the lastsplash

I want to pen down my thoughts and feelings before the memories and excitement from the trip fade away. First question, " Why the next big trip? ". Initially, I wanted to plan for a trip with my bestest-best-of-friend . And what a better combination than together with my best friend , and bestest-best-of-friend's best friend ? (Oh this is quite a mouth full!!). Besides, a quartet seemed like the most ideal number for traveling (such as hiring a cab and sharing rooms). Next, to answer a common question, ' Why Turkey? '. To do that, we have to first understand the process in which we derived with this destination. Initially, we wanted to visit Greece, with a stopover at Istanbul. Unfortunately, winter wasn't exactly the best time to visit Greece. Most of the hotels and shops on the Greek Islands are closed in winter. The ferries are also less frequent during these months. On the other hand, Turkey is still a nice place to visit in winter. We asked ourselves, ...

I am back! It had been one of the most wonderful trip. There are so much precious memories that I will keep forever. I did not have the time to update about trip regularly. Everyday was another new adventure, a new experience. There was little time to rest, not to mention settle down and think about the day. Now with some time on hand, I will try to recall and record as much as I can about the trip. But before that, let me show you the prizes of this trip - the souvenirs! We were on the quest to get these beautiful bookmarks. From the little stalls along the streets, to the Grand Bazaar, we toiled through them for the nicest ones. We were sorta addicted to buying bookmarks. Next, are these Turkish pouches. At first I looked for the classic carpets designs that shimmered in the sun. In the end, I got tired of them and went for the modern designs which were more unique. We also bought back plenty of postcards. I got mine from all over the place, Ephesus, Cappadocia and Istanbul. I bought...

Day 6, midway thru' the trip and in the middle of Turkey for the next two days. Our bus arrived at Nevşehir bus station in the morning. It was foggy and freezing cold! Temperature had dropped to sub zero. We hustled to get our luggage and were ushered into a toasty tour agency. As we waited for our bus to Ürgüp, they tried to convinced us in getting a tour package. It was a few bucks cheaper than the day tours our hotel had booked for us. We decided to stick to our choice as it was irritating of them to hassle us into buying their tour packages. At Ürgüp, our hotel picked us up from the bus station in a mini-bus. Our hotel, Cappadocia Cave Inn Hotel, is a ten minutes walk from town centre. It is converted from a 100 years old family house. Carved out of the sandstone, the rooms were really impressive. The hotel owner, Mr Omer, had previously communicated with me closely by email since booking the rooms, and provided us with some useful information. We were promptly served with appl...