Well I have to admit I've been a bit slack on the old blogging front and have now gotten a bit behind. I'm actually now in Syria, just arrived last night in Aleppo. It's a large city but very chilled and I really like it here. Anyway more about Aleppo later; I've done a fair old bit in Turkey since my last post so I'll quickly run through it now.

After Selcuk we headed on to Pamukkale. We met a great couple on the bus Thorsen from Germany and Fatma, living in Germany but actually Turkish, who became our travel companions for the next few weeks. On our first day in Pamukkale we made a trip out to an underground hot spring. It took a little while to get there and wasn't particularly impressive once we got there. The trip was more memorable for the walk back when Fatma discovered a plant with a bud on it that exploded when you touched it. That gave everyone quite a shock. In the evening we had a few beers and bumped into a danish couple Brian and Jette who we first met in Selcuk. Many beers did flow that night and when we finally stumbled home we found we were locked out of our hotel. After a few attempts at climbing the wall our drunk shenanigans finally woke the staff up and we got let in.

The main reason for visiting the Pamukkale is to see the travertines, a bunch of calcium shelves containing pools that cover a ridge at the back of the town. The travertines are also know as the 'Cotton Castle'. I walked up these with a stinking hangover and wasn't enjoying myself very much at all. Luckily however there was a natural hot spring at the top and we spent the rest day soaking in them until my hangover had passed.

We headed onto Fethiye with Thorsen and Fatma, and thanks to their advice we did some trekking on the Lycian Way. This was a mostly peaceful two days trekking in the hills above the coastline of south Turkey. At the end of the first day we descended down the beach and had a very relaxing swim and then stayed in a wonderful pension overlooking the sea. The next day we were up early and carried on trekking. There were lots of beehives all along the way as we trekked which was of great interest to Thorsen who does bee keeping as a hobby. We passed one place where they were collecting the honey and Thorsen marched towards them to see them at work. Despite the bee keepers telling us avidly to stay away we stupidly followed him in. Well the bees didn't like our presence very much and soon myself Fatma and Phil were running away with bees in pursuit. Fatma and Phil both got bees stuck in there hair and I was madly trying to fend a bee off with my walking stick. The strange thing about it is not much fun when the bee is attacking you but as soon as it attacks someone else it suddenly comes completely hilarious. Throughout the attack Thorsen had been inside a tent watching bee keepers collect the honey. We thought he escaped scot-free until we saw come out of the tent running as fast as he could. We eventually got enough distance between ourselves and the bees and they left alone. Thorsen was the only one to actually sustain any stings. He got stung twice but seemed unfazed by it all.

After that little incident we continued our peaceful trek. Towards the end of the day we watched as paragliders flew over the mountains and landed on the beach below and then as light began to fail we made it to the town of Ovicek to get the dolmus back to Fethiye. I was expecting Ovicek to be a little quiet town as everywhere we had trekked for the last two days had seemed so remote and tranquil. In fact Ovicek turned out to be a big British package holiday destination with lots of bright flashing lights and pubs called things 'St George' and 'Harry's Pub'. Quite a shock and a stark contrast from the Lycian way.

We had one more day in Fethiye and used it to make a trip to a local canyon. We made our way up the canyon. The water was pretty cold. After a bit of a walk and climbing over a couple of waterfalls, we made it further than most tourists get. From here on in the water got pretty deep - we walking through it with our day packs held over our heads freezing our bollocks off. It was pretty good fun despite the cold and felt really adventurous.

The next four days were spent taking a boat from Fethiye to Olympus. This was basically a chilled out four days that consisted of lying in the sun on deck, swimming in the sea every now and then and drinking beer. Oh the hardships of traveling. On the last night of the trip we went to ashore to a bar called Smuggler's Inn. This is basically a bar in the middle of nowhere that only exists because people on boat trips stop off here. It was a good blast and surprisingly busy given that it is the end of the season in Turkey now.

After the boat trip we made it to Olympos and stayed in a treetop hostel, although none of the rooms are really in treetops now since it burnt down a few years ago. It was pretty quiet here since it was end of season. We spent a nice afternoon wandering round some ruins by the beach and then doing a spot of sunbathing. We also said goodbye to Fatma and Thorsen here as they headed off to Cappadocia and we stayed in Olympos to do a spot of rock climbing.

The rock climbing was pretty cool. I've done a bit climbing on a wall before but never on a proper rock face. We did a couple of warm up climbs which myself and Phil both did in a doddle. I guess our instructor overestimated our abilities after that and took us onto a much harder climb. I did not make it very far up the climb at all and was soon completely knackered and had no strength left in my arms at all. Phil made a much better crack at it and got farther up. After that our instructor took us to any easier climb but by then we were spent forces and really struggled with it. Despite that it was a lot of fun and something I'd like to try again and get better at.

After the rock climbing the weather turned worse so we headed up to Goreme in Cappadocia land of the lunar landscapes and fairy chimneys. We took the night bus here and arrived early in the morning and checked the Flinstones hotel. We were surprised and pleased to see Brian and Jette here who we had last seen in Pamukkale. The weather wasn't so great here either but I still managed to spend a few days walking around the area taking in the amazing landscape. There really isn't anywhere like this on earth. Tragically I left my lead for my camera in Olympos so you won't be able to see the photos until I manage to get myself a replacement. After a couple days the weather picked up and we were able to do a hot air balloon trip over trip over the area. We got our wake up call to do the balloon trip at 5:30am. This made us very happy as we'd been up drinking late the night before. After the initial shock of being woken up we dragged ourselves out of bed and it was well worth it. The view from the balloon was amazing. A bit of a shame I can't show you my photos right now. The balloon trip will always be remembered however for the landing. For whatever reason our balloon driver (or whatever it is you call a person who is charge of a balloon) decided it would be a good idea to land in a tree. It was very funny and certainly added a little extra to trip that I will never forget. We found time to do a bit more walking round the valleys here also did a spot of mountain biking.

And so after a month in Turkey which has been fantastic, if a little expensive, we decided to head over Syria. It was gruelling 21 hour bus trip to get here, involving lots of long stop overs in bus stations. But it was well worth the journey. I'll write more about Syria in my next post. As for now just know that I'm still having a wonderful time and hope you are all well.

Check my photos on the following links:

• Pamukkale
• Fethiye, Lycian Way, Canyon
• Boat Trip
• Rock Climbing

Gallipoli and Selcuk

First stop after Istanbul was Canakkale. We had a bit of fun getting there after expecting to get a midday ferry across the Sea of Mananma. There was no midday ferry so we had to wait until 6pm to get a ferry. The ferry took us to Bandirma where we a short stop for dinner before getting a bus onto Canakkale. The staff in the restaurant we ate at were very happy to have us there, and the chef sent us complimentary cups of tea. When we finished then the waiter decided he wanted to treat us both to cup of tea as well. All well and good except we had a bus to catch so had to leave rather abruptly.

Canakalle is the stop off point to do a tour of the Gallipoli battle field. I have to say I knew next to nothing about this battle other than it took place at some point in World War I. Ask an Aussie or Kiwi though and they will tell you all about it. The first allied landing took place April 25th 1915. This is an ANZAC day and a national holiday in both Austraslia and New Zealand. It was a pretty humbling experience walking through the war fields and learning about the thousands who lost their lives. It seemed really paradoxical to me that on the one hand the soldiers actions on both sides were heroic and inspiring, but at same time the whole exercise they were involved was completely foolish and a complete waste of life to acheive nothing.

Well after that sobering experience we headed onto Selcuk, the stopping off point to visit the ruins of Ephesus. We checked into a hostel with a rather eccentric set of staff, including an owner who couldn't decide if he was Australian or Turkish, a woman who only ever said "Tomorrow", whcih we eventually discovered meant she wanted to clean our room, the cook Simon who only ever blurted out one word answers to our questions and did his best to be as unhelpful as possible, and most disconcerting of all a little boy who ran around all day barking like a dog. We spent a couple of days hanging about in town eating Kofte kebabs, getting drunk in the evening and generally doing very little. Finally on the third day we got off our lazy arses and went to visit Ephesus with stinking hangovers. Ephesus is the ruins of an old Roman town and amazing amount is still intact so you get a really good idea of how the place was laid out. There's a huge amphitheatre there, and some roman baths. The only problem with the place, apart from the guys outside selling 'genuine fake watches' is the fact that there were just too many other goddamn tourists there, but again of course I was one the goddamn tourists making it so busy there. I've managed to my photos loaded onto smugmug so you can check them out there.

After wandering round the sites we headed back into town and got a bus to Pamukkale. More about that in my next post...

Istanbul

And so I am off on my travels again. My journey actually began in the wonderful town of Luton. Myself and Phil, my travel companion for this journey, decided to spend a night here since our flight was at 6am next day. I can't say much for Luton other than I was glad I only had to spend no more than 8 hours there. After a very early start and an uneventful flight we made it to Istanbul. What should have been a quick 50 minute bus ride into town from the airport turned into about 2 hours when we got stuck in traffic waiting to cross the Bosphorus to get to the European side of Istanbul. When we finally did make it over the bridge it was a pretty impressive sight. The Bosphorus is a wide strait connecting the Black Sea to the north with the Sea of Marmara to the south. As you cross, on what I'm told is the fourth largest suspension bridge in the world, you can see huge mosques and minarets on both banks of the strait. We arrived in Taksim square and after unsuccessfully attempting to get a bus down Sultanahmet, where we are staying, jumped in a cab and took the easy option.

We've spent about a week here and just been doing the tourist things. The highlights would have to be Haga Sophia a huge building that started life as a church, later on becoming a mosque and is now open the public. The building is immense, it's hard to explain how impressive it is. It is quite strange though to see stone glass windows depicting Mary and Jesus alongside Islamic symbols. The Basilica Cistern was also great to see. Anyone who has played tombraider will enjoy this place - an underground cavern with tall columns all very moodily lit.

I was persuaded, by Phil, to go to a Turkish bath and get a massage. This involved getting covered in loads of soap and then being contorted and pushed around by a big fat Turkish man - lots of fun I can tell you.

We've also done a few boat trips, the first southwards to Princes Islands. These are some islands where a Sultan exiled all but one of his sons, so that they would not kill the son he had chosen to succeed him. Although they were exiled they still lived in large palaces and has a pretty good life. We stopped at one of the islands and hired bikes there, spending the afternoon cycling round the island. The other tour we did was up the Bosphorus to the mouth of the Black Sea. It took a couple of hours to get there, we stopped at small village called Anadalou Kavagi and walked up quite a steep hill to some castle ruins. We then had a seafood lunch at the top of the hill overlooking the Bosphorus. The food was great but we got attacked a by a loads of wasps and the largest hornet I have ever seen in my life. The two boat trips we did really gave us an impression of how big Istanbul is, it seems to stretch out endlessly in all directions.

Well Istanbul has been great if a little expensive; the weather hasn't been too great - it's rained a bit which has made Phil really happy - so we're now heading south along Aegean coast in the hope of chasing the better weather.

I am uploading photos as I go along. I'm just been posting on facebook at the moment as smugmug has been too slow to upload to, but don't worry you don't need a facebook account to see them. Below are the links to the Istanbul galleries - sorry I've been too lazy caption to them. I may get round to it due course...

• Istanbul Gallery 1
• Istanbul Gallery 2