No sleep again since leaving at 2.30am. Kiat came at around 11+ to 12, and we really had a good laugh on Facebook. Jo came down close to time, and we left for St Pauls. Bus N11 really gets on our nerves. Beware of the half hourly timings. Managed to get to Victoria just in time for the Greenline coach. The Greenline coach is pretty good; there’s few people taking it and we could just relax. Haha. Despite planning our transport with buffer time, we actually got hit by last minute check-in calls because there were so many people in front of us. Haiz. And worst thing is, after we got through customs and queuing up to buy some water for the flight, we got hit by final boarding call! So everything is a rush in Luton. The flight itself is alright I guess. Compared with Ryanair, EasyJet is so much better. But then again, we paid a higher premium for it.
The nightmare came after we touched down. Customs were easy, for the red Singaporean Passport sounds more like a Red Trump Card and we are visa-exempted. For once, the Ang-Mohs are behind us, and they gotta queue up to ‘buy’ their visas. Woot. Getting to Istanbul City Centre was quite a nightmare. Cabs were stalking outside. We asked for the fare to Ataturk International Airport for our next flight, and were quoted 75 YTL. By the way, YTL = Yeni Turk Lira i.e New Turkish Lira. So we decided to take the Havas instead, costing us 14 YTL each and leaving our fate in city centre to the higher beings.
And the nightmare continued with horrific jams in Taksim. Taksim is northern Istanbul, and the worse thing was the rain. Everywhere was jamming like mad, and cabs are not willing to pick up foreigners in the busy centre. For lunch, we just picked up a pastry at the roadside stalls, something that looks like a donut with sesame seeds called simit. We managed to pick a cab up to Ataturk, and luckily for us the cabby did not scam us with the fare. 30 YTL for the ride to Ataturk is decent. So actually in total, each of us saved 1 YTL each. Haha. Talk about cutting transport costs.
And Onur Air surprised us with their service. Onur Air is the domestic arm of Turkish Airlines and my impression of it was marred by a lousy website. But they do check-ins very fast and they even served us refreshments on the flight! Hey EasyJet, are you reading this?
Bodrum Airport looks located in the middle of nowhere. Mountains and highlands abound, and few buildings. Again we took a Havas to Bodrum city centre. The view along the way was, erm, undescribable. Haha. I mean, seriously, you gotta see it to know. A winding road alongside the highlands looking down on sea that’s coloured with true blue and turquoise waters and distant highland horizons decorated with white box like dwellings. Not to mention the slanted sun in the late afternoons and casting sun rays on the calm waters. The 1st amazement of the trip. Actually, to me, it’s a wonder in itself. Never in my life have I seen such a view so close. Can’t wait for Bodrum.
We arrived in Bodrum, and took a cab to Hotel Kalendar. Seems that they have quite a reputation here, and everyone even knows what transport policy they have. Our cab there was free, and the cabby even had the sense to go to the reception to ask for cab fare. Woot. Free ride. Anyway, now is the low season for tourism. Or rather, the pre-high season. The hotel is not as occupied. And the good thing is, the hotel is largely occupied with Australians and New Zealanders who work there part time I think. Because of their involvement in WWII on Turkish grounds, Australians and New Zealanders (Anzac) have roots and tributes to pay to here in Turkey. Cool, never knew much about that. We had a Anzac to tell us the scenic routes in Bodrum, places to eat good food and etc. at least we don’t have to pin point and use sign language instead. Actually, up till now, we never really had a total language barrier. Great.
We got lost somewhere while out for dinner in the dark, but somehow found our way to a restaurant. And we found raki. Raki is the local brewed spirit of 45% alcoholic volume. Stronger than vodka. And it had the funny cloudy white colour. We didn’t order the drink, but a ‘kind’-hearted man who could speak a little English and went to Singapore before actually let us have a sip of the drink. Unique taste. And the local beer, Efes, tastes like Tiger. Haha. At least it’s not like Carling or Cauffrey. London beer suck.
After dinner, we found a pastry shop for dessert. And they have cheap and good pastries. But we never really had the chance to eat them. The moment we reached outside of the hotel, the general manager of Kalendar called Murti and a Australian called Kathy were on their way for a drink. And dragged us along. We went to the local Australian bar, called Outback (obviously). Had pretty much fun there, with pool and good drinks. This was the place where we started to have raki shots. You know, the locals drink raki in diluted form, 1 part raki and 1 part water. But we never got to know why raki in bottle is clear but looks cloudy in glasses. Somehow, raki becomes cloudy when mixed with water, mysteriously. Anyway, instead of using vodka on flames, we experimented with raki instead. This was when I had my 1st spirit shot of my life. Not vodka, not rum or any cool sounding spirit. But raki. Ha. My virgin shot. 45% with flames. Who can beat that?
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