Summer 2010

Egypt was definitely one of those places that both capture your imagination and send shivers down your spine all at once. When we first arrived I suppose due to my own ignorance i didn't really imagine to see miles beyond miles of sand. Then the heat was something to respect, as we left the airport I immediately notice the clothing that was worn by the locals. Women cover their heads and wear these long jackets that go down to there ankles that look similar to dresses.
The trip itself to arrive to our hotel was an adventure I will never forget. We passed what seem to look like unfinished brick buildings that had no windows, just open squares which looked liked black eye staring at us as we drove by. I asked the tour guide where we were and he responded old Cairo. As we continued to drive I noticed that the city seemed eerily empty and I didn't see and malls, parks, or restaurants all I saw was the unfinished buildings, I kept quite and just observed my surroundings.
Finally arriving to our Hotel I was amazed at how many police personnel was present. Just to enter the hotel you had to pass at least 5 armed policemen. The set up of the hotel was pretty interesting it quite literally looked like a small oasis. but when we entered our room I thought it was a perfect copy of an oven, thank goodness for air conditioning.
The Pyramids are a definitely must see!!!! one can only look in awe when you look at the magnificence of the pyramids. I of course being me decided to climb the first one, which has steps for tourists... but noooo i decided to climb and that equalled a graceful fall from at least 4 feet up to the stone floor... i was fine but my pride was bruised haha.
Camel riding is also a very fun experience but you have to respect these animals not only are they huge ranging to about 8 to 9 feet tall but man do they smell, eish!
Now I have never meet such aggressive merchants ever! they will not let you go, and you have to be careful where you look because to them that means you want to buy and they wont let you go till you do. Best suggestion I can give you is never look them in the eyes say no thank you and just walk away. If you do see something that you like then definitely haggle but don't expect a huge discount like I said these people are tough and in Egypt they use Egyptian pounds so make sure you have your calculator ready for any conversions.
Finally another must is dinner no the Nile river! I would be careful with food due to the fact that water is not drinkable to tourist I suggest to stay away from vegetables and make sure that all your food is well cooked. Also try to stay away from heavily fried food this can usually lead to an upset stomach...i speak from experience.
Traffic is very dangerous not only do you have to watch out for cars but also camels, donkey/horse drawn carts, and people. If you ever get a chance to visit Cairo you definitely should it made me love America and all the things I take for granted. Till next time

the best thing about life is the experiences that you go through.For the last two days Ive been on the beautiful coast of Izmir with Onur and his parents though we are missing his brother Omur he has always been on everyones mind. The hospitality shown by Onur and his family has been absolutely the best! not only did they make us feel welcome by preparing the best turkish food ever and sharing their home with us. but they welcomed us with opened arms as if we were family already ^_^ today was especially special, in the morning we woke up to the smell of the amazing cooking by Onur mom. she made us a traditional turkish breakfast which consisted of different sorts of cheeses, olives, bread and fresh jam made of both apricot and peach. We were also fortunate enough to have different what looked to me like spinish wraps, which consists of spinish, and cheese wraped in layers of a thin toasted crust. Not only is this breakfast healthy and delicious but truly filling!!
Later on we headed to the beach Onur and I headed to the warm waters of Eisian sea, now fair warning it may give you a bit of a chill, but once you dip in the water is the best I have yet to swim in! The beach is not your typical sandy coast like those in California but consists of pepples and rocks before you can get in and the water it self is absolutly amazizing! Its like liquid glass, its so clear you can see straight to the bottom and best of all no sharks or other big fish to worry about! there are not very large waves so you can literaly stay out in the water for hours with out a care in the world ^_^ after swimming onur and I joined our parents for a beer and fries and a little chit chat.
though Onurs parents have a limited english vocabulary and my parents know no Turkish, ine may think that we may have trouble understanding each other. No one can be more wrong! Onur played the translator but for the most part my parents and his could get along pretty well and its all because of patience and a opened mind! ( note to all my travelers out there THESE ARE IMPORTANT TRAITS NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO!) after we were done we headed back home to wash off and get ready to do a little sight seeing (Thank you Onur for driving us around) we saw a few other port side cities like Ashicara which held last year wind surfing competition and was originally populated by greeks so much of the architecture is influenced by the greeks. after walking around for a few hours and I made a new friend with a street dog which I named bebe we decided it was time to head back to meet with baba (this means father in turkish and is what I call Onur dad) at a sea side restaurant called -----. We ended up running a little late due to our little detour to the grocery store but after a short ride over to the restaurant we finally made it ^_^ Here is were the night had become amazing!
Baba love his Raki which is a traditional alcoholic turkish drink which is derived from Anis similar to the Peruvian drink Anis. and like baba always says a man is always happy when he has good raki, the sound of a women and the sound of water. So baba orders not only the first round of Raki but delicious sea food orderves like calimari, a sea food plate consisting of sea weed, shrimp and cheese, cooked oysters with rice and as always a fresh salad. all of the food was great! and the main dish was even better due to the fact that it was fresh cached local fish which had a few bones but the taste was truly out of this world! now i have to admit that I had at least two cups of Raki by this time but everyone was laughing and telling stories and having an overall great time. even on the way back home just imagine trying to fit 6 adults into a golf voltwagon hahah trust me it makes for great stories! Tonight my family grew, and the memories we shared together and enjoyed will forever be in my memories and my heart. This is what I love about traveling, and this is what I wish to share with everyone!! The people you meet no matter where you go in the world will always stay with a little piece of you no matter how short or long your visit is with them. So make that memory the best you possible can ^_^ laugh more and enjoy life with everyone on this great planet that whises to share some of that life with you! and like the old saying goes, you only live once so MAKE IT THE BEST LIFE YOU CAN POSSIBLE HAVE!

So I figured that I should write this for any of my explorers planning on visiting Turkey during the summer
First and forthmost things to bring
1.Travel light!! only a few jeans, shirts and maybe 2 pairs of shoes are more then enough.
-ladies careful with your shirts they should be to low cut. Tank tops and shorts are not aloud in the mosques.
2. Cameras are a must! but make sure that you bring extra memory cards because I promise you will go through all of them quick. When it comes down to electronics I always travel with my laptop, camera, external hard drive, and camcorder this takes up space but since I pack light I really don't have an issue with weight so this is really up to your own preference. Wireless is not very popular in the hotels so many times you wont have signal FYI.
3.Money, though the dollar is stronger then the turkish lira its not by much so make sure you budget yourself so that your not broke by the first day.
4. Bathing suits are a must but so is sunblock the highest SPF that you can find or you'll go back home as red as a cooked lobster.
5.Bring a good pair of hiking shoes trust me when I say these suckers will become your very best friends ^_^
Big cities like Istanbul, Antalya are beautiful thus making them hours touristic sites so cost of food and almost about everything else, cost a little more then less popular sites, so dont forget to haggle people! IMPORTANT the sink water in Turkey is not reccomened for drinking, showering and washing is alright but you will have to buy plenty of water as you travel around.

I have come to the conclusion that I can only take tours for so long, not to shoot them down or anything. but tours I think work very well for certain people only. Some of the reasons I cant really handle tours are
1. you are always on a schedule, and that means time constraints. I feel like you cant really appreciate all the amazing things which you want to see.
2. depending on the tour you are on you are placed with either a large or small group of people from everywhere (this is a great thing) the only down side is that there always seems to be the one downer in the group, alas you learn to ignore them.
3. Tour guides!!! obovisouly when you go to another country more then likely you will have a local guide. if you are fortunate enough to get one which enjoys their job then you are sure to have a great time and learn a lot. I sense that my tour guide gets a little reserved on certain topics and must have been a marathon runner because im always chasing him down! He has some pretty funny jokes and knows a lot about the country so I suppose he balances out.
4. Lastly and more importantly the spontaneity and randomness of travel is taken away while on tours because everything is preplanned, and for some reason im the one always getting yelled at for wondering off, getting lost, climbing ruins, or eating before the group is ready... after writing that down I guess I understand why I get in trouble...

So what I have learned is this, if I am traveling some where that I have never been to before than I will do a little research before hand to see what is important to the areas where I wish to visit. The only way I would take a tour is if their is absolutely no other way to see what I want to see! bahahahah ok this might be a little random, sorry but Im writing this on the bus right now and right across from me one of my seniors is intensely smelling his hand... hahaha!!!

I know it may sound crazy, especially to all the yougens (I being one myself) reading this but I speak from the heart when I say that seniors are probably the nicest and funniest people I have yet to be on tour with. Now I will admit that when I originally saw our small group of twelve I feared the worst. I thought that we would just walk around while I heard people complain and whine about their aching backs and how the food was not up to par to their standards. Man was I wrong, not only have the people I met like Molly and Bill who are both retired teachers (Bill a retired microbiologists, fancy that?) shown me to truly appreciate not only my life and the opportunities I've had but to respect and love my parents more.
Their is just something hilarious about arriving to a hotel where it seems every senior citizen from all over the world has congregated to one spot to see the sites. Though the most amazing part is though many of them did not speak the same language, that didn't stop them from having a good time. Theres just something about watching a room full of people that have lived through so much, and come from everywhere in the world that you just have to sit back and wonder, "what will I have done by that age?"
I know this may sound a little old fashion but really stop and think about how lucky you are to have what you have? any who the last two days have been mostly sight seeing around Cappadokia. Their are so many things to see here like the fairy chimneys, Hot air ballon rides over the cities within the mountains, watching all the traditional dances from all over Turkey, seeing the rolling hills of green for as far as the eye could see, the pigeon valley where I highly recommend you watch your head, and the unforgettable underground city which completely rocks (no pun intended hahah) oh don't wonder away from your group and think it is a good idea to enter tunnels on your own little adventure, its an underground city you will get lost!...for an hour or 2.
I also realized that I don't have to spend money to go shopping if you want to receive gifts help the venders sell some stuff by modeling some of their clothing or convincing someone to buy and they always give you something as a sign of appreciation. So far that is how I've received all my souvenirs, Im cheap i know!
Well I have to say goodbye to Cappadokia tomorrow and head over to our next destination which shall be a total surprise to me because no one has informed me where we are going. All I know its a 9 hour bus ride woohoo. take care, till next time

(Sunday) As much as I enjoy museums, and other basic touristic stuff, there is nothing like living and doing what the local do. we started off sunday with a tour of the Topkapi Palace where I saw some really amazing things like Moses staff, many weapons and tools used by the Prophet Mohamed, the golden incased arm of apostle Joseph, and the skull of Abraham. Its truly amazing that so many people would travel so far to see something that means so much to them. Basically i was in awe. Since the palace is so large it was impossible to view everything but we did hit the important spots. Afterwards we headed over to met Onur brother Omur, this was loads of fun as we headed over to Asia from the European side of istanbul. Now note that that Istanbul is in both Asia and Europe thought that was interesting. Any-who once we met up with Omur we went straight to what is our equivalent of Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills. I found it a little bizarre to see all the name brands and even star bucks here. I suppose I didn't really want to see Americas influence and yet the power of industry stretches far and wide. As we walked along we decided to to get tea and some dessert which is the usual hang out spot for the local Turkish. This was great because we just sat and shared stories with each other for a few hours, no one needed to go anywhere, we laughed, made jokes and drank tea what better way to relax!
On monday, is where the fun really started, we headed over to the Grand Bazaar with Onur my bro. Now if you ever get a chance to see this place please DO! it was the most surreal experience i have ever had! not only was it absolutely mind blowing to see not only thousands beyond thousands of shops as far as the eye could see, but the number of people from all parts of the world that surrounded us. Now my parental units were in their environment and man are they dangerous they made each and ever salesmen sweat down their prices which as soon as I tried equaled an immediate fail due to my lack of experience, but I just need more practice is all hahah. Though I did succeed in selling a purse for 150 dollars to some poor tourist, this made the salesmen very happy and he gave me a free gift and a pretty good discount on a purse hahaha! The Grad Bazaar has everything from spices, teas, hand bags, clothing about anything you can think of! and all things were made of pretty good quality. Silver is popular and cheap here so ladies get ready from pretty sweet jewelry if your heading this way ^_^
Once we exhausted ourselves and poor Onur we decided to head pack to the hotel, drop of our purchases and head over to get some lunch. Little did I know that yet again I would be working for my food. We entered a restaurant called the Grand sultan i believe where it works similar to a buffet of delicious turkish food. I originally wanted to take a picture of the food but then soon saw myself being called over by the chief who proceeded to pull to the back of the working area and put me to work by serving food to my parents and Onur! I love the turkish hospitality they will always do a little extra when they can and if you add a smile they are always happy to do a little more ^_^ Once we engorged ourselves with amazing food we headed to Bophorous tour. This is the life blood of Turkeys economy due to the about of traffic of shipping boats that travel through. As I sat in the boat I heard the daily prayer which happens about 5 times a day at the same time everyday in Turkey. The sound of the Ermine (sorry for misspelling) who is the one who chants and sings the words of the Koran, along with the wisps of the ocean made for the most tranquil sound ever. This something that I recommend everyone to hear at least once in your life. As the prayer ended the boat set off, something you should know is that Istanbul has hundreds of beautiful palaces and mansions. all of course located sea side this made me want to buy a boat but once we discovered how much it cost to own and operate one I figured maybe to wait on that. the tour took about an hour and the every picture you take is beautiful no matter what your ability! The ride was over and now it was time to head over to the mall now we had see the historical side of Turkey it was time to see the modern side.
The malls architecture was very unique and like nothing I have ever seen before. the set was a mall and supermarket mind you in the center of apartments. this place was HUGE! One of my dreams came true as I found my Onisuka Bruce Lee addition shoes but couldn't afford them, I know random. after this we headed back to the car to have one last adventure in downtown Istanbul, but wait ONUR lost his keys?!!! no fortunately mom had found them hide them away waited till Onur had a minor heart attack then proceeded to tell him he had dropped them and he should be more careful, awww shucks mom. hahah
By the time we had reached down town Istanbul my legs had gone to autopilot and no longer listed when I said stop, but the stores we walked by were similar to those you would find in most downtowns across the world. The one thing though that is original and 100% Turkish is Doner, good lord is this heaven in a sandwich Im talking about slow cooked lamb with tomato, and lettuce the most simple snack but the best thing ever!!!!!!!
after a wonderful 2 days of working, exploring and truly living like the locals we needed to call it a day, as I need to call it a night till next time