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And off to Greece!

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

After Pammukale, we went to ephesus, checked out the ruins and hopped on another over-night bus to Istanbul… We arrived fell right back in love with this tranquill old-europe style city. We walked along the promenades, finished uploading pictures from India to Turkey on the free internet our hostel provided (click the link on the right to see them!), and treated ourselvels to the great treats we found the first time around (ie chocolate cheesecake, chocolate brownies w/ice cream, and of course more apple tea!!).

After a few days, we hopped on an overnight train to Thessaloniki, Greece. Holy yowza… this ridin’ in style. The room we were given on the train was like a mini hotel room… complete with closet, sink, etc. No bathroom but it had comfortable beds, clean sheats, and comfy pillows! We set in for the night and were quickly sleeping peacefully. The only concern was how the border crossing to Greece would be handled. When we crossed from Cambodia to Vietnam by bus, we had to get out and walk across the border, get passports stamped, etc.. the whole thing took nearly two hours! Getting off the train at 3am and standing in line in our pj’s would not be fun…. No worries! They knocked on our door, took our passports and then they took care of everything while we stayed in bed. Then they knocked again, and gave us our passports back… off we go! Greece is especially exciting since my mom will be travelling with us when we get to Athens!

Walking on a glacier

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Reluctantly leaving another town, we hopped on another bus to Pammukale. Turkey is definately shaping up to be high on the list of places to go back to!

In Pammukale, they have ruins that you hike up to. While you hike up this small mountain, you walk over sandstone that has beautiful travertines from the water cascading down it. It is very white due to calcium deposits from the water. They make you take your shoes off when you walk on it. From a distance, it looks like a glacier or maybe a snow-capped mountain. Even though it is not the warmest day, the water coming down the mountain is from a hot spring so as you go higher, the water get warmer and is very nice to walk in near the top. At the top is an acropolis and a theatre that are very well preserved/maintained. They also have a hot spring pool that you can pay to swim in. The pool is interesting as it has stones and other items from the ruin that are in it as the people swim around.

So, it was time, once again, for a hair cut… not exactly the best cut I’ve gotten, not as impressive as the sure-handed Cambodian barber, and certainly not as cheap… but it got the job done! I think I might be a pro at hair cutting sign language now though…

The feeling of discovery…

Monday, April 7th, 2008
After a few days in Cappadocia, we were sad to leave... so much more to explore! Oh well, off on another overnight bus to Olympos. We learned that when making reservations (for anyone going to Turkey) that since the buses ... [Continue reading this entry]

Modern Cave Men and More Apple Tea

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
After Istanbul, we took an overnight bus to Cappadocia, specifically to the town of Goreme. Cappadocia is a region of central Turkey where people, many moons ago, dug into the limestone hills and mountains and made cave homes; even an entire ... [Continue reading this entry]

Istanbul.. not Constantinople

Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Ah, Istanbul... We arrived in the late morning and were immediately enamored with this old, europe style, city. We had heard that the 'men were aggressive' and the 'touts were intense' but we learned that these types of comments are ... [Continue reading this entry]