Cappadocia and the blue cruise

Fairy Chimneys at Cappadocia

I am so far behind here… I think I was in cappadocia three weeks ago but I’m not sure. Jumping from place to place with only a few days to see the sights hasn’t left much time for blogging and photo-posting.

So… Cappadocia (pronounced kap-ah-doke-ya) was super cool. But super hot! Oh my gosh it was like 90 degrees with 60% humidity. Seriously. I stayed at a hostel with a pool, which helped. Cappadocia is famous for it’s “fairy chimneys,” unusual rock formations that look like little peaks, clustered together. The people have hollowed them out and created whole cities which reach deep underground. I explored the area both from the sky, in a hot air ballon, and from underground in a cave tour. I scooter’d around with two friends from my hostel, and stopped for the tour at Mazi, which our hostel’s owner assured us was a “less touristy” spot. We were greeted by a crazy guide in a cowboy hat who insisted we have tea and sandwiches before our tour. Apparently Turkish hospitality is renowned, and turning him down would have been insulting. So we had our tea and finally our tour began!

Long-ass tunnel I had to climb up. Thanks Kyle and Tom for pushing me!

I will tell you, this tour is less touristy because it involves some rather insane vertical climbs through dark tunnels, aided only by a rope attached to the top. There were small divots for feet dug out of the sides, ladder-style, but when you’re dangling in this small space you wonder how the heck you will get your shoes to stay in those stupid holes. When I was directed to climb up one that was about 15 feet long I was so scared I was practically in tears. But the guide gave me no choice, my travel companions encouraged me and I finally mounted the ladder that led me into the tunnel. I made it out with my body intact but my nerves shot. I will never ever ever ever do that again!!!

And it gets better- on the way back to our hostel we stopped to look at our map and a nearby group of men approached us… They just stared at me. I mean, in an “I’m going to kidnap and rape you” sort of way. Luckily I was scootering with two guys, so we hightailed it out of there. As I drove off I realized that as a female in this country, I have limited freedom. I can’t go out at night alone without men asking me if I’m a prostitute. I can’t go riding around in the countryside alone on a scooter. I can’t wear clothes that are more comfortable in warm weather without men assuming I’m a whore. It made me angry!

One of the harbors we stopped in for a look-see

Anyway, after my insufferably hot time in Cappadocia, I went south to the beaches of the Mediterranean coast to join a cruise. There were ten of us relaxing on a great sailboat for four days. The schedule mostly involved sunbathing/reading on the deck, taking dips in the amazing blue water, noshing on crepes and ice cream we bought from other small boats, and stopping into a couple of tiny towns to see roman ruins and shop. I loved it and made some lifelong friends. They also got me to sing and I was invited to come perform at a wedding in Perth in March. I may have to find a cheap flight to take them up on the offer, since I love Australia.

The cruise ended in Fethiye where I hung out for a few days with new girlfriends. I decided to join one of them on a para-sailing adventure over the blue lagoon. It was surprisingly anti-climactic, since the takeoff sight was a runway instead of a straight jump off a cliff. But seeing the lagoon from high up in the sky was a treat and I’m really glad I did it. One more thing to check off the list!

One of the girls was a hairdresser who gave me a great trim, which I desperately needed. She even had her little smock, scissors and spray bottle! Fethiye was also the town where we got solicited for sex, befriended a bar owner who gave us free hookahs and five dollar cocktails one night, and I got kicked out of my hostel for complaining about the A/C.

There is a super cool dinner place in Fethiye where you pick your seafood from a group of fishmongers, and have the restaurant cook it to your taste. My two friends and I shared an amazing fresh-caught giant sea bream. Yummy!

By this time I’d decided that I really love Turkey. Turkish people are incredibly kind, generous and welcoming.

Hooray for sakura!

Last night I joined a big couchsurfers gathering in Osaka under the cherry trees. This is a tradition in Japan of celebrating the blooming of the cherry blossoms – called Sakura in Japanese – by picknicking under them in a large park. Someone heads down to the park early in the morning and drops a few tarps on the ground, then by afternoon everyone’s brought food and drinks and is partying til the wee hours. I was invited by my host, a warm-hearted cassanova from Spain named Jaume, to attend this party before heading back to his place to crash for the evening.
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Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima is very different from in Tokyo. They make two flat egg crepes, sizzle up a pile of noodles, cabbage, bean sprouts and your choice of meat, then sandwich the mixture between the crepes. They top with sauce and spices, e viola! A yummy quesadilla thing stuffed with tasty carbs. I ordered the chef’s special, with bacon, prawns, green onions, and squid.

More Tokyo to love

Oi! Too much done in Tokyo to catch up on. So I’ll attempt a quick abbreviation.

Back to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Joined some folks from the hostel for the 5:00 train down to the harbor to see the impressive auction of gigantic tuna brought onshore that morning. The tourists cramped our style, but I got some cool pics and video. After the auction we went around the corner to the area where tiny bars serve sashimi and sushi of the fresh fish that’s come into port that morning. There it was I had the best, cheapest o-toro of my life. Yum! Then we walked around the gigantic food market where vendors deal everything from fresh fish and other seafood to dried treats and seaweed products. We sampled a lot of funky stuff.

Another memorable evening, my new friend Anwar and I set out to experience several big cultural pastimes in Japan. First was a Maid Cafe. Young women, dressed in French maid outfits wait on you, play games with you, and sing you little songs. It’s really bizarre and uncomfortable, but I can say I did it.

Then we stopped into a Pachinko parlor. Pachinko is this electronic game where you use a knob to shoot balls up a ramp and when they reach the top of the game board they trickle down through a series of pins, to the bottom where you want them to fall into a crack in the center, but most of them dont. The balls that do come back to you, and you are given even more balls when you win. After you’re done playing, you take the balls to a machine and they are counted, and you can use the credit toward prizes and cash

The parlor is more of an arcade, resembling our slot machine casinos at home. Businessmen are zoned out in front of the machines, cigarettes in hand, trying to make the silver balls obey their whim. The machines are crazy loud, as is the music playing over the loudspeakers. I’m talking, “I should have brought my earplugs” loud. Undaunted we sat down and put some money in the machine. A friendly attendant came by and showed me how to play…

So I’m going along, adjusting the knob to try and shoot the balls the right height, and noticing quite a lot of balls are falling into the winnings tray. A few minutes go by and the tray is full. I swap it out for an empty tray. Soon enough, I’m swapping trays again! I hear the attendant behind me telling Anwar, “She is very lucky!” and I’m realizing that I’m actually pretty good at getting the little balls into the hole. After half an hour I decide to call it quits. My arm is tired and I really have no idea what kind of prizes I’m going to have to schlep around Japan for the rest of my trip.

They took me to a counter, counted my balls, then told me I had 590 yen, pick a soda, some candy and/or cigarettes. Totally dazed I just pick some candy randomly then I’m given a stack of electronic cartridges, and led out of the parlor, down an alley to a booth. Where they handed me 16000 yen. That’s about 180 bucks American. And so, clearly I am some kind of pachinko shark. I treated my buddy to a crepe and a drink (he lost his 1000yen and had to watch me bringing in the goodies, after all), then we hit our last stop, Kagaya.

This bar is advertised on the Internet as one of the craziest bars in Tokyo. The owner asks what drink you want, and what “national style” you’d like it served in. First up, I’m in japan, so of course I want Sake, served Japanese style. He disappears behind a curtain, and reappears with a fan, then proceeds into a rather impressive japanese fan dance, kabuki-style. My drink was served in a decanter topped with a little cherub figurine that pee’d my sake into a masu box.

A large group of Americans were there and ordered some other drinks, Chinese style and got a martial arts performance. I ordered French and got a lascivious portrait sketched on an easel, the host wearing a beret and making obscene gestures the whole time.

Whew. There was so very much more, but just go look at the pictures. You’ll get the idea.

Dinner with the Sharks

Last night we had dinner at one of the main restaurants here in Noumea. It’s positioned at the end of a pier above the water. The tables sit around the edges of the deck and the water below is lit up so you can watch the fish swimming around in the water (it’s so clear and the sand is so white you can see pretty far down). We were shocked when we realized the fish swimming around were actually small sharks! Not only that, we saw a few Manta Rays swim by, and then a dolphin showed up. We watched it catch a fish, swim around for awhile and then disappear into the night. The sharks were actually protecting their nest from the Seagulls flying around; the little baby sharks were swarming near the posts holding up the pier. The food, of course, was delicious!