move eat learn

With thanks to The Guardian for drawing my attention to these gems, here are three little videos that may keep you entertained while I put together a Turkey update within the next day-or-so.

MOVE

EAT



LEARN

Turkish delight

Thorung Phedi, 4400m.  This was the day before cresting the Annapurna Circuit, one last acclimatisation hike so that we'd be able to make it over the 5500m pass without throwing up.  Despite all the moving I've done in recent years, I haven't been able to set aside a satisfying chunk of time to really sink into a trip since this photo was taken in 2003.  You know when you're in a water slide, not racing through a corkscrew but sort of rocking back-and-forth on a straight stretch?  That precise point is how I feel when I'm off on my own in the middle of nowhere: happy and ultra-alive, excited about everything that got me there as well as whatever I might face next. Travel Zen is the closest I've come to the free-floating bliss that expert meditators regularly tap into - this could explain my addiction.

So you can understand my giddiness when informed that Filippo would be posted to exotic Türkiye for five weeks.  Our flight leaves tomorrow just before noon - leapfrogging Istanbul to finish in Ankara.  It's the administrative capital of the country, so to zestify a potentially dry stay, I strong-armed my surprisingly sedentary Italian into ten million flavourful side trips.  My flexible contract and trusty tank of a Dell allows me to work from anywhere, so I'll put in ten days for The Man then take about three weeks for myself.

 

Our first field trip will be to Istanbul, of course.  A few days ago, we confirmed our stay at "First of Special Class Hotels in Sultanahmet" (Hotel Nomade), and immediately tried to get into the swing of things by watching Oliver Stone's Midnight Express - which neither of us knew was a brutal story about an American hash smuggler stuck in a Turkish prison.  To sweeten things up, we concentrated on booking our next stop: Cappadocia, or "Valley of the Fairy Chimneys" on the map above.  We'll spend three days there together, then Filippo will return to Ankara and I'll head east to Erzurum and hopefully onto Van, Mt Ararat area (Doğubeyazıt for the İshak Paşa palace), up to Kars (for Ani) then over to Trabzon (for Sümela Monastery).  I aim to fly back to Ankara from Trabzon, then will drag Filippo up to Safranbolu with me for two days.  We'll both work on August 29, then enjoy the closing festivities of Ramadan at a hidden beach about halfway between Bodrum and Antalya (called Kabak) where the hippies run wild and free.

Our shuttle for the airport arrives in twelve hours, Filippo is taking a nap because he started work at 5 this morning.  My next post will be from some sort of compound in Ankara - no idea what to expect, all I know is that our "apartment" is the former mail room.  Will pack quietly and prepare for the water slide.