23rd
Don’t Mind Them Sealegs, Me Maties!
So after another brutally uncomfortable overnight bus ride (for Wang, that is - I have somehow mastered sleeping through speed bumps), and a brief minibus adventure, we arrived in Demre to hook up with our 4 day/3 night “blue cruise” along the Turquoise Coast. But not before my Turkish barber experience…
I had my head buzzed in Dahab and I was due for a clean-up. So I popped into one of the many shops by the bus station (in some places there are 3 barber shops on one mini-mall strip), explained the minimal service I needed in grunts and whistles, and sat down. After he buzzed my hair shorter than ever before, I thought we were finished. Oh no. Then came the hair washing and scalp/face/neck/shoulders/arms/hand massage, neck cracking, knuckle cracking, and frangrance spraying. And then came the real “Turkish experience”… My ears are fuzzy. That’s right, I am getting little fuzzy hairs on my ears at the age of 34. My old stylist turned me on to clipping them shorter. But my new Turkish friend had another solution. You know how you can take a lighter, hold down the button and release some of the butane gas into your cupped hand, and then make a small fireball? Well add my earlobe to that equation and you’ve got one startled foreigner! It only hurt for a millisecond and was very effective - my ears are smooth as eggs! So funny. I will neeever forget that one.
Sidenote - A very entertaining thing to watch in Greece and Turkey is the way that people nod their head in acknowledgement. It’s less of a nod and more of a nod/turn/raised eyebrow/pursed lip. Ask me to demonstrate my exaggerated version upon return.
We arrived on the boat hoping that it would not be McWangster and a bunch of 50+ Auzzies (Gallipoli is their Mecca). We lucked out. 7 Auzzies between 25-30, 2 girls from BC, and a stoic but cool young Turkish crew made for very sea-worthy companions (20 in all). The vessel was surprisingly plush with full bath and AC in our room! We got 3 squares of simple and delicious food per day, as well as afternoon tea. And otherwise loafed around, read, swam, checked out amazing Lycian ruins on our brief stops in quaint fishing towns, drank Turkish beer, and chatted with our new Auzzie friends. The coastline has dramatic peaks, some over 1500 meters, and is uniquely populated with dense pine forest and golden sand stone formations that were reminiscent of The Library we saw earlier in California.
On the last morning before arriving in Fethiye, while moored in a sheltered cove, we were hit by a brief but nasty storm. Christie and I awoke as the biggest clap of thunder exploded above us. We rose after the stern of the boat hit the rocks and we could hear frantic running about on deck. The crew’s panic was not to bail water out of a gaping hole in the hull, but to get all the cushions covered with tarps. Not quite so badass, but some good excitement nonetheless.
We spent a night in Fethiye before catching a ferry to Rhodes, the first Greek island we could get to before heading back to Athens. Despite some negative press on the island from Jake Bakst (the guy knows nothing about travelling, seriously ;), we were impressed by the Medieval city - Europe’s best preserved. By day, it is a shameless tourist trap for 50+ Brits. But at night, it is magical. The lights, reflecting on the sandstone walls, cast a warm hue that transports you back to the middle ages. I needed some new stimulation after getting pretty depressed and pissy about having to leave Turkey, and this definitely did the trick.
After another overnight ferry back to Athens that Wang got zero sleep on, I sit here at a hostel, taking advantage of free internet.
We finally managed to get a box together of unneeded clothes, some gifts, and some of Christies vast horde of make-up (she’s too tanned for it’s tones now - boo hoo), to send home. Our packs are smaller and we are ready for Bangkok and beyond. We leave in 2 days!
