The Cappadocian Roller Coaster - Turkish Sojourn - Part 3

If you are as clueless as to what's going on, I'd say- get your hind here , here and come back to this one.

After literally treading the streets and squares of Istanbul, a pleasant change of scene awaited us at Cappadocia which was a good 800 kms and a 10 hour drive from Istanbul. The road trip by itself was memorable for more reasons than I can count on my fingers and deserves a post by itself but since that is not the focus of this post, I will give you a shorthand lowdown on the (mis)happenings of our road trip.

We left Istanbul at 3.00 AM to learn that our GPS system was not functioning and went around in circles till we tanked up at a bunk and also asked the tanking guy for directions. Filled with the enthusiasm of doing a road trip, we had conveniently forgotten that most tanking assistants in Turkey still spoke only Turkish and not      a word of English. Half an hour of failed sign language gesturing later someone realized that they had a map of highway network on their I-Pad and we were promptly directions to the highway.

5 hours hence

Cruising along the ruggedly beautiful Turkish countryside at a swift 160 clicks an hour, the steering of the car seemed to lock up and the engine shut off magically; fortunately we managed to swerve at the right moment and came to a halt in the service lane. On alighting from the vehicle we were welcomed by a healthy breeze at -7 C and  thick fumes from the exhaust. We had to call the rental company to inform them about the breakdown and asked them for a replacement vehicle since we didn't have the time to waste on repairs. They replied that our breakdown location would take them about 2 hours to reach.

What does any sane person do when he/she is in a breakdown in the middle of nowhere with freezing conditions outside?

Sit in the car and enjoy the magic of the heater, right?

Wrong, we parked ourselves on a floor mat on the service lane in front of the broken down vehicle to play cards in the freezing weather. This in hindsight turned out to be one of the craziest things I have done till date.

One replacement vehicle and 4 hours hence, we reached the scenic town of Göreme which is perched in the valley between the Fairy Chimney mountains in Anatolia, Turkey just in time for dinner that evening. Being lead into our rooms by the hotel staff would certainly figure in some of the tales I have earmarked to tell my grand kids; for it is a sight that will never fade from memory.

Imagine being escorted to a hotel room that is actually carved out from a cave. Simply awed that we were going to be spending a couple of nights here, Food was the first words out of my mouth as we were a group of famished young guns.      

Loaded on a breakfast of fresh toast, cereal and Turkish Coffee, we ventured out to explore the sights and sounds of the valley surrounding us the next morning after a good 9 hours of blissful sleep. The first activity for the day was a bomb, quite literally.

The first thing we did on reaching the take off spot was to ask each other to pinch us to remind ourselves that we were not in a dream and would be taking off on a hot air balloon in minutes. As we took off from the spot and slowly towered above the valleys and the mystic chimney shaped rock formations, the view got dizzier and prettier at the same time, certainly a first for me. Zooming past many such fairy chimneys and valleys in exhilarating fashion ; the ride came to an end in about an hour and a half with the popping and polishing of a bottle of Alcohol Free Champagne.

It was probably the most loaded day of the trip and probably my life as well, as the next task on plan was a Quad Bike ride into the valleys of Cappadocia. For those of you, who don't know what a Quad bike is

Riding through the rough terrain of mud, slush, snow and rock; the drive gave us a ground side view of what we had previously explored perched atop the hot air balloon. The sights of the valley were simply breathtaking in most places and coupled with some monkey like bike stunts(All terrain Vehicle) we did over the slopes, rocky meadows and mountain passes made us realize that we had spent almost 4 enthralling hours with the bikes which seemed to pass off in a matter of minutes, Darn you relativity.

Binging on a meal at a restaurant with a pot of Shisha to go with thereafter, we prepared for the evening to come which if you must know showed absolutely no signs of dying down on the excitement front.

        

The Fire reminded me of Dragon aka DIGS

The evening began with food, drink and more Shisha coupled with exhibition of Turkish cultural dances which included a Priest Dance, A Wedding dance, Acrobatics and a sizzling display of solo Belly dancing by an expert female dancer with 4 inch heels who taught a bunch of foreign volunteers from the crowd a move or two after her performance. As expected they looked pretty ordinary and tired at the end of their 15 minute training session while the lead dancer giggled and gave them each a handshake and a peck on the cheek for trying.

Early next morning we set off to Ankara, the capital of Turkey and were to fly out that night back to our homes in Germany. Ankara reminded me a lot of Delhi's NCR where the government offices, organized traffic and clearly demarcated military only zones. The day saw us visiting a couple of mosques and museums after which it was time for us to check in at the airport to fly back.

A week after getting back, a friend AK mentioned to me that we had almost pulled off a ZNMD type trip with the Ballooning, Quad Biking, Belly dance trial and a crazy Road trip, I had to agree with him. 

We had taken the vacation of a lifetime.    

    

The Istanbul Diaries - Turkish Sojourn - Part 2

                                          

The story until now - here

We set foot into Turkish soil during prime landing time to be welcomed by a mile and half long queue at Passport Control but that wasn't even the tricky part; our visa's were to be granted on arrival into Turkey and we had no clue as to whom to approach or where to go. Fortunately for us, a Border Patrol official took pity on 10 confused looking Indian boys and whisked us away to the Chief Passport Control Officer's chamber where we were given personal service along with çay. The hospitality was pleasantly surprising to us because no such assistance was offered to the others queuing up at Passport Control counters and we were out of their hair armed with a Turkish Tourist visa in practically no time.

Once past the airport premises, the vibe that Istanbul was radiating at -1C was warm to say the least and interestingly seemed very familiar to the homeland. The familiarity of the vibe seemed very uncanny as we were able to spot open top trucks, roadside vendors selling their goods and the occasional stray dog on the sidewalk after a very very long time while zipping past the heavy evening traffic in the urban jungle that was Istanbul. One might wonder what the big fuss in this familiarity business is; for someone who has stayed in an über organized array of settlements that is Germany; these sights seemed like a breath of fresh air. 

Haunts In Istanbul -

After a good night's sleep and a belly full of breakfast, we set out to explore the sights and sounds of Istanbul's streets the next morning. Our first stop was at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque more famously known as The Blue Mosque, with its intricate architecture and towering presence by the seaside, this 17th century place of worship is a must go just because it is the only mosque in the world to have 6 minarets. 

When in Istanbul one can't help but liken it to a big (approximately 8 times the size of Mumbai, so do the math) bustling Indian metropolis teaming with people who give it its vibrant spirit and perennial hustle bustle; people are always found on the streets busy; with some getting from place to place on the tramway, others selling their goods and wares or some like us who were absorbing the feel of a place so familiar to home that it never made us feel out of place. I was specially impressed by how well lit a city like Istanbul was, the structure and architecture of certain spots seemed to have amplify and assumed a whole new nature in the evenings once the lights came on.   

This feel based roaming around led us to one of Istanbul's most famous market places - Taksim Square; Mecca to thousands and thousands of Istanbul's shoppers. The central shopping street in Taksim square is a pedestrian only stretch with the occasional tram passing through its heart to ferry its passengers to other locales in the city. Armed with a tall and piping hot cup of Starbucks Hot Chocolate in the nearly freezing evening, we traversed the length of the street which seemed to go on and on and on for almost two and half hours while walking at above normal speed.

The next morning was New year's Eve and presented us an opportunity to take a cruise on the Sea of Marmara which separates Istanbul into Asian and European quarters. A point to be noted here is that Turkey and Istanbul lie both in Asia as well as Europe. Sailing past vast bridges, sea side villas and fishing harbors, the seaside view of the much awaited Bosphorous Bridge finally came. The highlight of the day was the time spent atop the completely lit bridges' walking lane watching the sizzling of the fireworks welcome the new year. A monumental moment personally because not only were we on the cusp of the new year but two continents at the same time.

Food - 

It is needless for me to impress on how difficult it is for a vegetarian to survive in Europe, but in Turkey it was a different story altogether. When moving with a large group - 10 in our case, more often than not you tend to find yourself on the minority side but this time around the tables seemed to have turned with an even split in the numbers of meat and non-meat eaters. 

That however was not the best news with respect to food; since taste bud tickling vegetarian food was hard to come by a guy in the group -  AK would actually march into every restaurant kitchen and point out the vegetarian looking ingredients like tomatoes, cabbage, onions, oil and chilly to the chef and ask him in English hints to make a salad which we would devour with oven fresh Turkish bread and down with a famous local yoghurt drink called Ayran. I had resigned to the fact that I was going to have to make do with fresh salads and cold bread until some out of the box thinking like the aforementioned got us some pretty lip smacking food.  AK continued doing that during the other legs of the trip as well and that resulted in us eating something close to Pav Bhaji, Samosa and Mattar Paneer at various eat outs.

The remainder of our time in Istanbul was spent gawking at some very pretty Turkish women (God took his time on them and trust me when I tell you they are hawwwttttt), in seaside cafe's sipping on Turkish Coffee and sampling some authentic Turkish Shisha.

We then bade our goodbye's to Istanbul in the wee hours of next morning to proceed to the next leg of our Turkish Odyssey.

To be Continued...                          

Lazy and Loving it.

BLEH ALERT

Have been in a very fickle mindset for the past few days; not being able to make up my otherwise firm mind  which if you must know does not cover up for the fact that I have been downright lazy in updating this space. Just that I haven't found anything interesting to do with this dark,depressing and motivation sapping weather here. One feels like retiring to bed after 4 in the evening when its already pitch dark outside and hunger strikes earlier than expected. The only plus side to winter is being able to watch  the dreamy white snowflakes populate the lawns and driveways while armed with a cup of steaming coffee and simultaneously resting your feet against the heater - Therapeutic I must say.

With the sub zero temperatures, snow and practically nothing to do; the roomie and I ransacked the kitchen this weekend to end up making - Nutella and Butter filled French Croissants. For one, eating fresh food out of the oven is probably the closest I`m going to get to orgasmic and secondly the kitchen has additional heaters making it all the more attractive to stand next to a fuming hot electric stove or an oven.  

This is how they turned out.

After gorging on only half a dozen (On a diet you see :P) of these babies and taking a nice long siesta in the dead of the day, I can safely say this weekend was eventful.               

                                                              What have you guys been upto?

PS: What do you guys think of the header? 

  

Not in my Wildest Dreams

If something happens once, it is said to be a random occurrence

If something happens twice, it is said to be a coincidence.

If something happens thrice, it is said to be a hattrick of sorts

If something happens seven times, be rest assured that you have pulled off the awesome.

The awesome is what transpired this bygone weekend.

The sequence of events that unfolded this weekend(for lack of a better word) were as follows:-

a) The father had flown in here on work and I was getting to meet him after almost 8 months. Me shrieking like a 4 year old was not just because I was going to meet my father but also because I was going to say 'how you doin?' to the goodies he had graciously agreed to bring along with him. Enough credence cannot be given to the excitement one gets when one is informed to expect Sweets, Savories and other goodies from the homeland.

b) Meeting him felt so good, it was just like old times, him doing the interrogation with his endless list of inquiries and me being as clueless as being suddenly made to take a test in advanced Mandarin(Chinese). Jokes apart, getting a hug from him at the station was worth more to me than what is described below.

c) He does his trademark gig, pulls a fast one on me by announcing casually that we are taking a weekend trip to Switzerland.

Would you blame me if I went

   

I asked him to pinch me hard, which he dutifully did; just to make sure I was hearing him right.

c) Sure enough, next morning, off we went to Switzerland. Taking a ride on the Autobahn and blitzing away consistently at more than 170 km/h. We set foot onto Swiss soil sooner than expected. 

My weekend(again, for lack of better vocabulary) in pictures.   

  

Quite pleasant ain't it? :P

I`m just too tongue tied looking at this pic, please come up with a caption for this pic and knock me hard on my head when you do .

   

One of the many breathtaking views that was on offer

No better way to sign off than Food

I couldn't bring myself to leave the place and was almost in tears when Daddy dearest said it was time to bid adieu and go back to Germany. 

I experienced what this little girl did, the greatest moment of them all, laughing and crying at the same time and in freaking Switzerland. 

TSCHAU 

   

The Dark Post

Warning : A very dark, traumatic and chilling post ahead. Discretion Advised. Please quit reading/ viewing the very instant you feel overwhelmed. I apologize in advance if you get depressed after reading the entire post.   

The mood of the week has been synonymous with the weather; cold, dark and not to mention depressing. The weather can make a compelling excuse owing to the approaching winter but the cause for the gloomy mood can  squarely be pinned on the visit I made last weekend to the Concentration Camp in Buchenwald, East Germany.

I admit, I have been to morgue, a crematorium and an autopsy lab, I have seen death take away some of my loved ones but never before have I visited a place that has given me constant shivers down my spine by its mere remembrance. Buchenwald is one such place, located in the midst of thick woods, it was built by the Nazis to house political opponents, Jews, Homosexuals and Gypsies among others. Primarily an extermination through labor camp wherein inmates were made to slave 15 hours a day without much food, water or toilets. Death came by the dozens with an average of 200 odd people dying at the camp on a daily basis that a permanent crematorium had to be built there to dispose of the bodies.

The following photo was taken when the Allied Forces wrested Buchenwald from the Nazis. 

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.

                             A pile of human corpses outside the crematorium waiting to be burnt.

The Corpse Cellar

             

The Height Gauge in the Infirmary

One of the many Nazi extermination techniques was that a random inmate would be picked and sent to the infirmary for health inspection. The camp doctor there would ask him to stand against a height gauge to measure his height. Lying concealed to the inmate would be a hole in the wall of the height gauge which would help a shooter at point blank range standing by on the other end of the wall complete the task at hand. This apparently was designed for two benefits, the victim would never guess how his death might come about and the shooter would never have to face his victim. 

      

Just like the citizens at the end of the video, our expressions too assumed melancholic proportions with a young lady in our group passing out on seeing some of the exhibits kept at one of the exhibitions.  

Survivors of the holocaust were regarded very lucky, the following is an account of one such survivor.

 

I left Buchenwald wondering exactly how severe my problems were in comparison to what the inmates of Buchenwald must have gone through and realized what luxurious lives we lead; being able to live a life of limitless freedom without the thought of death looming large over our heads, getting to eat lavish meals without a bother in the world and being able to do what, when and how we please without fearing for our lives. 

At the end of it all, I only felt the gratefulness multiply for being blessed with such a positive upbringing that I surmise what hurt and pain the affected must have gone through and also realize how grossly important being humanitarian is.

Lets End this one on a happier note, shall we?

        

  Our Deepavali Spread, 15 of us got together and churned out the above. 

PS: It was only after this meal that I felt some reprieve from the gloom and melancholy.

Hope you all had an awesome Deepavali.