The Town of Capes

So, the bad new about Cape Town: I have yet to see any capes at all. With a name like that, this place should be crawling with superheroes, right? But no. None. Unless there are superheroes and capes have simply gone out of fashion. Either way, huge disappointment.

The good news: That's really the only disappointment I have so far. :p

In all seriousness, these first 24 hours have been absolutely awesome. I had one of the most painless international flights over ever. A window seat with NO ONE ELSE IN MY ROW!!  I got to lay down (yay being little!) had three pillows and blankets to myself, and got to binge on movies and red wine. :D

I got into Capetown pretty late, but found my way to a hostel and crashed. Today was absolutely beautiful, so I made the most of it (even though I was pretty dead on my feet from the jetlag) and spent the day strolling through the Company Gardens, the Capitol Bowl district and then took the cable car up to Table Mountain. I had called ahead, because the cable car doesn't always run in the winter depending on the weather, and the answering machine said that it was running but that the weather was "very cold". So, like the good little Michigander that I am becoming, I heard "very cold" and packed up a scarf, hat, gloves, hoody, hat, jacket.....yeah, it was like 69 degrees. Needless to say, I was carrying around armfuls of clothing, and at one point just piled it all on a rock because it was too hard to hike through some of the steep sections with all of it. Oh, South Africans. You don't know the meaning of the word 'cold'. And/or perhaps the word 'very'. But I am not complaining. Both Table Mountain and the weather were breathtaking. People around here are claiming that its one of the 7 wonders...but I don't know if that's true. Or which of the 7 wonders it is? Is it just me, or are there about 17 '7 wonders of the world' ? And in which case, wouldn't it be more fair to call it the 119 wonders? Anyway, it was beautiful. The day was clear and sunny, which apparently is a rarity at the mountain. And I spent a good 3 hours hiking and taking pictures right up till sunset.

Afterwards, I headed out to "Long St" the bar/restaurant district, where I had the best Ostrich burger EVER, and walked around for a bit before heading back to my hostel.

I am now going to crash because I have to....I mean *get to* go to my conference in the morning, which is going to require checking out of this hostel and catching a 1:30 hour train to Stellenbosch. I will be there through Saturday, staying at the Stumble Inn (best name for a small guesthouse in wine country ever).

After that, who knows, I really want to come back to Cape Town because one day just doesn't do it justice....but on the other...I've got a long way up the coast if I'm going to make my flight out of Jo'berg in a couple weeks.

p.s. My favorite thing about the language out here so far is the use of the phrase 'the lady'. Seriously, people have said this to me like 3-4 times today. "A check for the lady please" "And what would the lady like?" For some reason, it makes me giggle and feel both flattered and ridiculous. As if I am wearing a giant purple sunhat.    

testing testing....

Trying to figure out if I can blog from my kindle...

Hello Gumshoes

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of posting. I have been (in some cases literally) running around so much on this trip that I have barely had a chance to sit down. Will have to fill you guys in when I'm back stateside.

As you may have guessed, I have been doing an in/extensive tour of Turkey. Basically, I tried to pack about 16 days worth of stuff into about 10 days. The result? Some of the most interesting sleeping arrangements I've encountered on a trip, and very little actual sleeping. Quick overview:

Sunday- Hopped an over-night bus to Cappadocia.

Monday- Got there at 9am, started a day tour at 9:30am. Went around and saw all the cool "Fairy Chimneys" (weird chimney looking rock formations caused by volcanic action back in the day). Spent the night in a fairy chimney cave!

Tuesday - Got up at 4am to catch a hot-air balloon ride over the fairy chimneys at sun rise. IT WAS AMAZING. I always wanted to go on a hot air balloon. Figured this was about the best place in the world for it. Ran around Cappadocia all day. Hopped another night bus.

Wenesday - Arrived at Olympos at 10am, after changing buses about 3 times, and long delays. Spent the day at the beach and hiking around the ruins. Did a night hike up to the top of Chimaera, the mountain that strangely holds fire! In ancient times, they believed there was a dragon-like creature inside (a Chimaera) and it was this endless flame that inspired our current Olympic torch (apparently, people used to light torches with the flame and then run races down the hill). Spent the night in a treehouse! (Olympos is famous for its tree houses).

Thurs- Got on a boat! Was a bit hesitant about a 4 day boat trip (which could be torture if the boat was awful). But the booking agent talked me into it. And I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. The 'blue cruise' as its known around Turkey, is a standard trip around the south coast, stopping at lots of famous places like the sunken city, Kas, and the beach from 'blue lagoon'. Some of these places are only accessible by boat, so it was kinda cool. Although "cruise" is a bit of a stretch. A quite compact little yacht, most of the 16 of us preferred sleeping on deck to sleeping in the tiny cabinet-cabins below.

Fri-Sat - Slept on a boat! Star gazing on the deck was really pretty magical.

Sun - Got off the boat at Fethiye. Got a bus to Pamukkale. Spent the night in A REAL BED!

Mon- Spent the day doing a whirl wind tour of the famous ruins and pools of Pamukkale. There was actually water in the pools when I was there, which is apparently not always the case. Got a bus to Selcuk. Another night in a real bed!

Tues - Ran around the AMAZING ruins of Ephesus and then the once-incredible Artemis temple (one of the wonders of the ancient world!). Hopped a night bus to Eceabat.

Wednes - Got there at about 7:45am. Hopped a ferry to Troy at 8am. Spent the day among the ruins and hopped a bus back to Istanbul. Where I met up with my Best-Roomie-Ever (Wendy, my roommate in Singapore had just got into Turkey hours before). Was planning on spending the night at the airport, but ended up catching a few hours sleep on Wendy's friend's couch.

Thurs- woke up at 4am and miraculously caught my plane into Albania. Still a bit impressed/surprised that I pulled off running to all those cities and making it back in time. Not that there weren't glitches along the way. In fact, I think more may have gone wrong on this trip then with any other. But thats a story for a different post. Besides, alls well that ends well.

In my final travel-clue, I will tell you that I will be bumming around Albania for the next week or so, before crossing into the country named after its 'black mountains'. A few days there, then a flight back to Istanbul on Aug 2nd, and a flight to the Capital of the USA on Aug 3rd.

Over and out!

Where ın the world..

Fınally got my plans set and head out tomorrow. You're clues ın case you wanted to hunt me down lıke Carmen San Dıego...

Tomorrow I head to the land of Faıry Chimenys (I know!!!!). I plan on flyıng around among the chımenys for a couple days before I head down to see the great flame that ınspıred one of the most celebrated sports events ın the world (whıle lıvıng among the treetops!). Not to mentıon the home of the goddess of the moon. From there, I wıll be wonderıng among sunken cıtıes away from land before headıng north to see one of the 7 wonders of the ancıent world. From there, ıts off to see the place that bore the face that launched a thousand shıps before headıng back to Istanbul on the 20th.

Wısh me luck!

quıck update

I plan on leavıng Istanbul in the next 24 hours or so and traveling around Turkey for the next week or two. Yes, that's as far as I've gotten with plans. I've been busy. But will keep you posted.

Just wanted to update all you worrıers. I'm fıne. =)

Where east meets west

Heyya internet!

Im safe and sound in Istanbul! And if the fırst 24 hours are any indıcatıon, this is going to be quite the adventure.

Thıngs started out entertainıng at the aırport, when the guy at the counter saw my tıcket to Turkey and asked ıf I was goıng home. Thıs was partıcularly entertaınıng because 1. he had my US passport ın hıs hand (unopenned) when he saıd thıs. 2. Because I was just jokıng around wıth frıends and famıly how thıs ıs probably one of the few places I have traveled where I would not be confused for a local. Guess agaın.

Flıghts through Rıchmond and JFK went smoothly, and I arrıved at Istanbul at 10am (3am EST!). Happıly, I got my vısa and ıt takes up less than half a passport page and allows for multıple entrıes! Thıs ıs very excıtıng. As some of you know, I am down to the last 2 pages ın my passport and was worrıed that I would run out. Looks lıke I wıll be ok!

Found myself a sub-pare but cheap hostel ın the old town dıstrıct and have been busy sıte-seeıng ever sınce. So far, I have seen the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, two or three other Mosques, had Turkısh coffee, and YES! SEEN WHIRLING DERVISHES! Im so ınto ıt.

Was goıng to gıve you all a thorough revıew of these thıngs. But thıs ınternet cafe ıs closıng. Took me way too long to fıgure out these Turkısh keyboards. So thats all for now. I wıll be ın Istanbul through Saturday. Afterwards, I dunno where Im headed. But wıll post agaın before I leave.

It's that time of year again....

No, not Christmas. Although it's about like Christmas in my book. Time to travel! Will be Leaving on a Jet Plane on Monday off to the Wild Blue Yonder. Currently a bit overwhelmed with everything that I have to do before I leave!!!!

FYI, this trip I will be pretty busy and without a laptop, so I'm not sure how much I will post, but I will definitely keep you updated. Also, I haven't quite decided where I'm going yet. I plan to make it up as I go along (Ha! To those of you who think I don't plan. That's totally a plan).

Just to keep things interesting, I've decide that as I decide where I'm going to go, I'm going to give you a clue on the blog. Like one big interactive game of Carmen San Diego!!! (best show ever!). Or Big Bird goes to China (also amazing cinematography). I realize that this is pretty pointless since a lot of people know my general plans and everyone can just google my clues. But still, it will be educational if nothing else. And entertaining to me. And if you're cool, you'll use your brain instead of your browser. :)

Your first clue:

My first stop Monday morning will be hanging out in the airport in the capital of Virginia. Next, I will be flying into the airport named after the 35th President of the United States. After a brief layover there, I will finally be leaving the US to enter the land famous for the creation of the Mawlawi Order. Where I will arrive on Tuesday morning in the city 'where East meets West'. :)

Wish me luck!