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You guys HAVE to watch this video!!!

This man is from Tuva (Go google) and he is demostrating overtone singing, or throat-singing, where he can produce more than 1 pitch at a time (listen carefully, he can do a base tone and a melodic tone simultaneously - INCREDIBLE...)



This is LIKE, SO COOL, i mean REALLY. (American accent *imagine*)


Okie, just to share with u guys some Turkish Pop culture. Here's a Turkish MTV! wooot!



It's about the guy chatting on the Internet and falling in love with this girl (hence the title of the song) and the guy appreciating girls with delicious figures (hence 60-90-60 in inches or something). Woot!

Pictures from the school:

This 2 are rascals (red and orange).

Can you believe it? They have chess classes! haha... the school believes in creative teaching. Which includes hangman and win, lose or draw all day.

And i haven't introduce my host family yet! This is Zeren, she's the youngest daughter of the family. She's only 14 and she's a very very very sweet and innocent girl. She's eating Rendang Chicken that jacq cooked and boy, she drowned herself in iced water after that.
This is the mum, i call her Dr. Ilay. She's the best host man. Yeah, she's a doctor who specialises in Kidney Dialysis and her husband is a surgeon and an owner of a hospital. So u can imagine how well to do they are. =) Oh yeah, the kids call their mums "Anne" (ah-neh).

And this is the elderest daughter - Zeynep. She's very fortunate, her family let her study what she loves English and French Literature. She's very smart and very pro-american.
Yup! this is Dr Ilay, in the family's pool. They asked me to swim with them, but somehow, i felt a little shy. And they were puzzled. Hehh hehh.

This 3 are rascals too. They keep asking me if i love them and they keep wanting to kiss me and jacq. haha. The number of kisses we get in one day is ten times the number of kisses we get in our lives.


Yea, me and kids.

PICTURES

hah! finally got some pictures up. firstly, my CD got corrupted (and i paid 10 euros to get my photos burned onto the CD. HEH! Turks and money can only mean cheat) and i'm left with only diving photos on my CD. so okie, i did some photoshop to my photos and here i'm posting them!

This is in the Aegean Sea, where ocean life is virtually dead and fishes can only be attracted by killing a couple of sea urchins (which is on my right hand in the picture). Surface sea water is 18 degrees, which was probably only 5 degrees when we went down 27 metres. for the first dive, we were given short wet suits (while the rest of the divemasters wore long and had extra thermal protection, we were given oversized, normal short wet suits) and we could literally feel fresh cold water coming in between our body and the suit, given virtually NO thermal insulation at all. When we came up the water, i swear, i had a sense of what hypothermia would be like. I was shivering for 30 min and i just couldn't stop. sigh. anyway the 2nd dive onwards, the instructors became smarter out of the sudden and gave us expensive Mares thermal protection wet suits (worth US$400). Their oxygen tanks were interesting, they had a netting for all their tanks to increase frictional grip with the straps. Singapore diving centres CAN YOU HEAR? invest some money in these nettings too so that you won't blame us for not checking. Anyway, diving itself is great... i wish i could be in the waters too and breathe scuba too...


I like this photo! This is me and Clarence trying to cross the freaking cold canyon and while struggling, he stops to take a photo. haha! You know, we were totally unprepared for this canyon trip. We were actually walking around aimlessly on the streets with no where to go. Luckily, Jacq had a tourist brochure with her. We wanted to go to some ghost town initially, but as we were flagging for minibuses, we got one that goes to the canyon instead of the ghost town. and so, we ended up at the canyon which took our breathes away.


Ok, this was taken at a beach with the Mediterranean Sea at the background. I am the chairman of the GBGS society (Gian beng gian sai) while Sami is the founder of SS (Savings society - whoa so refined, pui!). our motto is to save every penny for a better tomorrow. Just look at the background... just pure horizon!!! Ufuk (turkish for 'horizon') galore! The water is great too! cold and shoik and the waves make u turn 360 degrees! and the water is saltish, but it doesn't sting your eyes and being in the water makes u feel blissful... ever since i took up diving, i love clear waters more than ever...

This is a typical turkish meal. The centre is salad (i am HOOKED onto tomatoes), the one with fries is called iskandar (Turkish name for Alexander the Great) and they name the dish after him. Its just Kebab meat on plate (refer to previous entry pt. 7 ) and the wrapped bread is just kebab meat inside too (refer to previous entry pt. 7 again) and the white white thing is plain yogurt. They have yogurt for everything too. jeeez!

This is in Cappadocia - Where dwelling habitats are natural volcanic landforms. people lived in the 'caves' for many many years and were unfortunately evacuated due to earthquakes and lanslides. They have more angular cone shapes called "fairy chimneys", according to myths, there were fairies living in the area who feared humans. Hence, they seek shelter in the chimneys, thus called 'fairy chimneys'.

And this photo, clarence is the just the model for size comparison for this little prison cell. If you look in, it's just an empty 2 metres deep hole. This is the underground city, where there's a kitchen, school, church, winery, all found in 80 meters below the ground. so in this underground city, how could anyone leave out a place for offenders?!? this little prison cell is to keep offenders in there for a period of time, and then crucify them in the underground church.

ALSO, there's an underground tomb. All, it's really literally a city under the ground sia. A skeleton was found here.

Okie just an overview =)

Hah, i'm so proud of this photo --- i took it! Looks like some Nike ( which we found out that Nike is the Goddess of Victory ) advertisement of a Nigerian runner completing some trekking expedition with only a bag and camera in hand. of coz too bad, the shoes he's wearing ain't Nike, otherwise it would be PERFECT.


Last travelling companion : KahFai --- This was taken at Ephesus, an ancient greek city in Turkey. Everything collasped due to earthquakes and that's left is 5% of what it used to be. They have a magnificent theater, ruins and pathways with many traces of greek architecture. Examples would be how their buildings are built with extensive columns on bases, circular patterns and word carvings everywhere. In this picture, the walkway is supposed to be sheltered, but everything's gone and the remains are just weathering out and will be gone completely in a matter of time.



This is Turkey's national monument --- where Ataturk's coffin is, though we're not sure if he is also buried in there. Its magnificent. Just great!!!! It's on top of the hill and very tightly guarded. Very very very pretty place.


Okie! this is the end of my photo entry for my road trip. The next entry will be photos on what i do in school -- the REAL stuff man! =) The kids like us and we love the kids too... =) okie lah! be patient and wait for the next entry!!!!

Please, put down your everything and spend the next 1.5 hours watching this movie. It will come out soon in Singapore i presume. I watched this in an Izmir University Campus Screening and it's really good. The only regret is that I didn't watch it in a cinema (but it was free anyway hehehe) but it sure stirred up emotions and just makes u think so much after the movie. Think about what humanity means and how the American army are treating people in their military camp. Compliance with the Geneva Convention on treatment of prisoners? See for yourself how the Americans can play around with their words. Just watch this movie for yourself and you'll know, or rather, remain puzzled.

Typical Turkish Behaviours

1. When someone is walking on the street and sees a piece of trash in front of him, he will take the effort to bend down, stretch out his arm to pick up the rubbish, then then place it nicely at the side of the road and continue to walk on.

2. When you dine in at certain places, it cost S$3 more than when you da-bao the food of the same portion.

3. We are not allowed to take off our shoes on a 6 hours bus ride. If we do, they will wake us up, ask us to put them on, and goes on to spray antiseptic on the carpet on the bus.

4. Strangers will just approach us and ask us to take a photo of them on our own camera and walk off after viewing themselves on the LCD.

5. When we tell tueks we are from Japan, their eyes will light up. When we say we are from Korea, they will sing and clap to the Korean soccer cheer. Turks have no reaction when we tell them we are from Singapore.

6. Turkish families MUST set the table before they have their dinner. They must have bread, tomatoes and tea with everything they eat.

7. Turkish eateries only offer kebab meat on skewer, kebab meat on plate, kebab meat in flat bread and kebab meat in thick bread. Their meals are at least 3 Liras (S$3.20), but if the boss is nice, they will offer unlimited tea for free.

8. Nation-wide, everyday, the mosques everywhere will blast the prayers 5 times a day, at the same time, so that everyone will be able to hear them wherever they are.

9. Turks smoke everywhere. on buses, in cars, in air-con restaurants, you name it, you see it. They sell cigerettes at 2 Liras a pack.

10. Turks don't celebrate christmas at all. They have a huge celebration for their son's circumcision with fireworks

11. " You're from Singapore? and you are Chinese? You speak English and you are a Chinese and your national language is Malayzia. Erm, so what language do Singaporeans speak?" --- ah. they don't seem to get it, do they?

12. " Tell your friends that the Great Wall of China was built against the Turkish Hans. We have such great influence in your lives." ---- oh preeeeeesh...

end of road trip...

yup! its finally the end of the road trip. here's a quick summary:

Tuesday - Friday : just hanging around Izmir, went Kusadasi, Konak ard the neighbourhood.

Sat - Sunday: Went Diving in the Aegean Sea.

Monday: went to Ephesus and took a night bus to Fethiye

Tuesday: Start of road trip - Rock Tombs, ruins, Seklikent Canyon, walking around

Wednesday: Fethiye Beach

Thursday: Went Antalya

Friday: Went to waterfall

Saturday: Went to Glass pyramid Congress house, went to Beach and touched the Meditteranean Sea water, then nothing much, walk and walk. Night - 8 hours bus ride to Cappadocia

Sunday: Stayed in a cave hostel and was FREAKING COLD. took a 4 hours bike ride around the area and saw wonderful sceneries

Monday: Still Cappadocia - took a tour into caves that goes 8 storeys underground, and more fairy chimneys and abandon churches

Tuesday: Left for Ankara. Well just walking around the city area. watched world cup and ate big fat roast chicken.

Wednesday: went to high-end shopping centres and then went to AniKabir (Atatuk's Tomb). Watched Soccer.

Thursday: Took VIP bus back to Bursa and here i am typing away now.

Alright that's the end. I'm a little sick so i'll stop here for now. Cok Guzel!