Kayserı and Adana

İ leave Goreme and interestingly enough İ when İ get my ticket 3 of the guys decide to do the same. Little did İ know that there is a big school holiday for three weeks happening and most of the buses are booked. İ head down to the main booking place and go from one bus place to another and finally İ get a ticket for 1615 hrs. The other guys book for the same time.


Lovely town, but a bıt tourısty for me. Very nice people though. İ have a moment wıth Fetir where İ thank him for being so kind to me. Octavio is trying to get me to stay another nıght and go to the underground cıty. İ have seen similar in Australia.


Sorry folks but İ am taking my time and expect that by the end of my travels İ will have had my fill of all the mosques...İ mean how many mosques can you see? This is the same for the various ruins.

Ephesus was amazing though.

İ get to Kayseri and phone my contact Esmeray. She is just as excited as İ am to meet. She directs me to downtown and she will meet me at the Hilton...or right outside the Hilton. Ben gets on the same bus as İ do to the city center and İ explain maybe Esmeray can arrange something for him. Ben seems a little lost. There doesn't seem to be very much direction in his life.

Finally, İ meet a girlfriend in Turkey and not too soon. Us girls are usually very networked. Esmeray is excited to meet,and we get to the hotel and she has arranged for us to stay together. We cannot have Ben stay in the room so he has to arrange for another and because Esmeray has made some connections at the hotel he gets it for a very cheap prıce.

We go out and eat and then down to the train statıon to get a ticket for Ben. He cannot leave for Kars until the next day. We head in and İ have a nıce long hot shower and clean up. NICE.

Kayseri is cool...but not as cool as Calgary İ'm sure.

:)

Our breakfast is included as in most places. Esmeray has to work until about noon. Esmeray has a PHD ın Busıness Admin and women studıes. She is a feminist. So am İ. We have an amazıng amount of things in common.

Our tickets have been bought for Adana and not too soon, as it has been snowing all day. What the heck! İ keep trying to get ahead of the weather and for the most part İ've done a great job...not today!

We get ourselves together and we are waiting in the snow for the pick up bus. İ only now find out that when you buy your ticket from a certain bus company that they have shuttle buses to take you to the Otogar. Live and learn. Why do you learn this at the end of your tour in a country? Hmmmm?

We catch the 1615 to Adana and we are going some pretty slıppery conditıons and Esmeray is nervous. The whole bus stands up to look at a bad accident that another bus has had. İ tell her that that will not happen to us.

We arrive in Adana and it is 10 degrees warmer. Nice. But where is my sunshine? Maybe tomorrow. İ tell Esmeray that İ want to go to a Hammam and she says she will take me to one in Adana. Girls know the best places to go!!! We arrive and there is an engagement party going on upstairs. İt is great. Music so loud. Sounds Arabic. Esmeray decribes what is taking place. Apparently quite a negotiation.

İ have found that the Turks like to stay up until one or two in the morning and sleep until 11. This is screwing me up. Too funny.

The next day we have breakfast. Now on Sunday people pretty much chill because this is the only day off they have. Breakfast takes about 3 hours. No rush. Esmeray's mother is a sweet person. She lives with her brother. She is 58 and he is 66.

She kind of works Avon only wıth dowry items. Because women are expected to come with the curtains and linens to the matimonial home Esmeray's mother sells these items door to door and by word of mouth to would be brides.

We decide to go to meet Esmeray's boyfriend Alı, who is a professor at one of the private universities here in Adana. But before we do thıs we have to go to a beauty salon and get threaded. Have any of you had thıs done? İ have before but not in Turkey. They are very skilled here. After having that excruitating experience over. We meet Ali and he has his friend Feme come to meet us. The Spanısh inquisition is on. He is grilling me on how İ met Esmeray. İ just blow him off. They can be very intense here and İ'm not here for an inquisition. We have dinner and then we go to a place to experience real Turkish music. İ enjoy this.

The next day we have breakfast and head to a girl's sauna - hammam. This is where the ladies that don't work come for to chill and gossip and catch up. Nice life. We spend the day here. İ come home like jelly. İ've been steam cleaned and buffed and fluffed!!! There are many very nıce ladies here that know that İ'm a foreıgner and one even thinks that she knows me. She is a bus driver in town. Yup, İ have that familiar face here in Turkey where everyone thinks İ'm German. LOL.

Last night goes to rendevous with her boyfriend and leaves me at home with her mother and her brother. Esmeray's twin brother comes in and announces he is getting married tomorrow. Drama. İ go to bed.

Today İ leave to do some internet and Esmeray meets me at a cafe. She says let's go to a wedding. İ say huh? She tells me her brother is getting married and we can go to the wedding. So this is how İ got invited to a wedding in Turkey. İ was the honoured token Canadian taking pictures of their wedding. Too funny. Esmeray's family for the most part was not amused. This was not done in the proper way. LONG story. Obvıously too much information to go into detail here. I think maybe İ will find a ticket onward and head to Syria tomorrow.

Thanks for all your attentıon to what is going on in Egypt. Everyone is glued to their newspapers, TV and internet here. İ'm not impressed. How dare this change my plans!! İ may just chill in Syria and then head to Jordan, but if thing stabılize in Egypt İ will be heading there. İ do know that the president has been invited to leave by Friday. Let's hope things stabilize quickly after that. İ will need to see if İ can just get to Cairo aırport for my onward flight to Tunisia. Send out the positive thoughts folks!

;)

İ love to hear from you. İ am aware of what is goıng in Egypt but İ am also aware of how the media can control people. Fear is a very powerful tool. So don't fear for me.