stretched my legs – traded texts with Dri, who was already at her hotel and was waiting for Lisa, her sister.

Went back to Side, they had my mail package from Boston.  Cracked that open and the volume was reasonable – lots of magazines, and the only letter requiring attention was from Blue Cross, my health insurer, telling me that my premiums would rise starting in December, did I want to pick a cheaper plan?  Yes, I did.  More on that later.

Read my Tufts University mag – noticed that one of the main characters in the TV show Heroes was a Tufts grad from 1996, by the name of Sendhil Ramamurthy.  Quite cool.  Also saw a piece in there about a guy a year behind me named Josh Seftel, who recently connected with me on Facebook and who’s a filmmaker.  He shot ‘Taking on the Kennedys’ a few years back, and he recently made a movie with John Cusack and some other stars – might be called War, Inc.  Finally, and I certainly didn’t know this, saw a blurb in the mag about Jessica Biel having gone to Tufts not long ago, and that she dropped out when she hit it big.  Tufts – home of the stars.  I knew it all along.

Met up with Dri and Lisa in the afternoon.  I’d snuck a nap so was feeling fine.  Had a good few hours with the ladies – first, Turkish coffee and a long catchup call, during which time I got a call from Ken in Europe.  He and Dri know each other, so they talked for a bit.  Then we walked around town, and when the sun set we went to the nargileh/tea café where Hartmut and I’d gone a few weeks earlier.  Had an orange-tobacco waterpipe and some tea – very relaxing.  Dri and Lisa are voluble, so we had lots to talk about.  Who would have known, 20 years ago, when we were in school together, that we’d one day be here together?  And our 20^th reunion is next May, so I’m trying to get Dri and other fave classmates to attend.

After our waterpipe, we were famished (but the tobacco was just tobacco – seriously) so went to a kofte (meatball) place for a sizeable feast.  After that, some sweets, then Dri and Lisa went back to their hotel to crash – neither had had a nap that day and they were jet-lagged.  As for me – I went to a bar in Sultanahmet and had a beer, but was also a bit tired and wanted to get going on my pile of magazines.  We’d be moving on in a couple days and I hated the idea of lugging a huge bag of reading material.

Next morning, got up very early and watched Game 6 of the Sox-Rays series.  Josh Beckett pitched a solid game and we won.  Series tied 3-3.  Incredible – could the Sox pull out yet another series in which they were down 3-1?  We’d see.

Met up with Dri and Lisa.  Walked to the Grand Bazaar – but it was Sunday and closed.  Ugh.  Rejiggered plans and instead went over to the Galata Bridge.  Dri and I ate mussles from a vendor – Dri was a big fan.  These mussles are steamed, most likely, and then stuffed with rice – you’ve gotta try them to believe how good they taste.  The little kiosk serving these is called Tarihi Eminonu Balikcisi, and also serves fish sandwiches (batik ekmek) which are superb – I just can’t walk by this place without getting one.

We then walked over the Galata Bridge, avoiding fishermen casting long lines into the Golden Horn.  Took the Tunel funicular up the hill to Istiklal Caddesi.  Visited Galata Tower, Lisa and Dri went up for a view of the city.  I’d been there before, with Zee, so stayed downstairs and read Sports Illustrateds.  Plowed through two before they came back down. Who says I’m not productive these days??

Walked around Beyoglu.  We each got a kumpir, a heavily stuffed baked potato.  We were well and truly stuffed ourselves after that, walked some more to digest the portion.  Got up to Taksim Circle, then turned around and walked back.  Lisa talked us into attending the monthly whirling dervish show – which was alright, not that exciting but I suppose authentic enough:

Later that night, caught a taxi from Sultanahmet to Beyoglu for dinner.  Taxi flagfall was reasonable, just 2 lira.  I was sitting in the front, talking to Dri and Lisa in the back.  After we crossed the Horn I looked at the meter and it was already up to 23 lira.  Hmmm…I said something to the driver, he replied that the river drive was long.  Not good enough.  I said this fare was much more than what I’d paid last time – he muttered something back.  But after this exchange, the meter barely moved, even though it was another 10-15 minutes in the taxi.  Final tab was 28 lira.  We paid but left no tip, and I bitched at him as we left the taxi.  I think he was monkeying with the meter using a foot pedal or hidden hand control.  I think Lisa was a bit annoyed that I was vocal and annoyed…but I hate thieving cabbies, I hate getting overcharged in general, and I’m willing to be perceived as cheap in order to make my point.  I should have taken his license plate or driver ID and reported it.  Next time I will – seriously.

Found a good meyhane (tavern/resto) in Beyoglu.  Had a very fun dinner consisting entirely of meze, raki and white wine.  Loads of old Tufts stories retold and embellished.  I love nights like these.  Am fully expecting more during our 20^th reunion next May.

This place also overcharged us.  We complained about the price of the wine, they lowered it – but we probably should have scrutinized the bill more closely.  I felt a bit badly, I’ve been traveling for years and still manage to occasionally get screwed.  Dri and Lisa are also highly experienced (they grew up in Rome, the world capital of thieving service providers), but still I felt a bit responsible and from now on I promise to be even cheaper and more discerning…

Had my camera with me – got a couple nighttime shots of Aya Sofya and Blue Mosque, without flash.  I think the colors are much richer this way…

Got up early the next morning to watch Game 7 of the baseball series.  This time the Sox lost, after taking an early lead on a Dustin Pedroia homer.  Bummer.  Would have been an all-time classic sports tale if they had come all the way back, again, but it wasn’t to be.  Tampa had a tough team and this just might be their year.  I think the Sox will be back strong next year, and I suppose I can wait.  The only positive, if there is one, is that my early mornings will finally be free and clear.  Between baseball playoffs and election debates, I’ve gotten up at dawn around 10 times in the past month or so.  Do you feel sorry for me?

Heard that Colin Powell endorsed Obama.  Wow – not an insignificant endorsement.  Of course, Fox News dismissed it as a racial matter.  The mere fact that Fox News has a sizeable following is really an indictment of the American mentality…their people are like overaged fratboys hanging around the frathouse 20 years after they graduated.  Fat, dumb, and unwelcome.  Colin Powell, despite his missteps in the Bush Admin (he had plenty of trogs pushing him into the fire), is an honorable guy and I think his endorsement speaks volumes about the GOP and McCain.  Maybe it’s not too late to save Powell’s legacy after all…

Monday, Dri and Lisa did their thing while I caught up on various tasks.  Paid my bills and updated my financial records.  Ugh.  Voted – not that simple a task.  Had to download and print a couple forms, fill them out, then find a post office.  Unfortunately, the city of Newton, Mass. didn’t send my absentee ballot till 2 weeks before the election date, so it didn’t come in time for my mail drop.  Thankfully, there is the online/printout option, but it’s a pain.  Still, had to vote and did it.

Did laundry.  Went to the tailor to get my daypack and electronics cord pack sewed up.  The tailor visit was uneventful this time – nobody came in with a split pair of pants.  Then had lunch, and took a nap.  These early morning ballgames take a bite out of me.

En route to the hotel, saw a brand-new Corvette parked near the Aya Sofya.  Talk about juxtaposition of old and new.  If the Corvette has anywhere near the longevity of Aya Sofya, the US auto biz just might have a chance…

Got a text from former colleague Kristina.  We made plans to have dinner that night.  I was looking forward to getting some new gossip from her, and seeing what she was up to.

Read my emails – heard from good friend and former colleague Eric that he was leaving the firm and taking on a strategy job with Ayala Corp. in Manila.  Eric’s Filipino and was looking to get back home, this new gig sounds tailor-made for him.  I felt both happy and sad to get his news – he was the last one of us left at the firm from our Aussie project back in 2000 in Sydney, a project that was a professional highlight for all four of us, I’m quite sure.  Oh well, time flies and we all move on.  Eric and I will see plenty of us each, I’m sure, as I get to the RP fairly often, and might be back there again in March 2009.

Met Kristina in Beyoglu that night.  Went to a hip new place called Otto, drank a few beers and had cheeseburgers.  I didn’t work with Kristina at the firm, she was usually in London or Istanbul and I was in East Asia and Oz, but we had always gotten along well and it was high time we sat down and had a long chat.  Lots of changes at the firm – another longtime colleague, Jim, has left – he was my mentor for a couple years and I always thought the world of him.  Gotta get his new email address and track him down.

We talked for nearly 3 hours and I had a great time.  I need one of these conversations every couple months, they help connect me with my past.  I lead such an untethered life, which I generally enjoy, but it’s good to have a bit of grounding as well.

Said bye to Kristina and walked back to Sultanahmet, over the bridge, took about 40 minutes.  Saw the late-night fishermen on the bridge, there are people with rod and reel there at all hours.  Walking around a city late-night is one of the best ways to get a sense of the place – the people up and around in the wee hours are the heart and soul of the place.

Before sleeping read the local paper – there’s a huge trial in Istanbul of a group called Ergenekon.  These people are accused of lots of hanky-panky in the cause of inciting the army to rise up and declare yet another coup.  Murder, kidnapping, etc. – lots of charges against this organization.  I don’t know much more than thap, but it does seem a real struggle for the identity of Turkey.

Next day, my last in town, had a few hours before getting on a bus to the central Anatolian region of Cappadocia, where I’d meet Dri and Lisa next.  They were in Ephesus today, on a very long day trip.  I did a few novel things – got on a ferry to Uskudar, in Asian Istanbul, where I walked a bit but mostly sat and read the newspaper on the harbor while random locals came up and tried out their English on me.  Went back to the Euro side, to Karakoy, and tracked down the city’s most famous baklavacisi, where I tried a couple specialties and emerged with a serious case of sugar overload.  My head was spinning and I was probably pre-diabetic for a few hours.

En route to the Euro side I spotted a UkrFerry, perhaps the same boat that took me from Odessa to Istanbul a month earlier.  Oh, nostalgia…

Went back to the hotel to relax and get my stuff.  I had to call Blue Cross to change my medical insurance plan – longtime readers may recall that I did the same thing last winter, from Goa, and it wasn’t a fun process.  Some things never change – first, called the Sales Dept and got an online proposal for a new plan.  Next, called another part of Sales and accepted the new plan.  Third, called Member Services and cancelled my old plan.  Also asked this person if I could just continue using my current payment plan, which relied on a cancelled check I’d sent them and direct withdrawals from my checking account.  This seemed problematic, even though I’d done it last year.  They asked me to call back in 48 hours to get an answer.  Torture.  At this hotel I had wireless, but you never know what your next hotel will have.  Why can’t companies like Blue Cross have someone hold your hand through the entire process?  I was on the phone for more than an hour and I had to hurry to get my pack and head for my bus.

Still, there was a fun element to the calls, which I made on my laptop, using Skype, from the rooftop of my hotel.  The Blue Mosque was to the right, the Aya Sofya to my left.  I don’t think the ancient Byzantines or Ottomans could ever have imagined something like this…

My overnight bus was going to Goreme, in Cappadocia.  In a nutshell, Cappadocia is a bizarre section of Turkey where there are crazy rock formations, many resembling erect circumcised penises.  The locals and guidebooks call them ‘fairy chimneys,’ but I’m telling you what they really look like.  Needless to say, female travelers favor Cappadocia.  No wonder Dri and Lisa were dying to come here.  Just kidding.  I think.

Bus trip was alright.  Had someone next to me, as usual, and didn’t sleep much.  The guy next to me was another foreigner who fell right asleep.  I was jealous, but just read and listened to podcasts.  Finally got to the bus depot, not far from Goreme, and switched to another bus.  My seatmate turned out to be from New York, Brian, who was traveling for a month in the Middle East.  We hit it off nicely and chatted until our bus to Goreme arrived.  Got to Goreme, said our goodbyes, and I went to my hotel and checked in.  Pretty nice place called Gultekin – the owner and son seem to live in a cave room, these are very common in Cappadocia, the ‘penises’ are hollow or have been hollowed out and are often used for dwelling.  Cool in the summer, warmish (with heating from stove) in winter, they’re practical places.

I showered and then crashed for a couple hours.  Got up and checked out Goreme.  Cool vibe, nice little touristy town.  Walked a kilometer or so to the ‘Goreme Open-Air Museum,’ a place with lots of cave churches and rock formations.  Ran into Brian just then – funny timing, he’d been on a tour all morning while I’d been sleeping.  We walked around the museum for an hour or so, then back to Goreme, where we had a few beers and talked.

Most of our talk centered on politics.  Both of us are pretty liberal and ‘elitists,’ of course.  It was almost uncanny how our views aligned – we often finished each others’ sentences.  Most of our wrath was directed at Sarah Palin – we’d both seen the Saturday Night Live videos and various other pieces which quite effectively demonstrated the buffoonery of our Sarah.  Felt good to vent live and get instant affirmation that my views are indeed unassailable.  I’d sort of known that all along, but Brian helped me finally ratify that feeling.

The café, Silk Road, had a good playlist.  At least two Crash Test Dummies songs came on while we were sitting there drinking.

We finally split up and I went back to the hotel to await word from Dri and Lisa, who were flying in shortly.  While waiting, the owner and son invited me to have a bite with them – they had made a batch of spicy rice and liver.  Joined them for this, my pre-dinner, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Then got a text from Dri and Lisa.  They were staying one town over, and I’d already decided to rent a scooter to visit them, so went and took care of that.  It occurred to me that Brian was probably sitting around and that he’d be great dinner company, so texted him and he was happy to join us.  He came down to the scooter place, and in 5 minutes we were riding, in the freezing night air, to Urgup, where Lisa and Dri were soon to arrive.

Random adventure.  I’d met Brian that morning (after not a word on the first bus, when he was sleeping – and I probably wasn’t that friendly), Dri and Lisa were still en route, Brian was now sitting on the back of my scooter, and it was all good.  Got to Urgup without much incident – found the town center and hopped off the scooter, half-frozen.  We were early, so found a bar and had a couple beers, still chatting about politics, and also travel, sports, etc.  Brian is a security consultant and wants to work abroad.  He’s pretty experienced already – spent a few years in Japan, and has been to lots of other places.  Still, he wants more and I think has the same criticisms of America as I do.

Dri and Lisa texted – and we met them at the resto next door.  Had a great meal, tried the local specialties, included a claypot kebap.  Good local white wine too.  Dri and Lisa had had a good trip to Ephesus, and some odd bus adventures as well.  Stayed out fairly late, then we were all beat from the long day and the cold.  Brian and I got back on the bike.  Our waiter in the restaurant had asked Brian what sort of bike he had (Brian had his helmet with him at the table, so it wouldn’t get stolen).  The waiter laughed when Brian said 1) we had a Yamaha 100cc scooter, and 2) he was a passenger.  I was in the toilet so missed this exchange, which by all accounts was a riot.

Ride back to Goreme was fine, but frigid.  Stopped and pulled out a pair of socks, which I’d packed in case of cold, for my hands.  Worked OK – last time I’d done this was ages ago, when Dad and I skied the Matterhorn one July 1^st morning.  The socks warmed my hands, somewhat, but it was also harder to control the brakes and throttle.  Took it slow and easy and we were fine.  Said bye to Brian, who was doing a daylong tour the next day, then busing it back to Istanbul.  My plans were more vague, but was likely to meet Dri and Lisa at the Open-Air Museum, then play it by ear.  Was already finding Cappadocia a random and fun spot – might stay a week or so here, exploring the outer expanses on my wimpy little Yamaha 100cc scooter.  Over and out.