cairo.

So we had a bit of wait in Cairo airport and decided we should spend our time seeing some pyramids. Because when in Rome...

We got our visas, cheap and easy, the man was helpful, all was looking good. Til we left the airport and the aim of the game changed from being helpful to the newbies to wanting to relieve us of alllll the money. Just all of it.

But apart from a good solid 4 hours of us being continually ripped off, we did get to see the pyramids. We even rode horses. And I even saw scavengy looking desert dogs feasting on the carcass of a dead horse lying in the sand.....Who says you need to go on safari?

mosques and tourists.

We had organised several places to sleep for our stay in Istanbul, but in the end it worked out better for us to find cheap accommodation in the heart of the old town. Which is why we arrived in the busiest and most touristy city I`ve yet been to in Turkey, carrying our massive backpacks, with no place to stay. But amazingly, we were hardly hassled at all and we found a relatively cheap hostel with a cafe within about 10 minutes. Because we are awesome.

Really the only reason to stay in the old town is its proximity to all of the sights one might like to visit, and that is what we were there for, since we only had 3 days.

We saw the Aya Sofya, a church that turned into a mosque that is now, in the interests of secularism, a museum. We saw the underground cistern that used to supply water to the magnificent palace, among other places. And, we saw that magnificent palace, Topkapi Palace, home to many Sultans over the years.

the Basilica Cistern.

one section of the enormous Aya Sofya.

Topkapi Palace...now just imagine the hordes of tourists are peacocks and well dressed royalty.

As well as being very touristy, I wanted to go shopping, so we spent about a day on that mission, which worked out quite well. We also met Sibel`s sister and stayed at her house, which is so far out from the centre of Istanbul that it is an hour from Bulgaria.

Apart from that we ate some seafood, played with some kittens and, on our last morning, had a quick look around both the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. But we quickly escaped before the little alleyways became packed with tourists.

Then, goodbye Istanbul for another year, we were on our way to Bangkok, via Cairo.

my pretend birthday

In Amasra. We've followed the Black Sea coast almost to Istanbul and we are stopping to have a look around the little town famous for it's seafood and salads (apparently). They do put a lot of effort into ensuring their salads are way more intricate than anywhere else in the country. See?

What else did we do in Amasra?....Not a lot. It was more of a restive town than anything else. We played chess on a giant chess board. And we swam a little, and slept a lot.

We did make a new friend though. A Turkish man who was very friendly and wanted to practice his English asked us to have tea with him, then another night he bought dinner for us and took us to his aunt`s house who gave us some fresh hazelnuts. But then on the last night it became a little odd. He wanted to have a celebration because we were leaving so we bought raki and cake and went to his friend`s house (who just happened to be one of the women whose pension we looked at when we arrived and decided against), which was awkward in itself, but then he made me pretend it was my birthday- seemingly for the benefit of his friend, and everybody sung Happy Birthday.....odd. Then the man and his friend started Turkish dancing around the living room and then we had to watch the woman`s home videos from a holiday she went on. It was definitely a surreal farewell from quiet Amasra.