Category Archives: Holidays

Day 507 In Beijing: Our First Day In Goreme, Turkey.

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Amazing that they park a car inside this garage.

Amazing that they park a car inside this garage.

 

Jill and I unpacked our luggage and decided to walk around Goreme.

It is a very small town, of maybe 4,000 people, and most have been here for generations.

We talked to the Village Cave House Hotel‘s owner, Onur for a bit and then headed out down the hill.

It only took about 5 minutes to walk into the heart of Goreme, which is mostly shops and stalls, selling all kinds of jewelry and memorabilia about Goreme and the fairy chimneys that are all over this area of Turkey.

We went into a jewelry store and saw a gemstone that we had never seen before.  It was called Zultanite and it is only mined, and sold, in Turkey.

It was unlike any gemstone that we had seen because it changes color depending on the light.

We saw, in about 2 minutes time, 6 different colors.

The colors ranged from a light amethyst to dark green to rose to dark blue to purple.

We were blown away.

We continued walking around, as we wanted to get some wine, cheese and crackers to eat on our balcony and just relax and we saw many more rings with this gemstone in them.

As we walked around, we noticed that there is a landing, and a platform, on top of the highest mountain in Goreme, and we decided to walk up to it.

It was a very steep hill but it was more than worth it as we happened to find a couple getting married and were able to get a few shots of them kissing and celebrating.

I love their shoes in the pictures!

 

Day 506 In Beijing: Arrival at Village Cave House Hotel.

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The view from our room.

The view from our room.

 

Jill was in the back seat, talking to the other expatriates, and I was hanging out in the front seat enjoying the scenery.

We drove in to Goreme, a very small town in Cappadocia, and I was instantly blown away by the fairy chimneys that were all over this tiny little town.

Fairy Chimneys are naturally occurring rock towers in this area of Turkey.

They don’t seem to be anywhere else and they have a long history of being used, by the locals, as places to live in.

Since the rock is mostly made of lava, from a number of different volcanic eruptions, it is very soft and easy to carve out.

So, the locals carve out rooms and stay in them.

Not stayed, but stay.  Currently.

We drove by a few hotels, like the one we have made reservations in, and drove up to one that was up on the hill side and actually built into the mountain.

I turned to Jill and said, “I wish we had spent a bit more money and booked one of these!”

As the van slowed down, and the driver put the transmission into park, Jill smiled and said, “Surprise!  I did book this for us!”

I was completely blown away and, once again, amazed at Jill’s thoughtfulness and ability to make our lives together that much better.

We got our bags, walked into the Village Cave House Hotel and met Onur at the reception.

His father had started this hotel and he, his brother, and his mother still run it.

He took us to our hotel room and it was about half way up the mountain side and had a fantastic view of the valley.

We couldn’t believe how perfect everything was and how amazing our trip was going.

 

Day 505 In Beijing: Flight To Cappadocia.

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A few miles above Turkey.

A few miles above Turkey.

 

Jill had been to Cappadocia, on a previous trip to Turkey, and she wanted to share the experience with me on this trip.

Jill had set up pretty much everything about this trip and did an amazing job.

She has no interest in being a travel agent, but she could be one, if she wanted to and I am grateful that she took care of all the big, and little things, that came up.

As a psychotherapist, I definitely need a break and this trip was the perfect remedy for anything that was ailing me.

Jill had our tour company, Rock Valley Travel, set up most of our trip in Turkey and worked with them on the flights, trains, hotels, and everything else that we were going to do.

I think back to what she had to do, and with a very limited budget, and am constantly amazed at how easily Jill can get things done.

Jill is truly amazing.

We took the bus to one of the Istanbul airports, of which there are two, and waited for a few hours after checking in.

There are two airports in Istanbul, one for cheap flights and one for the long haul more expensive flights.

We were doing a 60 minute cheap flight, on Turkish Airlines, so we went to the cheap flight one.

That being said, our flight was on time and there was food.

Yes, there was food.

On a 60 minute flight there was a meal that was quite yummy.

It had a sandwich, eggplant salad, and chocolate mousse.

The total of this flight was about $85.00 USD.

I don’t think any of the US carriers do anything as nice as that and it was a very pleasant surprise.

Little known fact:  Turkish Airlines goes to more destinations than any other airline in the world.

We arrive in Cappadocia and were met by our driver, who was quite nice but spoke very little English, and a few other travelers waiting to get a ride to their hotel.

We drove in with him, about a 40 minute drive to Goreme, the town in Cappadoccia where we’d be staying, and I was blown away.

 

Day 504 In Beijing: Shave And A Haircut, 2 Bits, Part 2.

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Putting the wax in my other ear.

Putting the wax in my other ear.

 

Jill and I wanted to give you an idea of what the haircut, shave, and ear waxing felt like.

Well, here you go.

The pictures, I think, were a lot of fun but there is nothing quite like video to show the excitement, and nervousness, that I was feeling as a guy took a razor to my throat.

It was definitely a good exposure therapy experience for me to give up control, trust in someone, and just see how my anxiety rose and fell during the hour I spent in his chair.

I can definitely state that my anxiety rose quite a bit when he first pulled the skin on my face back, in order to get a taunt piece of skin, and put the razor against it.

It then fell, almost immediately, when I realized I was safe and secure.

It did raise again, briefly, when he went over my Adam’s apple as that is part I sometimes cut a bit but he did a fantastic job and not a scratch.

The ear waxing really was a hilarious event and I was in a bit of pain but it was all worth it and I’d do it over again if I had the chance.

Which, being that we came back to Istanbul on the last day of our trip, I did have that chance and I took it.

I’ll be posting that adventure in a month or so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 503 In Beijing: Shave And A Haircut, 2 Bits.

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I was a bit nervous.

I was a bit nervous.

 

Jill and I returned home and I decided to get a haircut.

My hair wasn’t that long but I wanted to try and get a shave also as I’ve never had anyone shave my face before, and since this was a vacation, I thought I’d try something new.

The barber’s shop was right across the street from Andac’s apartment so we showed up and sat down.

He had been drinking coffee, at the little cafe near Andac’s apartment, and came right over.

His son was with him and they both came over.

Strangely enough, he sent his son away with some very serious instructions, just as we were about to begin.

Little did I realize that he was having his son get some more coffee as the barber served us either Turkish coffee, or tea, with my shave and a haircut.

Okay, I have to admit I know about 20 words in Turkish and none of them really have anything to do with shaves or haircuts.

I basically pantomimed the length of how short I wanted my hair cut and that I wanted a shave.

The barber, as you can see in many of the pictures, had a mischevious grin when he was working on me and only later, in the middle of the haircut, did I understand why.

He was going to give me an ear waxing.

Yes, an ear waxing.

Now, I’ve had waxing on my eyebrows and a few other places, but near IN MY EARS!

I was a bit reticent, to say the least.

However, as I was here to try new things, I decided I’d give it a go.

It took a few minutes for him to apply the wax to my ears, and also under my eyes, and he was smiling and laughing the whole time.

We were also as I was thinking, “This will make a great blog post.”

Jill kept taking pictures as she seemed to enjoy the torture I was about to undergo and I wasn’t that worried about what might happen.

As the wax dried, he continued to work on me and then, without much notice, he pulled the right ear wax out.

It was pretty darn surprising and a bit painful.

It wasn’t horrible but it was noticeable.

The barber kept laughing and seemed to be enjoying this silliness.

We kept drinking of coffee, enjoying the haircut, shave, wax, face massage and whatever else, until it was over.

It took about 1 hour, in total, and cost about $18 USD.

A heck of a deal for a heck of a good time.

 

Day 502 In Beijing: The Maiden’s Tower.

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The Maiden's Tower.

The Maiden’s Tower.

 

Jill and I were cruising on the ferry back to Istanbul and enjoying the ride.

One of the joys of riding this ferry is that it passes by the Maiden’s Tower.

The Maiden’s Tower is a beautiful that pops right out of the bay and into the sky.

It isn’t very large, but it is quite impressive, all the same.

The story behind the tower is interesting enough, as it was built long ago and used as a military look out against invaders, and is now a restaurant and tourist destination.

Jill and I didn’t visit it, this trip, but we’ve both been there before and found it quite enjoyable.

The legend behind the Maiden’s Tower is quite intriguing.

Supposedly, an oracle told an emperor that his daughter would die from a poisonous snake on her 18th birthday.

The emperor, thinking he could outsmart fate, built this tower and kept her in it until she turned 18.

However, on her 18th birthday, he brought her a basket of delicious fruits in a beautiful basket.

When she reached in to get one of the fruits, an asp, which had been hiding in the basket, bit her and killed her.

A close up of the Maiden's Tower.

A close up of the Maiden’s Tower.

So, in case you think you can tempt fate, and ignore what an oracle’s prophecy, think again.

Day 501 In Beijing: Leaving The Prince Islands.

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A shot of the rainbow over the port.

A shot of the rainbow over the port.

 

Jill and hopped back on to the ferry to return to Istanbul.

We wish we had decided to spend more than one night on Buyukada because it is so peaceful and quiet.

Our month long vacation to Turkey and Greece was going to be a busy one, seeing lots of friends and also going to many historic sites, and having some down time was essential.

I’d almost say that is the one thing that we didn’t factor in enough on this trip and next time we will do that.

It is funny how quickly a vacation can pass and how quickly you can forget everything you did and what happened.

That is one of the benefits of this daily blog: We can look back and see what we did and how we did it whenever we want.

I’m thinking of writing a book on our travels and documenting all the crazy things that have happened to us in this 1.5 years that we’ve been together.

For now, we just want to enjoy the trip back to Istanbul and let you ride along on the ferry with us.

There is something about floating along on the sea, and just letting the wind blow through your hair, that is magical and special.

The first one is from when we docked at an island before arriving at Buyukada and the second is from when we left Buyukada to go back to Istanbul.

 

 

Day 500 In Beijing: 500 Days of Travel.

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Jill and me making a new friend. The life of an expat.

 

I’ve been traveling for 500 days now.  Jill for about 465.

It has been a long road.

We’ve had some amazing times, met some amazing people, and seen a lot of amazing things.

We’ve also had hardships and tough times.

We’ve already had great friends leave and that is one of the really tough parts of being an expat.

The people you meet, and love, move on.  And so do you.

And so will we.

It is a matter of time, as an expat, before you leave and end up somewhere else.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because we get to experience a lot of new people, new places and new adventures, but it can be tiring after a while.

It is something that I deal with, with my clients at work, at different times.

People don’t seem to understand how tough it is to make really close friends, but also know they, or you, will be leaving and that you have to rebuild your support system over and over again.

On the positive side of things you then meet all kinds of new people but on the negative side you lose contact with all kinds of people you care about and want to stay in touch with over time.

This is where this blog, Twitter, Facebook and other methods of social media help out a lot.

As we know, where Jill and I are living, makes it quite difficult to use these social media sites without a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and that makes the internet move very very very very slowly here.

There are times when we are using a VPN but still can’t get on to the social media sites and this affects Jill in a very difficult way since she needs the internet to run all her online businesses.

However, we are dealing with it as best we can and these are just part of the trials, and tribulations, of living in China and living overseas.

Jill and I actually read a book, on our kindles, while on this trip called, “Happier Than A Billionaire” by Nadine  Hays Pisani.  It is all about chucking your job, doing something somewhat crazy and moving to another country, and then seeing what can happen.

It is probably one of the funniest travelogues I’ve read and Jill and I were literally laughing so hard we started to cry at times.

After we finished the trip to Turkey and Greece, we ended up liking “Happier Than a Billionaire” on Facebook and are now friends with Nadine.

We talk to her almost daily about living overseas, each other’s dreams and desires in life, and how we can make them happen.

This probably never would have happened if I hadn’t met Jill 8 days before leaving for China and her taking a chance to spend the next 465 days with me, a guy she barely knew, in a country (multiple countries if you count our travels) that she knew nothing about, and our desire to meet interesting people, live a life less ordinary and take a chance on life.

By the way, if I can put a plug out for Nadine’s book, please click this link and buy it:  Happier Than A Billionaire.  It is on amazon and you will thank yourself for it.

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

 

Day 499 In Beijing: Trip To The Prince Islands: Sunset.

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Jill and I miss sunsets over the bay since we left San Francisco.

There really is something truly magical about being near water and seeing the sun’s light reflect off of it.

In Beijing there are a few lakes but no large bodies of water like in San Francisco or Istanbul.

It just brings us back to ourselves and we notice how much more content and relaxed we become when we can sit on a beach and just let the water crash as it hits the shore.

I think that I’ll probably want to live somewhere near the ocean, after we leave Beijing, and will try to make sure that happens.

As we sat near the main port of Buyukada, we just watched the sunset and realized just how lucky we are to have met.

The chance that my older brother, Robert, knew about a job opening in China, and then I was able to get hired, and then met Jill 8 days before I moved here, and everything else, good, bad and in between that has happened to us, is truly incredible.

We are experiencing a lifestyle that most people don’t get to experience and seeing things that most people don’t get to see.

It takes a certain type of person to be an expat and from the ones I’ve met here, and on my other travels, it is a fun, interesting, and diverse group of people that constantly allows me to learn more about the world and everyone in it.

Now, just enjoy the sunset.

 

Day 498 In Beijing: Trip To Prince Islands: More Horse and Carriage Videos.

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Two horses and their dyed manes.

Two horses and their dyed manes.

 

Honestly, Jill and I grew up in the countryside and we love horses.

We just can’t get enough of them and love to take videos and spend time around them.

When we get out of Beijing, and start traveling again, we will definitely take our time and ride horses more often.

I’d like to do a fairly major campaign, on horseback, for a few days and see what it is like.

Maybe in the Grand Canyon or maybe some place much less busy and more isolated so that we can just enjoy the freedom, solitude, and quiet of the Earth instead of the noise and speed of cities.