TNBT: Istanbul to Bursa.

It was almost 6pm when we reached Istanbul International Airport, but it looked like 8pm outside. After grabbing our luggage, we quickly got ourselves into our warm clothing. The weather in Turkey is quite different from that in Dubai, an average of 7-8 degree celcius.

After asking around a few shops, we decided to abandon our initial idea of taking the metro. Instead, we took the shuttle service to the central bus station. At the otogar (Turkish for bus terminal), some folks took our bags up the bus immediately after we alighted the car. Before we knew it, we were already on the bus to Bursa (pronounced as boo-sa) - our first destination in Turkey. Along the way, a RPL ferried our bus across the Marmara Sea. On our first taste of the comprehensive Turkish Bus System, we were offered tea (or cay - pronounced as ch-ai in Turkish) and biscuits by the bus steward. Soon, we'd find out that is the standard for all long distance bus rides, similar to having drinks and meals on planes offered by the air stewardess.

At the Bursa Bus Station, we met the first friendly Turk. Turkey has a reputation for having friendly and helpful people. We just got off the long distance bus, still blur and sleepy. A young man approached us and asked where we were going. At first, we were paranoid. But soon, we found out that he sincerely wanted to help us. He spoke a little English, but tried his best to help us get the bus tickets for our next stop, Çanakkale. He even offered to send us to our hotel. But we were too paiseh to make him go all the way with us to the hotel. In the end, he wrote us the Turkish name of the street so that the taxi driver will understand.

It was probably 2-3am when we finally reached our hotel, Artic Hotel. Everything else would have to wait, time for a nice warm bath and sleep!