For my tips on China I’d say hook up with some friends particularly if you plan to head away from the east coast.  There were plenty of other backpackers to chat, laugh and commiserate with on the east coast.  Finding out that we were all having similar difficulties in China made the whole thing somewhat easier!  When I was over the western side of the country (Urumqi, Kashgar etc) it became a very solitary and frustrating journey. Having someone else to travel with at that point would have made things a little easier.

China is also one of the places I would say prebook some of your main train journey segments.  If you have read the three entries I have uploaded on China, that I wrote while in China, you may get the hint that one of the problems a major problem was obtaining transport.  The trains were quite simply full and so were the busses.  I was stuck sometimes for up to 5 days in small little places before being able to finally get on a bus or more frequently a plane to get out of the place.  If you stick to the main attractions on the east coast you should be able to pre book most of your main train tickets.

Just to give you an idea I ended up flying between Shanghai and Hong Kong because the train that runs between the two was booked out for a month.  I didn’t have that kind of time to wait since my visa was almost up.  While I much prefer to ‘wing it’ with my travel for China, my advise would be to plan where you want to go and pre book as much as you can.  You will have a much better time of it.

Of course it could have just been a case of really bad timing.

This particular journey is over except for some tidy up to do with the site like upload a heap of photo’s maybe a couple of extra entries for China, Spain and Turkey.

I’m sad that its all over and even though its been months since my trail ended and I’m back at work I still wish that I was out there travelling.  Still money is transferring into my travel account every fortnight slowly building up for the next adventure!

From beginning to almost the end now China has proved to be a problem trying to obtain transport. I’m sure there are some great things to see in China it’s just unfortunate that for the most part I seem to have spent the majority of my time trying to arrange transport in one form or another and accommodation.

That communication black hole isn’t just on communications outside of China either. Happens inside China too for all sorts of things. At one point I tried to book transport between Kuqa and Turpan in China’s West. Now I knew there were seats available. The receptionist had rung in advance for me to check and there were ‘plenty’ of seat for the next three days apparently.

Now it wasn’t a traditional communication problem either since the receptionist had written it down for me exactly what I wanted. Yet when I got to the train station the answer was ‘no’.

No explanation, as seems to be the way with China. Just ‘no’.  They had seats they just wouldn’t or couldn’t sell any of them to me. If they would just explain the ‘no’ every now and then it wouldn’t be so frustrating.

Then again I guess that is China too. If the authorities do not admit to or even acknowledge a problem, then there isn’t a problem. Is there?

It did make it easier that I wasn’t the only one having these issues. A couple of other backpackers I’d met were having an equally frustrating time of it.

For the first time on my trip I finally shelled out and brought myself a prepaid sim card for my iPad so I could at least send and receive emails.  WiFi is available in the hotels or at least the signals come up indicating there is wifi. For the most part unless you speak to the right receptionist they do not seem to realize at they have wifi or seem to understand what it is.

They would understand that guests just had to plug the cable into their computers and the Internet should work. But try to point out to them that that little device on the desk is actually sending out a wifi signal and the little lights are saying it’s active I just need the password and they look at you rather blankly and show you the cable once more.

The more traditional Hostels are better when it comes to communication. Not only can the staff usually speak English quite well they tend to have wifi, it tends to be free and they understand what it is!

When it comes to China I find it’s strange that when it comes to communications, both electronic and verbal that the cheap Hostels are way ahead of the ‘fancy’ tourist hotels that cost so much more.

When it comes to the free wifi in cafes, well I’ve found it depends on where you as to if I could access it or not. Most of the ones I tried I would need a chinese mobile phone number to access the free wifi. You see you enter your mobile phone number and they send you a text with your password so you can login.  Unfortunately that type of system would not allow international phone numbers to be entered so you can not get the password so therefore can not access the free wifi.

Of course if you have a Chinese sim in your mobile you should be fine with that one.

So I finally got frustrated enough with the communication problems I sort a solution of sorts, at least for the electronic communication. I shelled out money and purchased a sim card.  That took a bit of explaining since the staff didn’t speak a word of English but I was armed with not only my iPad but my phrase book for ‘show and tell’. Thankfully they also had a poster up on the wall with a picture of an iPad and iPhone with data plans under them. Once I spotted that it become so much easier!

Now at let I have Internet and email whenever I want.  Eight more days in China and counting down…

I’ve been staying at 365 Inn while in Beijing and at that point I was in the 10 bed dorm. One of the other guys mentioned he was going to try and head to the Wall in the morning and of course I perked up at that point and mentioned I was thinking of heading out as well but not on the trips offered by the hostel. He chimed in that he wasn’t going with the hostel offering either.  We both felt they were a little on the expensive side.

The conversation diverted to other topics around those of us kicking back in the dorm room although the two of us decided to hook up at breakfast and head to the Great Wall.

In the morning after breakfast which in my cash was coffee at the hostel then picking up some fruit from a fruit seller on the way the first part of the journey to the Great Wall was easy.  It was a short walk down towards Qianmen subway station.  No sooner than hitting the corner than we’d already been approached by a lady offering tickets to the wall.

Of course negotiations started at that point, mainly ruling out all the things neither of us wanted until it was paired down to the bus trip to the wall and back.  All up it ended up costing 100RMB which neither of us thought was too bad. ‘the book’ was said it cost 80, the hostel was selling the trip for about 260 so all up not to bad.

The next part was kind of funny since we weren’t going in the bus we were standing next to but a different one, apparently.  The lady took us off a short way, then gestured at us to wait. 

Shortly there after we were installed in a car with her reassuring us ‘is ok, no pay extra, just to bus…’. About three or so blocks later we piled out of the car then were herded into the right bus.

Of course everyone took the time to stare.  Can not say I blame them since we were the only westerners on the bus.  About 0920 hours or so we were off hurtling down the road…

Well ok I use the word hurtling loosely.  More like driving very slowly through traffic, making our way out of Beijing. That part all by itself took just over an hour. The Chinese guided talked non stop the entire way and we dutifully looked out the windows when the others did making our own commentary since neither of us had a clue what everyone was in awe over in the concrete jungle that is Beijing.

Finally the bus pulled into a parking lot. Looking around us we kind of cottoned on to the fact that this wasn’t the Great Wall. This was apparently one of the places we hadn’t paid to see. Since ‘d been carted off to a different bus we figured we might have been on a direct bus. Not. So we hung around and waited. About an hour all up before we joined everyone else back on the bus again.

Listening to the guide talk (even though I couldn’t understand a single word) and watching her gestures I commented ‘I bet we’re heading to the jade factory next’.

Sure enough not far down the road we pulled into a large car park. The jade factory. I managed to get from one end to the other without buying any of there jade. Although I think they were all geared up for the Chinese sales pitch and it threw them to see a couple of westerners tagging along behind.

Then it was time for lunch and we still weren’t at the wall. Neither of us had paid for lunch either but we did join the others in the dining room. Seeing some of the others buying some skewers from a seller I did likewise and munched away on them. Not really sure what the meat was but it was heavily spiced and quite tasty.

After lunch, finally, we finally made it to the wall. The first point for all the Chinese was to the shop to buy umbrella’s since it was drizzling. Neither of us bothered since it wasn’t raining that hard.

Then finally it was time to start walking up those steps and along the wall in between dodging the sellers trying to sell ‘stuff’.  Everything from flags to cups to medals to photos and statues.  I managed to resist buying the wares they thrust in front of me as I walked along the wall but I noticed that our local counterparts were buying up a storm.  Just like they did at the Jade factory.

I liked the wall but let’s face it at the end of the day it’s a wall. Still I’m glad I took the effort to go and see it. Even if it did mean a few more ‘shopping stops’ on the way back. Watching our local counterparts buy up big was entertaining all in itself!

Although if I had paid double to triple the price as is offered in the hotels and hostels just to have an English speaking guide, well, I’m not sure I would have thought it was worth it.

All up I enjoyed the whole day, even the unexpected shopping stops there and back!

I obtained my visa for China without a hitch from Hong Kong and it was just as easy as advertised. Then I tried to book a train ticket to either Shanghai or Beijing. They told me there were no tickets until 4 days time and even then there was only one sleeper cabin left, coincidently the most expensive one or standing room. Otherwise I’d have to wait until the 5th day.

I went to a cafe, sat down and consulted my book and decided on a train to Guangzhou.  Not that I really had a particular interest in going there it was more because it was only just across the boarder, there were plenty of tickets and it was described as a ‘transport hub’.

As it turned out I couldn’t get any train tickets there either. That was when I found out about the student holidays. Although it was ok the locals assured me. They go back to school in end of this month. September should be fine. Or words to that effect that is…

Not all my problems so far have been because of the student holidays here in China. One of them, a rather major one, was caused by the bank.  The Australian bank that is not the Chinese ones.

You see when I couldn’t get on a train for the better part of a week I decided to fly. I managed to book a flight in an office, no mean feet when you do not speak Chinese and the girl on the other side doesn’t speak English. Anyhow she was very nice and patient. All that remained since they didn’t accept credit caress was for me to find an ATM and get some cash for the flight.

I tried about 15 ATM’s and could get any cash. Frustrated I went back to the office and cancelled the flight I’d booked then headed back to the hostel. Checking online I discovered I could not access the bank to check my funds. They had a ‘We’re sorry we are experiencing technical difficulties’ screen up. Then I check then online news. Sure enough there was an article with numerous complaints from people being stranded not being able to pay for the fuel they’d just put in the car to not being able to buy there groceries.

It did make me laugh though. There was someone complaining about not being able to pay for $30 worth of fuel and there was me stuck in Guangzhou China without being able to access money.

Now I did have a backup card to a totally separate account with a different bank. That didn’t help since they were suffering ‘technical difficulties’ as well.

Thankfully I still had some of my ‘emergency cash’ left that has managed to travel all around the world with my since I left Australia.  That at least gave me some cash to live on for the next week.  Thankfully the ‘technical difficulties’ didn’t last for more than a day but at one point I was seriously thinking of heading back to Hong Kong, changing my flight dates and heading home early.

You know having a sister with contacts helps. As it turns out she has a, well ex working in a hotel in Hangzhou. So I booked my flight up there and at least had a comfortable bed for a few days while I tried, with the help of the travel desk to sort out my onward travel plans.

As it turned out I still couldn’t get a train in a reasonable space of time so ended up booking another flight.  That is how I’ve ended up in Urumqi. I decided if I flew to this side of the country and worked my way back it might be a little easier.

I was right. I had no sooner got here, found the train ticket booking office with a little help from the locals and low and behold there was a train ticket available on the day I want to travel!

Pity about the accommodation side of things. Sigh.

While I managed to get the train ticket to Kashgar, leaves tomorrow morning, when I looked at the hostel and cheap hotel availability they were all booked out on the Monday.

I finally found a place only slightly more than I wanted to pay but at least it’s a bed.

So it’s been a week, a very frustrating week trying to travel in China. Still I am looking forward to Kashgar and the Silk Road even though if the rest of my time here goes like the last week it’s going to be a tough few weeks.

I really enjoyed my stay at Saban Treehouse, it was basic but good and the price even included both breakfast and dinner.  They didn’t stint on either the breakfast or dinner either unlike some of the places I have been in.

I did wonder down to the beach, or at least what they call a beach at one point, just because it was there and I thought I should. The beach really doesn’t do much for me. Oh it’s pretty enough but I just really struggle to see it as or call it a beach. There’s no sand it is just rocks.

It’s a bay, protected, not rough at all and you can certainly swim there if you choose but without the sand I just can not call it a beach.

There are also some ruins along the way so it wasn’t a total waste walking down to the coast.

The only other thing I did while here and the reason I decided to stop here was to go up to see the Chimaera. The Chimaera is, well, fire with the flames licking up to the sky from between the crevices in the rocks. It’s kind of cool to see.

The Treehouse took a heap of up that wanted to see it up to the car park below the mountain where the Chimaera is after dinner. That was about a 40 minute drive from Olympos. For some reason I thought the drive would have been shorted but it was still worth it.

You then have to walk up the hill to see the Chimaera. They say it’s a ‘20-30 minute walk up a steep incline’. Frankly that’s just plain wrong unless perhaps your with young children. It’s about a 12-15 minute walk up and I wouldn’t call it particularly hard or steep.  Of course some people seemed to struggle. So if you’re the kind of person who has never done a days exercise in your life you can ignore the 12-15 minute thing and go with the 30 minute thing….

Anyhow it was great to get up there and see the flames coming from the rocks and it’s easy to see why myth and legend would have sprung up around the mountain and the flames. They are apparently caused by gasses under the earth that seep through the fissures and crevices in the rocks. When the gases finally make contact with the air they bust into flame.

Oh and by the way we are not talking about 4 meter high flames here. Think closer to half a meter give or take for the largest flame present while I was up there.

They also say that if you cover up the flame it will go out, as fire does when you cover it but a new flame will spring up near by. I didn’t test that particular theory so I can not vouch for that one.

Still it was a good little excursion and well worth the stop to see it!

What I want to know is how the heck did I manage to miss this?

I mean it’s not exactly small or obscure. It kind of stands out doesn’t it?  Of course that made the next two instructions useless for the time being. Thankfully people were very nice and kept pointing the way until I finally turned onto the street I needed. Before long I passed instruction 3 which was the ‘Broken Minaret’.

Then I was back on track for instruction number 4 which was easy, hostel is 100 meters on the right.

I should have taken a photo of my dorm room, I really should have. It was the smallest dorm room I’ve ever been in. To give you an idea it was a 4 bed mixed dorm with air-conditioning.

I stood there in the door way looking at the room. One bunk bed, with the lower bunk being empty and two singles. The three other beds were occupied with travelers from Korea.

Now there was space to walk between the beds, just, as long as everyone else was on there bed. Unfortunately the Koreans had snagged the only spot available for bags right at the foot of the bunk beds.

I looked around, did my ‘excuse me’s’ as I sidestepped between the narrow gap between the bunk beds and the single next to it and tried not to clobber the Korean guy with my pack. He kindly ducked, although that was probably more self preservation than trying to make it easier on me.

Once I go to my bunk I managed to swing the pack around and dump it on the end of my bed. Since that was the only available spot to put it. I had a moment to be grateful that it was a room with an air conditioner since even though it was only a 4 bed dorm the room was that cramped that it would get hot and stuffy without the air con really fast.

I really should not have had that thought since I think that must have jinxed me.  The remote for the air conditioner was next to the Korean lady in the other single bed. About 2 in the morning she decided, obviously that the air conditioner was not needed so turned it off.

Just as I thought the room got hot and stuffy, there was no window or fan. I put up with it for a bit then unable to sleep I finally got up found the remote and switched the air conditioner back on.

A bit rude maybe but honestly if you want sole control of the remote then get your own room. Or here’s a thought chose a dorm without air-conditioning if you do not like them!

Unfortunately she, being the Korean woman woke up about 5 ish and promptly turned the air con off again. I finally gave up just after 6 and left the dorm for the outside courtyard. It was cooler. I wasn’t particularly quiet about it and frankly I really do not care one little bit.

I must say Antalya itself is a lovely spot. I wondered around the old quarter checking out the rather impressive coastline.

The food is also sensational, seafood, steak, everything.  Probably some of the best meals I have had in Turkey so far. to the point where I couldn’t leave the last little bit on the plate like I normally do if I’m full. I just had to finish.

What else did I do?  Um.  Well I went to a Hamam again. Wont describe the whole thing again the process was fairly similar to the last one. It wasn’t just decadence. Honest.

The Hamam was 600 odd years old. So, it historic. One would be derelict not to go. Right?

Person Two (the guy running the hostel): ‘Oh you’re not missing anything. It’s not real, none of it is. They are not real Dirvishes, they do not believe, they are not praying. I’m not being horrible. I know these men. It’s just a show for the tourists. They’re just after money.’

Either way I didn’t catch a show/performance/ceremony so I will leave it to the locals to judge and it seems the camps on that are somewhat divided!

Still I did get time to walk through the Mevlana Museum.  I spent a couple of hours there wondering around looking at the various exhibits and listening to the Audio tour. Once again it was a resonable price and certainly had a heap of background information on the history of the cult and there beliefs.  Sorry no photos inside at least not from me.

There is a sign up clearly showing no photos. So what does the average person do?  Whip there camera out and snap off photos when they think the guards etc aren’t looking.

After I was done I wondered around a bit looking through the street stalls, checked out the tram that would take me to the bus station. Had a coffee. Killing time before picking up my bag from my hotel and heading off.

Not much else to say about Konya really. It is just another one of those dots on the map that break up an otherwise much longer journey between two points.

First stop was a lookout with great views over Goreme and Uchisar and of course a whole heap of touristy stalls selling everything form jewelry to clothes.

I think one of the things that I do not like about tours is that even if it is only a day tour, there is the inevitable waiting around while the guide runs around and collects everyone to get back on the bus. There may have been only a handful of us but Fatima, the guide was running around. She would no sooner round up the missing ‘culprit’ than do a head count to discover that while she was rounding up the last person two others had gotten back off the bus while she was doing it. They had wandered off to by a drink bog course I could help but wonder why they had not purchased there drink in the 10 minutes free time we had to take photos ect.

Next up was one of the underground cities. Do not ask me which underground city it was, for the life of me I can not remember. The underground city was really interesting. They give all these warning about if you are claustrophobic not to go down. Personally I didn’t think it was that bad. For the most part I could walk upright through the tunnels only having to stoop a few times. Ok so I’m not the tallest person the the world but still.

The underground cities were used by the Byzantine Christians during the 6th and 7th centuries to hide from the Persian and Arabic armies swept across the country with the aim of wiping out the Christians.

The city had something like 8 levels and there are apparently about 100 of them scattered over the area. They used to shelter thousands of people sometimes for months at a time.

Not sure I could honestly spend that much time hiding underground but then again if the alternative was death then perhaps I could.

Fatima showed us one area that they believed the Christians of the day used to make wine. Honest, they made wine. Fatima gave us a great excuse for drinking as well since she explained that Christians viewed wine a holy substance because in the bible it’s proclaimed to be the ‘blood of Christ’.

I so have to remember that excuse next time I drink.

After the underground city we all went off to Ihlara Valley and it was time for the ‘hike’. Now I’m not sure it meets my definition of a ‘hike’ I mean for starters we only walked for about 3km and other than the steps to get down into the valley. Well it was fairly flat. As for the pace. Think stroll trough pleasant scenery…

Of course there seemed to be some who found it tough. Personally I think they need to consult with there doctors when they get home because they have serious health and fitness issues!

Anyway it was a nice walk through the valley that Byzantine Monks, way back in the day used to use as a retreat and carve churches out of the cliff faces.

I must say lunch was a pleasant surprise. Given the cost of the tour I was expecting a bottle of water and a cheese sandwich or the like. Now while we had to buy our own drinks the lunch was great, they even offered a choice between about 6 different main meals. I chose the fish which was cooked beautifully.

Straight after lunch we stopped off at the cave monasteries of Selime and we spent some time clambering over, in and through the area

The last stop of the day was Pigeon valley. Not much to say about that place really except it was a good view. And funnily enough there was a jewelry shop crafting gems and onyx across the road.  So of course there was the ‘tour’ of the manufacturing area and the showrooms. At least it was a ‘soft sell’ and they didn’t get very far at least not with me. There stuff was too big and chunky for my tastes.

It was late in the day and we wound our way back to Goreme getting back about 1800 hrs. There was time to get cleaned up and head out to dinner.

Before I knew it, that was it, it was the end of my last day in Goreme.

Of course there was the accommodation problem once again. I couldn’t book before hand because I didn’t know if I would be able to make it to town in the first place.

Rather than tramping around at night from one place to the next I dumped my pack on the ground, sat down and started to call around. Of course the first 4 places I called, the. Cheapest listings in my guide, were all full. Getting sick of that game I looked at one of the more expensive ones, not the most expensive by a long shot but no where near the cheapest. Thankfully that trick worked and they had a room for me. Not only did they have a room they came to the bus station and picked me up. Nice.

So my home for the next couple of days ended up being the Fairy Chimney Inn. It may have been slightly more than I originally wanted to pay. I was planning to go back and do that dorm thing again now that the option was there. Oh well.

I will say the Fairy Chimney Inn was lovely. It is one of the ‘Cave Hotels’.  I didn’t take a picture of my room, I should have so your just going to have to believe me that the rooms were great. A lot more comfortable than I thought they would be on hearing the word ‘cave’.

Goreme is a strange place with the ‘Fairy Chimneys’ jutting up everywhere. Still it does make for an amazing sight. There is so much that you can do in there area if you have the time or want to run around. I took the middle ground and picked out a few things.

I started with the Open-Air Museum spending about 3 hours wandering around the churches and chapels inside the caves. For once the Audio Tours where reasonably priced so I decided to give it a whirl. In other places I’ve bypassed it because they are generally horribly expensive but here they are only about 3TL. in the end it proved to be worth the little extra since there was certainly a lot of information included about everything that you see there.

On the way back I wandered through one of the valleys before ending up back in town. I had a late lunch before deciding to try a hamam. Now I’d never been to one before but I’ve certainly read about them.

Now I wouldn’t go as far as some who’s glowing dialogs go on about how they have ‘glowing skin’ for days, up to a week afterwards. It certainly was an experience though!

For those who haven’t been to one while I can not speak for the boys side obviously, girls the top half of your bathers, whether you are wearing a one piece or two piece will be coming off or down!

Just close your eyes and try and pretend that you are in a private room getting a bath and massage. Not lying on a raised marble platform in a circular room with a whole heap of other people you do not know ringing around the outside.

Do pick your hamam though as there are differences between them and some people I have spoken to have been very disappointed between what they thought they were going to experience and what actually happened.

Mine started out with a face mask then going into a Jacuzzi to get all sweaty. Sounds lovely doesn’t it?  Next up was a shower to wash off the face mask and sweat. Next up I was herded over to the raised platform, the towel ripped away and there I was lying on that bench trying to pretend I was the only one in the room.

They threw pails of cool water over me then my skin got scrubbed to within an inch of its life. I was surprised that I had any skin left and I do not even what to think about the colour of the skin and dirt and grime that was being scrapped off.

After that there was a second rinsing and then the nice bit. She came back with a bucket and a pillowcase then proceeded to use the pillowcase to dump bubbles all over me. Then the massage started. Sigh. It was a good massage.

When it was all done it was time for another quick shower then a soak in the pool.

It was worth every cent. I loved it and certainly recommend it.

For once my first choice in accommodation had a room within the expected price range so that was kind of nice. Still even though it had been a short travel day with the late start and all it was well after 1700hrs before I was installed in my room.

I found a room at a restored ottoman house, Sukrubey Konagi with a lovely little room at the front overlooking the small square and with a view up to the Pontic Tombs.

I looked further up the cliff face and saw the old citadel and decided that I might give that a miss, it looked like way to much hard work to get up there without a car. Still a closer look at the tombs was in order for the next day.

The town is lovely with bridges spanning the river and the imposing cliff’s almost surrounding the town. The Pontic Tombs set into the cliff face certainly look impressive.

First up the next morning, after breakfast with my eyes flicking up to the rather imposing tombs I picked my way up to have a closer look. Now if your on a tight budget I’d say hold on to your 3TL and just gaze at them from the town below. You’ll see exactly the same thing.

They are impressive to see but there is no added benefit from paying to get in other than getting closer to the tombs. You only stand in front of them since they are gated off from the public. A preservation and a safety thing I would expect.

After the tombs I decided that missing the Citadel was a good idea, it might have been a good view but I had a feeling it would be as boring up close as the tombs were to get closer to. The clouds were starting to close over as well and I figured if the stones were as smooth as the ones up to the Pontic tombs, well add a little water and you’d be getting down a whole heap faster.

I went in search of the bus office after I was finished at the tombs, the tombs honestly didn’t take long and there is a whole area roped off that they are working on.

I found the Metro bus Office and secured my next ticket to Kayseri. The strange thing here seems to be even if the company you are traveling with (metro is all over the country) goes between two places they will not sell you a ticket until you get to the point of departure. So as a result I couldn’t get the second ticket to follow on to Goreme.

That meant I couldn’t book accommodation which I prefer when I’m arriving late. Besides Goreme is a big tourist drawcard which means at this time of year as I’d found out in other places I might have to hunt for accommodation. I do not mind that so much during the day but I do not really like doing that late at night. Oh well, it’s not the first time and I’m sure it will not be the last.

As it turned out I ran into the French boys again here in Amasya and the funny thing was they were also staying in the same accommodation. We all had a laugh about that when we saw each other. It really does point out to you that we are all going to the same places. Even if some of those places are not big massive tourist draw cards.

The French boys confirmed what I had suspected with the citadel. There isn’t much to see.  Yes it’s a good view but they went through all that effort to get there.  Spent a couple of minutes looking around then walked down again.

Finally the wind picked up, thunder rolled across the sky and lightning flashed. It had finally started to rain. I sat in my room gazing up at the cliffs and the tombs listening and watching natures very own display.

The minibuses departed about a kilometer down the road from where I was staying but at that hour it wasn’t too warm. The exercise was probably good for me too since I knew I’d be spending the yet more time on busses.

A minibus came by shortly after I rocked up and dropped me at the otogar (bus station) where I promptly secured my first bus ticket. Can not rightly remember the name of the town, Tirkell or something like that. Didn’t really matter I guess it was just a place where I would be getting off that mini bus and onto another mini bus.

I left my bas in the office of the company that I was traveling with and went off to find a coffee. You know it’s strange that in a country that is noted for coffee. At least when I think of Turkey ‘Turkish Coffee’ springs into my mind. Well I just find it strange that they are useless at making coffee!  I’ve had some terrible coffee in various places around the world and I have to say that Turkey is right up there with them.

Finally I clambered up into the mini bus claiming the front row seat on the left, since I knew that would have the better view for the day. At this stage there was only a couple of other people on the bus all men who moved down the back.

Still by the time we were actually heading put of town the mini bus was nearly full since they stop every time so one waves them down. So technically I could have waited until I got to the place where I’d caught the mini bus to the otogar but this way I knew I’d get a seat.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we finally saw the last of Inebolu. The Germans had not made the morning bus.

Todays bus was certainly more comfortable than the day before, probably curtesy of the fact that the bus was no where near as full. There were still a handful of seats left when we stopped in the next town. All the people getting on were male. There were three tattooed and death skull bandana wearing scruffy looking males and one tall, clean cut guy who looked to be either military or a cop.

It was funny there were just enough seats for all four of them. One of those seats was next to me. He, the tall clean guy, stepped onto the bus obviously counted the seats. Then looked at the tattooed guys, back to me and promptly took the seat next to me.

I found the whole thing terribly amusing although refrained from laughing out loud.

Finally rocked into Turkell where my erstwhile defender without saying a word helped me into the office with my bag.

I didn’t have long to wait to catch my next bus and getting the ticket was easy since the guy behind the desk seemed to know exactly where I was going. He just smiled and produced a ticket for me for the next bus to Sinop.

The next bus, the last one for the day, was a little different from the others. Mostly I been one of the few women, accompanied or otherwise, on the mini buses. Unless they are with there husbands the women inevitably sit up the front and the men tend to take the back.

This time round most of the bus was packed with women with only a handful of men. The men, instead of just piling into the bus waited until the bus driver told them where to sit. All the women were packed up the front and all the men were at the back.

I spent the time gazing out the window at the countryside as we went past. It was a pleasant drive to say the least and certainly much more comfortable than the day before.

Finally the road trip was at an end. I arrived in Sinop.

Sinop is as comfortable port side town to spend a day or so in as any although because it’s popular with the local tourists once again I went to about five places before I found a room for the next couple of night.

There was no particular reason to stay two nights except I just didn’t want to pack ad get back on another bus straight away in the morning. There are a handful of bars with live music in the evenings which was fun and a nice hat outside that is good for a stroll along in the evenings as well. Nice enough restaurants as well.

I chatted with another traveller, British guy who is doing that really mad ‘I’m riding my bike from Europe to China’ thing, on my final night in town so spent way more time drinking at the bar than I intended to. But hey. I am on holidays and I knew I only had about 5 hours or so of bus time in the morning with regular busses departing all day. So I just shrugged an had another beer.

At least I only had to get on a bus in the morning. James was planning to get on his bike and ride. As I said. Insane!

Getting to the PTT building (the post office) wasn’t that hard. It was only about a 5 minute walk from my hotel and let’s face it 1030hrs is a very reasonable time as well.

I walked down to check the PTT building out, again, I’d already checked the area out twice the day before!  Still I wandered down to make sure there were no issues, like, oh I don’t know a major traffic accident diverting all traffic who knows where including my bus.

Ok I admit it I perhaps am a little OCD about being on time to catch my transport to and from places! 

Still having checked out the post office and not finding any issues I backtracked to a little cafe where I not only had line of sight to the post office but they served coffee as well.

It might have only been a 5 minute walk to the post office from my hotel but I was still early enough to get a coffee, or two.

Finally I wandered down to the post office. One other couple, Germans, with there packs showed up and a handful of locals reassuring me that I was in the right spot.

Shorty after the locals showed up the bus came. The Germans were, well Germans. They pushed and shoved and got themselves onto the bus well before me. Not that all the rudeness did them much good. They were still standing when I climbed up the stairs onto the bus.

Of course there was an issue there since more people had to get on including the bus driver but they refused to move effectively blocking the entry to anyone else. Including the driver which isn’t terribly smart when you think of it.

I could see what they were thinking. If they stayed at the front one of them could at least get a seat on the stair.

Finally the driver started yelling and waving his hands around. I may not speak Turkish but it didn’t take a brain surgeon to work out he was yelling at them to move down the isle.

Instead they decided to try force there way off the bus which of course meant we all had to get back off the bus so they could. Finally those of us without seats were back off the bus. Again.

A couple of locals pushed passed, the Germans hung back. I must confess I did throw a look in there direction as I walked up the steps of the bus and total utter contempt was the primary feeling behind it.

I will say if you’re the type of person who likes package tourism, where everything is orgainised, clean and you get your own seat on the bus every single time without fail. That is fine. But for christ sake can you do us all a favour and stay on the package tours?

Ok so I did not have a seat but while this bus wasn’t the best bus I’ve been on it was so far from the worst that it’s not funny. Turkish local busses are remarkably good, if somewhat more crowded than those on the regular routes.

I ended up about midway down the isle of the bus. Now the isle isn’t that wide but I’m not that big so that was ok it stopped me from stumbling and falling over as the bus wound it’s way around the roads towards Cide.

The Germans were happy crowding on last and gaining that ‘prized’ front position so one of them could sit on the step.

The trip was scenic, I will give the Lonely Planet author that and even with the local kid throwing up left, right and centre I enjoyed the bus trip. The local kids might all get sick on the busses but the bus drivers assistant is remarkably prepared with a whole heap of plastic sick bags that the other passengers pass up ad down the bus to whoever needs them.

I finally got to sit down, at first on my pack which was in the isle at the back of the bus then on a seat about 30 minutes out of Cide.  I will say the seat was unexpected and nice. We had stopped at a town where a whole heap of people piled out of the bus, so of course I had to get out so they could get out. That also meant my pack was sitting on the pavement as well. Obviously I wasn’t about to get back on the bus while my pack was sitting on the side walk.

That meant all the people getting on at this stop were claiming the seats. I got on the bus last after my bag was shoved into the baggage hold figuring I’d be standing again. As it turned out, to my amazement a local couple at the back of the bus had saved me a seat. As a result the last part of that very first bus tip passed in relative comfort. I had a seat which meant I could gaze out the windows at the scenery to my hearts content without worrying about falling on my ass in the isle or passing sick bags to little kids who are throwing up or apologizing to people for nearly ending up in their laps.

Finally the bus pulled into Cide. This time I could pay for my ticket to Inebolu, the final leg for the day. Unfortunately the Germans were going on to Inebolu and were going to be on the same bus as well. That pair were the type of travelers that give the rest of us a bad name.

I had an hour or so to kill so after dumping my bag in the back of the bus I headed out to find somewhere to get a drink and some food since it was well after lunch time by this stage.

I checked out a few places but in the end chose a place where I could keep an eye on the bus um, and not so surprisingly my bag. I could see the Germans walking around checking out the various places. They at first walked passed the place I had ended up. I breathed a sigh of relief at that point.

Unfortunately they came back. Now I tried to be nice, I seriously did. They were trying to order a pizza in broken English. I could see that the poor guy had no idea what they were saying so I tried to hand them the menu. It was in both English (sort of) and Turkish. I have no problems pointing to what I want in a menu but obviously they do.

Now I got my meal without an issue. They got a cup of tea which the poor little guy brought out to them. I watched them argue over the cup of tea and once more tried to offer them a menu which they once more refused.

I shrugged and ate my chicken kebab and watched the time tick by wondering when the Germans were going to realize that the guy had no idea what they wanted, that’s why he finally brought them the tea, and their pizza wasn’t going to come.

With 15 minutes to spare the Germans finally realized there food wasn’t coming. There was much arm waving, gesturing and point between watches and the bus station, I confess I knew exactly what they were trying to convey and what they wanted but I was fed up, unless they bent enough to ask for help I wasn’t about to offer it. The little guy just looked at them. They finally grabbed the menu and pointed to what they wanted.

The little guy smiled, he understood. Now I ask you is that so hard?

I sat there with my guide book practicing how to say ‘thank you’ in Turkish, I so did not want to be confused with the Germans, before heading in to pay my bill. The little guy smiled, corrected my pronunciation and waved me on my way. The Germans still didn’t have their pizza.

I wander over to the bus and climbed on, when I say bus one should think van, picked my seat. Now I sat on the right since there were single seats by themselves. If there are two of you or you just do not care then sit on the left since the better view is on that side of the bus.

Now there were seat numbers on the tickets but as I soon discovered there were no numbers on the seats in the bus. Personally I just took my lead from the locals who got on and sat in a seat that wasn’t claimed.

My nemesis on this trip were once more the last to climb onto the van. They looked at the young boy sitting in the front couple of seats and started in on him.  Declaring in ‘English’ that he was in their seats. Pointing from their tickets to the seats. The boy finally got up and moved further down the van.

Once more contempt might have been on the top of my mind when I looked at them. The van wasn’t exactly full there were other seats that they could have sat together.

The leg between Cide and Inebolu was lovely and somewhat more comfortable than the first leg curtesy of the seat.  The van wove through the hills alternating between glimpses of villages, hills, seclude little coves and beaches.

Ok so I agree with the LP Author, it is lovely despite all the hassles of the day I got off the bus late in the day at Inebolu glad that I done the trip although still aware I had another day to go.

I got off the van and saw the Germans waving and gesturing trying to work out when the van/bus left for the next leg. I admit it I was mean. I decided there was no point in me offering to help. Besides I so did not want them on the same bus as me in the morning.

Instead I checked my directions with someone else, shouldered my pack and headed down the road hoping not to see the Germans again.

I ended up at the Yakamoz Tatil Koyu.  For once there prices were exactly what is quoted in the LP. That is amazing in itself since prices seem to go sky high almost overnight when an establishment ends up in the guide book.  It was worth the walk, ok so there was still that horrible early wake up call but the room was fantastic and I had a great view looking out into the Black Sea.

Some points of the day may have been frustrating but I’m still glad I did it.

I decided that I’d spend the two nights in town, putting me out of sync with the other six and just hope not as many travelers showed up in town the next day.

Finding accommodation was the first problem. This pretty little seaside town is a popular place for locals to holiday and being summer it’s booming. There were no hostels that I know of in town left me looking for a cheap hotel room. The first place was full. The second had a room but at a highly inflated price so I remembered the street it was on, just in case and walked off to check on another.

Thankfully the town, at least the part I was walking around in with my pack was rather flat. I might have settled for the second place otherwise regardless of the price.

The third place was full as well but thankfully the fourth not only had a room but it was around the price I was looking for. The room was a broom closet but it did have it’s own bathroom and since I was the only one in it the size wasn’t really a problem.

The place is small with not much really going on but the seafood is good and reasonably priced if you shop around. I kept bumping into the French boys from my previous pension all afternoon. We even ended up on the piers of different restaurants right next to each other which made us all laugh when we spotted each other.

The awful early morning wailing woke me up again. It seems the local dogs share my view point since they started whining then howling at the noise. Unfortunately the dogs seemed to be right across from my bedroom window and being on the third floor didn’t seem to help any. More noise at an obscene time in the morning. Sigh. Thankfully I had a second pillow.

Breakfast was the usual Turkish fare but this time only tea was on offer and included with the room. The no coffee thing didn’t worry me that much since I had spied a coffee shop, an honest to god coffee shop, around the corner from my hotel. I’d decided as soon as I saw it that I was going to end up there today at some point. So that point ended up being approximately straight after breakfast…  Well what does one expect?  It’s not like ai had any other plans for the day other than to just hang around. I mean Amasra is pretty but there is not a heck of a lot to see here. That and well, those who know me know exactly what I am like in the morning if I do not get my coffee at some point.

After my coffee I wandered off to find where I needed to be the next day for my onwards transport. Unfortunately the local transport to the smaller towns does not run from a central location. They seem to be individual companies and the minibuses leave from out side there office. Making it somewhat problematic if you do not know where the office is.

Fortunately they seem to be all along the same street. At least in Amasra they are. Once you find the street your set. The locals are helpful they all seem to know what I am looking for and just keep pointing me down the road. They kept saying

‘PTT…’ and pointing. Honestly the way they said it, it sounded like they all had developed a speech impediment. Then finally I saw the sign. PTT, it turned out to be the post office. I sighed and wandered off into a couple of the minibus offices until I found someone who spoke English well enough for me to understand the info I needed.

As it turns out all the people who had directed me to the post office had been absolutely correct. The bus I wanted apparently stopped outside the post office at 1030hrs in the morning.

With that info confirmed from a couple of different sources I headed off and wandered around the streets and through the tourist shops. I looked but I certainly didn’t buy. Have you ever noticed that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, the tourist shops sell for the most part exactly the same sort of shit?

I ended up at one of the beach side places in the late afternoon with a cold beer looking out into the Black Sea and watching the sunset.

Tomorrow would be the start of the ‘road trip’.

I groaned then pulled the pillow over my head to muffle the wailing until the noise stopped.

Later on at a much more decent hour I had that typical Turkish breakfast. It’s the same every morning more or less. Coffee or tea, bread, a hardboiled egg, cucumber, tomato, olives, cheese and sometimes a slice of heavily processed meat.

This place only liked to give you one cup of tea or coffee but I found if I smiled and held up my cup beseechingly they would grudgingly pour me a second cup. Muttering not so under there breath about ‘how many guests they had’.

It’s really not that hard to earn a good reputation in the backpacker market but telling people that they can only have one cup of tea or coffee in the morning isn’t a good way to get a good reputation. It left people muttering to each other as they left ‘wow, they’re stingy aren’t they’.

Let’s face it the tea is made from tea bags and the coffee is instant so it’s not that difficult or expensive.

I had some ‘admin’ type stuff to sort out first up which surprisingly took up the morning without even having the satisfaction of having the feeling of accomplishing anything. I still had ‘stuff’ to do but decided to have a break and go out to see the ottoman house.

Now there were quite a few in the town but from talking to others unless you really had a thing for walking through houses one of them was enough. So I wandered out of the pension down to the streets below staring at my town map trying to make sense of it.

Safranbulo has these small winding little cobbled streets that all seem to run into each other, sometimes more than once. I stopped at a small little coffee place in one of the little winding streets surrounded by stores trying to sell everything from Lukom (Turkish delight) to clothing to well everything and anything!

Finally I found my way to the Ottoman house that I was looking for, paid my entrance fee and went for a look. People were right. You do not really need to see inside more than one and that one did not take that long!

Still it was interesting and the dummies they had to ‘set the scene’ made me laugh a couple of times!

Check out the scowl on the face of the female playing the instrument!  That was the Harem, the women’s quarters.

To be fair there was also a men’s quarters as well, that scene was meant to be the wedding scene. All the men together eating a meal and the women in a separate room. Each to his own I guess!

It didn’t take long about 30 minutes or so and I stretched that out by taking my time and reading the helpful little postcards informing me what each room was.

After that I just wandered around the street until I stumbled onto a TV set right smack in the middle of market. I came to a halt frowning at the basket loads of corn and other produce, people all in traditional clothing etc then the flood lights in the middle of the day and camera crews. At that point I backed up and went elsewhere.

Arranging transport for the next day turned out to be easy since there were enough of us heading to the same town next that the owners of the pension offered to drive us in there car. For a fee of course. It was the same as what we would have paid by public transport but it would certainly make the next day easier.

Latter in the day I wandered up to the lookout. There was a charge for that to apparently but since there was no one there to collect it I just stood up there looking at the sun setting over the town before heading down.

Unlike Istanbul which teamed with life and music utill the early hours of the morning, Safranbulo is a small sleepy little place that starts to close down early.

Still that makes catching up with sleep easier, except for the rather rude ‘wakeup call’.  Oh well. That’s travel!

The hostel I’m in has a better name than the hostel itself, Chambers of the Boheme, still it’s in a fantastic area. I’ll take the walk over the bridge during the day to see the ‘sights’ given that here seems to be most of the restaurants of all price groups making the night an easier prospect.

This place has a bathroom that must have had another life as a broom closet, seriously. It’s that small. One opens the door to be confronted by the screen door. You can not so much as take a step until you open it. Once inside the shower one closes the outer door first. You hang your things up, at least what you’ve brought with you which if your smart isn’t much! 

You then slide the glass shower door shut. It only just has clearance from the door handle of the outer door for you to shut it. Still I have to give it brownie points. It has really good hot water and is so far removed from the worst showers I’ve ever had the misfortune to use it’s not funny!

Today, once I got myself moving, I went to the Topkapi Palace. The place is well worth the visit. Or at least I think so even if it is a little bit on the expensive side to get in.

You’ll want to get there early if you are planning to head this way and see the Palace. The cue, even though it was barely an hour after opening time was horrendous. It took nearly an hour just to buy my ticket to gain entrance.  I couldn’t even blame the ‘tour groups’ at this point since that type would have barely, if at all seen the outside of there hotel by that point. People were getting cranky at the time it was taking. Let’s face it. It’s a somewhat simple procedure. I give you cash. You give me change and a ticket. How hard is that?

Once inside it’s relatively easy. If you are planning to go to the Harem at this point I’d duck across and get the ticket since there wasn’t a cue at all when I finally got in. There certainly was by the time I got out the other side. However after securing your ticket for the Harem I’d then duck across to the Treasury to see that before the tour groups arrive. The cue to get into it was non existent when I first got there but an hour after that the cues outside by comparison paled in insignificance.

Between the helpful little plaques dotted everywhere and my guide book explanations I managed to spend the better part of 3 hours or so wandering around inside. That doesn’t include the time spent in the cues to obtain tickets I might add!

My imagination was running riot!

Now, here I am as I said. The day is at an end and the night is just beginning to kick off. Music, people a veritable riot as I said.

I think I like Istanbul.