Turkiyeeeeee

OK, Turkey – where to begin? I guess in the place we did. Bodrum.
Annette, my bro’s girlf, met us at the port and we all went back to the hotel. Bodrum like the Greek Islands was dead. We had a fun night in the Aussie Pub (no joke – why are the pubs that stay open ALL year – Australian pubs???!) (Actually it’s probably because the Aussies won’t accept the cold weather…) hmmmmmm.

Ok… so that was like, ummm, y’know… fun and stuff. There was a sweet shop there. Not in the pub.

Moving on we went to Pammukale. Pammukale for those who, like me, weren’t 100% up on the Turkish geography, Pammukale is the place on all the Turkey tourist posters where the natural springs have created gradient calcium shelves. The shelves contain little pools of healing mineral waters. The mineral waters however have been diverted to hotel pools and so on, so really the shelves are dry – and rapidly degrading. They’re trying to fix them with what like cement and white wash – but in a lot of places it’s really a sad imitation. You can see how amazing they were – it’s still cool to go, but they’re definitely missing something.

Later upon closer appraisal of a ‘recent’ tourist poster showing the shiny, beautiful full-of-water calcium shelves, we discovered the picture was actually taken in 1982. Probably the last time the shelves look remotely like that. Tourism and bad environmental management were the reasons.

So enough blasting the world heritage attempts of the Turkish Department of Time Wasting, oops I mean Tourism and Environment.

After Pammukale we went to Konya. We ignored all the people in Bodrum and Pammukale who said "Konya??? Why would you go to Konya? It’s a religious town, there’s nothing there". What a thing to say anyway – of course they didn’t realise the time we’d spent in the Middle East before. Anyway Konya was great! There was a really happening student atmosphere – you couldn’t notice the alleged extra hijabs. Just a cool Mevlana vibe.

Konya is the home of the whirling dervishes whose mystical Islam spread throughout the West Middle East with the rise of the Mevlanas. Mevlana – the founder of the sect- who on his death declared his birth to Allah. He believed in becoming closer to God through poetry and chanting. It’s a great form of Islam, extremely welcoming to all. In the Shrine-Museum that holds the tomb of Mevlana there is also guess what:

… the beard of the Prophet Mohammed…

Ta daaaa. How many of you can say you’ve see that huh! (Eirin and Annette don’t count OK)

More to come!!

Greece: Old things, Delicious Yogurt and Meany Waiters

Hey Peeps…

WOW!!!! A post! Cool huh… OK, So it began as you would expect, Greece.

Yes, Greece, After Eirin’s Birthday in Barce (‘twas fun, we were tired). We headed over to Athens, after spending a night each in Gatwick airport. Fun. So Lonely Planet, our bible (along with the guidance of online forums) describes Athens as basically a hole with not much to do. But we loved it… maybe it was the autumn leaves falling and all but probably it’s just all the work they did for the 2004 Olympics.

So we liked it, despite the expensive entry fees, and enjoyed walking around the, great, shopping and looking at all the things we couldn’t afford. But most f all we loved the food! Delicious!

Yes, from the simple yuros sandwich, to the divine yogurt and sour cherries to the magic fish soup and Musakka. One day as Eirin and I were wondering near the ancient agora we decided that perhaps we were a little peckish or at least we wanted to drink some tea and think about what delicious baklava sweets we would eat. So we sat down at a café and were perusing the menu when the waiter came:

Waiter: "Can I help you"
Us: "Yes, we would like one tea and one hot chocolate please"
W: "Just drinks?"
U: "Yes for now"
W: "No, you go, no food you can’t stay!!"
U: "What??
W: "No, leave"
U: "Don’t you want business"
W: "No"

… Umm, ok, I might add at this point that it was 3.30 in the afternoon and the café was at least half empty. Ummm ok, and so as we wondered along past people enjoying their only drinks order at near-by cafes we wondered what was wrong. Had we really been travelling that long? Did we look homeless or something? Was it the stench of hostel? We tried another café:

Us: "Can we sit here?"
Waiter: "Yes"
U: "Can we just order drinks?
W: (incredulously) "Of course Lady!!!"

Uh huh!! That’s what we thought!

Hmmmm.

Well after a few days in Athens enjoying those leaves and ancient things (as well as our tea and hot chocolate finally) we went to da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…
THE GREEKS ISLANDS.

What do you imagine my friends, sweet pebble beaches, sun, people dancing the night away in clubs and tanning the day away…

Yeah well make sure you’re there in season. We went to Kos an Island close to Turkish coast for a 2 days chillin’. Despite the pleasant weather the place was EMPTY, all restaurants closed, and NO people. Uh huh. I read a book each day, and The Economist.

We caught the Boat to Turkey and got sea sick.

But Hey, we were in Turkey!

Hurro

Okkkk, so I'm in England right now... and ta daaaaaaaaa I have a nice new blog or two for you on our magnificant travels in Greece and Turkey over the last month, but alas, the computer won't read my memory stick so you might have to wait, hopefully only a few hours.

kisses!

I know you hate these entry but just letting you know so you don't say how slack I am. I know I am. Really. you don't need to say anything.

bisous!

Syrian-Lebanese border piece

So I wrote this ages ago, and recently I got a request from an Australian newspaper to interview me over the work I was doing with the Red Cresent in Syria - Random, but I'd left Syria for a while by then so I had to decline. Anyway I decided to post this to give you an idea of what went down is those days of the war... Now we know how it progressed I guess that this is out of date, but this is how it was to be there.

approximately 26th July

Even at 1.30 in the morning the Red-Crescent volunteers (The Middle Eastern arm of the Red Cross) are in high spirits. Returning from the Syrian-Lebanese border, we had worked for the last 8 hours handing out food, water, and medicine to people fleeing the crises in Lebanon and The Palestinian Territories. The elation came from feeling useful in a useless war; "Syria is the only country doing anything" one volunteer told me.

This is reinforced by the head of the Syrian Red Crescent who said there were struggling for any external support and would be appealing to the International Red Cross to raise awareness and donations. There are people willing to help on the ground here, but there is a limit of supplies.

Syria, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, has welcomed a huge number of Lebanese since the start of the Israeli offensive, with an estimated 200,000 Lebanese, and Palestinians from Lebanese camps, seeking refuge from their neighbour. Just in the few hours we were at the border more than a thousand people passed. The exodus has been slowing in the last few days as the conflict continues and more routes out of the country are targeted.

The Red Crescent continues to offer support despite their headquarters in Damascus being overwhelmed by people seeking help. It is impossible to get inside past the hundreds who queue in anticipation. They come to find accommodation, and food. The number of Iraqis arriving everyday continues too, unabated, for however bad things are in Lebanon they also continue to get worse in Iraq.

The Syrian infectious diseases testing centre has hundreds of people queuing outside the locked doors, only opened by a couple of guards to let in a few at a time to avoid an influx. There are almost all Iraqis, all seeking residence and have to have an AIDS test for their application. They have given up hope of returning to the Iraq. I ask one woman when she hopes to go back "Never", she tells me, "there is no Iraq anymore, it is finished".

The news at the Syrian-Lebanese border was no better, with reports of chemical weapons being used in Lebanon. Refugees from Baalbek said that people were burned by chemicals when the bombs hit, symptoms of the phosphorous bombs, also used in Fallujah, Iraq by the Americans. Phosphorous bombs are so chemically potent that, if a victim is hit directly, the phosphorous bombs burn through the bone, perhaps leaving no remains to identify them.

A Red Cross Medic returning to the border for supplies informed his Red Crescent colleagues of the devastation and destruction he had witnessed. There is a general atmosphere of angst towards an avoidable war. "We shouldn’t have to be here" says Dave, a volunteer from England, "this conflict shouldn’t have escalated in this way".

A large problem for the refugees and authorities is the large number of people stranded in ‘no mans land’ between the Syrian and Lebanese border posts. Mostly Palestinians originally they are stranded because they do not have valid passports, only refugee papers, if that. One man tells a volunteer "Lebanese passports cost $300 US, how can I ever afford one?". His monthly salary is $100.

So the number of people squatting continues to grow. And the lights of American owned Dunkin’ Donuts eerily reflecting upon the hundreds of cars with mattresses and pillows on the roofs as makeshift beds.

Unable to rest a family approaches me at 11 pm. The father tells me his two year old daughter is not feeling well and needs help. I find some Paracetamol to give the child and when I return I find her crouched on the road vomiting. Her 5 siblings, including a young baby, are despairing, she’s only two and the whole family is exhausted, tired and dirty. The mother is close to tears. The Red Crescent ambulance is called to take them to a doctor in Syria, but will they be able to stay?

Syrian Red Crescent donations:
ICRC delegationAbou Rummaneh - Rawda squareMasr streetBuilding Al Jerd, 3rd and 4th floorsPO Box 3579 DAMASTel.: (+96 311) 331 04 76Fax: (+96 311) 331 04 41 damas.dam@icrc.org

MORE MORE MORE MOROCCO!!!

So I’m on the train from Madrid to Barcelona for Eirin’s birthday –My Goodness after a day of trauma… anyway it’s over now…

So where was I … oh yes… Morocco… Ok

I want you all to promise right now that you’re going to go to Morocco at some stage mmm kay Mr Garrison. I began by flying direct from the Bar to Casablanca, which was nice and I got to check out Hassan 2nd big, expensive Mosque. This was, by the way, my first experience of travelling on a tour. I think, yes it was, I liked it a lot… even though it was mostly made up of older couples it was cool, my number one reason being that we crammed just soooo much… everything I wanted to see, into 2 weeks – pretty amazing huh.

We moved on to Fes after Casa, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it here. The harassment in Morocco was nothing compared to what I’d been warned – even when I was by myself – or maybe it just seemed so small after the harassment encountered in Egypt and by working nights in Bar… hmmm… yes

Anyway Fes was sooo cool… I don’t know if any of you have seen ‘Michael Palin’s Sahara’ but anyway he goes there and it the town where the tanneries are laid out like paint boxes below the houses and leather stores of the old Medina. Leather is big business and you can buy almost any leather item there, including the world famous slipper – even one’s with beads and curly toes if you so desire!

What was next… oh yes EXCELLENT into the Sahara!!!!!! I was too excited to see the giant red sand dunes rising up against the flat grey stones of the desert landscape. Fossils apparently abound in the grey stones but there is nothing like the serenity of those dunes at night! We rode camels out and camped under the stars. It was freezing – even though the days were still 35 degrees the nights were bitter and I got so much sand in my under crackers from dune climbing it was ridiculous but soooo worth it.

Dune climbing is hard work by the way.

After that we moved on the more desert landscape in the forms of the stunning oases of Todra and Dades gorges. Cool. Vibes. Man,

Alas it was at Ait Ben Haddou – Kasbah and site of such movies as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Jesus of Nazareth and more (in fact Hollywood now owns all the rights to making any movies in Morocco, so um, hello… if you want to shot a film in Morocco who do you ask, the Moroccans – no, don’t be silly – some Hollywood exec!) that I was taken ill once again the curse of the Pharaohs returned… though in this case the curse of the Kasbahs…

'Twas all good as the pizza left my system and we moved on to Marrakech via the high Atlas mountains – so much beautiful scenery.

Marrakech was full of tourists which was disappointing a little, and seemed to be basically one huge construction site. However Ramadan ended while we were there and the town exploded in Eid festivities – it was beautiful. The crescent moon lit up the sky as 1000 food stores in the heart of the old town catered to everyone under the sun, with their gorgeous wee ones all dressed up in their new shoes and galabiyyas.

So I wished I could’ve taken pics of all the people to show you but alas there is a bit of a taboo against tourist photos in Morocco. No, not the Masai the camera is stealing my soul thing, but some French bastard – let me explain. Apparently some years ago a nice French tourist went travelling through Morocco, as people generally are in the Middle East they were kind and welcomed him to their homes and even let him take ‘tourist pictures’ – for his own personal use of their families (read wives and unmarried daughters)… Anyway… he published the pictures into nice postcards and books and went on to make a fortune – nothing back to the families of course – and to make matters worse those girls could no longer get married, in the eyes of society they had bared too much. So now, all my tourist pictures consist of scenery thanks Jean-Jacques-Expletive.

After that I came to the seaside village of Essaouria (I will have to check the spelling of that I’m sure I’m always spelling it wrong. Anyway for those of you in the know – my friend Alexandra was here maybe 5 years ago, I dunno and met her Husband! So I’ve heard a lot about this place and had always wanted to visit. I was lucky enough to be introduced (via the phone – Hi Ally in Sydney!) to Driss’ (Ally’s other half) family… cool, and even better they did henna for me- ‘tis cool I say!

Regretfully after that I had to return to Spain – the tour was over and I wanted to check out Granada and Madrid before meeting up with Eirin in Bar for her birthday. I managed to swing one night in Tangiers – but as I had to catch the ferry at some ungodly hour of the morning and my hotel was near the port (read seedy) I didn’t explore too much – ah well I will have to come back!!!

Seriously you may have found this entry a little lacking from the snide remarks and black humour that this blog seems to encourage in me and I can only suggest that that is because I really was swept away by Morocco -the smells (bad and good), the colours, and the desert sands. The imprint of the henna is starting to fade, but to be sentimental, the imprint of Morocco will last a lot longer on my heart… sigh.

so long over due...

30th October –LONG OVERDUE!
SO much has happened I don’t know if I should just give up on trying to up date you – you know when you have a list of things to do and it seems so long that you don’t do any of them – you’re too overwhelmed… Well this is like that AND I know from my (invaluable) time management course with the Department of Education that if I just did one the list would shrink and seem more managable – but HEY I’m on holidays right??

Tell me peeps, when, egg saladly, I will have the opportunity to be this selfish again in my life – well maybe never. One moment to thank all those who made it possible – and continue to support me in my endeavours – Thanks.

Ok… so where am I in this crazy world, what have I been doing since I last slackly informed you of some homourous antic… Well I’m in Granada! Yep… today I visited the Al Hambra – Wow… ever since I studied ‘Religious Art and Architecture at St Clares I was 17 I have been fascinated by the idea of visiting this place.. and you know when your expectations are too large… well… y’know, It was good, the gardens were probably the best part but as for Islamic architecture - Hello I’ve been all around the Middle East including recently Egypt and Morocco…

So I wrote something about that I think so out of date and never posted but it follows here… as well as a few notes on some of the stuff I should mention…in the future (I will ! I will!)


15-10-06 (already what, like 2 months since I was in Egypt, actual time I was there was approximately 21st August – 8 September)

Dreadful, dreadful girl that I am… I know ok!!!!! Well, well, well what would YOU be doing if you were travelling Egypt, Spain and Morocco for the last 10 weeks or so… write blogs???? Or check out all the amazing stuff that you never really were sure you’d believe you’d see???? – I mean AMAZING!!!!!!!!

But before I go on about Morocco (where I am now, and I love so much already) I need to rid my system of Egypt….

Eirin and I left Damascus with many tears (well from me, maybe Eirin was a little bit relieved, as the war was still raging on in those days). But I was so sad to leave my new friends and flatmates, and the city I love so much… everyman has two homes, his own, and Syria… hhmmm, I’d kill for a proper Damascene kebab/falafel sandwich…

Anyway we were meant to head to Turkey but decided it was time to see Egypt… Can’t remember how we made our decision, but we did. We headed back to Jordan, checked out Aqaba for a few nights before catching the boat across to the Sinai!!!

The Sinai! Wow, what a place of history – we climbed Mt Sinai, as Moses did, and even checked out ‘the burning bush’ in the Monastery at St. Catherine’s. But what we loved most of all, in all of Egypt was Dahab! How can you not love a place where you find a gorgeous hotel for 18 euros pp p. night, that is European run… and with a private beach. And with daytime temperatures 55 degrees Celsius that beach was a god send.

Even though the Sinai was the place were I caught the death bug which was to plague me for the next 3 weeks it was probably our favourite place in Egypt.

Here I would´ve informed you of more Adventures in Egypt:

Red Sea
Cairo bus trip
Cairo crazy-ness – pyamids, harassment
“tour” – Aswan, Felucca, Luxor

Barcelona (which was 8th September – 14th October)

Getting jobs
Partying

if you like you can check out CHERIe´s blog - she tlaks of our eventful last few days in Barcelona as well as some of the time we had together in Egypt it´s :

http://talesfromafemaletraveller.blogspot.com/

Ok so now that’s outta the way (I’m not saying I’ll never finish telling you about Egypt and Barcelona – only that I want to tell you about Morocco while my mind is fresh!

NEXT POST MOROCCO!! whoooooooooooooo

frustration!

Eeeekkk...

So I had a nice new post all lined up for up loading and the StoOpid computer won´t read my memory stick well Mr Computer bah I say...

next few days... promises... promises...

xoxoxo

Email probs...

Hi All,

Due, in part we think, to the fact that hotmail is illegal here and the server was probably routed through Lebanon, (i.e. no infrastructure exists there now) so Hotmail has now gone offline, we cannot access it... and also Yahoo seems to be bouncing back emails... I would say keep trying to send through to my yahoo address... eirin's email is till good (though not hotmail obviously)...

ok more soon...