Last day in Istanbul and rather than tourist times I did a bunch of traveling around by public transit to do errands ( bus ticket, fed ex) which gave me a different view of things.
my vision of Istanbul is a blend of Paris and Cairo ( as I remember them and assume they are now)
big busy, cosmopolitan,chique,too big. Striving to cope with their size . Enormous wealth while a large portion of poor,old, underemployed and undereducated struggle to survive as life changes faster than they can keep up
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Venturing into Kurdish Anatolia
As I write on the laptop, we are on a bus driving east between Gaziantep and Sanliurfa in Eastern Anatolia of Turkey. This is the southeast and Amb’s long time dream to come here. We are close to the Syrian boarder, but it sounds like visa’s are a major hassle on site so we will not try to go just for the sake of going to Syria. We have nicely stepped off the tourist track which is great ! no more carpet sellers ! Our hotel last night was clearly oriented to Turkish travelers especially businessmen.
Turkey has been amazing. A complete change in everyway, in how we spend our days, the sites, the weather. It was difficult to leave Muheza and make the transition onto something so completely different. I am missing people in Muheza and the team at Bombo. Seems so weird that we can just pick up and go. But as the days slip past I feel more and more clear about the work we will pursue upon our return to Canada fundraising for further development of palliative care….
We have used just about every scrap of clothing we brought as its been much colder than we anticipated (0-8 or so) including some snow in Capadoccia. Istanbul an amazing place of course; we spent a fair bit of time visiting the obligatory museums, palaces, mosques and art galleries. We were a bit disjointed those first few days, learning to be nomads, and with each other 24/7. The family unit even closer now as we sort through all the emotions and challenges of travel (the specifics being totally different than Africa). I look at my family in wonder and know I will look back at this time as an incredible gift, a rich and complex experience for us all, not the least of which is simply to have all this time together so intimately. All of us finding it hard to muster the energy to learn a few words of Turkish (more difficult than Swahili by a longshot) and continue instead to exchange Swahili words between ourselves for comfort. “Pole sana” will be with us forever I think….The Turkish ‘Merhaba’ (hello) helprully close to the Swahili ‘marahaba’ (response to ‘shikamu’ the respectful greeting to an elder)
We moved onto Gallipoli, touring the battlefields, and seeing first hand remnants of the trenches and orienting ourselves to WW1 and how it related to this part of the world. From there to various ruins: Troy, Ephesus, Aphrodesius, Hieropolis (ancient spa city built adjacent to the amazing Pamukkale) and we are seeped in ancient history. Learning tons !!! Amb more knowledgeable than I, both of us staying one step ahead of the kids orienting ourselves to the ancient worlds of the Hittite, Roman, Byzantine, Selyuk, Ottoman etc empires. Amazing to see these places with structures and artifacts dating back to 2000+BC. It is truly humbling and overwhelming to see both all the layers of history here but also the scope of civilization so long ago…
Anyways it has been wonderful to share this time with the kids. They are both great travelers coping very well with the many museums of anthropology and sites of ancient history. Although, I did hear simon grumble recently as we planned our next few days, “ah, not another ruin !!” Certainly the fact that we are traveling through the heart of pistachio and Baclava country helps; food has been fantastic, but with the usual challenges of finding the authentic ‘local’ hot spots and not the more easily visible touristy crap. We are getting pretty good at packing up and relocating, which will be the nature of our existence for the next few months. The bus system is amazing here, efficient, cheap, frequent, comfortable and super easy to go just about anywhere. I guess is reflects such a huge population that makes it so effective. The buses all have a ‘flight attendant’-type person who brings coffee (instant horrible stuff) or tea or fanta orange pop as well as a cake thing usually, although as I write Griffin is worried this ride (2.5 hours) is too short to be eligible for the cake part. Have done 2 overnight rides to date. They are grueling, I find at my advanced age.
Next we went on to Capadoccia (google it). It is a magical region of unusual geological formations due to erosion by wind and rain of repeated layers of volcanic rock. The rock pillars that were formed “fairy houses” as they are called, were carved out into rock houses that were inhabited by (amongst others) persecuted earliest Christians (pre-Byzantine) and the sites to see include amongst the earliest churches carved out of the rock dating from the first and second century. Amb and I did a couple of amazing hikes through the area around Goreme and it was all really quite spellbinding. Incredible visuals of undulating curves and pillars of rock of all shades of reds, pinks and yellows.
Then we left Capadoccia in central Turkey and the well hewn tourist trail and headed south east to the Kurdish part of Turkey. It is amazing, the reactions of subtle disapproval on the part of the Turks in other areas who say there is nothing to see here. The split between the 2 cultures of Turkey persists and is historically complex and we will learn more about it I am sure as we venture into the Kurdish heartland….
We are at the same time looking forward and thinking about the cycle and taking advantage of google maps while we have the fast internet access (frequently with free Wi-fi in the hotel room !!) to research the upcoming weeks and Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Have been watching Michael Pallin’s Eastern Europe series Rose burned on DVD for us, which has been a great adjunct to our own reflections. Paula sent a wonderful book called “Balkan Ghosts” which I am devouring in an effort to make a little bit of sense of the unbelievably complex and tumultuous history of the Balkans…
Griffin is working away at learning how to use the GPS which we will trial on the cycle. The plan is to create the day’s route on the laptop and upload to the GPS for the day (in addition to the variable quality paper maps we have located to date). Thanks to the help of Shauna and Jane who have searched out some hard to locate Eastern Europe GPS maps, and thanks to Susan for getting them to us from Cambridge, this technological learning curve is slowly coming together. Certainly we will not be heading out on well trodden tourist trails! But hopefully the roads will not be too bad ie not too many punctures, as our UK Muheza colleagues would say.
Our only big challenge right now has been ongoing skin stuff particularly for Ambrose, and we are now certain we have brought a serious case of scabies with us from Tanzania!! (It was quite atypical at first, but over the last 2 weeks has become quite classic in its distribution and now spread to me). We have gone around the block twice now with the available treatment here (Kwellada) and washed all the clothes, even borrowed an iron from a hotel to iron them all as a hot drier is not something that seems to exist here. We are hoping this has taken care of it (I have a slightly less severe version, kids spared for the moment, but treated anyways) I have a worry in the back of my mind that I heard at one point Tanzanian scabies is quite resistant to treatment…. but we will have to see how the next week goes…
As inconvenient as it is, we can hardly complain if this is our most serious health complaint to date from Africa !!
Will keep you posted !!
Please look at the photos Griffin has posted of some of the Turkey exploration. Follow the links he has provided if you want to see what we have been up to!
Hello to all and love all around.
Xo Leah
Turkey has been amazing. A complete change in everyway, in how we spend our days, the sites, the weather. It was difficult to leave Muheza and make the transition onto something so completely different. I am missing people in Muheza and the team at Bombo. Seems so weird that we can just pick up and go. But as the days slip past I feel more and more clear about the work we will pursue upon our return to Canada fundraising for further development of palliative care….
We have used just about every scrap of clothing we brought as its been much colder than we anticipated (0-8 or so) including some snow in Capadoccia. Istanbul an amazing place of course; we spent a fair bit of time visiting the obligatory museums, palaces, mosques and art galleries. We were a bit disjointed those first few days, learning to be nomads, and with each other 24/7. The family unit even closer now as we sort through all the emotions and challenges of travel (the specifics being totally different than Africa). I look at my family in wonder and know I will look back at this time as an incredible gift, a rich and complex experience for us all, not the least of which is simply to have all this time together so intimately. All of us finding it hard to muster the energy to learn a few words of Turkish (more difficult than Swahili by a longshot) and continue instead to exchange Swahili words between ourselves for comfort. “Pole sana” will be with us forever I think….The Turkish ‘Merhaba’ (hello) helprully close to the Swahili ‘marahaba’ (response to ‘shikamu’ the respectful greeting to an elder)
We moved onto Gallipoli, touring the battlefields, and seeing first hand remnants of the trenches and orienting ourselves to WW1 and how it related to this part of the world. From there to various ruins: Troy, Ephesus, Aphrodesius, Hieropolis (ancient spa city built adjacent to the amazing Pamukkale) and we are seeped in ancient history. Learning tons !!! Amb more knowledgeable than I, both of us staying one step ahead of the kids orienting ourselves to the ancient worlds of the Hittite, Roman, Byzantine, Selyuk, Ottoman etc empires. Amazing to see these places with structures and artifacts dating back to 2000+BC. It is truly humbling and overwhelming to see both all the layers of history here but also the scope of civilization so long ago…
Anyways it has been wonderful to share this time with the kids. They are both great travelers coping very well with the many museums of anthropology and sites of ancient history. Although, I did hear simon grumble recently as we planned our next few days, “ah, not another ruin !!” Certainly the fact that we are traveling through the heart of pistachio and Baclava country helps; food has been fantastic, but with the usual challenges of finding the authentic ‘local’ hot spots and not the more easily visible touristy crap. We are getting pretty good at packing up and relocating, which will be the nature of our existence for the next few months. The bus system is amazing here, efficient, cheap, frequent, comfortable and super easy to go just about anywhere. I guess is reflects such a huge population that makes it so effective. The buses all have a ‘flight attendant’-type person who brings coffee (instant horrible stuff) or tea or fanta orange pop as well as a cake thing usually, although as I write Griffin is worried this ride (2.5 hours) is too short to be eligible for the cake part. Have done 2 overnight rides to date. They are grueling, I find at my advanced age.
Next we went on to Capadoccia (google it). It is a magical region of unusual geological formations due to erosion by wind and rain of repeated layers of volcanic rock. The rock pillars that were formed “fairy houses” as they are called, were carved out into rock houses that were inhabited by (amongst others) persecuted earliest Christians (pre-Byzantine) and the sites to see include amongst the earliest churches carved out of the rock dating from the first and second century. Amb and I did a couple of amazing hikes through the area around Goreme and it was all really quite spellbinding. Incredible visuals of undulating curves and pillars of rock of all shades of reds, pinks and yellows.
Then we left Capadoccia in central Turkey and the well hewn tourist trail and headed south east to the Kurdish part of Turkey. It is amazing, the reactions of subtle disapproval on the part of the Turks in other areas who say there is nothing to see here. The split between the 2 cultures of Turkey persists and is historically complex and we will learn more about it I am sure as we venture into the Kurdish heartland….
We are at the same time looking forward and thinking about the cycle and taking advantage of google maps while we have the fast internet access (frequently with free Wi-fi in the hotel room !!) to research the upcoming weeks and Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Have been watching Michael Pallin’s Eastern Europe series Rose burned on DVD for us, which has been a great adjunct to our own reflections. Paula sent a wonderful book called “Balkan Ghosts” which I am devouring in an effort to make a little bit of sense of the unbelievably complex and tumultuous history of the Balkans…
Griffin is working away at learning how to use the GPS which we will trial on the cycle. The plan is to create the day’s route on the laptop and upload to the GPS for the day (in addition to the variable quality paper maps we have located to date). Thanks to the help of Shauna and Jane who have searched out some hard to locate Eastern Europe GPS maps, and thanks to Susan for getting them to us from Cambridge, this technological learning curve is slowly coming together. Certainly we will not be heading out on well trodden tourist trails! But hopefully the roads will not be too bad ie not too many punctures, as our UK Muheza colleagues would say.
Our only big challenge right now has been ongoing skin stuff particularly for Ambrose, and we are now certain we have brought a serious case of scabies with us from Tanzania!! (It was quite atypical at first, but over the last 2 weeks has become quite classic in its distribution and now spread to me). We have gone around the block twice now with the available treatment here (Kwellada) and washed all the clothes, even borrowed an iron from a hotel to iron them all as a hot drier is not something that seems to exist here. We are hoping this has taken care of it (I have a slightly less severe version, kids spared for the moment, but treated anyways) I have a worry in the back of my mind that I heard at one point Tanzanian scabies is quite resistant to treatment…. but we will have to see how the next week goes…
As inconvenient as it is, we can hardly complain if this is our most serious health complaint to date from Africa !!
Will keep you posted !!
Please look at the photos Griffin has posted of some of the Turkey exploration. Follow the links he has provided if you want to see what we have been up to!
Hello to all and love all around.
Xo Leah
Beer, Baklava and Buses
Beer
Tanaznia
almost completely lagers
very tasty ,when cold on a hot day
760 Tanzanian Shillings when bought by the case 600 cc bottle ( 1000 TzSh.=1$Cn aprox)
1300-3000 when bought at hotels and bars
UK
I almost totally drink bitter
a truly favourite drink of mine . usually delicious, always different
great memories or great pints and pubs
2.50 -3.20 (pounds don't ask the conversion just drink it)
I only drink them in pubs.
Turkey
most are pilsner , one is a Double pilsner???
Efes the most popular also makes a dark
2.17-2.56 Turkish lira in grocery store
4-5 TL in restaurants and bars
( multiply by .75 for Canadian dollar)
Baklava
mmmmmmmmm
It is bought in Baklavari ( like Patiserie)
Big glass windows- trays and trays of honey oozing Baklava
All shapes and sizes a variety of ingredients and tastes
How can one resist
12-22 TL/kg ( we have Never bought a kilo at one time) usually buy an assortment
Buses
In Turkey a mix between VIA trains ( Canadian) and planes
quite a change from Tanzania where price is not a concern but you feel like a sardine and you hope that the bus will make it.
Reminds Leah and I of our bus rides in Chile.
New, big, clean,Turkish TV
Refreshments served by Attendants ( almost always male) juice, water, cakes ( usually with raisins so Ambrose gets 4),tea -always with sugar and COFFEE..
Usually Nescafe 3:1 packets bad instant coffee,milk powder, sugar.( it satisfies Leah's addiction but nothing more).
The buses are never over full, they have large areas for baggage.They are reasonable but travel in Turkey is more expensive than we anticipated.
We took 2 overnight buses-saving money-losing sleep
No washrooms on buses so you have to WAIT
we travelled across Turkey on buses and enjoyed them thotoughly
Beer
Tanaznia
almost completely lagers
very tasty ,when cold on a hot day
760 Tanzanian Shillings when bought by the case 600 cc bottle ( 1000 TzSh.=1$Cn aprox)
1300-3000 when bought at hotels and bars
UK
I almost totally drink bitter
a truly favourite drink of mine . usually delicious, always different
great memories or great pints and pubs
2.50 -3.20 (pounds don't ask the conversion just drink it)
I only drink them in pubs.
Turkey
most are pilsner , one is a Double pilsner???
Efes the most popular also makes a dark
2.17-2.56 Turkish lira in grocery store
4-5 TL in restaurants and bars
( multiply by .75 for Canadian dollar)
Baklava
mmmmmmmmm
It is bought in Baklavari ( like Patiserie)
Big glass windows- trays and trays of honey oozing Baklava
All shapes and sizes a variety of ingredients and tastes
How can one resist
12-22 TL/kg ( we have Never bought a kilo at one time) usually buy an assortment
Buses
In Turkey a mix between VIA trains ( Canadian) and planes
quite a change from Tanzania where price is not a concern but you feel like a sardine and you hope that the bus will make it.
Reminds Leah and I of our bus rides in Chile.
New, big, clean,Turkish TV
Refreshments served by Attendants ( almost always male) juice, water, cakes ( usually with raisins so Ambrose gets 4),tea -always with sugar and COFFEE..
Usually Nescafe 3:1 packets bad instant coffee,milk powder, sugar.( it satisfies Leah's addiction but nothing more).
The buses are never over full, they have large areas for baggage.They are reasonable but travel in Turkey is more expensive than we anticipated.
We took 2 overnight buses-saving money-losing sleep
No washrooms on buses so you have to WAIT
we travelled across Turkey on buses and enjoyed them thotoughly
Friday, March 20, 2009
Photos of Our trip
Please check out some of our photos
Gallipoli : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69561&id=584266324&l=d52a5ee257
Troy : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70489&id=584266324&l=72762d687c
Ephuseus : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70697&id=584266324&l=6405208f8f
Gallipoli : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69561&id=584266324&l=d52a5ee257
Troy : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70489&id=584266324&l=72762d687c
Ephuseus : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70697&id=584266324&l=6405208f8f
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Out of Istanbul
just some thoughts from Selcuk ,Turkey
We left Muheza less than 2 weeks ago!!! -it seems eons ago and distant in memory
struggling to keep it close to our heart and mind.
-after calling Muheza 'home' for 6months...."meet you at home" " great to be back home" we are now on the road as tourists and home has again become Hazlitt Creek Rd.
- after being hot all the time , i haven't sweated in 13 days and we are cold here in Turkey.
-travelling by bus here in Turkey is more like our time in Chile and much different from the speed, crowds and 'sense of safety' in Tanzania
-Turkey the land of baclava, olives and feta for breakfast...all good
-bus ride yesterday from Cannakkale to Izmir and saw an old Turkish man as sheep herder and contrasted that with the young Masai boys we saw as goat and cow herders.
-Turkish language is a challenge to pronounce or remember vocabulary, yet the people are very friendly nd willing to cope with our sign language( we will have to get use to this a s we travel in Eastern Europe. We sometimes slip into Swahili pleasantries.
-Turkish toilets cost, yesterday we spents 5.50 turkish Kira in .50, and .75 denominations
-home schooling this week included Galipoli(WW1), Troy( and that silly horse), and today at Ephesus a spectacular archeological site of Greek and Roman remains
Thinking about points east and also planning our first stages of cycling from Thrace to Greece and into Bulgaria
Boys traveling very well
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Out of Africa into Canbridge
Muheza -Cambridge now there is a contrast.
There are banners for the 800th Anniversary celebrations ot the Cambridge University ( wonder what was happening near Muheza 800 years ago)
Their one similarity is a dependence on bicycles for local travel.
Cambridge is so familiar from visits before and so different from where we have just been.
We had pears, croissant and wine
we saw green grass and field lacrosse and 'our breath' (5 degrees)
We had a day trip to London ( including an overwhelming map and travel store for the next legs)
pints of bitter
wonderful to see and hug Susan and Philip
and packing and repacking
For someone who likes to travel light and simply this combination of 'Trips" with varying weather and varying activities is a challenge and Books , numerous and heavy.
we would have very much struggled without our friends here in Cambridge( Kate and Tim, Susan and Philip)
We will sleep at Heathrow tonight since our flight tomorrow is 0930 and you must be there 0730 (not like Victoria) and bus travel to Heathrow takes 3 hours.
Trying very hard to enjoy the next chapters without making Muheza only a dream.
I miss it.
There are banners for the 800th Anniversary celebrations ot the Cambridge University ( wonder what was happening near Muheza 800 years ago)
Their one similarity is a dependence on bicycles for local travel.
Cambridge is so familiar from visits before and so different from where we have just been.
We had pears, croissant and wine
we saw green grass and field lacrosse and 'our breath' (5 degrees)
We had a day trip to London ( including an overwhelming map and travel store for the next legs)
pints of bitter
wonderful to see and hug Susan and Philip
and packing and repacking
For someone who likes to travel light and simply this combination of 'Trips" with varying weather and varying activities is a challenge and Books , numerous and heavy.
we would have very much struggled without our friends here in Cambridge( Kate and Tim, Susan and Philip)
We will sleep at Heathrow tonight since our flight tomorrow is 0930 and you must be there 0730 (not like Victoria) and bus travel to Heathrow takes 3 hours.
Trying very hard to enjoy the next chapters without making Muheza only a dream.
I miss it.
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