if the end of love is this hard. i would never love again. never again.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

turkey - antalya, istanbul part 2

am back with part 2~ [finally. Gonna keep it short.(hopefully) Since it is so so outdated.. =.=]

21st april.

is the first day staying over in the hotel -Majesty at Mirage Parkin Antalya. It wasn't that big. Just a few hours walk and we are done exploring. Behind the hotel was a wonderful view of the sea... Started of by exploring the sea and soon, we actually walked way too far and entered the grounds of another hotel unknowingly...... =p our plan was at first to visit the town. however, as we could not really get directions from any of the conference people or the hotel staffs, we bought a map and started to figure out where exactly was the place that we were planning to go. hmm.. personally, i felt that the boss of the convenience shop was even much more helpful in helping us find where exactly is the location on the map as compared to those at the hotel......... however, the boss ain't staying in Antalyaso he didn't know either. but at least he helped~ anyway, Ai Ni and I eventually found the place on our own. and then it started raining. so we had lunch and retreat back to the hotel room. I suppose were were still a little jet lag so halfway through the tv programs, i fell asleep at 3pm/4pm (Istanbul time) all the way till 6pm where I woke up for dinner~ so that was the end of my 3rd day ^^

sea behind the hotel

waves - i like ^^

flowers all over the hotel - pansy

roses~ =)

snail hiding inside the flower after the rain

the sky after the rain

22nd April

Woke up early cos is the day we are going on an expedition to Kaleiçi (KAH-leh-ee-chee), which is an old city also known as Old Antalya. It has a slight history which involves the Byzantine and Ottoman Empire. But anyways, ain’t going into that. The journey to Kaleiçi was a rather bumpy ride whereby we took a public bus and had a little help from a local in terms of getting there. =) lunch at one of the restaurant at Kalenci is one of the best I had since I reached turkey ^^

After lunch, we visited the old bazaar and market district which starts at Kalekapisi. In there were many small little shops which sells souvenirs especially for tourists. The main attraction to me however, was the old harbor whereby faces the blue sea. [pictures shall do the talking]

first glimpse of the sea

at the restuarant - chef cutting slices of kebab

mine -Döner Kebab

Ai Ni - chicken shish

Grooved Minaret(Yivli Minare) - symbol of Antalya

most shops have the blue color "eye" - for protection / good luck

the old harbour that faces the beautiful sea

clear blue water~

further up the harbour - houses maybe?

poor tired horses - one of them actually yawned...... =p

turkish tea -ςay

kind generous man that insist on us trying (for free) - but we gave him some tips and he posted a picture for me ^^

bread? is found everywhere. even in Istanbul. too bad i didn't try it.

one mode of transport in Antalya - tram

ice-cream uncle posing a picture from far~ keke

nice bus uncle that showed us the way back... =)

bus interchange

while waiting for another bus back to hotel.... a happy picture for getting back safely!! ^_^ with the help of so so many kind souls

turning dark..... tiring day~

23rd April/ 24th April

It was conference day. Went for a few presentations but realized that, the whole system was a little screwed up. Some halls were closed while some presentations were cancelled due to the delay of the flights cos of the volcanic eruptions. Some presentations were combined with another as the halls were close etc etc… lucky mine wasn’t that affected. My presentation was okay. Just a few
questions by some listeners and one question which I did not answered well as the listener was not pleased even after I tried my best. However, I was told then after that the question was out of point [oops =x did not realize]. Was also encouraged by one old uncle that I did well. =) so I suppose overall it was okay. Ai Ni also did well during the conference and I am totally impressed with her able to present without having to look at a script or something. Ai Ni jjang! ^-^ During the conference, befriended a Korean who is going to stay in Turkey for a couple of years. So glad to actually able to talk to someone / get to know someone at the conference. Hee...

Those 2 days were also some special festival day whereby a few special local dishes were prepared and we had very very delicious kebab. However, there were a lot a lot of people… and it got a little frustrating having not found a table. =( Nevertheless, the rewarding part was learning a few Turkish words from the Korean friend, such as water = suyu (soo-you), a very popular drink that looks like milk but is made up of yogurt + salt – Aylan, ticket = bilet.

good morning~ impt day! a picture b4 preparing for the conference presentation
^-^