Efeses, Izmir, Sirince, and Selcuk

Mustafa

Selcuk

Ruins

Izmir

So last weekend I took a trip with my two roommates to Izmir and its surroundings. It was an 8 hour midnight bus ride from Ankara, and we all learned the importance of visiting the restroom before hand--the bus did stop twice though. The bus ride there can be around like 50 lira, but we managed to bargain our way down to 25 lira--incredible! (Thanks to my Korean roommate's impressive Turkish skills and my stubbornness) The weather in Izmir was so lovely, unlike Ankara, which rained heavily and was bitter cold all week.

When we got to Izmir we all had this huge craving for McDonald's Breakfast for some reason, so we went there and had our egg mcMuffin and coffee, or in my case cocoa. The egg McMuffin actually has ham! That is just about the only place in Turkey you will find pig. Contrary to popular belief McDonald's and Burger King are NOT halal! (Long story/Inside Joke) Finding the McDonald's was some work, and we had to walk rather far, but we were determined--it was well worth it. After breakfast we had an impulse for dondurma kula (turkish ice cream), and we went for it! A little bit of decadence is a must on some trips after all.

After breakfast we took the train from Izmir to the small city of Selcuk where we stayed in the lovely Boomerang hostel. It was really nice and we had an amazingly delicious home cooked Turkish breakfast. The first day I had mename, but the second day I had traditional Turkish breakfast, consisting of jam, bread, butter, yogurt, fruits, cucumber, tomato, salami, olives, and cheese.

The first day we went to the nearby ruins and had dinner. The ruins, like every other tourist site in the area had an overwhelming amount of senior citizen tourists from Europe and Asia, and a few from Texas. I guess not many people tend to travel in October who are not retired though. After that we went to the small village of Sirince (pronounced shirinje) famous for its fruit dessert wines. We sampled wine at a place our Korean roommate knew quite well for a good amount of time--it was run by an older Turkish man named Mustafa who bore a resemblance to Einstein. There were so many different flavors--peach, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, apple, apricot, lemon, cherry, melon, plum, etc. We settled on a bottle of pomegranate wine, called "nar" in Turkish. We decided it was not strong enough, so we foolishly decided to mix a second bottle of white wine with it drink it as if it were Sangria or something of the like. We realized later that we did not have cups, so we used a Nalgene water bottle and cut the tops off of two water bottles to use as cups. That wasn't our best idea--between that and the cold air my lips were a bit sore in the morning. The wine was good though, but probably much better on its own.

Sirince was an interesting city--it was very touristie, but also a small village. We took a walk off the beaten path, and this somewhat strange older guy came out of his house to the side of his lawn to talk to us. He was sort of standing on a raised hill, and he kept calling us angels and asking us to come in his house for wine. We kindly refused repeatedly. He thought my roommate was from Brazil and that my Korean roommate was Chinese, or as he said "a very lucky China man" who is "with two beautiful angels." It was an odd experience. To our dismay we ran into him again while buying wine, and he once again invited us to his house for "a party" and gave us his business card. A definite souvenir, but not much more. As we were leaving the city we saw a big white dog on the roof of a small wine shop. As we exited the wine shop it began to bark very loudly at another very small dog wearing a sweater that was walking by. Sirince rather looked like my hometown--or rather my backyard--grasslands with various orchards of fruit trees, but a bit more hilly than where I live. We also had an interesting encounter with a quite old covered woman who stared very intently at my roommate as she put eye drops in her eyes--after that she surprised us greatly by saying, "ALLERGY?!?!"

I was quite amazed how many Asian tourists have been and were in the area--you could see from numerous signs, letters, and notes in Korean and Chinese that Asian tourists had been there. I had a field day of course and used my Korean a bit. My Korean roommate and I played our usual game of guessing the origin of the various Asian tourists--a fun day.

The next day we went to Efeses---that was pretty cool--but once again way too many tourists, 90% of which were over age 60. It was rather annoying at times because they constantly managed to be in all of our pictures. We saw an Ancient library and other ruins in Efeses. One of my roommates called a street cat over, and before she knew it, it was happily purring in her lap. We have a picture as proof.

After Efeses we went to Izmir. There we met my Korean roommate's old friend from school, a former student in Bilkent. He showed us around Izmir, everything from the peak, the clock tower, the beach side, to the bazaar. The bazaar was disappointing in comparison to Istanbul, and we soon grew tired of the aggressiveness and crowdedness, as well as the fact the vendors were clearly trying to swindle us, so we left. We went to a lovely cafe that overlooked the ocean. It really really made me miss Hong Kong. The view was gorgeous--although there was no tropical foliage, the view and the cafe reminded very much of my day spent at "the Peak" in Hong Kong, and made me miss Hong Kong and my time spent there very much. Afterwards we had an amazing home cooked meal at our friends' house. His mom made us the most amazing dinner with fish, eggplant salad, salad, and home made corba made from freshly dried peppers. It was amazing--there was fresh fruit and baklava too. Our friends' mom tried to insist that we stay the night, but we didn't want to impose, as well as our stuff was all in Selcuk, so we went home. They had the most amazing ocean view from their flat though--once again I was reminded of Hong Kong and the fact that I must live by the ocean.

The next day we journeyed home. Again we managed to bargain our way into a cheap ticket--yet the end result was the bus ticketer's attempt to amuse himself by writing "Korean People" on all three of our tickets. ...However, this time in bargaining we made a mistake. We took a bus from Selcuk, which is a small and quite touristie area. Therefore there are many monopolies.

We neglected to ask how long the bus would take--big mistake. When the bus finally came, and it came nearly an hour late, we asked fellow passengers where they were going. It ranged a lot, but some said Trapazone! This was so alarming, as it is quite far away and not in the direction of Ankara. Other passengers said other various cities. Ironically looking back, one French tourist was quite angry and called the bus ticketer a crook in his complaints to us--we laughed a little as tourists get ripped off a lot--as if he didn't know the half of what a crook he was--but wow he was dead on! So, typically the journey takes 8-9 hours, but during our journey the bus stopped at least 10 times, making it take about 12 hours! Sometimes it would stop just to let people on and off, but even without that there were still breaks nearly every hour! It was nice to walk, but rather annoying after a while. Each stop was a horribly overpriced small monopoly shop that had horrible variety at even worse prices. Finally we broke down and bought kasharlu toast (cheese toast) for like 4 lira each! What a rip off. This was just the tip of the ice berg though. The bus didn't even stop at Asti bus terminal! It tried to let us off before Asti, like 10 miles before, on the side of the road, and we said NO. They kept going, and said they would stop at Asti, but I could tell they already passed it. Eventually my roommates agreed, and with the other Ankara passengers we finally just asked them to stop the bus so we could get out. At least we were not alone--I could hear three Turkish girls/women cussing out the bus driver. He stopped on the side of the freeway, and with on-coming traffic facing the side of the bus the luggage was on--we disembarked at midnight. We had planned to take the Metro home, but this was no longer possible, so we were stuck at the mercy of the horrible taxi driver. We asked beforehand how much and set a price, but half way there he started talking like he was going to raise it--totally ridiculous! --so we just said let us off on the main street near our house, Tunus. He didn't even take us that far, and he insisted 5 lira higher than the asking price--which was already too high! We fought with him for 20 minutes and finally just gave it to him--it was cold. We kept his car running for 20 minutes though, so he lost too--and I gave him enough dirty looks to give him nightmares, so it all settles out. =D

All and all the bus ride was not so horrible, just that. I sat by a Japanese woman for 3 hours on the bus. That was so nice. We talked in Japanese about Turkey, America, Japan, the economy in Japan and the US, traveling, etc. She was traveling by herself in Turkey, and then going to Egypt next. No tour in Turkey--that is not something you see often, especially from Japanese people--especially in Turkey! I was proud of her--I really respect that sort of thing. She was nice to talk to. It was interesting to see her perception of Turkey though--she had a slightly different experience being a Japanese tourist in Turkey. She clearly sticks out and probably gets ripped off a lot, but the Turkish men are less creepy with her than they are with me and my roommate.

After me cussing really loud in the streets of Ankara in the middle of the night about how corrupt taxi drivers in Turkey are, and how incompetent the bus driver was, I finally calmed down--sort of. haha My roommates might say otherwise...

The bus ride was pretty scenery though. I love all the bright colors in the Turkish architecture. The country side was pretty too--once again it made me miss my home town and my parents. For the first time on this trip I really really missed my parents. It's not that I don't love them or miss them, it is just that I am so used to living without them now after living away at college these last 3 years that I am used to having them gone. I mean I miss them, but I REALLY missed them on that bus ride home. Especially my dad---NO OFFENSE MOM--it just made me think about all our camping trips together in the past and how nice it was and how I should have done that more. That is something I definitely want to change when I come back to the US before I move. More hiking/fishing/hunting/camping trips with appa and Ah Chong...maybe even Katie will come too! Inshallah~

A Piece of Asia in Turkey

I think I am a strange person. In Asia I always look for Turkish food---it's like my hobby and goal every time I go to Japan and Korea. Every time I see a sign that says "Turk" or "Dondurma" I go nuts. Yet, now that I'm finally here, I crave Asian cuisine. I must say, Hong Kong really spoiled me--well Brian really spoiled me. Shanghainese, Korean, Japanese, Dimsum, Cantonese, Fish, seafood, Peking duck etc. ...not to mention wonderful homemade Indonesian food! So here I am now, in Turkey, the places I have wanted to go all my life, the place I was wishing I was in Korea, and I just want Kimchi and dimsum more than anything.

So in my pursuit of kimchi--kimchi chige in particular--I went to the ONE ASIAN restaurant in Ankara. It was good--not amazing--but satisfying enough. I am currently trying to find the ingredients to make some Japanese or Korean food--like mandu or okonomiyaki.

I am currently living with a Korean now as well, and it's so nice! I get to practice both Korean & Turkish, and it's so nice! I feel like "I'm with my own people." I came to Turkey for just that, yet every time I meet another Asian person I find myself getting giddy with excitement. My hope was that this trip would teach me something about myself--find my "true self" better, and I guess I am doing just that, but not at all in the way I expected. ...but I guess that's how life is, right?

CONCLUSION: I am Asian at heart. I belong in Hong Kong. I miss Korea--it's my other home--so is Japan. I know my place is in Asia....but I am still really really enjoying Turkey.

The "Sounds" of Turkey & My Life in Ankara

At the break of dawn the cracking of the loudspeaker signals the beginning of the call to prayer, which continues for several minutes. This woke me nearly every day during the first two weeks in my stay in Turkey. However, the longer I was here, the more I stayed out, and the more I went to bed later and later. Yet, this was replaced but the bread man, who carries large breads on his head shouting "ekmek" around 7am and then again around 8am or so--by then the sun is streaming into my window. This never fails to wake me up--it is essentially my Turkish alarm clock.

Now Ramazan is over, but in August and earlier September the call of prayer in the evening had great significance to me, as it signaled the time for which Muslims could eat. However, this also meant that over half of the country was all running home at the same time to eat--the end result being traffic jams with scattered accidents caused by the rushed, tired, hot, and delirious ramazan drivers. This was quite frightening, especially in Istanbul. I don't know how many accidents and almost accidents I saw, but let's just say it was worse than driving with a certain Russian friend of mine in rush-hour in LA. (For the record he IS a good driver)

My daily routine consists of waking up, eating a bowl of plain yogurt, drinking 5 cups of chay, and if I have time, going to the local store to purchase fresh bread or pida for less than the price of $1. I then walk to the Tunus bus stop, passing through the island in the middle of the road loitered with pigeons and covered with their excrement. The island is across from the bread shop--they throw out old bread and someone puts out water for the pigeons, but the end product is a chaotic clustering of angry hungry birds in the morning, and later a minefield of white. As I walk down the hill toward Tunus I walk cautiously at my feet, attempting not to die or break any teeth before my morning class. The roads in Turkey are ok, but the sidewalks, especially in Ankara, are truly horrible. They look as though each section was planned individually, as many pieces of the stone walk do not evenly meet other sections, resulting in many opportunities to trip and bleed. --If I am doing this sober, how do the drunk Erasmus students manage to walk home in Ankara?! -- As I walk down the hill my Korean roommate grabs some Poaja and my other roommate grabs her ayran. I want both, but I am trying not to eat two breakfasts every day, even though I probably could get away with it with the amount of walking up and down hills I do.

I then take a 20-40 minute bus ride to Bilkent, walk down the hill to my class, and the rest is self explanatory. I am taking Ceramics--new techniques and ancient, Economics of Monetary Union of the EU, Financial Economics, Turkish, and Political Science--cities local and global (urbanization policies and such). They are all fairly interesting--some more than others. Ceramics is really exciting because I get to make a mosaic, but I had to pay 180 Lira for the class, so I'm going to try and make 2 or 3 mosaics to get my money out of it. The professor is nothing like a professor I have ever had, but I guess he is an art teacher. The first time I met him he walked out carrying a handle of absolute vodka and walked into his office. I thought it was some kind of demonstration or for the shape of the bottle, but no--it's just how he starts his mornings. He talks to each of us one by one, as he drinks from his glass of peach absolute, and really enjoys the morning. He offered me some once, but I personally am not a big vodka fan, especially in the mornings, so I declined. I guess it is Turkey, but you can't really get away with that in another subject like say economics or math. ...I think. So far all my professors seem to be quite accommodating though, especially in terms of me taking my finals early to leave early. I have mixed feelings about leaving early--I did come to Turkey for Turkey, but concurrently I have to leave early either way in order to get back to UCD on time since we are on quarters. Furthermore, I would sort of hate to miss some opportunities to travel in the region since I am here. I have decided against a trip to Europe in November though---I feel like I need to see Turkey and regions of the Middle East more than Europe--I came to Turkey more for that than Europe after all.

Classes are interesting. My school, Bilkent, requires that all students take courses in English. Many students take 5 years to study because they need an additional year of English in the beginning. This seems a little crazy, but Turks do take many years of English in high school and elementary school, so all have some level of exposure, but most often it is more "book English"--ie reading and writing--than spoken and conversational skills. This poses a big problem. So even though my school has this policy that "YOU MUST ONLY USE ENGLISH" it is not really followed from what I've seen. All my professors tend to randomly start speaking or joking in Turkish, and all of them appear that they would have used Turkish if no exchange students had been present in the class. My political science teach mistook me for a Turk. Yeh! =D The students also don't have the best English for the most part--and they are really reluctant to use their English too.

People don't seem to believe I'm from America. I guess I don't "dress like an American," but apparently my accent isn't "American" either. I can kind of see this--I just don't know how it happened. Last night these guys were trying to guess where I was from, and they guessed basically every country but America. Amusing. I said I'm from California, and they didn't believe me. I asked my Korean roommate what it sounds like, and he replied "mixed. like a world traveler." I guess so--that's something Brian (my Brian) and I have in common I guess.

Then there's LUNCH--I eat most of my lunches in a small cafeteria called Marmara. It is such a cafeteria. The food isn't amazing, but it's decent, and it's really cheap for a large set meal. I really have no other choice with my schedule as well.

DINNER--I enjoy cooking this at home or eating at a local restaurant with my friends or roommates. It's so nice to have people to cook with. We eat rather eclectic meals, but it works for Turkey. It was a little hard to adjust to Turkish food--simply what's available in the grocery store is so different than the US. I'll talk more about that later though.