Where?
Hehe. You see, i have this thing about holiday. I never want to go home. I fall in love with a place so easily. The people. The lifestyle. The food. The weather. In a way, i assimilate to a culture as easily as the world fell in love with Justin Bieber. (??)
This year, my annual family vacation was in Istanbul, Turkey. Yes, the land of cotton, olive oil, silk, and of course, hot Turks men. Haha. We are there for a week, a rather short time to fully explore the many wonders of Istanbul. But since it's really hard to put everyone's schedule together, any chance we had is a good time to go on holiday.
Last year, we didn't get to go on holiday together. I was alone in Paris visiting my aunt after completing my internship. My parents were too busy with work, but they managed to squeeze in a 5 days trip to Bandung, Indonesia for my second brother and youngest sister. Too bad for my first brother as he was in the middle of exams for his pre-university course in UM, he did not get to go anywhere at all. So, this year's holiday was some sort of a make-up holiday for him. Which is why he was the most excited. Or so he said.
So, we depart from KLIA on a Sunday night. From KL to Istanbul, it took almostt 10 gruesome hours to get to Atatürk International Airport. Let me tell you something. I was never a big fan of long-haul flights. Well maybe not if i'm flying the plane. Or if i fly business class instead maybe i would feel differently. But flying economy for the whole 10 hours was a complete torture for me. To make things worse, i'm not the type who sleeps well in a vehicle. Not even in cars. Unless i'm really really tired, which in this case, i was totally the opposite of tired. So as you can imagine, i hardly closed my eyes throughout the journey. I'm still in awe at how easily my brothers fell asleep. The plane was not even taxing for take off yet, and they are already dozing off probably somewhere in Lala Land. And as for me, i ended up tracing the route of the flight any chance i have. It went something like this:
When we finally get there, it was a wet Monday morning in Istanbul. Our tour guide, Mr. Hidayat was already waiting at the airport along with our driver for the week. They took us to our hotel and the first thing i could think of was sleep. It was barely 8 am and the locals have not started their day yet. So i thought a quick nap would kill the time as i needed it very much. Well, i overestimated my self-control a little too much. I woke up at almost noon thinking i just lost half-a-day worth of sight seeing the city *sigh*.
The rest of my Turkish encounter will be told in pictures. It will tell most of the stories much better than my almost-all-the-time-sidetracked story telling.
After that very regretful sleep i had, we went out for lunch at a local restaurant in the Aksaray neighborhood called Emet Saray. The food was fantastic. I got my first taste of the famous Turkish meatballs and it was simply delicious. And there's something about the rice. Usually i am a heavy rice eater, but it only took a quarter of my usual portion to get me full. So very weird.
The next day, we started our tour around Istanbul. It was another rainy morning in the city but we get on with the plan anyway. Time is precious when all you have is 5 days. First stop: The Spice Market. Just look at the splash of colors!
In the afternoon, we visited the Topkapi Palace Museum followed by the Grand Bazaar. The Topkapi palace was one extraordinary complex. It was once the official residence of the Sultans during the Ottoman empire. It spans over a vast ground consisting of 4 courtyards altogether. Now, it held some very important holy relics of the Muslim world such as the Sword of Rasulullah S.A.W and also of His Sahabats.
On the fourth day, before we start the tour, Mama would like another round at the Grand Bazaar. This time, we spent almost 4 hours there shopping for ceramics and tiles for our house. It was fun for Mama and I. Not so much for the boys though =p Oh oh and this is when i got myself a new Turks boyfriend! Mama wasn't too happy about this hehe. Some of the beautiful things we bought at the Grand Bazaar:
After lunch, we were taken to a mosque at the outskirt of Istanbul where the tomb of a famous Sahabat, Ayub Al-Ansari was located. He was sent by Rasulullah S.A.W to conquer Istanbul (then known as Constantinople). He requested that when he died he was to be buried in Istanbul thus the Sultan at the moment granted his request by building him a special tomb at the mosque. While at the mosque, we saw boys dressed up as prince walking around. We later learned that it is a local ritual that before a boy undergoes circumcision, he has to visit a mosque to pray. Well, it sure seems like an unusual ritual to us, so we just had to take picture with the cute looking boy! Oh he'll grow up to be one handsome young man haha!
Oh and before we call it a day, the tour guide took us to take picture at some part of the fortification wall called Theodosian Wall from the 4th century. It was indeed a good place to cam-whore!
And on the final day, we went to visit the terminal station for the Orient Express. Back when it was still running, the Orient Express travels from Paris to Istanbul in what was considered as luxury travel. Now, the station held a museum in remembrance of the glorious days of Orient Express. Such a nostalgic place, even if you have never board the train.
After that, we meet up with my aunt and uncle for some last minute shopping for small souvenirs to take home. Since it was Friday, the men had to go for Jumaat prayer at noon. Lucky them, they get the chance to perform Jumaat prayers at the Blue Mosque. A once in a lifetime experience maybe for them. While they were at it, the rest of us went for a walk at the Gulhane Park located just outside the wall of Topkapi Palace.
On Saturday, we left for the airport at 11.30 am for a flight back to KL at 2.30 pm.
Oh before that, let me introduce our driver on the left picture, the 2nd guy from the right. Until the end, we didn't find out his name (-_-") It doesn't help that he doesn't speak a single word of English. But he is a very nice man, always smiling though he understands nothing. Uh oh and he drives like a mad man! My personal mentor! Haha.
And not to forget, our tour guide, Mr. Hidayat on the right picture, the one in the red shirt. He is very fond of my name, forever quiz-ing me on the information that he just told us. Sometimes he made me nervous, as if i'm taking exam or something. Chill out dude! I'm here on holiday!
All in all, it was a holiday with fun-filled adventure (ok sounding like some kids show commercial) and also a new and very different culture altogether from Malaysia. And the people are very friendly especially the men. Ok i don't mean to sound menggatal or sexist or anything. But i don't see that many women on the street. And the few that i met are either very ignorant or very kedekut senyuman. The men however, are very friendly and helpful. Bagai langit dengan bumi. Haha. Ladies, take it from the men, it wouldn't hurt to smile more =D
OOKAAY. I think this is a long enough post. I'll save you the horror of reading anymore of my never-ending-stories for later. Now i better stop and get some sleep. See you at my next post! =)
Hehe. You see, i have this thing about holiday. I never want to go home. I fall in love with a place so easily. The people. The lifestyle. The food. The weather. In a way, i assimilate to a culture as easily as the world fell in love with Justin Bieber. (??)
This year, my annual family vacation was in Istanbul, Turkey. Yes, the land of cotton, olive oil, silk, and of course, hot Turks men. Haha. We are there for a week, a rather short time to fully explore the many wonders of Istanbul. But since it's really hard to put everyone's schedule together, any chance we had is a good time to go on holiday.
Last year, we didn't get to go on holiday together. I was alone in Paris visiting my aunt after completing my internship. My parents were too busy with work, but they managed to squeeze in a 5 days trip to Bandung, Indonesia for my second brother and youngest sister. Too bad for my first brother as he was in the middle of exams for his pre-university course in UM, he did not get to go anywhere at all. So, this year's holiday was some sort of a make-up holiday for him. Which is why he was the most excited. Or so he said.
So, we depart from KLIA on a Sunday night. From KL to Istanbul, it took almostt 10 gruesome hours to get to Atatürk International Airport. Let me tell you something. I was never a big fan of long-haul flights. Well maybe not if i'm flying the plane. Or if i fly business class instead maybe i would feel differently. But flying economy for the whole 10 hours was a complete torture for me. To make things worse, i'm not the type who sleeps well in a vehicle. Not even in cars. Unless i'm really really tired, which in this case, i was totally the opposite of tired. So as you can imagine, i hardly closed my eyes throughout the journey. I'm still in awe at how easily my brothers fell asleep. The plane was not even taxing for take off yet, and they are already dozing off probably somewhere in Lala Land. And as for me, i ended up tracing the route of the flight any chance i have. It went something like this:
1st hour : Oh the Andaman Sea.
2 hours later : Oh we are in India.
3 hours later : Can we stop by Dubai for a while?
Another 2 hours later : Oh oh i see Turkey up ahead! Mr. Pilot, please please speed up!
I would looovee to throw the "Are we there yet?" tantrum since this time i have my parents around, but i don't think my age could pull it of. It wouldn't be a pretty sight for everyone anyway. I wish i was 5 years old =(
However, thank-my-lucky-star for MAS in-flight entertainment system. They were my life saver. Well, they don't exactly have the most up-to-date movie selections but it did make the long hours much much more bearable. (2 hours of Channing Tatum, who's complaining?)
However, thank-my-lucky-star for MAS in-flight entertainment system. They were my life saver. Well, they don't exactly have the most up-to-date movie selections but it did make the long hours much much more bearable. (2 hours of Channing Tatum, who's complaining?)
When we finally get there, it was a wet Monday morning in Istanbul. Our tour guide, Mr. Hidayat was already waiting at the airport along with our driver for the week. They took us to our hotel and the first thing i could think of was sleep. It was barely 8 am and the locals have not started their day yet. So i thought a quick nap would kill the time as i needed it very much. Well, i overestimated my self-control a little too much. I woke up at almost noon thinking i just lost half-a-day worth of sight seeing the city *sigh*.
The rest of my Turkish encounter will be told in pictures. It will tell most of the stories much better than my almost-all-the-time-sidetracked story telling.
After that very regretful sleep i had, we went out for lunch at a local restaurant in the Aksaray neighborhood called Emet Saray. The food was fantastic. I got my first taste of the famous Turkish meatballs and it was simply delicious. And there's something about the rice. Usually i am a heavy rice eater, but it only took a quarter of my usual portion to get me full. So very weird.
That night, we took the tram to another neighborhood called Sirkeci to meet up with my aunt and uncle from Paris. We walked around the Gulhane neighborhood. In the rain. Haha. As the rain gets heavier, we stopped by for dinner at a restaurant called Home Made. Yeah. Not very original. And the food is not that good anyway. And it took waaay too long to get our food and it was crazy expensive as well! Such a waste. But one good thing though, they do have beautiful decorations (not that i could eat them though).
Next is the Bosphorus Cruise. The cruise took us along the Bosphorus Strait which divides the Europe continent with Asia continent. Pretty amazing view. Oh and while cruising, guess who we passed by? Nah nobody really. Just the Chealse billionaire, Roman Abramovich relaxing on his yacht. *Oh oh he was recently divorced. Anyone interested?* =D
We get to drive along the Bosphorus Bridge which connects Asia and Europe. At each end of the bridge, you will be greeted by the sign welcoming you to Europe and Asia, whichever way you are heading.
Alhamdulillah, by the third day, the weather was wonderful for sightseeing. We visited the Hippodrome of Constantinople and the Sultanahmet Mosque (or more widely known as th Blue mosque) in the morning. The interior of the Blue Mosque was simply breathtaking! The walls are adorned with blue tiles (hence the nickname!) and dates back to the 1600. It is really quite sad to see that there have been attempts to steal the tiles on the walls. Hands off thieves! Go buy yourselves an imitation at the souvenir shops outside =D
On the fourth day, before we start the tour, Mama would like another round at the Grand Bazaar. This time, we spent almost 4 hours there shopping for ceramics and tiles for our house. It was fun for Mama and I. Not so much for the boys though =p Oh oh and this is when i got myself a new Turks boyfriend! Mama wasn't too happy about this hehe. Some of the beautiful things we bought at the Grand Bazaar:
After lunch, we were taken to a mosque at the outskirt of Istanbul where the tomb of a famous Sahabat, Ayub Al-Ansari was located. He was sent by Rasulullah S.A.W to conquer Istanbul (then known as Constantinople). He requested that when he died he was to be buried in Istanbul thus the Sultan at the moment granted his request by building him a special tomb at the mosque. While at the mosque, we saw boys dressed up as prince walking around. We later learned that it is a local ritual that before a boy undergoes circumcision, he has to visit a mosque to pray. Well, it sure seems like an unusual ritual to us, so we just had to take picture with the cute looking boy! Oh he'll grow up to be one handsome young man haha!
Oh and before we call it a day, the tour guide took us to take picture at some part of the fortification wall called Theodosian Wall from the 4th century. It was indeed a good place to cam-whore!
And on the final day, we went to visit the terminal station for the Orient Express. Back when it was still running, the Orient Express travels from Paris to Istanbul in what was considered as luxury travel. Now, the station held a museum in remembrance of the glorious days of Orient Express. Such a nostalgic place, even if you have never board the train.
After that, we meet up with my aunt and uncle for some last minute shopping for small souvenirs to take home. Since it was Friday, the men had to go for Jumaat prayer at noon. Lucky them, they get the chance to perform Jumaat prayers at the Blue Mosque. A once in a lifetime experience maybe for them. While they were at it, the rest of us went for a walk at the Gulhane Park located just outside the wall of Topkapi Palace.
On Saturday, we left for the airport at 11.30 am for a flight back to KL at 2.30 pm.
Oh before that, let me introduce our driver on the left picture, the 2nd guy from the right. Until the end, we didn't find out his name (-_-") It doesn't help that he doesn't speak a single word of English. But he is a very nice man, always smiling though he understands nothing. Uh oh and he drives like a mad man! My personal mentor! Haha.
And not to forget, our tour guide, Mr. Hidayat on the right picture, the one in the red shirt. He is very fond of my name, forever quiz-ing me on the information that he just told us. Sometimes he made me nervous, as if i'm taking exam or something. Chill out dude! I'm here on holiday!
All in all, it was a holiday with fun-filled adventure (ok sounding like some kids show commercial) and also a new and very different culture altogether from Malaysia. And the people are very friendly especially the men. Ok i don't mean to sound menggatal or sexist or anything. But i don't see that many women on the street. And the few that i met are either very ignorant or very kedekut senyuman. The men however, are very friendly and helpful. Bagai langit dengan bumi. Haha. Ladies, take it from the men, it wouldn't hurt to smile more =D
OOKAAY. I think this is a long enough post. I'll save you the horror of reading anymore of my never-ending-stories for later. Now i better stop and get some sleep. See you at my next post! =)
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