Well, my holiday has almost ended and it has been both enjoyable and
memorable.  I have met so many cool people over here, and seen so many
awesome places.

Since the time of my last writing, I spent five days sailing around the
Mediterranean with six other auzzies and kiwis.  The boat wasn't very full,
and we had four crew members to ensure the seven of us were adequately fed
and rested.  Morning started with breakfast, and was followed by long spells
of sleeping, reading and swimming.  It reminded me alot of Torys cabin,
except I didn't have to cook or clean the dishes (Tory, work on it...).  It
was difficult to get off the boat, and the group spent several days
afterwards laying around and doing next to nothing to ease ourselves back
into the real world.

After the sailing, we spent four days in this awesome little town called
Fethiye, and visited places such as the blue lagoon and hiked up to a
waterfall in the Valley of the Butterflys.  We also went to a hike in this
gorge, that was completely incredible.  At this point in the holiday, I was
quite happy for the lax safety standards over here, because we climbed up
many places in the gorge using nothing but the old ropes that someone had
conveniently tied in place.  In one spot, we even had to climb vertically up
a rope through a small waterfall!

I was quite pumped to head to this place called Olympos, where they have
these treehouses to sleep in, but let the others go a day ahead while I
finished my stuff in Fethiye.  When I got to Olympos, there wasn't much to
do and one of the guys was pretty sick, so I only stayed the evening, and we
carried on to the next place.  In hindsight, my decision to arrive late and
leave early was a good one, because I was the only one of the seven who
didn't end up getting really ill, whew!

We spent several days in this quant little village in the middle of the
country, waiting for everyone to get better to travel, then headed to this
place called Cappadocia, where they have these awesome hoodoo type rocks
everywhere.  After arriving, I went exploring some really old churches
carved into these rocks with a couple of girls from the hostel.  On the way
home, we decided that hitchin would be easier than waiting for the bus, and
met some really nice turkish men who were looking for a couple of nice
women.  After several detours and a long journey, we were able to talk them
into taking us back into town!  Last time I hitchhike in Turkey.

The next day, I headed off to explore the valley with the group of people
from the sailboat.  We got lost for a while, and found an awesome house
carved into this rock (kinda like a cavehouse).  It was many stories high,
and we went exploring and ended up on the roof of the house, which was at
the top of the valley.  I also got to sleep in one of these caves at the
pansion where I was staying, which was quite a treat considering the caves
are quite cool, and it was smoking hot outside!  The next day, we went to
take a tour that we had arranged through another hotel, and ended up getting
pulled over by the Jandarma (Turkeys version of the special police force).
Turns out that our guide wasn't certified, and that we weren't supposed to
be with him.  After a while of waiting, and some discussion, we were driven
back to town and refunded our money.  We ended up finding another guide, and
toured an underground city, saw some thousand year old churches, and saw
where they filmed some scenes of the first starwars.

Our final day in Cappadocia, and one I will never forget, was quite scary.
After a long hard night of partying in the Flintstones Cave Bar for my
sendoff party (the others were going another direction and I was heading to
Istanbul), we got up and decided to go for a hike down this place called the
pigeon valley.  There were five of us, including two other auzzies that we
had met the day before (four girls and one guy).  We hiked down this valley,
and ended up coming to a very steep section that we had to climb down.  It
wasn't very safe, and we were all pretty worried, but figured it was the
only way down.  The girl was crouching on this thin trail, and slipped.  She
ended up sliding down this rocky/sandy slope about twenty five feet on her
belly, and managed to stop herself on the edge of a thirty foot cliff, all
while the rest of us watched in horror.  A turkish guide had just shown up
before she slipped, and he helped to get her back up an to safety.  Myself
and another guy ended up climbing back up the rest of the cliff (we were
only partway down), and found another turkish guide who led us down an
easier way.  She was pretty shaken up, and had taken all of the skin off her
elbows, knees, and finger tips (trying to gain a hold).  We got her back to
town and spent several hours cleaning her up.  The two of them then came
with me to Istanbul, and hopped on a plane back to London.  Very crazy!

The last couple of days I have been in Istanbul, and have seen the Royal
palace, several really old mosques, and some amazing jewels (if you like 86
carat diamonds), and the bones of St. John the Baptiste.  I am going to tour
again tomorrow, and maybe shop a little, then head back home to Calgary.
Will see you all then!

Take Care!
Jeff

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