Jun 2007

As the sun's rays shines out over the peaks of Cappadocia, I can't help but laugh at the chain of random events that transpired yesterday.

I arrived to Selcuk in the morning from the overnight bus from Istanbul. I spent 45 minutes walking to Ephasus (site of well preserved Roman ruins) in the morning heat. It was going to be a hot day and I didn't last more than 1.5 hr before I was too hot and satisfied with my visit.

As I started to walk back on the long stretch of road connecting Ephasus to Selcuk (no one else was walking since it was so hot), a cabbie called out to me, "Selcuk? 10 Liras, it's too HOT to walk!"
Not willing to pay 10 Liras, I started on my long and painful journey. I later realized that it had hit 42C in Selcuk when I was walking and after 1 hr of walk, I was only halfway to town! Not willing to suffer a premature death due to heatstroke, I decided to stick out my thumb and hope someone had the generosity to give me a ride into town.

Fifteen minutes later, imagine this: Me, sitting on the back seat of a farm tractor as it pulled into downtown Selcuk. I wished someone had taken a picture of me right there because it must've been a ridiculous sight.

I spent the rest of the hot day on the internet at a hostel that I wasn't even staying it and watching the only thing that was on their TV (Lilo and Stitch 2). This continued my run of bad movies first started by Dubrovnik's Ripley's Game.

I then took the 4 P.M. bus and was on my way to Goreme, Cappadocia via Parmukkale. But then something happened. While we were pulling out of the Parmukkale station, the engine wouldn't pick up and after sitting in the unventillated compartment for 10 minutes, the place felt like a sauna and everyone got out of the bus (it was still 38C at 9 p.m.). It took 3 hours for them to finally fix it and even when we got on, you just knew everyone was praying that it wouldn't break down again. That feeling combined with the Turkish edited version of Littleman made the ride less comfortable than it could've been.

For the two full days, I've been in Turkey, I can't help but remark how friendly people are even when they're not actively trying to sell you something. Turgay from Paris Hostel, Selcuk let me stay in the shade and gave me Turkish coffee. Kassim, a Turk I had met on the bus to Selcuk, and I talked about life in Canada and Turkey. In Parmukkale, I talked to Mandur, a geography student trying to get people to his hostel. He and I had good conversations about life, women, weather, business and Parmukkale. Though there are differences, its remarkable how similar people can be across cultural divides. When I told him I missed Canadian summers composed of cottages, beers, BBQs, he said that his friends do that sometimes; they get a sheep from his grandfather, go up to his friend's mountain nomad home and BBQ. Throughout the bus ride, I was also getting looks since the backcountry almost never sees any minorities (esp. an Asian Canadian!) However, after the delay, we didn't need to speak the same language to share our humour and frustration. A look, a smile, a shake of the head, it transcends all cultures.

And now, as the sun rises over Cappadocia, I wonder what other adventures lie ahead!

As I stepped off the bus from Split in Dubrovnik, numerous Croatian ladies approached me. Armed with maps in their hands, they proceeded to show me their house/room/sobe on the map. While this may sound strange to some of you, others will have heard or experienced the attack of these room hawkers in Eastern Europe. Although I encountered a few in Prague, Krakow, Budapest, they were merely passive hostel runners. The 6-7 old women here were like coyotes looking for meat! I politely refused each approach and then I heard the dreaded question, "Are you Japanese?"

FUCK!

Though I can understand the difficulty in differentiating people within an ethic group a few continents away (actually, by the end of this trip even my parents will be able to differentiate by ethnicity due to my tan!), perhaps one shouldn't assume? I don't assume that anyone that looks eastern European to be Polish, Russian or etc. And people should not assume that North American English speakers are American.

After my great escape, it took a frustrating hour in the 33C heat to find the phone #, telephone card and call my hostel owner Mladen for a pickup. After quickly checking in and dropping my stuff off, I went off to explore the old walled city of Dubrovnik. This area was exceptionally pretty and well restored even after being bombarded and put under siege by the Serbians in the Croatian war for independence. The white stone walls set between the light blue Mediterranean sea and the rapidly rising rocky hills and mountain. However, to me, it lacked the simple charm of Split.

Since I missed breakfast, lunch and only had a slice of pizza for my previous dinner, I decided to splurge a bit on my final meal in Croatia. I looked around to find a cheap and deserted restaurant in the old city. I had mussels and a seafood risotto for an amazing price.

The rest of the evening was uneventful except that I had a double room to myself and watched one of the many terrible movies I would see in the following week. The movie called Ripley's Game had John Malkovich and Dougray scott.

I'll be catching a flight to Munich and then Istanbul early in the morning!
Mollim!

1. Great seafood
2. Great beaches
3. Friendly people
4. Beautiful women
5. Fun islands to explore
6. Great water and landscapes
7. Not overflowed by legions of obnoxious tourists

It's very easy to fall in love with Split. The above list but some of the reasons. For myself, the landscape (esp. of Hvar) is incredibly appealing as well as the fresh seafood! The Adriatic sea is also less polluted and warmer than many bodies of water I've seen.

I'm glad I visited this wonderful destination before the onslaught of tourists come. The Brits are already coming in waves so I expect other Europeans and Americans to follow soon.

Croatian cuisine can also be very similar to Italian with emphasis on seafood and much less expensive. In fact, I found a little restaurant in an alley close to the terminal where I got a large seafood paste for under 5 euros!

I am now off to Dubrovnik but it will be hard to find a more charming place than Split and Hvar in Croatia.

Speeding down the street at 85 km/hr on my 150cc scooter, I thought to myself, "I found Paradise in Hvar."

Walls made of stacked grey stones sheltered the grape vines growing from the deep red earth. The magnificent hills, Mediterranean landscape sea and red tile roofs are scenes that I could only imagine seeing in paintings by Monet or other impressionist masters. Neither words nor photos can describe the beautiful landscapes that's been engraved into my mind.

After arriving at on the overnight train from Budapest (more comfortable and less sketchy than Prague-Krakow), I ate a well yearned English breakfast at The Black Cat. The place was recommended by a fellow Canadian who I had shared the compartment with and who had been working in Split for the last 3 months. I met up with some random guys at the Split Hostel who intended to head to the islands and explained to them the recommendations I got from Dave, that crazy Kiwi, to rent scooters and explore Hvar.

It was, by far, the best decision I have made throughout the trip. I've always loved riding scooters around (twice in Varadero, Cuba) and this was an entirely different experience. The winding roads and diverse scenery were incredibly fun to explore on those mopeds! At one moment you can see the green hills dotted with fences of grey rocks and piles of rubble. Then over the next hill you can see the hills set before the beautiful light blue Mediterranean sea. The small towns and grape vine regions were very quaint and a joy to explore.

Though we had to catch the bus to Stari Grad, the ferry on the other side of Hvar town where we landed, it felt like our time on the scooters were far too short. However, our perfect day turned for the worst when the bus was filled up to the maximum and 10 of us were left at the stop requiring us to get into a taxi for 40 Kunas each (approx. 6 Euros) in order to catch our ferry!

ATTENTION POTENTIAL INVESTORS:
If you are interested in a time-share or purchasing real estate in Hvar, Croatia, please contact me.

Numerous times as I was speeding down the road with he hills and Adriatic sea in my sights, I looked up to the clear skies and closed my eyes for just a moment. When I opened them again, I always found myself in Paradise, my Elysium.

"Those two in the corner are SO having sex", said Shaffy, a fellow Canadian (N.S.) who was also my new roommate. The four of us looked over at the couple mentioned above and our responses ranged from denial to incredulity. The hypothesis was confirmed after observing the couple switching to the doggy position and one of the Western University girls swam over and noticed a lack of bottom swimsuit on the adjoined couple. The reaction on her face when she turned around was priceless; a mixture of astonishment, humour and shock.

On my only full day in Budapest (due to schedule conflict), I decided to join Shaffy and Vincent (Ottawa) for the famous Szechenyi baths in Budapest. The natural spring water was incredibly relaxing and warm. There, we met two Canadian girls who Shaffy had met on the train. They just graduated from Western (so my Western jokes did not really impress them though dead baby jokes did and they had a remarkable arsenal as well!).

At the baths, the craziest coincidence occurred. We met two Canadian girls at the entrance and after some discussions in the baths, we realized that we had all gone to Queens and visited Martin in Munich one weekend apart! I actually knew they looked familiar however I didn’t want to be that creep that asked, "You look familiar, where do I know you from?"

So, the four of us had dinner at a Hungarian restaurant recommended by Let's Go called Fatal. We realized, however, that the recommendation was not fully accurate when the server said, "NO!" to Shaffy's requests and half the menu. Although the portions we received were big, as described by Let's Go, the experience cast considerable doubt on LG's food recommendations.

Later, while Shaffy and I wandered about town semi drunkenly, we stumbled on a discussion about why we travel. Our conclusion was that we don't do it to check off destinations off our list but rather for the journey itself. For me personally, it is to make me feel a myriad of experiences life has to offer. It is to place myself in uncomfortable situations and see how I react and feel. To force myself to socialize with complete strangers, something that I hate doing since I'm naturally an introvert. It is to learn and exchange experiences with locals from all over the world and the nomads who explore them.