So how am I goıng ?
I've just dropped ın to an ınternet cafe to let you all know what I've been doıng. I'm puttıng up a web page at http://www.geocities.com/ukelesh/ wıth photos. Its goıng to be rough as guts but oh well
From leaving Sydney airport to arriving at Latifa Hala’s took a mere 24 hours. I realized how battery hens feel after spending most of a day in a cramped little space and getting fed intermittently. I also got a terrible sinus headache as we were coming in to land in Adana. Finally they failed to transfer our luggage from Istanbul to Adana.
We were picked up by my cousin Levent. I haven’t seen him in 14 years, but he speaks fluent English so it is very easy to talk to him. We went to the home of one of my aunts and I met Latifa, Burhan, Yasimin and Selemi. I’ll point them out in the photos. The day was spent being sleepy and listening to lots of Turkish and understanding the occasional word. Also I had a chat, in so far as is possible with Latifa and Yasimin
I also got fed a wonderful lunch and dinner!
There is a saying which Burhan Amca told me during dinner. Roughly translated it is “the night is long”. So they are essentially saying eat more so you don’t starve during the night.
The serious left brain workout continues as I am surrounded by lots of Turkish. Yasimin took me for a walk around the block and showed me the neighbourhood. Levent came around with his brother Bulent, and we went out to buy some long pants and sandals. I also wanted to find some thongs but they didn’t have any that my feet could actually fit into.
From there we went into town and went to the central mosque in Adana. I thought it was rather impressive, but Levent described it as “nothing special”. We also saw the “tas kopru”, the oldest traffic carrying bridge in the world. There was a museum of Alexandrian relics too but it was closed unfortunately. Then I went to the barber for a haircut. Levent had to go to the doctors as he had just gotten the news that he was going to be a father. Incidentally today was also his birthday. As such I was temporarily bereft of an interpreter. Now this wasn’t the crappy kind of haircut I’m used to. He used an entire tray of different tools; I got my beard trimmed, a shave with a cutthroat razor, my hair washed and cologne. I thought that he did a pretty damn good job. We then went to Ataturk park for a bit before meeting up with Levent and his wife Seda. We went for drinks. Turkish beer comes in 500mL bottles by the way. After that we went for dinner. The food was great, but the waiters couldn’t take pictures to save their life.
We had an easy going morning which included the obligatory breakfast. When Levent came we said our farewells and started heading for my father’s village. To do this we had to go through the Toros mountains. Now these are real mountains not the pitiful things that we have in Australia. We stopped off at a natural spring, which was good. Its called “sugar water” in Turkish. We then went to Bor and I saw my dad’s high school. We bought some bus tickets for going to Ankara tomorrow. From there we drove up the village road. We passed through one village and eventually crested a hill from where you could see Gokbez. Before we went there however we had to go to Posthalli to pick up Hafiza Hala. Now I think the view as you come in to the posthalli valley is very picturesque, so I took a picture. We then doubled back to Gokbez and went to Zekia hala’s house where we were warmly welcomed. We had dinner but I was feeling dead tired so I went to bed early.
The morning started well as I managed to avoid being crushed by the inch thick woolen blanket. I also took some pictures of the village. It is a mixture of old and new. Most of the houses are stone and mud with earthen roofs. Satellite dishes jut out from those same roofs and an economic light globe sits above the door. Also I saw a donkey riding farmer talking on a mobile phone.
We ate a now standard huge and diverse breakfast. Ramazan Amca gave me another saying that is the companion of Burhan’s. It goes “the day is long”. Later we went down to the fields and orchards. I got what felt like the speech from monty pythons holy grail. “One day lad, this’ll all be yours”. So yeah, apparently I’m set to inherit a little chunk of central Anatolian farmland. Dam. That’s what I’m going to build there!
We had barbeque village style and Saw a Roman aqueduct on the way to the Bor bus station.
well I'll let you guys know some more later
From leaving Sydney airport to arriving at Latifa Hala’s took a mere 24 hours. I realized how battery hens feel after spending most of a day in a cramped little space and getting fed intermittently. I also got a terrible sinus headache as we were coming in to land in Adana. Finally they failed to transfer our luggage from Istanbul to Adana.
We were picked up by my cousin Levent. I haven’t seen him in 14 years, but he speaks fluent English so it is very easy to talk to him. We went to the home of one of my aunts and I met Latifa, Burhan, Yasimin and Selemi. I’ll point them out in the photos. The day was spent being sleepy and listening to lots of Turkish and understanding the occasional word. Also I had a chat, in so far as is possible with Latifa and Yasimin
I also got fed a wonderful lunch and dinner!
There is a saying which Burhan Amca told me during dinner. Roughly translated it is “the night is long”. So they are essentially saying eat more so you don’t starve during the night.
The serious left brain workout continues as I am surrounded by lots of Turkish. Yasimin took me for a walk around the block and showed me the neighbourhood. Levent came around with his brother Bulent, and we went out to buy some long pants and sandals. I also wanted to find some thongs but they didn’t have any that my feet could actually fit into.
From there we went into town and went to the central mosque in Adana. I thought it was rather impressive, but Levent described it as “nothing special”. We also saw the “tas kopru”, the oldest traffic carrying bridge in the world. There was a museum of Alexandrian relics too but it was closed unfortunately. Then I went to the barber for a haircut. Levent had to go to the doctors as he had just gotten the news that he was going to be a father. Incidentally today was also his birthday. As such I was temporarily bereft of an interpreter. Now this wasn’t the crappy kind of haircut I’m used to. He used an entire tray of different tools; I got my beard trimmed, a shave with a cutthroat razor, my hair washed and cologne. I thought that he did a pretty damn good job. We then went to Ataturk park for a bit before meeting up with Levent and his wife Seda. We went for drinks. Turkish beer comes in 500mL bottles by the way. After that we went for dinner. The food was great, but the waiters couldn’t take pictures to save their life.
We had an easy going morning which included the obligatory breakfast. When Levent came we said our farewells and started heading for my father’s village. To do this we had to go through the Toros mountains. Now these are real mountains not the pitiful things that we have in Australia. We stopped off at a natural spring, which was good. Its called “sugar water” in Turkish. We then went to Bor and I saw my dad’s high school. We bought some bus tickets for going to Ankara tomorrow. From there we drove up the village road. We passed through one village and eventually crested a hill from where you could see Gokbez. Before we went there however we had to go to Posthalli to pick up Hafiza Hala. Now I think the view as you come in to the posthalli valley is very picturesque, so I took a picture. We then doubled back to Gokbez and went to Zekia hala’s house where we were warmly welcomed. We had dinner but I was feeling dead tired so I went to bed early.
The morning started well as I managed to avoid being crushed by the inch thick woolen blanket. I also took some pictures of the village. It is a mixture of old and new. Most of the houses are stone and mud with earthen roofs. Satellite dishes jut out from those same roofs and an economic light globe sits above the door. Also I saw a donkey riding farmer talking on a mobile phone.
We ate a now standard huge and diverse breakfast. Ramazan Amca gave me another saying that is the companion of Burhan’s. It goes “the day is long”. Later we went down to the fields and orchards. I got what felt like the speech from monty pythons holy grail. “One day lad, this’ll all be yours”. So yeah, apparently I’m set to inherit a little chunk of central Anatolian farmland. Dam. That’s what I’m going to build there!
We had barbeque village style and Saw a Roman aqueduct on the way to the Bor bus station.
well I'll let you guys know some more later