Turkey Day 4 - Pamukkale

01 Jun - After a memorable hot air balloon ride the day before, we had to check out our hotel early in the evening to catch an overnight bus ride to Pamukkale, which means Cotton Castle in Turkish.

 Catching the morning sun in Pamukkale

A general overview of Pamukkale, which show the terraces of calcium carbonate deposited by flowing water

The ancient ruins of Hierapolis, serving as a hot spring and spa city since second century BC. The above served as a tomb for the ancient people when they die

 The more wealthy you are, the bigger your tomb

 The theatre of Hieropolis

First sight of the cotton castle, made by calcium carbonate deposit from the hot spring water coming from the Earth

Turkey Day 3 - Hot Air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia

31 May - A visit to Cappadocia cannot go without its iconic hot air balloon ride. In order to catch the sunrise flight over the rock formation, we woke up early in the morning at 5am to catch the transportation to the departure site.

 Hot Air balloons warming up in progress

 Almost ready for lift off!

 Up up and away we go!

 Hundreds of balloons lifting off is really a sight to behold

 Catching the morning sun ray peeking in between the rain clouds

 Ancient housing dwellings carved into the rocks

 With natural erosion, some of the old dwellings become inaccessible.

 More Fairy Chimneys

 A unique site showing the past rock dwellings (background) and modern housing (Foreground)

 Having a shot at Turkish Coffee. The taste was rather unique and the concentration was not too high.

Horse Carriage used for goods transportation

Turkey Day 2

30 May - For the itinerary in Turkey, due to the difficulty in planning for the transport to the places we are interested in going, we decided to book a local tour to save the hassle. After staying for a night in Istanbul, we are picked up early in the morning (6am?) to the domestic airport for a flight to Cappadocia.

The domestic airport in Cappadocia really reminds me of the budget terminal in Singapore last time. Not only are they simple (Lack of facilities), passengers have to walk themselves to the airplane for boarding.

 Our Flight by Turkish Airline

 Beautiful grassland in Cappadocia

Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in the Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, and Niğde Provinces in Turkey. Traditionally used in Christian sources throughout history, it currently continues to be in use as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys , large network of underground tunnels, underground cities, stone caves and a unique historical and cultural heritage (Wikipedia, 2015).

 Stone houses carved into stone

The unique houses carved into the rocks right behind our hotel, which is coincidentally called "The Flintstones"

Turkish people simply loves cat. They can easily be seen roaming around the premises like a boss

Unique Cappadocia geography feature: Fairy Chimneys. If you are interested in their formation, you may refer to here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(geology)

 Houses carved into the rock

Unique features of the rock carved by years of natural erosion. For the above, there is a formation that looked like a camel. Can you see it?

A live demonstration of how silk is extracted to from the cocoon to make the beautiful carpets

 The stone formation unique to Cappadocia

 Ancient churches with their drawings and decoration

Sources:
N.A. (2015) Cappadocia. Retrieved 17-Jul-2015 from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

Turkey Day 1

28 May - Like the past travel experience, in order to make full use of our limited time, we got ourselves on a midnight flight to Turkey, with a 10 hours transit in Dubai. This proved to be the longest transit waiting time in my entire travel experience so far. Luckily, we have the ANZ Travel card, which give us unlimited access to lounges in some of the airport, which was really a blessing. The lounges not only provided us food, it also allowed us to catch some shut eye while we wait for our connecting flight.

 Back to Dubai Airport. Think this is the 3rd time I am here?

Courtesy of Emirates Airline, which give their passenger a free meal if you have more than 4 hours in between transit time.

 After 10+ hours of transit time, we arrived at Turkey

 Beautiful houses made of wood planks

 Colorful Houses

Turkish Delights

Back from Hiatus

A lot of things has happened since the last post. Nonetheless, I am back! Time to revive this blog =)

Farewell Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Founding Prime Minister

The sky opened up and cried as the country bids a final farewell to Singapore first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He was the man responsible for leading Singapore from a poor fishing village in 1965 to a first world county in just 30-40 years time. He was the man who gave ordinary Singaporean a chance to have a roof over their head and not starve if you work for it. He was the man who make sure children have affordable education at least to secondary level to at least earn their own living. More importantly, he was the man who build a clean, corruption free government, turning most parts of Singapore into water catchment areas so that we can have water sustainability, driving greenery and eventually earning Singapore a fine garden city name.

 

I find this song is a good reflection of what Mr Lee Kuan Yew has done over his lifetime for Singapore:

 

We Are Singapore - Hugh Harrison

 

There was a time when people said
That Singapore won't make it, but we did
There was a time when troubles seemed too much
For us to take, but we did
We built a nation, strong and free, reaching out together
For peace and harmony

Chorus 1:
This is my country, this is my flag
This is my future, this is my life
This is my family, these are my friends
We are Singapore, Singaporeans

Singapore our homeland, it's here that we belong
All of us united, one people marching on
We've come so far together, our common destiny
Singapore forever, a nation strong and free

(Repeat Chorus 1)

(Sung)
We the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness
Prosperity and progress for our nation

Chorus 2:
We are Singapore, we are Singapore
We will stand together, hear the lion roar
We are Singapore, we are Singapore
We're a nation strong and free forevermore

(Repeat Chorus 1 & 2)

We are Singapore, Singaporeans (X 2)

 

Thank you for all you have done Mr Lee Kuan Yew. You have given all Singaporean a future to look forward to.