Turkce Bilmiyorum! (I don't speak Turkish)

Merhaba! (Hello in turkish)

Less than 24 hours after I arrived in Singapore from Bangkok! I was on my way again to Exotic Turkey which I have to say is one of the most memorable trip ever. 2 weeks where we experienced the warmth of the turkish people, the taste of turkish food and the beautiful and diverse landscape of turkey.

There were many firsts in this trip! Mainly couchsurfing and hitchhiking. And also travelling with a girl. Just the two of us! This girl G has been a good friend since year 1 semester when we took a module together and we have kept in contact since then mainly during the holidays. Our common topic is travelling and last year I thought about travelling with her and it came true this year. Awesome!

There was a lot of travelling on this trip as we went about to see the best of Turkey with those 2 weeks. I shall limit the pictures to one per location!

First Stop: Istanbul where you see majestic mosque like this across the skyline.

2nd stop: Pamukkale or Cotton Castle

From the town of selcuk we went to Sirince, a small village with black mulberry and apricot trees around.
Free and delicious!

One of the main attractions in turkey is Ephesus just beside Selcuk. A huge ruins area. Our first hitchhiking experience as we tried to walked there but decided to try halfway. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Kusadasi is also 30 mins from Selcuk and is where we had our 2nd hitchhiking experience. Unlike what you see in the picture, it started pouring after we finished Ephesus, so we were walking in the rain under our tiny umbrella. Our savior came to our rescue and lo and behold he was going to kusadasi also so phew!

Highlight No. 1 (at Fethiye): Paragliding from Babadag, the peak of the mountain almost 2000m high. It was a 45 min glide down to the beach with awesome mountain, beach and seaside scenery to look at. The spinning downward descent was just out of the world.

One day Butterfly Valley cruise that brings us around on a big wooden boat. Swimming in the cold but refreshing and crystal clear bay by jumping from the boat upper deck, having fish that was cooked at the rear end of the boat in the open while the boat was travelling and talking to old turkish folks. The turquoise Mediterranean sea is just super mesmerising to stare at.  

Saklikent Gorge. The Gorge was super pretty to look at and the water is super muddy too. Some people put it on their skin. I didn't haha. Had a friendly person who guided us only to ask for money at the end (paid him only like 3SGD/pax in the end)

Scanning the beautiful pebble beach and sea at Olympos where you have to pay to get into the beach. If only Singapore had waters like this.

The landscape of Cappadocia. Fairy Chimneys everywhere.

Highlight 2: Hot Air Balloon flight. We got a good deal through one of our couchsurfing host and I would say any amount of money (and waking up at 330am in the morning) is worth going up to sea the scenery. I was snapping pictures all the way because the sight is truly breathtaking. Any other activity just seems MEH compared to this.

There were a total of 70+ balloons that morning. At peak times, it can reach up to 100 balloons!!!

One of the reason why we had such a great time during this trip was because of our coachsurfing hosts who made our stay in turkey so homely. For many of them and also turkish friends, fellow couchsurfers and other friends we made along the way, their generosity and friendliness really touch our hearts and that is something more beautiful than the most amazing views on Earth. 

And it also saves us alot of money hahaha. Gotta admit that too! After all these places we went back to Istanbul where we saved the shopping for last! 

Some of the challenges we faced during the trip was 

1) Expensive to purchase the SIM card in turkey.

2) Language barrier. I tried to learn some turkish beforehand but that was definitely not gonna be enough.

3) Everything must bargain! Even bus ticket and food...I hate bargaining...

It is always special to just travel with another person. It gives you a lot of mobility which decrease with the size of travelling group but also offers you a companion to rely on and more importantly to share you experience with. You learn a lot about each other and their habits and character that you don't really know by just meeting now and then. G is a really good travel companion. Other than being pretty, she is also very independent, capable and dominant character that complements my more laidback character. But every holiday has to end and we had to part ways which may be a good thing as too much of each other and lack of personal space can cause conflicts to occur which I experienced last summer.

Gule Gule Turkey! Tesekkurler!!!