CARAVAN CONTINUES

First off, a quick blurb about being an American and traveling given the world situation and American sentiment around the world. The most common thing, to the point its basically ignored, is for someone to ask you "What do you think....Bush or Kerry" then rattle right on saying "I like Kerry". But usually thats about all they know of the situation. And the anti-american sentiment is usually held not by locals, but by other travelers from Western countries. The best example of all this, granted its a bit absurb, is goes like this. Chris and I are chilling with a few beers in a pension terrace in Fethiye. A group of two Brits and two, i believe, Turks, are a table away tripping over themselves to bash America, and Britian, but only in conection with the war. So after the usual banter, the Brit bloke takes the cake with this one: "We (his wife or girlfriend) don't buy American products if at all possible. No Coke, no Marlboro, no Nike. Well, I do have one pair of American sneakers. But they are Phat Pharm, and they were made by black people." He then goes to enlighten us eavesdroppers of an American conspiracy: "I heard that America, despite having enough oil to meet its needs, buys it all from foreign countries, so that, in 100 years, America will be the only country on earth to have oil, and then they can control everybody." Wow. Didn't know that either. I guess the biggest thing I've learned is usually to just have a laugh and not try to argue it out. And it was a good laugh, and continues to this day.
Alrite, set sail on the boat cruise on 4 Sept from Fethiye. We had about 16 people on the boat, a good mix of Aussies, Kiwis, Brits, Canadiens, and us Americans. Most were only holiday or extended vacation in a career transition, and made Chris and I feel like the jokers of the lot. Sort of. Anyway, the Meditteranean coast of Turkey is magnificent. Rocky, desolate hills and mountians with sparse vegatation, the kind you'd find in a relative wasteland, meet the crystal clear blue waters of the Sea. Islands of similar design sprout out of the sea here and there. Sandy beaches are few, but where they are its quite impressive, at least it would be were it not for the endless rows of beach umbrellas, towels, and tourists. Never did like those tourists. We cruised along, making stops at a harbor leading to butterfly valley, which would have a been a real disappointment if you went to look for butterfl (they must have been on holiday themselves), the blue lagoon, which suffers from the curse of having been on the cover of Lonely Planet, so now its along but a lonely place, at St Nicolas island, home of the well known St. Nicolas backin 800AD or so I think. Most slept on the deck of the boat, and I awoke the next morning to a frightening storm, only to realize it was just the boat blazing through the sea. Back to sleep. It is a nice thing to awake, have a peak across the sea to the sunrise and coast, hold the gaze a bit, then drop the head to the pillow and doze off for a few more hours of sleep. Day two took us to a coastal town, and another harbor before droppin anchor near the Sunken City. Built some 2000 years ago, it now resides just under the sea at the foot of the island. Ruins existed on the island as well, but by now I'm a bit blinded to rock and stone ruins. Next morning awoke to a trio of goats making their way around the rocky slopes of the island. Again, right back to sleep. A trip to a fishing village with no road access topped off the third day. Made the trek to the castle uptop after chilling out in the Hammock for a bit, nice views to all sides were the reward. Food was excellent throughout the cruise, made by the three man crew. My only complaint about Turkish food is the tomatoes. They are ubiquitos. Think shrimp from Bubba Gump, and you'll be halfway there. Breakfast lunch dinner. There is no escape. Great times aboard the boat, and the cruise served as a nice vacation from traveling.
Finished off at Olympos, near the like named mountian the Greeks were so obsessed with. Spent the night in a treehouse, dinner and breakfast included, served summer camp style, for a grand total of $8.50. Can do for more of that. Great cove at Olympos and the nearby Cirali at the other end of the beach. Ruins dating over 2000 years line the walk from the beach towards the area where the treehouse pensions line the road for a few Kms. Spent two nights down the beach at Cirali in relative comfort, extending the vacation from traveling. Set off at 1130pm from there to make the 5km trek to Chimera, also straight out of Greek Mythology. After the trek, including 1k up treacherous rock steps, you find the flaming rocks of Chimera. For some reason, gas has seeped out of the rocks as long as can be known, and they are constantly flaming. An area about 20m X 50m contains a good 10-12 hotspots with small to large flames dancing about. The night sky was about as clear as could be, and well away from any city lights, allowing a remarkable of the stars, and nearly all of them. Another day spent lazily messing about the beach, and then the following evening it was up to Antalya and an overnight bus to Goreme in Cappadocia.

The whole of Cappadocia is completely unique to anything I have seen, and probably anything that is. Imagine something like a Hollywood set for a Star Wars or Hobbit or something, maybe something out of a new Disneyworld theme park, or something from the moon. Probably the most flamboyant combination of the wonders of nature combined with the creativity and cleverness of man. A natural harmony. Hard enough to describe, so save me the effort and cruise through the photos (photos.yahoo.com/begbey). But a bit about the formation.....Explanation is that the volcanos in the region blew their tops thousands of years back, spewing an incredible about of ash throughout the region, and some lava as well. The ash hardened over the years into a soft rock, and parts had the lava rock about it. Years of erosion by wind and rain wore down the unprotected soft rock. The lava rock protected the areas under it, leaving a pillar of sorts with the "Fairy Chimney" on top. Then man came along, the Hiitites it is thought, back in the BC days, and discovered they could easily dig into it all and live inside, protected from the heat of summer and cold of winter. And much more easily than bringing in stone or rocks. This worked fine and well until they needed protection from invading armies and persecution from the Romans. So in the same region are some 300 underground cities, the largest going down over 7 floors, tapping into groundwater through wells below, and channeling air from above, able to sustain life within for 6 months or so. Dug into hard rock, they took a bit longer than the above ground houses. Further south of the Goreme valley is a channel that seems to have been cut by a glacier, leaving rock plateaus on either side, showing the multilayered rock on the exposed faces.

ok, gotta jet.