Wednesday, April 27, 2011
So I'm sitting in my hostel room in Istanbul post-ANZAC tour, head bent at a very awkward angle but loving the view over the Bosphorus. It's chilly today as it has been all week, and waking up with a sore throat that's gotten worse all day cannot be good. Incase you were wondering, nooo I was not drinking heavily last night!
What a beautiful city Istanbul has been... have one more day here but I've seen and done so much. Except Macca's - that's either tonight or tomorrow. Came back from the Hagia Sofya just before, luckily got a local tour guide who got us in pretty quickly and told us all the intricate details about its wonderful history. I've cruised across the Bosphorus River, been repeatedly told I'm one of (millions of) angels from paradise, relaxed in Turkish baths that are over 500 years old, tried to be set up with the guy whose family owns the shop across from the tour hotel and sampled what's said to be the best Turkish Delight, honeycomb and nut delicacies in the Egyptian Bazaar (Spice Market) – check it out!
Then there was Gallipoli. What an absolute privilege to be a part of. Such a fun and sombre experience... the ride was long, we were told no pre-tours of the sites would be allowed, killed time in the next town over, went back to wait only to see buses moving through (must be mentioned our local driver was a gun – craziest ten-point-turn I've seen in my life, let three of the group back in as we were moving, got through past half the other buses and we were some of the first to get into the site...). Had a great vantage point snuggled in my sleeping bag, spent the night slowly getting colder and colder, but got through on cold bread and dips, chocolate and chips... sooooo many chips. Thanks to a drunk Katie the day before ;D Oh yeah, and we may have been on Turkish TV flicking through the program... have to look that up.
The Dawn Service itself was the most moving for me. The Last Post is incredibly haunting and it moved me to tears. Australian service was professional but nice – but apparently the NZ version was much more laidback. The stands were minimal so my small group missed out on that one. We were blessed with dry weather and little wind through the night. And less people than previous years too apparently – we didn't have to move at all.
A shipping ferry's just passing called the Euronav – Nav, I went to Food Republic in Singapore! But there were two along Orchard Rd so I hope it was the right one. But amazing and cheap. Walked/Metroed around Singapore City for about 12 hours straight – took Sentosa Island in, had the spiciest chicken tikka masala of my life in Little India, and promised myself I'd be back to Haji Lane to stock up on some wicked clothes before hitting home.
The Royal Wedding's coming up on Friday, very keen on trying to discover what the weirdest souvenir is. But I think tomorrow calls for a relaxed (and cheap) last full day in Turkey. Just wish I could've discovered more of this inviting country.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I hate my laptop at home for not being able to publish a post so I'm going to do a quickie here at the public institution that is my local library. Lots happening in my life if you were wondering at all. The countdown to Europe 2011 is definitely on the home stretch with only three weeks to go before I'm outies. It started to hit me a few days ago when I was completely stressed about getting Eurail passes before the agent I had in charge of that went to Europe himself for five weeks. Before that I'd waited three hours for him and not gotten anywhere on that particular day so I'm glad things did sort out on his last day. That (last) week, I worked 47 hours between my two jobs. Unprecedented and badly-timed, but I won't be sorry when the payslip comes through. It's kicked me into gear and today as the only entire day off I've had in a week or two at least has come as a huge relief. Except for the pain in my lower back. Damn exercise. Got my new camera in express post today, v.v.excited. Only bought it on Monday night so quite impressed. It's the exact same model as my old one, but I love it too much to let it go just yet and it's still a top camera features-wise (for a point-and-shoot anyway). And this time it's pink! Lol I'm such a girl... Transport for me is all organised, waiting on info to book one flight for the family and it's taking FOREVER. I just want it over and done with - Mercury turns retrograde today so I'm worried about miscommunications if I leave it too much longer. Aaaaaahhhhh. One final thought: I miss driving my car. Although the last words to blast from the radio speakers were 'ohhhh, Mona Lisa'. Seriously. From that new Panic! At The Disco song. That's got to be a good omen right? It's been playing on my mind and I just keep thinking how surreal it'll be standing in front of the masterpiece once more.
Posts
