Gone Walkabout

I had previously booked myself in for my Open Water Diving Course with Sabah Divers, but that wasn’t to start for another day, we filled the morning with loitering around the hotel (one soaking up the sun, the other blogging etc).  The afternoon however was a visit to one of the local Government run Zoo’s Lok Kawi.  We hadn’t yet see a Proboscis monkey.  The zoo had a 3pm feeding, which gave us an opportunity to get up close with them, feeding them sunflower seeds through the cage or watching them eat from behind a few large pieces of perspex.  Fascinating monkeys, the Male has a huge protrusion on his nose, puts mine to shame.  The female has a much more delicate nose.

The rest of the park had the usual animals, Tigers, Elephants (Pigmy), snakes, lizards, birds, and even a couple of Orangutans.  To entertain the kids there was an animal show, with an Orangutan who could paint, some very talented Macaws, and a competition between man and monkey to see who could skin a coconut first, congrats to the monkey.  After the animal show we did the loop taking in the bird aviary, the snake rooms, bringing us back to the entrance.  As we approached the aviary a European gentleman came tearing out of the place like he was being chased by a horde of crazed hornbills… Turns out he was, well not a horde, just a single bird, but a very enthusiastic one.  His warnings were somewhat hard to take seriously so we went to investigate ourselves, and sure enough this one crazy hornbill was on a mission.  It seemed he like bright colours (the gentleman was wearing a bright red shirt).  The hornbill escorted us along the boardwalk for a brief period before another group of people entering gained his attention, giving us a few brief moments to explore the rest of the aviary.  Upon on return to the entrance of the facility we found the same bird harassing a group of Japanese tourist, one of which was carrying a bright purple Ribeena bottle.  The hornbill was determined to have it, after a short struggle the hornbill came out on top knocking the bottle off the walkway and flying down to get his prize.

The snake pavilion was next on the tour, the standard green tree snakes, constrictors and monitor lizards appeared to be in residence, and another who had decided to take up a more unusual form of swimming involving lying upside down underwater without breathing or moving.  I’m no expert on animals but something didn’t quite seem right.  We alerted the authorities who said they would take a look at it.  We later met one of the workers at the service station who informed us the vet had been called and the snake was sick and was being “looked after”.  We finished the evening with a few beers on our balcony and some 2 minute noodles, good company, good beer and 2 minute noodles, looking out over the water from your balcony, life doesn’t get much better.

My first day of the diving course was the standard theory session, I was the only one in attendance, so the day progressed quite quickly finishing 3 hours ahead of time.  I was met in town for some grub and a couple of beers.  We had taken to using the public transport which was only 6 ringuet instead of 50 to get back to our abode, though probably a bit slower.  My first day of diving was to begin at 8:30 sharp the following morning, but before that I had to check into my new residence.  The last of our group headed home, and I was on my own again.

Unlike my previous attempt at doing this course the water in Borneo is a lot more forgiving of those without their sea legs.  The morning saw us just off the beach doing the basic skill requirements before doing a shallow dive along the reef around the edge of Sapi Island, the dive site being called Sapi Beach, we saw Porcupine fish, Cockatoo Wasp Fish, Lion Fish, mimic octopus and garden eels.  After a break for lunch we followed the same routine for the afternoon, completing most of the remaining skills and diving along the same reef though a different section of it.

My final day of diving we completed the skills before the first dive at the Hanging Garden, just off Gaya Island, I was able to add a few new animals to my list, with a huge puffer fish, lobsters and a sea horse.  We also saw a few Sea Cucumbers lumbering along the sea bed.  We had a brief stopover before heading back out for my final dive, on Clemen’s Reef, off Sapi Island.  The highlight was a school of fish which we manoeuvred into leaving them to swim around us with every direction a wall of fish.  I only had one day left of my return journey, if I had have had the time more diving would have been on the cards, but due to flight restrictions my day was spend lazing around relaxing, with a brief bit of wandering around town.  Kota Kinabalu is a great place to visit if you have diving plans or only a couple of days there, but by my last day I’d exhausted most of the tourist options.

Finally it was time to head home, and prepare myself for the annual Fishing/4wding trip to Fraser Island.

Our tour was coming to an end.  We had conquered the mountain, seen some crocs and pigmy elephants in the wild, survived a night with rats, enjoyed soe local hospitality, seen the orangutans, had scones with jam and cream overlooking the harbour, its been a hectic trip, but amazing.  The group has been fantastic, all of similar personalities, and interestes, there was none of the infighting I’ve experienced in other groups.

The last couple of days of the tour we did a quick run through of the Rainforest Center at Sepilok, before we headed on to our final destination, it was however a long 6-7hr drive in a local bus.  We were entertained with Aliens and Cowboys, and Captain America.  The destination was worth it though, we had a nice little place with an included restaurant, which had tallies of tiger, we hadn’t drunk much most of the trip, we did indulge a bit here.

The morning we woke to a nice sunny day, and we were headed out to the island for some snorkelling and for the ladies some tanning.  The snorkelling was fantastic, not quite as good as Sipedan (think thats how to spell it), but I still enjoyed it, puffer fish, angel fish, lots of nemo’s.  We had a couple of snorkells, with a lunch break in the middle, we were entertained by the antics of the local populous who decided to take the meals of a group of tourists who were out for a swim.

On our return to the hotel we picked up a few more drinks, and planned to spend the afternoon in/around the pool with a few cocktails.  Excluding the one incident where a trip resulted in a broken bottle and some skinned knees, the afternoon was fantastic.  A final dinner together and a good nights sleep.

Our final day saw the group go our separate ways, the couple from Melbourne heading out an Island resort, the two from adelaide heading back home, one of the English ladies heading back home.  Myself and another weren’t due to fly out for a few days so we checked in for a couple more nights.

Laters.

Today was the thing I had been looking forward to the most.  Orangutans in the wild. Sepilok has an Orangutan Rehabilitation Center which was setup by an American lady after she was given one at a very young age, and grew to realise that it shouldn’t be a pet but should be free in the wild.  There was a couple of possible locations where she was going to build the park, but due to locals and other reasons Sepilok was chosen.  Every day morning and evening there is a feeding, several Orangutans are provided with food, on a platform.  There are several platforms in the jungle getting further and further from the entrance, which are used to encourage the Orangutans to venture further and further into the wild.

We arrived just as the feeding was starting, and the viewing platform was packed with people, two Orangutans had come down, both mothers with babies.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but with the number of people around it was difficult to get good photos, or to get very close to them, but given the idea is to encourage them to go back into the wild, letting them interact with people too much isn’t going to help.  The babies are the funniest looking animals, Dome heads, wispy orange hair, and fat bellies, with very long arms.  The mothers just sat around eating, or occassionally playing with the babies.

Much to my delight most people thought this was as good as it got, and most started to filter away back to the gift shop and restaurant.  My patience was rewarded as once the Matriach decided she had eaten enough and took her leave, another couple of younger ones turned up.  One in particular grabbed banana’s in both feet and his mouth then proceded to go swinging along the ropes, and provided some good photos and a bit of entertainment, definitely looked like he was enjoying himself (I think its a him… will have to check photos).  He hung around for a while, before rejoining the other other still on the platform.

After another 10 mins, the local monkey population turned up hoping for some easy pickings.  Watching them sneak around the platform trying to get food when the Orangutans weren’t watching was hilarious.  At one point the monkey was hiding behind the center pole, the Orangutan would look around it one way, and the monkey would hide, the Orangutan would then check the other way, and the monkey would hide around the other side.  The number of monkeys increased with a couple of different species turning up for the scraps.  The usual roudiness ensued, with monkeys chasing each other all over the place, and arguing over the choicest bits.

That afternoon we headed to the war memorial which was at the start of the death march we had visited earlier.  I still can’t believe people can treat each other so badly.  Very touching, and made my sore legs seem insignificant compared to the hardships the Australian and British troupes had to endure.  Oh and yes my legs were still aching at this point, stairs and down slopes were still the bane of my existance.  From here we headed to a English Tea house which had been converted from a British Goverenors house.  It was nice to get some non-malaysian food…  Don’t get me wrong I love Malaysian food, but after a while you just want something that hasn’t been cooked in too much palm oil.  We had club sandwiches, and scones with jam and cream, and enjoyed a game of croquet, thankfully we had a young British Lass in our group who could provide the rules.

The night didn’t hold many plans, so we picked up some beers from a local market, and listened to music and played some cards till dinner which was at the BnB we were staying at.  One incident did occur that resulted in a burger doing an impression of a fly saucer, much to the dismay of its owner, and to the delight of the kittens who were prowling around our feet.

Tomorrow we were to head to the Rainforest Center, and then on to our final destination… Stay tuned.

Richard

To recap, climbed a big mountain, very tired… that night got alot worse.  Spent the night proving males can in fact do two things at once.  Apparently the fish/chicken at lunch disagreed with me.  The following morning was not the best, my legs were worse than they’ve ever been.  Thankfully I wasn’t the only one.  We all looked like the walking wounded that morning.  I could go on about the soreness of the legs, and will probably mention it a couple of times over the next few posts.

After a 4 hr bus ride we arrived at Mascot, where we would visit the eco camp for a night, and then a home stay the following night.  I was still reeling from the sleepless night and the climb, so skipped the river cruise, not my smartest move, but something that my body definitely needed.  The rest of the group did manage to see the pigmy elephants, very upset I missed it.  That night we went on a brief night walk searching for animals, we found a bunch of bugs, and spiders.  It was however good to stretch the legs.  We found a few millipedes, centipedes, spiders and modern day trilobyte looking bugs.  A few of of the other “tents” had a few rat issues, I somehow avoided all the rodents.  It did put a bit of fear into the other people in the group, and a few slept with one eye open. 

The morning I managed to keep a bit of food down, which was a novelty, not alot mind.  We had a brief talk about the rehabilitation of the area, and found it to be listed as the top rehabilitation scheme in Malaysia.  On our way back to the entrance to the park we stopped off at a local garden to pick up some veggies for our lunch time cooking class.  We split up into pairs for the cooking classes, and provideda first class meal for ourselves and the locals.  The early afternoon we visited some ancient burial sites, and got some history of a chinese “emperor” who came to Borneo and brought alot of medicines.  Quite a busy day, we next had a demonstation of local dancing and music, before we headed to our homestays.

Nobody knew what to expect for the homestay, I was hoping to almost be a fly on the wall, and just watch how the locals lived.  Myself and two others got a family with Grandma, Grandpa, Two Daughters, a son, and the grand kids, one 7, one 3, and one in the early teens.  We spent most of the evening entertaining the kids.  The was big living room, and we played ball, cycled around the room, and pretended to be superman.  The evening was enjoyable, if a little different.  We had a “traditional” meal for dinner, and a decent night sleep. 

The next day we were headed to the Orangutan park, so check back for updates.

Richard

Our first travel day was a late started not beginning till 1pm, giving us all an oppotunity to make those final purchases before we headed to the mountain.  We drove to a stop near the entrance to the park, where our passes were collected, given it was still pretty early in the day we went to the War Museu, honoring the the P.O.Ws who were involved in the Death Marches.  Towards the end of WWII, when the Japansese were very close to defeat the 2600 P.O.Ws being held by them consisting of Australians and British were ordered to be moved from there currently were to another location further west.  Only 6 prisoners actually survived the marches, all Australian.  The conditions were horrendous, next to no food, what they did get infested with worms.  They walked without any equipment, and often without shoes.  This left us in a bit of a sombre mood, but was something I didn’t know about.

We travelled a little was down the road to where we stayed for the evening in a lodge near the base of the mountain.  A few us were still jet lagged so the amount of sleep had by all wasn’t great, and wasn’t long.  Though with the exercise we were to be getting we didn’t fear a lack of sleep for the following night.  Early morning saw us meet our Mountain Guides.  Both were physically typical of those who spend there days climbing mountains.  The were both incredibly fit, despite their nicotine habbits.

The first item for the trip was to climb Mt Kinabalu, I must admit I went into this without much concern, and a bit cocky, I’d been to base camp how hard could it be.  Second only to day 2 of the Everest hike, this was the hardest thing I’ve done.  We started at 1800m, and climb to 3200 over 6km, so many stairs.  It was pretty much 6km of stairs, and almost all of them going up… up and up and up.  I have to say the two guys in the group were shown up by the ladies, both of us got accute altitude sickness once we made it to the lodge for the night.  The ladies were nice enough to tell us that guys are more susceptible to it that women.  By the following morning (2am) both of us were fine again, and we all somewhat grudgingly started the last 2.5km to the top of Kinabalu (another 800m up).  We left at about 3am, and arrived just as the sun was coming up, an amazing sight, the hard work was definitely worth it.  The only problem is that because its so popular, there was alot of people up the top all trying to get that perfect photo.  I would have liked to spend a bit more time up there and savour the achievement.  We took all the obligatory group photos, and a bunch of others, before we headed back down. 

The weather was cool for the most part though once we started walking we were all quickly shedding layers.  As we approached the 4km mark, thankfully while having a sheltered break, the heavens opened and we were hit by heavy rain for the last 2km.  We luckily got amazing weather for the summiting but on our way back we had rain, with the occassional break, but to infrequent, and not long enough.

The terrain of the summit was initially made of stairs through a forested area.  After less than a km this gave way to a barren rocky section which would eventually lead us to the summit.  With the vegetation gone the wind picked up which made the rope assisted sections just that little bit more interesting. After the rope section we snaked our way up the hill, stopping regularaly to add extra layers, or just to catch our breath.The return journey was thankfully in the daylight, and we no longer needed to rely on “dickhead” lights.  Some of the steep section which we weren’t looking forward to having only seen brief sections by torchlight, turned out to be easier than we had suspected.  Even just after this 2.5km back down we were all exhausted and not looking forward to the last 6km.  Much to Pippen’s delight second breakfast was served as a buffet by the time we returned.

The hardest part of this trip was that we came all the way back down on the same day as we summited.  6km of going down stairs takes an amazing amount of energy.  There were 7 rest stops, though we only stopped at a few, we were trying to get back down in time for 2pm so we could go to the “Hot Springs”, these turned out to not be the type you normally associate with the name but rather big baths, that take about an hour to fill.  We were all completely drained by the time we made it back to the camp entrance.  After a buffet lunch we headed to the hotel for a hot shower and a nap before dinner.

Our Mountain Guides were fantastic, both funny and somewhat cheeky, but very tolerant of our speed and need for breaks.

Tomorrow we head into the jungle, staying in a long tent, with a night jungle walk… So much walking…

More soon

Richard

After an amazing two years in London, I’m finally heading home, its been full of ups and downs, I’ve met some amazing people, seen some amazing things.  To all those people I’m leaving behind, I’m going to miss you all, and you know that if you are ever in my home town (wherever that may be) you are more than welcome to come stay with me.

I somehow managed to fit my entire life into two cardboard boxes, and a couple of backpacks.  Doesn’t amount to much over two years, but the experiences far outweight the trinkets I could have bought. 

On my trip home I’m travelling through Borneo.  The flight to get here was a nice simple affair, no delays, no disgruntled hostess’.  I was sitting behind a couple with their young baby who was quite entertaining, and a big fan of poking her tongue out and of peek-a-boo, and for the most part amazingly quiet.  Some good movie options on the plane though after a few Rum and Cokes and a sleeping tablet I managed to actually sleep for what was the first time in a very long time on a plane.  Consequently y carefully laid plans of watching 4 movies and a rock climbing video didn’t happen.

My first night in Borneo was an interesting one.  I had booked a room the morning before in a hostel a little out of town, it cost me a grand total of £3, and to be honest I got what I paid for.  The place was comfortable enough, though given its been a very long time since I’ve been in any sort of humidity I didn’t sleep much.  I was in a 6 bed dorm with one other older gentlemen, who changed beds on serveral occassions during the night, thankfully he never tried to get into mine.  After very few hours sleep I headed to the hotel which was to be the meeting place for the Intrepid Tour.  Don’t trust pre-cached google maps, I circled around and around a small section of town looking for the hotel only to find it two streets across.  Quiet and simple, running water, and enough power points to charge all my devices…

Didn’t get up to much that afternoon, met up with the other people who are to be my companions for the next 10 days, and made a few purchases for the climb in a couple of days.  We had a good group dinner, I’m teamed with 4 aussies, and 2 poms.  The Aussies from Melbourne and Adelaide.  Another post to come tomorrow.

Laters.

Bodrum was our final stop in Turkey, a coastal town and the gateway to the Greek islands for us.  There wasn’t alot of driving to get us there, more a casual stroll.

The preparations for tourist season were in full swing, the main road near town was being redone and numerous hotels where doing cleaning and restoration works.  We didn’t have anything booked there were plenty of options, the first couple we checked weren’t up to standard, the third though was very comfortable, with an attached restaurant.  While mum ventured out to check the available shopping options dad and I had a rest.

There wasn’t alot done in Bodrum, not alot of tourist things, a large fort was the main item, it had alot of salvaged artifacts from the shipwrecks in the surrounding waters including a gold scarab owned by Nefertiti.  We sampled some fantastic meals from the restaurants near the water.  I’m definitely going to miss the food.

The second night we had a different hotel which we had pre booked, very nice indeed, large pool and most importantly a wall between me and the snoring.

Fairly early the last day we headed off to the boat for our brief stop in Kos.  Kos was a stepping stone for us to Santorini.  Hippocrates was the grand daddy of modern medicine, and called Kos home, and is the main tourist attraction other than it simply being a Greek Island.  Our stay in Kos was probably too short, but enjoyable none the less.  Late in the evening we got on what we thought was going to be a small ferry to take us to Santorini, and given the weather had become extremely windy mum and I weren’t looking forward to it.  To our surprise the ferry was huge, and a couple of minutes before it arrived the waiting area was flooded with people, trucks etc all vying for pole position.  Thankfully given the size of the boat the journey was fine, and we finally disembarked in Santorini at 2:30am, a driver was there to collect us and deposit us at the hotel.

The hotel was gorgeous, and the people amazing, I can definitely recommend them to anyone going there.  The name was Hotel Renos, we weren’t to know the view we had till the following morning, but it was just as you see in all the pictures of the Greek Islands, steep cliffs, covered in white plastered buildings going down to green and blue water.  Stunning.  The family running the hotel were fantastic, the included breakfasts were all home cooked meals, no menu, but every one we had was amazing.  We only had a couple of days here, the first we did a bit of driving around the island, the second I hired an atv and went off exploring.  I found an ancient city atop one of the higher points on the island.  Tne city Thira was inhabited by several cultures over history, and each has left its mark.  The Greek Islands are spectacular, and while the “tourist sights” are nice, it would be a great place to relax and party, but I would definitely recommend tourist season, while alot of places were open, there were many more which weren’t.

In the late evening we headed to Athens and the final part of my trip, Mum and Dad still had a few days in Singapore on their way home.  Athens today is like most modern cities, with the exception of a hill in the middle of town cover in a bunch of old rocks.  Everyone knows about the Acropolis, it is a truly amazing sight, its huge.  I’m told that modern construction techniques can’t replicate its construction, and it probably doesn’t help that the British Museum still has a huge collection of artefacts taken from the sight.  I can’t help but feel that its time they were returned to the people of Athens.  They have built an amazing museum over the top of some of ancient ruins which surrounded the base of the Acropolis hill.  The floors are of glass and you can watch as the excavation continues below.  The entire top floor of the museum is a full size layout of the Acropolis which you can see through the window.  Where possible re-creations of the Acropolis Artefacts have been made from plaster, though some were destroyed in wars, and there is no record of what whey looked like.  We saw a few other sites in Athens but they were all overshadowed by the Acropolis.  They are apparently still building their metro, but due to many finds of roman ruins they keep having to stop construction or change the directions.

Our tour then finally came to an end, an amazing experience, one I would recommend to anyone.  There is an amazing amount of history in such a small part of the world, it would take a lifetime to just scratch the surface, let alone know everything there is to know.

After leaving Istanbul in a hire car (not as bad as you might think the city is chaos from Monday to Saturday, conveniently we left on a Sunday).  We headed in the direction of Gallipoli, the drive took us through some desolate feeling areas and areas which had alot of half finished construction.  We stopped briefly for lunch and after a minor road incident (hit a curb, busted the tire) made it to Gallipoli, while dad and I changed the tire mum went and looked for a hotel.  There seemed slim pickings in the town itself targeted at backpackers making a very quick stop for ANZAC day.

We eventually ended up in the town of Eceabat a bit further down the peninsula.  The first hotel we found was the Grand Hotel, looked great from the outside and only cost 165tl for a triple room, roughly £25 pppn, cheaper than hostels I’ve stayed in.  Here we met Hasan, who was to become our guide for Gallipoli.  He also arranged for a new tire for the car.  We decided to spend a couple of nights here.  The Gallipoli wasn’t till the following afternoon, the morning was spent wandering around town.

Hasan has quite a passion for the events of Gallipoli and has a few ideas of his own about why the Aussies landed where they did.  He is writing a book about his ideas.  He was a fantastic guide, I’m not going to go through the history here, but will mention a couple of names that should not be forgotten, names Hasan referred to as true heros, Percy Black and Harry Murray, the list was alot bigger but those he emphasized.  If you ever want to do a tour through here track down Hasan, definitely worth it.

The next day our target was Bergama via the ancient city of Troy (Troia).  I was expecting more from these ruins. Having said that the only impression I had previously was what Hollywood had provided.  The initial excavations of the site started in the late 1800′s.  Excavations are still going on today funded by the Austrians.  We didn’t have a guide for Troy and may have missed a bit, the site itself was smaller than I expected.  We were to head to Ephesus in a couple of days, so my ruins fix would be met then.  We did have the mandatory photo with the horse.

After a few more hours we made it to Bergama, there were a few ruins to be seen here which we headed to in the morning.  By this time dad had the flu, and it was heading my way.  So far mum has escaped it.  A simple meal and early bed was the order of the evening.  In the morning we set off towards Kusadasi, but stopped at the ruins of a Roman hospital/recovery centre, the Asklepion.  It was also the place I performed my first medical procedure.  Dad had tripped and dislocated is little finger, so I pulled it back into place.  Minor to be sure but appropriate given the location.  This was the first set of decently preserved ruins we’d seen so far.  Fascinating to see what the Romans were capable of.  The teracotta piping used as drainage and to provide the healing baths with fresh water.  There was a decent amphitheatre we’d seen standing on the stage area it was easy to have a conversation with dad who was up the top.  On the walk back to the entrance I found a pond with tortises and frogs, spent a bit of time taking photos of them before we started the drive to our next destination.

Early afternoon we arrived and picked a hotel on the beach.  Its a very old hotel, but comfortable enough.  The only activity for the afternoon was a walk along the shore.  The following morning we headed to Ephesus which is just amazing it is huge and so well preserved, I can’t describe the place but it should be on everyone’s must see.  There is a section fully under cover which shows in some detail how the richer people lived during Roman times.  Frescoes and mosaics on the walls, running water heated flooring.  My wildlife experiences for Ephesus included some more tortises and a brown grass snake.  I could go on and on about this place, but if you have any interest the Romans it is a must.

Today we headed out to Pamukkale a UNESCO site, and another ancient Roman settlement situated near a very interesting geological event, huge limestone pools have formed off the side of a hill.  The city was apparently used by Cleopatra to retain her youth, the healing benefits have been seen for thousands of years resulting in it becoming away city of major importance during Roman times.  Visitors are still able to walk and swim in the pools.  The ancient pool is also available to swim in for a fee.  The water is 35-36 degrees, and full of minerals which are apparently very good for the health.  I did go for a dip and didn’t really want to get out.

Tomorrow we head to Bodrum for the final part of the Turkey portion, we head to the Greek Islands from there.

After a very early flight (6:30am), and 3hrs flight time I arrived in Istanbul. I was greeted at the airport by a man looking for Lyn Smith, I figure that was meant for me as it was mum who booked the transfer. Istanbul was not what I expected, but given my only real knowledge about it was from a James Bond film (From Russia with Love) I probably didn’t have accurate expectations. The city is a lot bigger than I expected, close to 15million people the guide said. Spread across the europe and Asia sides. The majority of the populous live on the Asia side, as the cost of living is a lot lower.

After a 1.5hr drive from the airport I made it to the Faros hotel and met my folks who I hadn’t seen in almost 12 months, tis great to see them again.

That afternoon after my first kebab we headed to the Galata tower which has been there in some form since the 600s, though the current incarnation was completed in the 14th century. The view was spectacular and gave us a much better idea of the size of the city.

An early rise was again the order of the day, as we were headed on a tour of the city. The Hippodrome of Constantinople was the first stop. There are 3 pillars still at in their original locations, the Serpent Column shipped in from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi by Constantine, the Obelisk of Thutmose III, originally from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, brought by Theodosius the Great. The last was the Walled Obelisk built by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century.

From here we went to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque not the largest but one of the most well known, often called the Blue Mosque. Completed in 1616, it was Nick named the Blue Mosque after the huge collection of blue tiles that line it interior.

A short walk from here we visited Hagia Sophia previously a mosque, and Orthodox Patriarchal Basillica, now a museum. When it was converted to a mosque all the orthodox mosaics where plastered over, some of these are now being restored. The dome is the 4th largest in existence.

After a carpet demonstration where I got to sample a local brew called Raki we headed into the Grand Bazar. It was definitely not what I expected it to be, it was basically a shopping mall, but with smaller shops and more people telling you to come buy from them.

Rustem Pasa Mosque, was a brief stop before we headed to the Topkapi Palace. The palace was quite extensive and offered a good view of the city. It contains a lot of artifacts from the Ottoman era, including the second largest diamond. There is also the Harem, though the details of it are still a very closely guarded secret.

We had some more traditional Turkish for dinner including some Meze’s and a lamb dish cooked in a clay pot on a bed of Salyut which was soaked in something.

The following afternoon we had a tour booked on the Bosphorus, but in the morning we had some free time to wander, we headed to the Basilica Cistern which featured in the earlier mentioned Bond film. Built between the 3rd and 4th centuries it was used as a huge water reserve, it’s existence was lost for a few years after the Ottoman conquest of the city till it was questioned how the people were pulling up fish and water from their basements. It contains some 300ish columns of marble including two with depictions of Medusa, one upside down and one on it’s side. Some speculation exists as to why they are there and setup in this fashion.

The afternoons boat trip added to the perception of the size of the city, we travelled for an hour up the river and we were still seeing apartment blocks on both sides with what appeared to be no end in sight. There are two large bridges crossing the Bosphorus, neither has any pillars in the water, it’s a little spooky when you under them. For dinner we went to one of the restaurants under the bridges where we had a fantastic fish meal, where a cart was shown to us with a collection of fish to choose from.

The final day in Istanbul we had miserable weather, we headed back to the grand bazar and did a wee bit of shopping, before having a lazy afternoon in the hotel, before going out for dinner at a nearby cafe.

The following morning we headed off in a hire car towards Galipoli, but more on this later.

After what has been a very big year a welcome break in Scotland was much needed.  My favourite place in the UK without doubt.  A group of us descended on Glasgow initially to pick up the vehicles, and begin the drive around Scotland.  I took the opportunity to have a couple of quiet days of relaxation.  We travelled up to Oban for the first night, where I was to make myself comfortable for a few days.  We went out for a few bevvies, and a meal that night.  Roddy was staying till later in the afternoon before he was heading back to Glasgow to catch up with a friend.  We wandered up to the small castle looking thing on the hill, before stopping in a Chocolate shop for a very rich hot chocolate.  Early afternoon sadly without a visit to the Oban distillery Roddy was back off to Glasgow and I was able to begin my couple of days of nothing.  To save people from getting bored I’m not going to go through everything I did, as it mostly involved reading, and wandering around town.  The first night a mac packers tour stopped in, had a few drinks out with them, and what would have to be the best mussels I’ve ever had, so good that I went back the following night for the same thing.

Next stop was Edinburgh where we made preparations for Hogmanay.  A few hadn’t been to Edinburgh before so we did the tourist thing, Arthur’s Seat, Castle etc.  First night we stopping into Maggie Dickson’s pub for a couple of pints, and learnt something very important.  It concerns Ranga’s, apparently Crabbies (Ginger Beer) have been importing their Ginger’s from Asia for over 200 years.  The night we arrived there was a torch parade, along one of the main streets.  Thousands of people turned out to carry a flaming torch to the top of the hill, then watch a boat burn.  Quite what the boat was doing at the top of the hill, and not in the water I’ll never know.  Those crazy Scots.  There was also a brief fireworks display which we managed to be in the middle of.  Quite an experience to have fireworks going off all around you, not 50m away.

Cath, Clair, Roddy and myself did the walk up to Arthur’s seat, not a hard walk in the grand scheme of things, but for the unfit, it was an achievement to reach the top.  Roddy and I being the brave stalwart people we are decided to take the steeper, but shorter route, while the ladies followed the more leisurely winding footpath.  The view from the top was spectacular, and showed the contrast in architecture between the old town area’s and the new parts.  On the journey back down, Roddy decided to pretend to be a plane down one of the more slippery slopes, the outcome providing much amusement for those watching.  Close to the bottom of the path we followed had St Anthony’s church, not alot of worship goes on here any more largely based on it just being ruins, but probably also due to the location, which is a bit of a walk from home.

That night was the Hogmanay main event.  A huge street party, fireworks, concerts.  Drinks are allow in public for this event so long as the container isn’t glass, a choice which I can’t help but feel is very mature and reasonable .  There was a bit of preparation involved to get our drinks to the right strength before we headed out.  A brief stop for dinner at a nearby pub before we took our place along the barrier to wait out the last few hours of 2010.  A very humorous event took place right in front of us.  Down in the gardens before the street we were on was a concert which we hadn’t purchased tickets for and neither had two young gentlemen who took it upon themselves to get in via unscrupulous means, by that I mean they tried to jump the fence while the guards weren’t looking.  The first gentleman taking his opportunity got one leg over before falling to be straddling the pole, ordinarily this would cause a bit of pain for a man, on this occasion however the fences are the old style spikes, I have no idea how he managed to not give him self a serious injury, but the expression on his face was priceless, with a spike going up through his jeans, and his strength on the wane, he took the only option left to him, and ripped a big hole in his jeans.  He then proceeded to half roll, half stumble down the hill only to be nabbed by the guards waiting for him at the bottom.  A minute late his mate tried the same thing, with more success, but he was also picked up down the bottom by the guards.  The whole event only lasted 30 seconds, during which time we were all so stunned that not one of us got decent photographic evidence of it.  The rest of the evening has become quite hazy, and there are blank patches, but I’m told we all had fun, there was dancing in the street, and many photos.

Day 1 of 2011 was much like every other 1st day of the year I had lately, I was hungover, not the only to be sure.  We spend the morning trying to piece together the events of the night before, well some of us did, others can remember it all, they were very helpful.  Needless to say the day wasn’t the most productive, though we did have a fantastic mexican for dinner, before Cath, Clair and myself did a tour through the arches under the city.  There is so much history in Edinburgh, alot of it very colourful, and alot of it red.  Edinburgh would have been a brutal place to live in the 18th century.  Body snatchers taking people in their sleep, the poor living in the arches , 30-40 people in a small room, no beds, toilets etc.  One particular set of arches we visited is supposedly haunted, I didn’t see anything happen that night, but there are plenty of accounts of things happening in the arches, one they separate the men and women onto different sides of the room, because more events have happened to women on one side than the other.  A pagan church which has its temple in one of the arches moved from one end of the arches to the other because of incidents that occurred in the room.

We were due to head back on the 2nd by train, we did however have most of the day to continue our exploration.  A few went off to visit the castle in the morning, and to visit the whiskey experience.  I met up with Cath, Chris, Clair, and Rod in time to head down for a look at the Queen’s old run about, the Britannia.  A very impressive boat.  It sailed over 1 million miles, enough to go around the world once for every year of its service.  Though it was primarily setup for the Queen to conduct here affairs where ever she was in the world, and to provide her and her family with a home away from home.  It also doubled as a floating hospital which could be setup in 24 hrs, and could treat over 100 patients in a time of need.

The last event on the calendar for Edinburgh was a very entertaining tour through Mary King’s Close.  The current Edinburgh has largely been built on top of the old city, with most of the closes’ being filled in and used as foundations for the more recent buildings.  Some have since been re-discovered and are open to tourists.  The guide was fantastic, a lot of “old man jokes” which I very much enjoyed.  They were well intertwined with the history of the closes’ included the events during the plague, and what life would have been like back then.  I am very glad I live now, and not back then, though the stories are very interesting.

As always my trip to Scotland was fantastic.  I would like to get back up there one more time before heading back to OZ, it is just such an amazing country.