The Incomprehensible Magic of Turkey: Fetiye and Ephesus

FETIYE and EPHESUS

Fetiye is a small town on the Mediterranean. It has...

Rocks

Feet

Naked feet

Long term boat parking

Water cars

Trees

Sand

More sand

Other trees

Ghost town. No ghosts though, so just… town. It was forcibly abandoned by Greek settlers around WWI. Sad… The whole thing is crumbling rocks being retaken by nature. Sad…

Hang-gliding. It only costs $30-40 so it’s a popular activity here. In high season there are supposedly whole flocks.

Fetiye is the main town, but there are many other beaches and attractions nearby, such as Butterfly Valley (the place with my feet hanging over the cliff) or Oludeniz (the place with the pale blue water). The dolmush (minibus) goes to most of these places and only costs $1-2.

Ephesus is an ancient town along the Mediterranean, in Western Turkey. It was once a major trade hub, and is one of the most historically important places in Western civilization. Razed and rebuilt by more people than I care to research, it has…

Cats

More cats

 

SO MANY CATS!

It’s got some old rocks and stuff

Lots of old stuff

There’s a murder-torium. Also used for plays. The people in the middle were having private conversations and I could hear every word. Great acoustics.

The coliseum was used for council meetings too. But most people just know it as a murder-torium, which supposedly sat over 20,000 people. Want to hear quotes from the movie, Gladiator? It’s all people say here.

There’s a high literacy rate in Ephesus

There’s this thing

Here’s another angle

It was actually a library, but archaeologists used to think it was a brothel for a long time. Oh, you naughty books…

If you want to visit Ephesus you'll take a bus to Aydin, then take an hour-long minibus to Selcuk. Get a hostel in Selcuk- Ephesus is only a ten minute mini-bus ride away. The entrance fee is about $10. Bring food in with you, because there are no restaurants inside, and there's only ONE bathroom. I went to the far side of the archaeological site, by another entrance and asked where the bathroom was- they said I had to go back to the other entrance on the opposite side. I pointed to the bathrooms right outside this gate and asked, "Can I use that one?" They said, "Sure, you can exit and use those bathrooms, but you'll have to buy another ticket to come back in." The old stuff is cool, but the new things... not so much.

Ephesus also has a tomb for St. John, the Apostle, and a graveyard for gladiators. I didn't see these things, however, because I had to run to the bathroom, and needed food. Plan your day accordingly. Don't miss things because the site was planned poorly.

So... I look like a Syrian refugee

My mother’s family is Western European. My father’s is Latino. I have ambiguous, light brown skin, a Caucasian bone structure, with dark eyes, and dark hair.

My ex-girlfriend guessed that I was Armenian when we first met. While living in Shanghai, some people thought I was from Xinjiang, the far western region of China with most of China’s Muslims. While in Turkey, people thought I was Turkish. Others have guessed Italian, and Kazak, and Spanish, and too many to name.

Now I’m in Macedonia, a major stop for the refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and headed toward Western Europe. The locals in this country have fair skin, Caucasian features, and light colored hair. I DO NOT look like a local, but I do bear a resemblance, I’m told, to the refugees. I also dress like one, apparently. I’m a poor backpacker, and so I buy everything as cheaply as I can and then wear it until it falls apart- sometimes even after it’s fallen apart.

Many people here ask me if I’m from Syria or Afghanistan, sometimes accusingly. Border guards give me and my passport a few minutes of extra attention. When I approach strangers to ask for directions they seem very wary of me- not offering to help until they’ve ‘figured me out.’ Some outright refuse me.

The bus driver from Greece to Macedonia didn’t believe that my passport was real and didn’t want to let me on the bus. Years ago, my pages were almost full from so many stamps and visas, so I paid to have an extra 50 pages put into my passport. This bus driver said dismissively, in his broken English, that I had two passports stuck together. I had to show him the official stamp that explained about my pages being added. He still examined it for another few minutes before he reluctantly let me on the bus.

None of my experiences from these past few weeks have been problems. But it makes me wonder about the people who ARE refugees. If this is the treatment that I get- the constant mini-interrogations- because I’m an American who happens to look like them, what treatment do they get?

Right now there are 15,000 people who look like me, stuck on the border between Greece and Macedonia, because neither country wants them. There are people dying in the water trying to reach outlying Greek islands. There are people expunging their life savings, just for the CHANCE of escaping violence.

Yesterday I missed my train stop while coming in to Skopje, the capitol of Macedonia. I spent 30 minutes haggling with a taxi driver at midnight, in near freezing weather, to get a ride back into the city. I was livid with myself for making the stupid mistake, and wasting money when I didn’t have to. But I reminded myself that there are people in this country with actual problems. It’s good to keep things in perspective. If you sleep in a warm bed, and know where your family is, and have a full belly, and are healthy, then shut the hell up- you’re fine.

If you’re interested in helping out with the refugees, I’ve listed three organizations below, along with the percentage of your money that actually goes to the cause. You know some charities only give like 3% of your donated money. My research for these was done through charitywatch.org.

www.acrelief.org
90% - American Refugee Committee

www.DoctorsWithoutBorders.org
87% - Doctors without Borders

www.Unicefusa.org
77% - UNICEF 

Cappadocia: Turkey's great treasure

I LOVE the small town of Cappadocia- it's in Turkey. In the middle.

Cappadocia is in a hilly, desert area.

Sometimes it has snow.

 

And sometimes it doesn't.

 

But when it snows, it’s really beautiful.

It has a big castle called Uchisar.

Look how tiny it is!

 

No, but it's actually big- those are caves and tunnels carved into the stone.

It has a beautiful view.

 

Lots to see.

 

There are flowers in Cappadocia.

There are many small towns in Cappadocia- this is Gerome, the town I stayed in. It's the best.

Did I mention Cappadocia has caves? 

There is a whole underground city, with miles of tunnels; early Christians used this underground labyrinth to hide from, and confuse, the Romans. There are all sorts of clever booby traps and decoy tunnels that were implemented.

Cappadocia has balloons.

 

A lot of balloons.

They come up with the sunrise.

This is something you want to see.

 

You want to visit Cappadocia- like these smart people.

 

No really, come visit here.

Right now.

Like this guy.

 


Thanks for reading to the end- here's an extra pic.

India. In Pictures

India. In pictures.

"How was India?" "What's India like?" "India, wow, how was that?"

India is, pardon my language, a clusterfuck. It's got good things, it's got bad things, it's got great things, it's got horrible things. And every state in India is different- traveling from Darjeeling, in the east, to Kerala, in the south, is like traveling from Nepal to Sri Lanka. The states and cities can be as different as foreign countries. And I will say, in all honesty that I disliked vast portions of India. Some people there were so rude that it just irritated me to no end. Granted, there were plenty of good people, but the incessant honking and shoving and CONSTANT attempts to cheat me out of my money just soured me on the country. I could complain more, but y'all won't read it. You just came for pretty pictures.

My trip in India. 

I started off in Calcutta, which was ok. It's a surprisingly wealthy city, nothing too crazy, and things are quite cheap. Some friends and I volunteered at the Mother Theresa house. We cleaned beds, helped prepare food, did some washing. I was surprised when they asked me to shave beards. These were men who were either physically or mentally incapable of taking care of themselves, for any number of reasons.

One of the men started drooling while I was feeling his face and checking for stubble I'd missed. I just worked through the feeling of warm saliva and told myself I was helping another person. Overall a great experience.

DARJEELING & NEPAL

Next I went to a place called Darjeeling, which is far eastern India. It’s sort of between Nepal, Bhutan China, and Bangladesh. The official language here is Nepalese, and a few people mistook me for a local and started talking to me in Nepalese. I got a kick out of that. 

I went on a really rough, 3 day hike through the Himalayas. I got to see Mt. Everest, but it didn't look so special from a distance. Our hike took us along the Indian and Nepalese border, and we were constantly crossing the border and had to sign in at check points manned by guys with ancient AK-47's. Pretty sure I saw a few World War 2 era M-1's. All faded wood and worn metal.

The first picture here is me standing in Nepal, and looking across the border and into India. The second is me standing in India and looking into Nepal. 

I went to a zoo the day before the trek and saw what kind of wild life was in the park. Leopards, cobras, and bears- oh my! I really wanted to see a wild snow leopard, but am also kinda glad I didn't.

The view while hiking was like nothing I could have imagined. It was so powerful, and lonely, and menacing, and terrifyingly sublime- seeing it was almost spiritual. We hiked in the winter, which no one does, because of the extreme cold. The mountain was almost empty. Over three days we saw two Koreans, one Spanish guy, three Indians, and a woman from Europe . And that's it! Three days of hiking and those are all the other climbers we saw.

The weather was so cold that while eating, my body went into such a fit of shivering that I almost threw up my food. No hot showers in the mountains. I wore: 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 jackets, gloves, 1 hat, and I was still FREEZING.

If you find yourself in Darjeeling and fancy a hike, I HIGHLY recommend this guy. I used his company and loved it. His wife runs the restaurant, he runs the tours. Use him.

VARANASI

After the Himalayas I went to Varanasi, one of the holiest cities, and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities, in the world. Varanasi is where all Hindus want to die, because they believe that in dying there, they can exit the reincarnation cycle and reach heaven. The Ganges River runs through Varanasi, and seeing it is really something to behold. The river itself isn’t so special, but seeing the people around it- wow…

Bodies, wrapped in white cloth, decorated with red and gold tapestries, and adorned with flowers, are burnt along the river all day and night. A sacred funeral flame has been burning for 3500 years. The male head of the family, which can sometimes be a young boy, has his head shaven at the riverside, and starts the fire that will consume the dead family member. Members of the untouchable caste, the lowest of the Indian castes, clean and prepare the fires.

 

Children, pregnant women, lepers, and snake bite victims are not burned, and instead are just tossed into the water to be taken downstream.

Cows and goats eat the flowers and cloths, which are spared the flames; a dozen or more cows stand idly while bodies are burned. Children play in the distance, sometimes downwind of the fires, paying no mind to the smoke and ashes in the air. I'm told that Aghoris (holy men) lather themselves with the ashes of the dead. I saw one covered in ash, but couldn't tell you if it came from a funeral fire. People bathe about 20 meters from where the bodies are burnt. Really intense stuff and it's all out in the open. No pictures allowed though- how would you feel is some tourists showed up at your grandma’s funeral to take pictures.

I also saw a snake charmer, and paid him 20 rupees (30 cents) for a picture. 

Varanasi has a number of back alleys with delicious food. It's also a lot of fun to hire a boat and watch the sun rise. Boat drivers will try to rip you off though. 600 rupees for a two hour ride is a fair price, you could do better or worse. Keep that in mind as you haggle.

HAMPI

Next I went Hampi, another spiritual hub for Indians. It's an ancient city that is all ruins now and being there feels like something from Indiana Jones. It's a hot desert with a river running through it, and the tiny town is really IN the ruins. At the peak of its time, around 1500 AD, it was the second largest city in the world, only smaller then Beijing.

 

KERALA

Next I went to Kerala, a state in the south. Kerala has the highest literacy rate in all of India, somewhere around 95%. A popular attraction there is the back waters- miles and miles of tangles canals that cut through jungle and farmland. It is common knowledge in India that St. Thomas (doubting Thomas) came to Kerala in 50 AD and began spreading the gospel.

 

I stayed with my amazing friend, Appu, and his wife and son. He and his wife are doctors and they’re the best people in India. Yes, over a billion people, and I found the best ones.

MUNNAR

After Kerala I went to a small city called Munnar, famous for its tea fields. I had a lovely time there, and accidentally wandered onto a private tea plantation. Security was not happy about that. Munnar was relaxed and fun and everything that the insanity of the north was not. For an escape from India's more overcrowded and 'clusterfuck' cities, visit Munnar. 

 

After Munnaria I went to Madurai to fly to my next destination, Sri Lanka. But the airport was closed. I ended up sleeping on the ground outside the airport. India just didn’t want to let me go, huh…