Fast Train To Ankara - 11/5/2009

Today after two days in Bursa we are leaving to go to Ankara. I got up around 7 am and ate breakfast. Jeff & Randy were staying in another house, so after breakfast I went to join them. From there we went to the bus station and had lunch. My stomach was upset from the previous night, so I  just had something called Tost, which was toasted bread with some cheese in it. We then boarded the bus and were soon on our way to Eskisehir where we would get our train.
The bus ride was pleasant. As we were leaving Bursa, we traveled alongside Uludag, which means Holy Mountain. There was snow on top of the mountain and the sun was reflecting off it.

As we moved east the terrain went from mostly green with trees, to dry and brown with very few trees. It reminded me of the western United States in many places. We arrived at Eskisehir in about 2 hours time where we departed from the bus to enter the train station. We made a quick bathroom break and then went to board the train. The train had a nice comfortable interior with spacious seating arrangements.

There were a few empty seats so we rearranged our seating and I had two seats free for myself. The train accelerated smoothly to 160 MPH. It didn’t feel like we were moving so fast. It was quite an amazing way to travel. We left at about 3:15 and arrived at the train station in Ankara at 4:40, so it was a very quick trip. We saw a lot of the rugged and beautiful landscape of Turkey.

We got off the train and were greeted by our good friend Levent. We all greeted him and then headed over to his car. We then traveled to his office where we would await some of our other Turkish friends.

He took us up to the top floor where there was a cafe and we had tea and Turkish coffee. We went outside on the balcony and looked out at the city.

Shortly after, Omer arrived and then the other Levent. We had another round of drinks and then headed over to a nice restaurant, which supposedly has the best baklava in town.

There we would also meet Suleyman and Osman, our other Turkish friends and former NC State students. We had an amazing dinner with a lot of different Turkish foods (Lavash, kebabs, hummus, Iskender), and then baklava for dessert. We talked for a long time and got caught up on what had happened in the lives of our friends.

We then headed home with Levent who was graciously hosting us in his apartment.
We chatted for a while after arriving and then I skyped with Shanna so she could say hi to Levent & Vildan. Finally it was time to sleep. Randy got the bedroom, and Jeff and I got the living room. Jeff snores...

Another day in Bursa - 11/4/2009

    This is a short entry as I didn’t really have a lot of activities today. I had a good nights sleep last night--I don’t think that I woke up at all during the night. I did wake up at 7 am feeling like I had to go to the bathroom, but fell back asleep again until 8 am. I took a shower and got dressed and then checked some emails before breakfast. Then I joined one of Randy’s friends at his office while we waited for Jeff and Randy to arrive.
    When they arrived we walked through town to go to the Kamil Koc office to buy our tickets for the bus and high speed train to Ankara. We walked to one office which was nearby and they said that we needed to buy the tickets at another office. We walked there and finally found the right office. We bought the tickets and then headed out for some lunch. We had some soup and bread for lunch, I think they called it Ezzo. It was good and very filling. After lunch we returned to our friends office where had (lots of) tea and good conversations with some of the locals who are friends with Randy’s friends. We then went out again to go eat dinner and some of them joined us. We all something very delicious for dinner, called Iskender. It is a dish that I think was invented here in Bursa and consists of bread with slices of lamb (gyro) meat topped with something like pizza sauce, with a side of their garlic / yogurt mix. It kind of tasted like pizza to me, though it didn’t really look like it.

On to the bullet train tomorrow :)

On to Bursa - 11/3/2009

I woke this morning around 6:30 am and Shanna was still online but about to fall asleep. I messaged her for a minute and then caught up on my emails before going to take a shower. We ate our breakfast together and then packed up for our next stop, in Bursa. We piled in to a taxi and were barely able to fit with much of our luggage sitting in our laps. We drove through Istanbul to the train station, and quickly made our way down to the departure area. We were a few minutes late and weren’t sure if we had missed our train. Fortunately a few minutes later the train appeared and we boarded. We had an uneventful ride to where we met the ferry and took it to Yalova where another friend of Randy’s was waiting for us.
First we went to get some lunch at a place that was a mix of department store and restaurant. I had kafta (Turkish meatballs) and Randy and Jeff had shish kebabs. We then drove on to Bursa, a city at the base of a large mountain with snow covered peaks. Along the way we passed Lake Iznik. On the other side of the lake is Iznik or Nicea, famous for being where the Nicean Creed was written. Also along the way, in the village of Ovaakca we passed a fossil fuel power plant with some big cooling towers. Bursa itself was big but also quaint in a way. Some of the streets were windy and narrow and paved with cobble stones. The temperature was cool and it was sunny and pleasant. We spent some time hanging out and then went out to dinner together and had a nice traditional Turkish meal.

Here is the restaurant/dept store we stopped at.

The power plant in Ovaakca

Snow-capped mountains near Bursa

One other thing, the government has told Jeff that he can longer drink any more Turkish coffee because they are running out. :)

On the Move In Istanbul - 11/2/2009

I fell asleep at around 9 pm Istanbul time, shortly after finishing my last entry for the blog. About an 1.5 hours later, I awoke to a funny ringing sound. I thought it was the alarm I had set for 6 am but it wasn’t going off. I stumbled around in the dark and finally realized it was the phone that I had brought with me. I had sent out the number to one of our friends in Ankara earlier in the day and he was calling to greet me. I went back to sleep and awoke again at around 3 am, mostly I think because I had to go to the bathroom. By that hour I felt very much awake and didn’t think I would be able to go back to sleep. I checked to see if Shanna was online and chatted for a few minutes, but at her encouragement I tried to back to sleep. She said she was going to be up late and offered to Skype when I woke up at 6am. It took about an hour or so, but I finally did go to sleep. Then my alarm went off and I was so tired that I turned the alarm off and slept until 7:20. By then Shanna was fast asleep and it was late for me to start out.

I was planning to meet Jeff when his flight arrived at 10:30 am, which meant I would have to leave around 9:00 from the hotel. I had wanted to go to walk around a little bit by the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia beforehand, but with a shower and breakfast and checking out, it didn’t leave me much time. I showered and packed up some of my stuff and then headed down to the basement where there was a very complete Turkish breakfast buffet with just about anything I could want. I had scambled eggs and a kind of chicken sausage, a variety of cheeses and cold-cuts, several different types of olives and some yogurt and cucumbers, as well as coffee and water to drink. It was a quite enjoyable, even though I had to eat in a hurry. By the time I had finished it was a few minutes after 8 am, so I headed out to the streets with my camera. I walked over to the Blue Mosque (below) and took several photographs of the exterior as well as the Hagia Sophia (beneath Blue Mosque).

I walked over to the Hagia Sophia, and around a side street to one of the entrances to Topkapi palace. By that time it was a little past 8:30, so I went to by 2 jeton (token) for the light rail back to the airport, so I wouldn’t have to stop on the way to the train. I then headed back to the hotel to get my luggage and check out. It was a bit of a challenge hauling my bag back up the cobble stone streets past the Blue Mosque. It was also sprinkling a bit and the ground was slick. The neat thing was that there was a beautiful full rainbow because of the rain and the early morning sun.

 I decided that I could spare a few minutes, and stopped at one of the souvenir shops to get some things for the kids. I found two nice shirts for Jonah & Elisabeth and a few other items. I then headed up to the tram station where an Italian couple asked me where the Grand Bazaar was. I had walked to it the day before so I was able to confidently point them in the right direction, despite having been there less than 24 hours. After passing the entrance to the tram station, I sat down with the sun in my face. The tram arrived quickly but it was packed with passengers. I got up to board and had second thoughts, remembering what I had been told about pick pockets on the tram line. I sat back down and waited for the next train, which arrived within a couple of minutes. This one was as packed as the first one, so I again decided to wait. After about 5 more minutes, another train arrived, just as full as the others. I was running short on time, and decided I was just to have to be careful and risk it. I squeezed in by the door and for a few stops the train remained very full. After a few more stop enough people got off that I was able to take a seat.

When I finally arrived at the airport, I had to haul my baggage through the long underground tunnel to the domestic terminal. To my surprise, when I reached the entrance to the terminal, there was a security checkpoint where they were scanning bags and making people walk through metal detectors. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be bothered by the razor in my bag, and after removing my belt and watch, I was able to get through the metal detector. Around the corner from the checkpoint was the 2 small elevators up to the arrivals area. I pressed the button and waited a long time for the elevator to come down. While I was waiting, several other guys came by and sort of got in front of me. Like South America, it seems like there isn’t much inclination here to form queues. Fortunately, they were standing in front of the wrong elevator, and when the other door opened I was able to get in. They piled in after me and by the time the door closed it was like a can of sardines. At my floor I un-wedged myself and my bag and headed to the arrival area. I could see through the glass that people from Jeff’s flight were still waiting on their luggage, so I was confident that I had not missed him. I stood by the exit and waited, and finally spotted his peach polo shirt. I greeted him and we headed over to the international terminal where we had a nice lunch, though over-priced even by American airport standards. We needed to wait for another friend who was coming on a later flight at 2:00 with his family.

When Randy and his family arrived, we all went back down to the metro and went back through Sultanahmet where I had stayed and got off a couple of stops later, where the ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul was. We missed the ferry that was waiting when we got there but another one arrived a few minutes later. We had a nice ride across the Bosphorus to the other side. We arrived at a bus station where we were going to take a bus to stay with some friends of Randy. The line was really long at the bus station and we were all tired of carrying our luggage everywhere so we decided to take a taxi. I was a little concerned about getting a taxi because I had had some bad experiences in other countries and had also heard many bad things about taxis in Istanbul. The taxi driver turned out to be really nice and very helpful. He helped us carry our luggage into the restaurant where we waited for Randy’s friends and asked the restaurant manager if we could wait there after dinner. The friends’ apartment was just around the corner from the restaurant, so when they arrived we headed right up and had a nice time getting to know them better before heading off to bed.

Generous Hospitality - 11/1/2009

We landed about 12:35pm Istanbul time and it took quite some time for us to arrive at the gate. We offloaded pretty quickly and headed towards passport control. Foreigners have to buy a visa “sticker” which costs $20 before you can go through the passport control. So I headed to the visa area and saw a kind of long line, and decided to go to the bathroom first. A few minutes later the line had more than doubled, as another flight had also just arrived. I got in line and waited. I think there were a fair number of people from non-queuing countries, because up until it was no longer possible, people just kept walking up to the middle of the line and joining in front of everyone else (by this time, the line had grown really long).

I finally paid the tourist tax and got my sticker and headed to the passport control line for foreigners. At the entrance to the line there was a man and a woman sitting in front of a monitor. The woman had a surgical mask on, something I had seen several people wearing during my travels. I looked at the monitor though, and realized that it was a thermal imaging scanner. I guess they were checking for people infected with the flu. Make me wonder what they would do with you if you did have the flu.

After passport control, I took my bags through customs, which was just some guy sitting and playing with his phone. I was almost home free. I passed the doors into the public arrow and there were many people holding up signs. There was one that was very difficult to read because it was written in pencil, but the man holding it seemed to recognize me and he looked a lot like the pictures I had seen of Mustafa’s father-in-law, Haldun. I greeted him and held up his finger to indicate I should wait. He called a friend who appeared a few minutes later and greeted me in English. They asked me where I was staying and I showed them on a map where the hotel was, but told him that I would just take the light rail by my self. There was no way that this was going to happen, as my translator indicated. Haldun was going to take me to my hotel and then by me dinner. I couldn’t refuse this hospitality so we set off together with our two bags to ride the Light Rail (Hafif). We needed to make a connection with a tram at about the half way point. On the first leg of the trip, we sat across from a man who knew more English, so I chatted with him about my trip and where he was from. His parents had moved to Turkey when he was only 2 years old from Aden and actually spoke Arabic, in addition to Turkish and English.

We made the connection at the tram station in Zeytinburnu, and slowly made our way to Sultenahmet. We got off at the stop and began asking directions to the hotel. During the walk, we walked between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Haldun kept asking each block or so, and we eventually arrived at the place. We went in to check in and the receptionist helped translate a bit to indicate that I would only be staying the night, but that I would not need help getting to my next destination. After unloading my bags, we headed out to a little restaurant on the street where the tram let us off. The food was really good and included kafta with some kind of spicy sauce as well as a salad and yogurt drink. We tried to talk a little through one of the waiters who knew a bit of English, but it was really challenging. At one point, the waiter asked if I wanted more, and I tried to say no thanks, but he brought 3 more pieces as well as a dessert. All of the food was really great and I was stuffed by the time we left.

We headed up the street to find a mobile phone store so I could get a Turkish SIM card for my phone. We got the card, which Haldun very generously paid for and then headed to the Grand Bazaar. Along the way, we passed by a candy store and Haldun bought some as a gift for me and some more for Mustafa. The bazaar was closed and I was getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel. I tried my best to thank him profusely for all he had done and gave him a small gift.

I then headed up to my room to Skype with Shanna. The kids seemed to be doing pretty well, but Shanna was clearly not quite feeling well still. It was 5:30 pm Istanbul time at that point, but only 10:30 am in North Carolina. After the long trip it was really hard to believe the time difference. I am really pooped and going to go to bed early so I can go explore a bit before meeting up with Jeff.

Here is the view out my window onto the Bosphorous.

Dinner at midnight - 10/31/2009

After sitting for a long time, I began to wonder if they were going to be serving the dinner part of the menu after all, since it had gotten so late. They had already been down the aisle with the drink carts (which included complimentary alcoholic beverages!) and it had been a long time. I was feeling hungry and didn’t think dinner was coming, so I munched on some nuts and waited. About 11:30pm as I was dozing off, they started serving the dinner. I ordered the pasta with minced lamb and it was really delicious. All of the food was really good for airplane food. They even had real metal cutlery.

After finishing dinner, I started to feel sleepy again and dozed off. For the next few hours I was sort of in and out of sleep. It seemed like things were really rough the whole time when we were flying over Greenland. I think the bumpiness sort of lulled me to sleep though. By the middle of the flight my behind and legs were really starting to get sore. I put my pillow behind my lower back and that really seemed to help.

Without about an hour and a half left till Istanbul, they served us breakfast. This was really delicious, especially the grilled chicken sausage. I think I like Turkish Airline food :) The remainder of the flight in to Istanbul was fairly uneventful. I read through some of a book I had not yet finished for most of the time. The only interesting thing was on our approach to the runway, it seemed to be really windy. We were coming in over the water, almost opposite the direction we had approached the city and I could see whitecaps on the waves below us. I was sitting on one of the seats near the wings and I noticed what looked like the flaps were going in and out rapidly. I don’t think the flaps are supposed to do that, so maybe they were something else. Just a few seconds before we landed, there was a big dip, like a roller coaster. It was kind of fun and scary and thankfully we didn’t crash.

My airplane seat runs Linux - 10/31/2009

My flight finally started boarding at 8:10 pm. I was on the plane and seated by 8:35 pm. The plane is a 777-300. It is really nice on the inside. We passed through the business class section where instead of seats there are these funny looking pod things set at 45 degree angles to the main aisleway. It looks like they convert into narrow beds. They look very futuristic. According to the diagram I looked at online, there are actual full size beds in the first class cabin. I found my way to my seat, 38C. Shortly after sitting down a middle aged Turkish couple came behind me. They looked at their seats by the window and asked if I would move to the window. I told them I preferred to sit on the aisle, but then I said if they didn’t mind me getting up for the bathroom, I would take the window. I think they misunderstood me, because they said OK and took the seat by the window anyway.

After sitting down, I think I experienced the longest taxi wait ever. We were moving slowly for what seemed like an hour. I passed some of the time playing with the fancy movie screen thing embedded in the seat in front of me. I browsed through all the movies. There weren’t many that were particularly new, and there were several foreign films that I had never heard of. I then investigated the other options, including some TV and some games. I tried my hand at some Freecell but got bored pretty quick. I then tried this Berlitz language game  that uses flash cards. I set it to Turkish mode and started playing. I got 10/10 on the first game (tren=train, otel=hotel). Not bad, I am thinking, and then it freezes up completely. None of the buttons are working. I tried to no avail to find some kind of reset button. Great, I think, I guess God doesn’t want me to play games and watch movies for my 9 hour flight :) So I open my Bible and start reading where I left off. By the time we actually took off, I was feeling really sleepy and just shut my eyes.

After we got to altitude, they turned up the lights and I started to wake up from my near doze. Then the screen in front of me starts acting funny, like when you hit reset on your PC. Sure enough, it looks like the system was rebooting itself. And, to top it off, it was a Linux boot screen, apparently some embedded RedHat distribution (RedBoot). There was even an X11 startup screen. (Yes, I am quite the nerd!) So now I am set again with my entertainment, but I think I am going to have to skip the Berlitz language program.

While I was writing this, they handed out menus, some headphones, and some eye cover things. That is really nice considering I was trying to find those last night at Target without success. Here is the menu for the flight:

First Service:

• Mozarella Peyniri (grilled eggplants / mozarella)
• Taze Mevsim Salatasi (garden fresh seasonal salad)

A choice of:

• Tavuk Fileto & Sote Ispanak (chicken breast & sauteed leaf spinach) or
• Kiymali Firin Makarna (baked maccheroni with minced lamb)

Breakfast:

• Muslili Yogurt (yoghurt with muesli)
• Beyaz Peynir, Gouda Peyniri & Siyah Zeytin (feta cheese, gouda cheese & black olive)
• Cirpilmis Yumurta (Scrambled eggs)
• Izgara Tavuk Sosis / Kizarmis Patates (grilled chicken sausage / fried potato)
• Taze Ekmek Cesitleri (ovenfresh bread selection)
• Tereyag / Recel (butter / jam)