Turkey

Well life certainly changes quickly on our adventures. We awoke early, 5am and had arranged to have the same taxi driver take us to the airport who had taken us to Dream World the day before. He was reasonable honest and picking one off the road seems reasonably problematic. All went well and we arrived at the airport a little early.

What a difference a decent airline makes compared to the budget ones. The queues were way shorter, there were more staff and they seemed much more relaxed and helpful. It wasn't long before we were through immigration and eating pizza for breakfast. The plane left on time and arrived early. The meals were really nice and the entertainment consoles much better. I suppose you pay for what you get. 

Its funny what you miss after three weeks in Asia. Real grass, western toilets and normal flow of traffic. I could never understand how there weren't more accidents in Thailand as cars constantly changed lanes, used the emergency vehicle verge and at times just sat between lanes.

We were picked up after about 10mins of waiting. After a long flight we were all tired. I was getting very worried as I had very little local currency. I walked along the exit area a number of times looking for my name. One taxi guy offered to ring our driver and told me they weren't coming; yeah right! Eventually I went to the info office and asked in vain for a telephone. When I turned around a man behind me had a sign Mr Henry, Mr Henry. After a quick discussion I realised our flight had arrived 20mins early. Its an unnerving predicament with a family.

The roads were good and we didn't get held up by the traffic which was something I was not used to. The accommodation is OK. We are right in the middle of the Old Quarter in small cobble stone streets. Its Ramadan for the next two weeks and I am only just learning what that means. At about 8pm our 800 channels suddenly stopped working. A lady knocked on our door speaking in Turkish only, asking for money. We thought she was begging but she was wearing religious clothing. Anyway our door got locked from the outside and we are locked in as a result. I suspect it was a donation to pay for the festivities that occur each night during Ramadan.

As I sit here at 4.20am I can hear the call to prayer in the distance. We hope all is well in the land of kiwis.

Henry