Sanliurfa

We left the expensive and beautiful town of Mardin for the very conservative city of Sanliurfa (Urfa). The city is a famous religions pilgrimage site as it's the birthplace of the prophet Abraham. So when we arrived in the evening and went for a walk around the city we were extremely surprised to find it just as modern, if not more so, than Van. The city seemed full of new fashion clothes, fancy hotels and just well developed. Not something that we had been picturing for Urfa.

The next was going to be our only day to check out the city as our original plan was to leave that afternoon to head towards Mt Nemrut. We ended up finding a great tour based out of Urfa for Mt Nemrut leaving the following morning so that meant that we had all day to explore Urfa before leaving the following morning. Since we now had a whole day to explore Urfa we took our time walking down to the Gölbaşı which is a picturesque area in Urfa filled with gardens, ponds, and old buildings. The ponds are full of supposedly sacred carp, while surrounding them are rose gardens and the Rizvaniye Vakfi Mosque and Medresei which contains a beautiful wall lining one side of a pool. While we were taking pictures of the ponds and wall we were approached by a young boy who wanted to show us around a bit to practice his English. After agreeing that this was not a guided tour we agreed to follow him to a spot with a great view of the citadel standing above the Gölbaşı then over to the Dergah. The Dergah was quite interesting as it's a complex that includes a mosque but more importantly the Hazreti Ibrahim Halilullah (Prophet Abraham's Birth Cave). After examining the cave we exited to find the young guy's older brother who wanted to continue taking us around the city.

For the next couple of hours we had a private tour of a couple of the mosques, the bazaar, a carpet shop (of course) and some old buildings. The tour was great although when we went to give this guy a tip for our "free" tour he was insulted and was trying to demand that we pay more for a full tour, something we had never agreed upon. Anyways after a short heated discussion we parted ways with both parties feeling angry with the other I'm sure. The rest of the afternoon was spent just wandering around the bazaar a little more and catching up on some internet usage.

That evening we returned back to the Gölbaşı to enjoy some dinner while looking out over the lit up castle and the gardens. It was a nice spot even if the food wasn't the greatest. After spending some more time wandering back through Urfa to our hotel we retired for the night in order to prepare ourselves for our adventure starting the next morning out to Mt Nemrut.









The wall of the Rizvaniye Vakfi Mosque and Medresei over one of the ponds filled with sacred carp.



















Mom and our "guide" enjoying a cup of çay (tea) in the bazaar.


















After our tour we returned to the bazaar to get a döner for lunch and here is the guy preparing one for us.















A view of the citadel all lit up in the evening.













Mom standing in front of the Rizvaniye Vakfi Mosque and Medresei wall at night time.

Van and Mardin

Leaving Doğubayazıt we headed towards Van to spend a day or two. We arrived in Van in the early evening and after searching around for a hotel we wandered out around the town to grab some dinner. Van turned out to be a much larger and more developed town than either of us expected and we were completely shocked to find the number of high end stores lining the main street. After a small dinner and some desert we headed back to our hotel to organize tomorrows activities and for bed.

The next day was our only full day in Van and we planned to visit the nearby castle on the shore of Lake Van before heading out to an Armenian church an hour outside of Van. We had planned on spending the day touring around with a fellow Iranian tourist and so just after 9am we set off to visit the castle. Arriving at the castle we had to first walk around the base of it to reach the entrance and we quickly discovered how big the Castle was. However upon climbing up the hill to it we found that although it covered a huge distance the castle was mostly ruined and the only part that really remained intact was the minerat. After spending some time admiring the views from the top we headed to the bottom to walk through the few ruins of Old Van, mainly a couple of old minarets and 2 newer mosques. After viewing these we realized that we had spent too much time at the castle and we no longer had enough time to visit the Armenian church. So we altered our plans to visit a nearby cat house at the university campus. The famous Van cats all live in house at the university and they are famous for being perfectly white but with 2 different coloured eyes: one yellow and the other blue. The cats were fairly nice although a bit mangy and we couldn't properly pet them as they had to stay behind a fence that we weren't allowed inside of. After visiting the cats we wandered around the university campus for a bit before heading back into downtown Van where we spent the evening wandering the streets and enjoying a nice dinner.

The following day we departed Van to head towards Mardin. This journey was quite long, first a 7 hour bus ride to Diyarbakır and then another hour and a half ride down to Mardin. Mardin is a very beautiful town built onto a hill side that overlooks the surrounding the plains, but it is also very expensive as it's an upscale tourist destination. After hunting around the town for a "cheap" hotel (we still ended up paying 100 Lires a night) we headed out to grab some dinner and watch the sun setting over the city. Mom had read about a great restaurant here and we set out to find it; however when we reached it she was heartbroken to find out that it was completely booked for that night and we had to settle for something less appealing. After a less than stellar dinner we wandered around the picturesque town and just enjoyed the scenery. Mainly looking at the lights on the plain stretching out before us and the castle all lit up.

Our first full day in Mardin was also our last as the town was too expensive to spend any great amount of time in. The day started off pretty interesting as at breakfast in the hotel we were surrounded by many men in suits. Thinking that there just must be some big conference happening we thought nothing of it until they all stood up together and we noticed a couple of them with earpieces on and microphones on their sleeves. The only explanation must be the Turkish secret service (or something like that) afterwards we learned that some important minister was staying at the hotel (not sure which one) and they were all there with him.

After breakfast we proceeded to wander around the town and saw some of the old sights such as a couple of mosques, the Forty Martyrs Church, and the Sultan Isa Medressi. All of these buildings were quite old and definitely worth the wander through. The one sight that we were really hoping to see was the bazaar, but unfortunately we were there on a Sunday the one day when it's closed. We had to console ourselves by returning to the great restaurant that mom wanted to visit the night before and enjoy an absolutely delicious lunch before catching an afternoon bus out to Sanliurfa (Urfa) our next destination.








The view of the minaret at the Van Castle with Lake Van in the background.














A view of the interior of the Hz Omer Mosque near downtown Van, a mosque that we quickly stopped in to see between visiting the Van Castle and the cat house.




















A shot of the famous Van cats with one yellow eye and one blue eye.


















The interior of the mosque on the university campus. The only building other than the cat house that we spent any time examining.













Mom and myself standing on the roof of a mosque in Mardin at sunset with a sight of the old part of Mardin stretching up the hill in the background.


















A view of the castle on the top of the hill at Mardin at nighttime.











Some old houses in Mardin where the owners are washing their beautiful Turkish carpets. They just pour water over them and leave them draped over their houses to dry.








While wandering around the town of Mardin we found some kids that had a collection of chicks in a cardboard box. Upon them setting them out we were shocked to discover that about half of them had been dyed some unusual colours!










A view from the interior of the Sultan Isa Medressi, and nice old building that was pleasant to wander through.

Istanbul Photos

Pictures for my Istanbul update are now posted but they have been added to the end of the Istanbul update so scroll down to see them.

Kars and Doğubayazıt

After leaving Istanbul we flew across Turkey to start travling in the east and head west. So our first destination was Kars (after flying into Erzurum) which is a ver nice little town in the Northeast corner of Turkey, close to teh Armenia and Georgia boarder. We arrived in the town just as the sun was getting ready to set and our first mission was to find a hotel, something that turned out to be much more difficult than we imagined. If a nice Turkish guy on the bus who spoke a little English didn't help us we probably would have walked around for hours as very few people spoke any English; but thanks to this one guy we found a fairly decent hotel pretty quickly (although at the time we didn't really know what he was negotiating). After settling in for the night we proceeded to explore downtown Kars, which took only a few minutes, and book a tour out to Ani for the next day.

The next morning we woke up with a plan of checking out the Kars castle in the morning as our tour to Ani didn't leave until 1pm. The short walk up to the castle was fairly nice although it was located right at the edge of downtown Kars almost so we didn't see anything new. Up at the castle we proceeded to wander around the ruins and checked out the stables, mosque and a few other rooms as the highest part was closed to visiters. While up at the castle we also gazed around at the nearby landscape which is usually referred to as something similar to the Russian Stepes so it was a very nice location. After visiting the castle we proceeded back down to the town to grab some food to make a picnic out at Ani.

In the afternoon we headed out to Ani which is sight of ruins of an old Armenian capital. The site itself contains about 12 buildings (mostly churches and mosques that were converted from churches) in various states of ruin spread out over a large and very beautiful area. The location is absolutely stunning as it's set on a beautifully green plateau overlooking a river gorge and the Turkish-Armenian boarder. The ruins are gorgeous to look at and most of them date back to around the 10th-13th century as the city was used as the capital from 961 until 1239 AD. The afternoon was spent wandering around the stunning landscape and gazing up at the few ruins that still existed although the city was clearly much larger before.

After our tour of Ani we returned back to Kars where we spent another evening wandering around downtown and using the internet. Today was Atatürk day and as a result we saw a fairly large parade walking through the streets (only a small marching band in it though, the rest was just people walking with the parade) and we also heard some fireworks but were unable to see them.

The next day we got up and tried to get the 9am bus to Iğdir which we were told existed the previous evening, but when we turned up at the minibus station we were informed the next bus wasn't until 10am. So we spent an hour relaxing in a Turkish tea shop sipping some boiling hot tea (the national drink) while we waited for our bus. Once we caught the bus we made our way to Iğdir and there we enjoyed a quick lunch before boarding another minibus to Doğubayazıt. So after several hours of traveling we made it to our next destination of Doğubayazıt. Since we arrived late in the afternoon we just spent the remainder of the day wandering around downtown Doğubayazıt which was probably just as small as downtown Kars, but there were much more people.

The following day we headed up to Ishak Paşa Palace (after mom spent some time trying to buy a carpet). The palace is situated on a small plateau that is surrounded by towering cliffs and overlooking the plains where Doğubayazıt lies. The palace itself was a bit of a letdown I thought though because so much restoration work has been done to it that there are metal and wooden beams everywhere. In addition to the repairs that had already been done they had closed off half of the palace for more restoration work. In other words a complete disappointment. The trip up to the palace wasn't all that bad though as we did get to walk the 6km back down to Doğubayazıt and got to see Mt. Ararat in the distance, Turkey's tallest mountain at over 5000 meters.

After getting back to Doğubayazıt from the palace we grabbed our bags from the hotel room and went to catch a minibus to Van, our next destination.







Mom standing with a group of kids in Kars. The Kars castle is visible in the background.














One of the ruined arches at Ani with a mountain faintly visible in the background.


















Mom standing in one of the churches in Ani with a view out of the window of some of the surrounding scenery.




















A view of the cathedral at Ani.




















One wall in the interior of the palace, notice the tape closing the interior of it.
















An exterior view of the palace.











The view of the Mt. Ararat from the road while descending from the Palace.

Mom's Blog

For a different perspective on our trip (and some photos) you can check our my mom's blog at:

http://lindaralph.blogspot.com/

Istanbul

So after almost exactly eight months of traveling around Asia (I was one day short) I left the Asian continent for Turkey. Turkey still isn't totally European but it's seen as the country that connects the east to the west and compared to where I've been for the last eight months it is very European.

I arrived at the Istanbul airport at 9am and after lining up for nearly an hour to go through immigration I officially entered the country, grabbed my bag and headed to the metro to make my way to the hotel. Taking the metro was a fun experience and after taking two trains I eventually ended up at the station I needed to be at about 45 minutes later. Then the fun part of finding the hotel began. I thought it would be easy to find the hotel when I was looking at the google map in Delhi but the streets turned out to be much smaller than I expected and almost no street signs visible. After wandering around for 5 minutes I finally figured out where I was and from there I made it to my hotel where they were waiting with my mom's reservation, success.

Once I was settled into my hotel I decided to wander around the streets of Istanbul for a bit as I had a few hours to kill before my mom arrived at the hotel to join me. I walked pretty aimlessly through the streets of Istanbul and saw a few impressive sights from the outside, I waited until mom arrived to enter them as I was sure she would want to see them as well, also I didn't know what they were at the time as I was a bit disorientated. After eating a delicious donair I returned to the hotel for a short nap and to await my mom's arrival. I was awoken in the middle of the afternoon to my mom's arrival, yay. It was great to see her again after saying goodbye to her eight months ago in Calgary. we remained in the hotel for an hour or so organizing things and I got some items that mom brought out for me, including my new Nikon D-60 camera which I was pretty happy to get. We then proceeded to wander around Istanbul for the rest of the afternoon and early evening before getting an early dinner and heading to bed as we were both fairly tired: mom from jet lag and me from not sleeping much on my overnight flight.

The second day in Istanbul we got up and were greeted with a great breakfast from our hotel, well at least it would be great if it didn't contain so many olives but what can you do. After breakfast we headed out from the hotel to take in some of Istanbul's famous sights. First we stopped at the Hippodrome which is a square just outside of the Blue Mosque and contains 3 pillars that were placed here a long time ago (I can't remember the age). The three pillars here are pretty unique as one was brought from Egypt and contains hieroglyphs carved on the four sides and at the base there was also a carved story about how they brought it over from Egypt and erected it, although mom and I couldn't decipher it. Another pillar was a short pillar made of spiralled iron (although the top of it had been pillaged long ago) and the last pillar was a tall square pillar built of stone right there. After examining the pillars in the Hippodrome we headed across the street to enter the famous Blue Mosque and proceeded to enter the huge building. The interior of the mosque was fabulous and all of the tiles on the inside (and outside) are have a slightly bluish tinge which is why it is called the blue mosque. The huge dome that towered over us was spectacular and help up with four enormous pillars and everywhere around the room were lights suspended by cables hanging down from the ceiling. The only thing that detracted from the experience were the hordes of other tourists there, I guess it's getting to be high tourist season in Istanbul o well. After exiting the Blue Mosque we walked a bit away and took some nice pictures of its exterior complete with the six minarets.

After the Blue Mosque we crossed the street to see Hagia Sophia, a church that was converted to a mosque and is now a museum. The building isn't too much of a museum but it's open just so that you can explore it's really beautiful architecture and see some old murals. The building is extremely huge and very open inside, although when we were there they were repairing part of the dome so a huge scaffold was erected in the middle of the room. The interior was very graceful and beautiful and wandering around looking at the murals and just the size of the building was amazing. After the Hagia Sophia we took a quick walk through the Basilica Cistern, which is one of the oldest cisterns (underground water storage tank) ın Istanbul. The cistern is huge when you enter it as there are over 300 columns supporting the roof and the area is 132 meters long by 65 meters wide. One of the main attractions of the cistern other than the sheer size of it are two Medusa heads that are carved into the base of two columns in one corner. The two Medusa stones are carved at odd angles, one upside down while the other is sideways, this is believed to ward off evil spirits. The cistern is a very interesting walk through as it's eerily lit and water still occasionally drips from the ceiling to land on the path.

The afternoon was devoted to wandering around two of the main bazaars in Istanbul: the grand bazaar and the spice bazaar. First we started off wandering through the huge maze that was the grand bazaar. Inside here you can get anything that you want (or so ıt seemed) as there were complete aisles dedicated to clothes, lights, carpets, jewelry, and more. Not only are there shops in the bazaar but there are countless tea cafes (complete with waiters running between shops selling tea to the shop owners, very cool to see), fountains, police offices and even a mosque. It's a really interesting experience to wander through this huge bazaar and completely different to any market I saw in Asia so it was enjoyable. After the grand bazaar we headed up to the spice bazaar to walk along it's smaller streets. Here, as the name suggests, are most of the shops selling the different spices common in Turkey with all of the shops displaying the spices in huge piles. However not only spices are sold here as there seemed to be everything from souvenirs to Turkish Delights and although it's not as big as the grand bazaar it's still interesting. Finally we visited Suleymaniye Mosque which is supposed to be the second best mosque in Istanbul after the Blue mosque. However when we were there the mosque was undergoing major restoration so we couldn't see much of it. All that we were able to see was the exterior of the tombs of Süleyman and his wife, Roxelana.

The next day we started off touring Topkapi Palace which has been turned into a museum to exhibit the palace and artifacts from the sultans who used to live there. The palace is a large complex complete with several courtyards and many fabulous rooms for the sultans. In addition to the beautifully decorated rooms the palace had several areas with fantastic views over the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn (2 bodıes of water, rivers, in Istanbul). Along side of that was the treasury which was really a museum containing valuable artifacts that the sultans owned and items belonging to some of the prophets, including Moses' staff.

After wandering through the palace for the a few hours we headed out to the Golden Horn to take an afternoon ferry ride up it to Eyup. The ferry ride was quite nice in itself as it was a refreshing way to see Istanbul. Arriving at Eyup we proceeded to check out the Eyup mosque which is apparently the fourth most important mosque in the world, then we took a cable car ride up to the top of a graveyard for great views of Istanbul before walking back down. After visiting Eyup for a couple of hours we returned back down the Golden Horn just as the sun was starting to set, a great experience.

Our third day in Istanbul was spent taking a 5 hour boat cruise up the Bosphorus to the furthest North part of Istanbul and pretty much the Black Sea. Along the way to the final destination we passed several beautiful Istanbul homes and saw where the rich of Istanbul probably live. Arriving at the end of the ferry line we were able to climb a small hill to reach an old fortress with great views of the Bosphorus and out to the Black Sea. After returning to the main part of Istanbul we headed up to Taksim Square and started to walk back down towards the Golden Horn. This is the part of Istanbul where most of the nightlife occurs and we stopped along one of the side streets that was composed of just bars and restaurants pouring out into the streets for a beer. The atmosphere here was quite nice it was absolutely packed with people, mostly locals, all enjoying an evening beer.

Our fourth day ın Istanbul was also our last, we didn't get a chance to see anything as after we got up and had breakfast in our hotel we had to leave for the airport. After another adventure on the Istanbul metro system we arrived at the airport and boarded our flight to Ezrurem in the eastern part of Turkey. Arriving in Ezrurem we quickly found a bus to take us to Kars, our next destination.










A view of the Blue Mosque.


















One of the frescoes in Hagia Sophia, this is one of the better preserved ones but they were all pretty good.















A view down one of the rows between the columns in the Basilica Cistern.

















The sideways Medusa head at the bottom of one of the columns in the Basilica Cistern.
















Mom enjoying a cup of Çay (tea), the national drink, in the grand bazaar.

















Mom and myself standing at a beautiful view point in the Topkapi Palace. The Golden Horn is visible in the background.


















A shot of the hundreds of fishermen fishing off of the Galata bridge at sunset.
















The old fortress that we took a ferry to up the Bosphorus.
















Mom sitting on an old wall at the old fortress with the Bosphorus joining the Black Sea in the background.















The street scene near Taksim Square where mom and I enjoyed a beer on our final night in Istanbul.

Delhi

So I actually visited Delhi at three different points during my visit in India, but the first and second visit was pretty short so I didn't post an update about my time there then. My first trip to Delhi was just after I had visited Jodhpur I took an overnight bus to arrive there and visit my friend Karan. Getting off the bus in Delhi I was quickly picked up by his driver and taken to his place in Gurgaon, a municipality of Delhi. Arriving in his nice home I met Karan (actually woke him up is more like it) and we just spent the morning hanging out relaxing. That afternoon and the following day we didn't get up to very much: just saw the area around his house, a few cafes and some bars. The actual itinerary was driving around Gurgaon and seeing new malls, office buildings, golf courses, etc. before stopping for lunch and in the afternoon we would hang out in a cafe usually before heading to a bar in the evening for a drink.

On the third day that I spent in Delhi I actually went into town to see some of the tourist attractions. On the way into town karan's driver stopped at a very large Hindu temple that we walked around for a short period of time but it was very busy so we didn't line up to enter the main building as the line looked like it would take 30 minutes or so. After visiting the Hindu temple we continued on to Qutub Minar which is an ancient city located in south Delhi. The complex is composed of several buildings in various states of preservation all located in a beautifully kept garden. The most famous structure is the Qutub Minar which is a 72.5 meter tall minaret and was the tallest building in the world when it was built. Also in the grounds of Qutub Minar is an iron pillar (a seven meter tall iron pillar), Delhi's first mosque which is mostly in ruins now, and the tombs of Imam Zamin and Iltutmish. After visiting Qutub Minar we continued on to Connaught Place which is almost the centre of Delhi. Here the most fancy and expensive shopping stores in Delhi are located, an interesting change from most of the small and cheap shops that are common for most of India. Our time in Connaught Place was short lived though so after wandering around there for an hour or so we started back towards Karan's house stopping at India Gate on the way. India Gate is a huge archway built in park near the government buildings of India and the gate is dedicated to the Indian Soldiers who died in World War I. Later that evening Karan and I boarded a train for Bhopal, the city where he was born and to hear about that place you can check out my Bhopal update (earlier).

My second visit to Delhi was a real short one (less than 24 hours) and all I did was return from Agra to quickly pick up my big bag that I had left at Karan's house. After retrieving my luggauge I again boarded a train heading to Gorakhpur and onwards to Nepal.

My third and final visit to Delhi was much longer than the first two as I spent about a week there with Karan. I returned from Nepal early in the morning and found ou that Karan was still in Bhopal but should be returning to Delhi that evening. So I was faced with having a day in Delhi to do some sightseeing before heading to Karan's place. After storing my bags in a hotel lobby and getting a bite of food I decided to check out the National Museum since then I could be inside instead of in the intense Delhi summer heat. However, upon reaching the museum I quickly found out that it was closed for the day, the reason being that the election was occuring in Delhi. This meant that most of the tourist areas would be closed I learned (all the indoor ones at least). So I decided to head towards Humayun's Tomb hoping that it would be open. As I was driving in the auto rickshaw I passed a familiar looking person and quickly got the driver to pull over to stop. Sure enough Quinn (one of the guy's I was trekking with) was walking down the road to Humayun's Tomb as well. After joining up to spend the day together we continued on towards Humayan's Tomb and were grateful when we arrived that it was open. The tomb is a very large building (some say similar in design to the Taj Mahal) built out of mostly red sandstone with small amounts of white marble inlaid in it. Surrounding the tomb is a well kept "four quarters style" garden that provides you with a nice place to relax and take in the tomb. In addition to Humayun's Tomb there is a smaller octagonal tomb (the tomb of Iza Khan) and another small tomb which is thought to be that of Humayun's barber.

After visiting Humayun's Tomb we continued on to the Bahá'í Temple (the lotus temple). This gorgeous building is nicknamed the lotus temple since the roof is built in the shape of a lotus bud with 27 petals. The temple welcomes people of any religion to come and worship inside of it the only requirement was that you had to be absolutely quiet, any noise and they kick you out. After reflecting in the lotus temple for a while we returned to Paharganj (the tourist area with all the budget hotels) for a drink and to wait until Karan returned to Delhi and for Quinn's flight back to Canada that night. After Quinn left I gave Karan a phone call and found out that he missed the afternoon train so he wouldn't be returing to Delhi until the next morning so I quickly found a nice hotel room for the night.

The next morning I awoke, ate breakfast and gave Karan a call. I was told to get to the Radisson at noon to meet him. After meeting up with Karan we had to return to his office so he could get some work done and that's where we spent the rest of the afternoon. That evening Karan had promised to show me some of Delhi's nightlife so we went out with a few of his friends to TC (Turquoise Cottage) and then to I. All in all it was a great night even if I did have a bit too much to drink, oops.

The next day we were both pretty tired from our late night out the previous day that we spent the morning just hanging out at his place (and most of the afternoon too). In the early evening we went out to a Hookah bar to relax and again this time we went out to see some more of Delhi's nightlife later on. We started the night by hanging out at another of his friend's places before heading to the Orange Room, a nightclub that's open til 5am. Where we danced the night away to some great Hindi music and finally returned home at about 6am.

Sunday (the next day) Karan and I spent almost the entire day relaxing at his place (well sleeping for most of it is more accurate). When we finally awoke we just hung out there and went to a nearby cafe later on for a snack and a drink.

Monday I decıded to try and do some of the touristy things in Delhi as I only had a couple more days left. I came up with a great plan to visit the Red Fort and Old Delhi until I relized that the Red Fort was closed on Mondays. There goes that plan. So I spent the day using the internet in Karan's office and walking around some of the malls ın Gurgaon.

The next day I followed through with my plan from the previous day. I took the metro into Delhi and my first stop was to visit the Red Fort. Walking up to the Red Fort it looked like a very impressive fort built in the heart of Delhi, and entering it I wasn`t too disappointed. The fort was huge on the interior, but it was mostly made up of large gardens. Walking around the interior of the fort I was a little disappointed as the few buildings that were there were all closed to visiters (except the two museums) so all I could do was wander around the gardens and gaze through the open doors into the buildings. The fwe buildings that I did see were beautiful though. After walking through the Red Fort I entered went to Gurudwara Sis Ganj which is an important Sikh place of worship in Old Delhi. The inside of the Gurduwara was an interesting experience as there seemed to always be lots of people praying and a continuous chanting prayer from the religous leaders (not sure what they`re called, oops). After leaving Gurudwara Sis Ganj I wandered through Chandni Chowk towards the Jama Masjid, which is the largest mosque in India. The mosque was a fabulous red sandstone building with a huge courtyard and two minarets (one that we were able to climb up). The view over Old Delhi from the top of the minaret was quite good although there were so many people jammed up in the little space that it was difficult to get a good view of every direction. After leaving Jama Masjid I again wandered around Chandni Chowk which is a typical Old Indian market with tiny alleys that twist and turn everywhich way while you are completely surrounded by shops. It`s a very interesting bazaar (market) and a must see for any trip to Delhi.

My final day in Delhi was mostly spent getting ready to leave for Turkey, the next stop on my world tour. So I again spent the day between Karan`s house and his office to use the internet. That evening I had a delicious Indian meal prepared by Karan`s mom (actually most of the meals I ate ın Delhi were prepared by her and they were all excellent) before heading out for a final beer with Karan at TC (Turquoise Cottage) and then on to the airport. I spent the night flying to Istanbul with a short stopover in Tehran, Iran before arriving in Istanbul to spend the next four weeks traveling around Turkey with my mom. So look forward to my next entry, the first from Turkey.









Standing in front of Qutub Minar, the tallest building in the world when it was built.



















In front of India Gate.













Standing outside of Humayun`s Tomb.











The beautiful garden at the Red Fort with one of the buildings in the background.










Jama Masjid at sunset.











A street scene of Old Delhi viewed from Jama Masjid.










Another view of Old Delhi from the top of the minaret at Jama Masjid.

Other Blogs you can check

A couple of the people who I trekked with are also keeping blogs of their trip so if you want to hear their views of our trip or to see their photos you can check out the following blogs:

Ryan's blog:
http://travelpod.com/z/mccoyryan/1/1241429700

Jacque's blog:
http://jacquecilliers.tumblr.com/

Feel free to check them out.

Pokhara

The first night that we spent in Pokhara was a complete shock as we were back in civilization after having spent 17 days in small mountain villages up til now. However, as stated in my previous post we didn't get up to very much as we got in fairly late. We just had a nice shower and went out for some food and a celebratory beer before heading to bed.

The next day in Pokhara was dedicated to relaxing and getting the few chores that we had to do (like laundry and internet for emails) done. So again we didn't get up to very much but we did enjoy some delicious food and a few beers in the evening again.

Our third day in Pokhara we rented a paddle boat (a long wooden canoe) and paddled out into the middle of the lake where we drifted around for a couple of hours drinking beer and swimming in the warm water. The afternoon spent just floating on the water was fantastic and a great way to spend a day in Pokhara.

The fourth day we finally got up to something: we went white water rafting. Or at least some of us did: Amy, Ryan, and myself. The rafting trip turned out to be a lot of fun although we weren't too sure it would be as the water level on most of Nepal's rivers then was pretty low. We ended up doing a four hour trip down one of the rivers that we trekked along during the first few days of the trek. The rapids started out pretty big and fun and as the day went on they got smaller but it allowed some time to jump into the water for swimming which was still great. The only downside about the trip was that it was about a 3 hour drive to the river and back so we spent lots of time just sitting in a bus. Still a great day out though.

The fifth day was our last in Pokhara and after having another relaxing morning we decided to climb up one of the surrounding hills to the world's peace pagoda. The walk up to the pagoda was quite nice (although long as it took nearly 2 hours) since it went through some rice fields and a smaller village on the outskirts of Pokhara before climbing through the forest to the top of the hill. The pagoda was kind of a let down I thought as it was just a white stupa that had scenes of the 4 most sacred Buddhist places on its 4 sides. However the view of Pokhara and the surrounding countryside was absolutely stunning. At the top we also decided to take the short way down from the Pagoda which was down a steep path and then to hire someone to row us back across the lake so it cut the time down drastically.

The next morning Quinn and I got up early to catch the bus back to Kathmandu from Pokhara as I had to go back to collect some of my luggage that I had left there and Quinn had a flight to catch. The bus journey was fairly long (it took 8 hours to go 200 km) but we only got temporarily stuck behind an accident so for Nepal standards it was pretty good. Once back in Kathmandu it was already evening so we didn't have time to do very much that day.

My last full day in Nepal was spent in Kathmandu although I didn't get up to anything very exciting. Pretty much just running errands and getting ready for the long journey back to Delhi that I was going to start that night. So the next 36 hours of my life was spent on a bus to the boarder then a jeep to Gorakpur then finally a train back to Delhi, which I'll talk about in my next post. But for now my journey in Nepal had come to an end.











Team sole (minus Dan as he kept on trekking to Annapurna Base Camp after leaving us on day 17) relaxing in the boat on the lake by Pokhara.















The group that was in my raft, I am in the middle on the left hand side.












Another shot of our raft.











The view of Pokhara from the World's Peace Pagoda.











A shot of us crossing back over the lake from the World's Peace Pagoda.











Sunset over the lake while sitting at a restaurant in Pokhara.

Annapurna Circuit Trek

So there I was, ready to embark on the 3 week long trek around Annapurna the main reason that I wanted to visit the country (well actually I just wanted to do a trek and decided between the Everest Base Camp trek and Annapurna when I got there). As it turned out I met up with a couple of British guys before I had even left Besi Sahar and agreed to spend the first couple of days trekking together. As it would later turn out these two became really great friends and a strong bond grew between us over the 3 weeks.

The itinerary:
Day 1 - Beshisahar (760m) to Bahundanda (1398m)
Day 2 - Bahundanda to Chamje (1300 m)
Day 3 - Chamje to Baragchhap (2000m)
Day 4 - Baragchhap to Chame (2700 m)
Day 5 - Chame to Pisang (3100m)
Day 6 - Pisang to Manang (3400m)
Day 7 - Acclimitization Day in Manang
Day 8 - Acclimitization Day in Manang
Day 9 - Manang to Yak Kharka (4000m)
Day 10 - Yak Kharka to Thorong Pedi (4540m)
Day 11 - Acclimitization Day in Thorong Pedi
Day 12 - Thorong Pedi to Muktinath (3800m) via La Thorong Pass (5416m)
Day 13 - Muktinath to Jomsom (2700m)
Day 14 - Jomsom to Ghasa (2000m) - partly by jeep!
Day 15 - Ghasa to Tatopani (1200m)
Day 16 - Tatopani to Ghorapani (2900m)
Day 17 - Ghorapani to Nayapul (1060m), then bus to Pokhara!

Day 1
The first day of trekking started out fairly easy as all it was was walking along a dirt road until we reached the town of Bhulbhule where the trail left the road and passed along a nice dirt trail. The trail continued along the valley floor for most of the day and wasn't too difficult until we came to the last hour or so. From here the trail steepened and just about all of the elevation gain for the day was packed into the end. At least upon reaching out destination of Bahundanda we were awarded with some pretty nice views, or at least what would have been some spectacular views if the sky wasn't so hazy. All in all it was a pretty easy day except for getting slightly lost a couple of times in areas of road construction (a couple of mins of backtracking quickly found our desired route each time though). The amazing part of the day though was to continuously see small Nepalese porters pass us carrying HUGE loads (up to 50kg) only held up by a small strap over their foreheads! Talk about crazy but that's normal life here as the only way to transport anything is to carry it since there are no roads on this side of the pass. Throughout the course of the journey we would see some crazy things being carried by a porter including: a desk, about 50kgs worth of live chickens, tons of wood (up to 4 4m long 10 x 30 cm planks, each weighing about 15-20 kgs), and 3 or 4 personal bags just to mention a few. After reaching Bahundanda the three of us met a couple of other solo trekkers: Quinn a fellow Canadian (born in Calgary even) and Elia from Israel. Talking to Quinn we quickly learned of a unique problem that had befallen him earlier that day. After walking for about an hour or so the soles to his boots fell off. That's right just fell off of his boots leaving them pretty much completely useless. So I guess we shouldn't be putting boots in storage as that's where they were sitting for the past 3 years or so according to him and before that they were solid. Anyways more on that later.

While the 5 of us were sitting down enjoying our well deserved evening meal the ground and all the buildings began to shake. At first we were all worried about it and wondering if it would get worse when the boy who ran the restaurant came to us and said "don't worry it happens all the time and will come back soon". We all started asking questions, mainly what was it, but he said he'd tell us in a minute and proceeded to disappear for a bit. Sure enough a couple of minutes later the ground and buildings were shaking again. After the second shock we were able to talk to the boy some more and found out that the earthquakes happen fairly regularly here (although we never found out exactly how regularly), there are always 2 shocks, and also that some people die. Wait a minute, what? He then proceeded to tell us that only in the Everest region do the earthquakes occasionally make buildings collapse and people die. Phew, not where we are. After that we were able to relax some more and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Day 2
We got off to an early start today and skipped breakfast while Elia, Ryan, Jacque and myself descended back down the 400m we had climbed yesterday to the river for a quick dip in some hot springs. We started by taking a quick dip in the cold river before quickly scrambling back into the empty hot spring pool. After a couple of minutes of soaking in it one of the locals came down and said "hot one up there" and proceeded to insist that we accompany him to the hotter of the pools. There the locals all encouraged us to try the hottest pool and it was quickly discovered that the hottest pool was scorching. The pool was at least 50 degrees and probably closer to 60. So we all settled to relax in the slightly more temperate pool next to it. The locals then proceeded to entertain themselves by watching us drink some local homemade liquor. Man was that stuff strong. After the dip in the hot springs we climbed our way back up to Bahundanda and enjoyed a great breakfast before heading out for that days trekking.

The trekking for that day was similar to the previous days trekking as we were mostly down in a valley trekking through forests, rice paddies and small villages. At the end of the day of trekking we were so dead that ecstatic to finally reach Chamje. We were even blessed with a great lodge as it was located directly across a narrow valley from a very impressive waterfall. It was incredible to be able to finally relax at the lodge and just sit there watching the waterfall.

Day 3
The trail today started out pretty similar to the previous couple of days: walking along a narrow valley through some forests and rice paddies. However, after only a couple of hours we reached what looked like the end of the valley and had a steep climb out of it. Thankful to be done the climb we gazed out at a much broader valley that was breathtaking. We paused for a few minutes at the top of the climb and just looked back along the valley where we spotted a huge Himalayan Griffin, a bird with a wingspan of about 2m. We just stood there for several minutes gazing as this magnificent bird soared throughout the valley searching for warm thermals to carry him upwards on. Amazing.

Trekking through the new valley we came to the town of Tal and again met Quinn and a couple of other Canadians: Amy from Ottawa and Dan from Montreal. That afternoon we all headed out to finish the day together and, although none of us would have guessed it at the time, was the inaugural walk for what would become Team Sole and the formation of some great friendships. As we were just leaving Tal we ran into Elia again as he had pressed on on his own. Only this time he was walking back towards Tal with his head covered in blood. Apparently he had been hit on the head by a falling rock and had to go back to Tal for some medical attention. So after ensuring that he was in good hands we continued on our way to Bagarchhap. As we fell asleep in Bagarchhap that night we lay listening to the rains hoping that it would stop before having to press on again the next day.

Day 4
Awakening and not hearing the sound of rain we all thought that the day ahead would be pretty good as none of us wanted to walk in the rain; however, we were even more blessed than with just no rain. The rain throughout the night had cleared up the skies and as a result we awoke to our first clear blue skies and amazing views of the surrounding peaks. It took us a long time that day to finally leave Bagarchhap as we kept just stopping to stare at the mountains around us. Absolutely amazing.

The trek that day was fairly short as we were just heading to Chame, but we took our time as none of us wanted to stop staring at the surrounding mountains. As it was all of our first views of the magic of the Himalayas I think we were all hooked and with nothing but more impressive views to come. Arriving in Chame we reached the first point where the evenings started to cool off noticeably. As a result the owner of our guesthouse provided us with a "heater" under our table: a bucket of wonderfully hot coals. As a result we sat there eating and playing cards in the nice heat, something that would become fairly common over the trip. While we were busy relaxing and playing cards, Quinn had managed to track down a local man who wandered between villages repairing shoes. So Quinn quickly arranged for him to stitch the soles of his boots back on using some bright orange thread so that they would be usable when we got to the pass. After this highly entertaining incident, watching the locals reaction when Quinn showed them his boots was priceless, we nicknamed Quinn sole man and shortly afterwards our group started calling ourselves Team Sole. We also tried singing the song Soul Man but without the internet none of us knew any lyrics other than "I'm a soul man" so we just took to singing the chorus over and over.

Day 5
Today was another fairly light day of trekking and after 4 previous days we had really gotten into the swing of things. No longer did we all feel out of shape and dead tired at the end of the day but we felt good. Like today after we had completed the required trek to Pisang we found a hotel, dropped off our bags, rested for a little bit then headed uphill to visit the town of Upper Pisang. While walking up the path we were all enjoying ourselves and chatting away when somebody stopped and said "Umm has anybody looked behind us?". We all stopped right away and turned around and that was about when all of our jaws dropped at the view. Standing there on the path we were granted our first view of the Annapurna range, we could see Annapurna II standing at 7937 meters, and it was fabulous. We all stood there for several minutes just gaping at the immense mountain in front of us before we slowly turned back around and continued our climb up to Upper Pisang. Upon arriving in Upper Pisang we visited a small Goumpa, Buddhist monastery, which had been built and funded by the locals over the past 6 years. That night while relaxing in Pisang we came to the decision of taking the high route to Manang, the next day's destination. Thus leaving us with a hard day ahead of us.

Day 6
We awoke early to get a good start on thıs, our difficult day along the upper route to Manang. Headıng out of Pısang we couldn't stop taking breaks and looking back at the impressive Annapurna range. Eventually we made it to the base of the steep and long clımb up that made this day tough. After climbing about 700 meters we finally made it to the top and were awarded with what may have been the best views of the trıp. Almost the entire backside of the Annapurna range was visible to us at this point. İt was definitely worth the long haul up and words just can't describe how beautıful and amazing the huge Hımalayas are. This has to be probably one of the best places to view ıt from. After spending about an hour at the top looking at the mountaıns across the valley (and restıng after the climb) we continued the long day towards Manang. The trip down to Manang was fairly easy after the hard climb and there were great mountain views available for the rest of the day.

Just before reaching our final destination of Manang we stopped ın a bakery at Bhraka. We were told that ıt's the original bakery on the circuit and it came highly recommended from another trekker so we had to give it a go. İf we hadn't seen the amazing mountain peaks earlier then this would have easily been the highlight of the day. The chocolate cake here was to die for (and after spendıng 6 days on the trail that made it even better). After enjoying our cake at the bakery we finished our day by finally making it to Manang. Manang was the first town that was above 3500 meters and as a result people start to feel the effect of altitude here. To help acclimatize most people spend an extra day here and we were all looking forward to havıng a rest day the following day.

Day 7
Our rest day. We spent the morning doing some laundry and just relaxing around the hotel and wandering around the main street of Manang. İn the afternoon we headed back to Bhraka to visit the bakery again where this time we sampled a tuna and cheese wrap as well as some apple pie. Both were extremely delıcıoıus again and defiantly worth returning for. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing cards after a short walk up to the Goumpa ın Bhraka.

Day 8
From Manang İ left the group for a couple of days as İ wanted to do the side trip up to Tilicho Lake while no body else dıd. So day 8 started off with me leavıng Manang fairly early as I thought that the trip to Tilicho Base Camp Hotel would be quite long. It turned out to be a relatively easy day as I arrived at the hotel just after noon and had the rest of the day to relax. The only difficult part was for the last hour before the hotel the path crossed landslıde slope after landslıde slope. This meant that I was crossing loose scree on a steep slope and at some points was quite worried about the rocks giving way beneath my feet and falling all the way to the bottom of the valley. Luckily I managed to cross all of the avalanche slopes safely and made it to the hotel where I was able to spend the afternoon reading and staring at the peaks surrounding me. Another impressive sight.

Day 9
Today I awoke even earlier to make the trip up to Tilicho Lake, the highest lake in the world. After climbing for a couple of hours I passed the 5000 meter mark and made the short decent down to Tilicho Lake, whıch ıs sıtuated at 4919 meters. The site of the lake was stunning as on one side of the lake there was an ıce wall that rose up to meet the clıff wall of Tilicho Peak (and a few other peaks) while on the other sides of the lake there were smaller peaks immediatly surrounding it but huge peaks in the background. The only slightly disappointing thing was that the lake was completely frozen and covered ın snow but I think this is normal for most of the year.

After spending a couple of hours wandering around the lake and marvelling at its beauty I headed back down to the hotel for some lunch. Back at the hotel I spent a quıck hour eating and resting before grabbing my pack and continuing back down the valley towards the main trail. A short 3 hours after leavıng the Base Camp Hotel I made it to Tilicho Hotel (name might not be correct...) and had an early night as I had a long day the next day to catch up with the rest of the group.

Day 10
Leavıng Tilicho Hotel I took a short cut off the trail to Tilicho Lake that was supposed to meet up with the main trail. The short cut started off well as the trail was pretty easy to follow for the first 30 minutes but then I came to an abandoned village, which was pretty interesting to walk around. At this village the trail to continue wasn't very obvious and it took me a little while to figure out where I had to go, but I eventually sorted it out and was on my way again. The trekking throughout this day was pretty straight forward once I met up with the main path again and it was just a few hours of headıng steadiıly up to Thorong La, the last place we were sleeping before heading over the path. Reachıng Thorong La I met up with the others that I had left behind ın Manang and we spent the rest of the day just relaxıng as being at this altitude took a lot out of you. Thorong La was situated at 4450 meters so doing at this elevation seemed to take a lot of work, but at least none of us were suffering from altitude sickness so everything was going well. As we headed to bed that night it started to snow, something I hadn't been expecting on my trıp, but at least it wasn't too cold and it all seemed to melt by morning.

Day 11
We took another acclimitization day at Thorong La as the doctors ın Manang recommended spendıng 3 nıghts between Manang and the pass. As a result three of us decided to scramble up one of the surroundıng valley walls (well 4 of us started but 1 turned back early on). Dan being crazy decided to climb up to the pass and back to see what it was like. Scrambling up the valley wall was a lot of fun, and we figure we made it to about 5200 meters before heading back down to the hotel. Whıle up at the top Quınn was yelling and we discovered that the surrounding cliff faces provided a very nice echo. So we spent a good chunk of time just yelling at the cliffs (anybody on the path below us that heard us must've thought that we were crazy); however this proved much more difficult than we imagined as it took quite a while to catch our breath between each shout because of the altitude.

Back at the hotel we spent the rest of the day resting up and gettıng prepared for the next day as it was going to be long. We headed to bed quite early as the following day was going to begin at 4am (start walking by 5) to ensure that we would have plenty of time to cross the pass.

Day 12
Today started off super early, 4:15 am to be exact. We awoke in the pitch dark and the six of us all tried to pack at the same time in the tiny room, there was probably enough space for 2 or 3 of us to actually do it at a time. After trying to quickly pack we started out at 5am for the 1000 meter climb to the pass. The first bit of the climb was pretty steep but once we made it up the first 400 meters or so to High Base Camp Hotel we were rewarded with getting to see the sun rise over the mountains, and a nice cup of tea. After a short break here we continued to push on towards the pass, another 600 meters up. The rest of the climb up wasn't too steep for the most part however it was very hard going and took another 2-3 hours to complete the climb. Eventually we made it and hauled ourselves up the final few feet to sit on top of Thorong La Pass, 5416 meters!

The top of the pass was pretty amazing and we spent about an hour taking in our accomplishment and just looking around at the surrounding peaks that still towered above us. While up here we also took the mandatory group photo of the sign at the top and ate the chocolate bars that we had all been saving for this moment.

After enjoying our time at the top we started back down the other side of the pass into one of the largest valleys that I have ever seen. The trip back down the other side of the pass was really long and seemed to go on forever but the landscape was pretty interesting as we were walking through a huge valley that was completely barren. If anything the decent was even tougher than the climb up to the pass as we had to descend 1600 meters down to Muktinath and this became quite tiring as the trail was quite steep but to add to that we were all quite hungry and tired at this point.

Finally at about 5:30pm we reached our destination of Muktinath and were welcomed by a very unwelcoming sight: motorbikes. At this point the trek joined up with the much more developed Jomson Trek and this contained a road all the way along it so it was almost as if we had reentered civilization after 12 days of being away from it. The one benefit of it though was that our hotel had hot water, a luxury.

Day 13
Today was a real wakeup call after being in fairly isolated valleys for the previous 12 days of the trek. For the most part of the day we were walking along a really dusty road and had to keep watching out for passing jeeps. In addition to the jeeps the wind was absolutely howelling through the valley and we had to walk quite bent over into the wind to be able to stand in it at all. In addition to the wind and jeeps we were still walking through the extremely barren valley so the scenery didn't change very much to allow a distraction for us. The one highlight of the day though was the restaurant that we stopped in for lunch at Kagbeni, it had to have had some of the best food that we ate on the entire trip, delicious. The trekking in the afternoon was pretty similar to the morning but just outside of Jomson we came to a broken down jeep blocking the road. Being good citizens we helped the local Nepali people push the jeep to the side of the road so others could get by it and we were rewarded with a free jeep ride to our destination of Jomson.

Day 14
After the terrible trekking conditions of the previous day we decided to take a jeep for a part of todays journey. We started out by walking for an hour to a nice little town called Marpha which was quite nice and a great place to rest while waiting for the jeep. Once the jeep arrived the six of us crammed into it to make a total of 12 plus the driver and we headed off towards Ghasa. This jeep ride had to have been one of the bumpiest rides ever and if we weren't packed into the jeep so tightly I'm sure we would've all been flying around constantly.

Day 15
Today we were back on the trail and it was a pretty good day of trekking. We were able to avoid walking on the road for most of the day as a seperate path had been built on the other side of the narrow valley. In addition to being off the road, we had finally left the barren and windy valley behind so everyone was in pretty good spirits. To aide with the better conditions though we all knew that we were heading to Tatopani where there are some great hot springs. The hot springs in Tatopani are much more developed than the first set we went to (we actually had to pay to enter them) but they were still amazing and they felt so good after having being trekking for the past 2 weeks. The majority of the afternoon and evening in Tatopani were spent relaxing in either the hot spring or at the hotel.

Day 16
This was another brutal day, what we hoped was the last of the trek. The plan for the day was to climb 1600 meters from Tatopani to Ghorapani and it truly was difficult after having the previous few days be all downhill or a jeep ride. After a long tiring day we finally made it to Ghorapani which is located only 40 mins from Poon Hill, a beautiful sunrise spot that gives views of the entire Annapurna range. However when we went to bed that night we weren't feeling too optimistic about the views the next morning as the haze had returned. But we went to bed early with the plan to wake up and check the sky at 4 am.

Day 17
Sure enough at 4am the skies were quite hazy still as we could barely see any stars or the moon so we decided to just keep on sleeping and skipped walking up to Poon Hill. In the end this seemed like a good decision as we met other travellers who said they couldn't see anything other than haze (one guy went so far to say that it was amazing, he hadn't seen this much haze ever before in his life). Later that morning we finally awoke and prepared for our final day of trekking. The day was still pretty long though as we had to descend the 1600 meters that we had climbed the previous day. The trail down was just one long staircase and at the end of it everyone was quite sore and glad that is was over. We eventually reached Nayapul at 5:30 pm and quickly caught a bus that would take us to Pokhara and true civilization. Arriving in Pokhara we had a nice shower and went out for some delicious food and a beer before returning to our hotel completely exhausted.

The Annapurna Circuit was an absolutely amazing trek and I would definately recommend it to anyone as the sights that we got to see were unreal. The trek was made even better by the people that I spent it with: Ryan, Jacque, Quinn, Dan, and Amy. Definately an awesome trip.









Jacque sitting in the hot springs just outside of Bahundanda.















A typical view of the trail for the first few days of the trek.












A signpost just outside of Tal showing the distances and elevations of the main villages along the trek.













A porter carrying a desk up the mountain, just one example of the crazy things these porters carried.













A local lumbermill. All of the wood used in the buildings is cut locally and planed by hand to produce the necessary planks.











A shot of the group along the trail.















A small stone carin on the trail with a view of Annapurna II behind it.














Quinn gazing up at Annapurna II, this is the day when we took the upper trail from Pisang to Manang and couldn't stop staring at the peaks.













Team Sole posing on the trail from Pisang to Manang with the Annapurna range in the background.












A shot of the trail up to Tilicho Lake just after leaving Manang.














Standing in front of the frozen Tilicho Lake, the world's highest lake at 4919 meters.










Some prayer flags blowing in the wind at Tilicho Lake.










Quinn and Jacque on our excursion from Thorong Phedi. Here is when we were causing the echos in the valley.










On top of the pass! Standing in front of the sign congratulating us on making it to 5416 meters, the top of Thorong La pass.










A view down the valley after the pass. You can see how barren and wide the valley is, something that we hadn't experienced yet on the trek.