Extract from one of my camping mates who dare to dream and actually go for it... her email will nvr fail to inspire me! Dare to dream!

hi guys n girls!
yohooo.....im back from Turkey for almost 2 wks oredi! on the 5th July actually... this mail shud have come earlier but due to my laziness,has been dragging it till now... there's so much to say but i dunno where to start n wat to say. At least for now, there wil be no more of the keyboard problem! I've read the past mails tt i sent n gosh! horrible! Sorry for making u guys decipher what i was trying to type! it's not my fault! :p

well, well, well, 1st of all, i muz encourage u all to go visit Turkey cuz it's a WONDERFUL place... with warm, friendly n beautiful pple, with AMAZING sights n their tpt system is very systematic, with the big coaches traversing the whole country. Not to mention, it's not expensive too n the cool thing is Turkey actually straddles between that of Asia n Europe. It's trying to achieve a place in the EU, but there's much obstacles still to tt n i oso hope tt they willl not achieve it cuz they're stilll so 'Asian'! Not forgetting Eastern Turkey (which we did not visit) which has borders with many Middle Eastern nations, it's still very Asian down there!

I guess it muz be the most comfy trip tt i've had, but of course the prices are higher than all the other countries tt i've backpacked in oso... my 1st time out of the Asia continent n a very memorable one indeed. Met many more backpackers than i've met in my past 2 trips, both angmohs n Asians. Most importantly, thru my chance meetings with them, I've discovered much more abt myself n realised what i realli want in life. The 1st few days, i did miss home(surprisingly!) but i attribute it to my 'Theory of Inertia'. yeah, physics..i DUN like physics! but i like this theory n have adopted it into my own philosophy. When i juz left the 1st few days, miss things to settle b4 i left tt i din get enuff rest, hence tiring myself out. However, as the days went by, I feel so comfy with myself, with the new environment n with the world. WANDERLUST. eventually did not even miss home. Im doing smth tt i truly love n as expected, twds the end of the journey, i din feel like coming home at all. tt's the theory of inertia for me. As some close friends wud noe, this is not the character of Cancer at all... Cancerians r supposed to be very homely. Well, im one deviant one.

From the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul to the 'fairy chimneys' in Cappadocia to visiting a local's home to underground cities to the clear turquoise water in Olympos to trekking to see the Chimera flames to Roman ruins in Ephesus to the travertine pools in Pammukkale, we've done n seen them all! There's so much to do in Turkey n so much to see! Too bad i din have the money to go paragliding n we missed the chance to go whitewater rafting, otherwise, tt cud be added onto the list of 'to-dos' in Turkey. I'll go back there one day... to visit Cannakkale, the WW2 battle site in Turkey n where the Aussies n Kiwis will gather there for ANZAC Day on the 25th Apr every yr, to revisit some old places n hopefully friends n oso Eastern Turkey when all has calmed down... From there, i wud like to go to Rhodes, a Greek Island highly recommended by a Hong Kong couple n then to Israel, Jordan n Egypt. I dunno when that time will come, but mark my words, one day, I'll carry it out.

The food in Turkey was marvellous.... They have rice, bread, salad, pita bread, pastries, Turkish pizza called pide n lahmacun, fish, kebabs, Turkish tea, apple tea n many many more! Miss the food down there man..The fruits such as strawberries, cherries, peaches n apricots are grown locally n they're so cheap!! Not to mention, it was my 1st time tasting real apricots as welL! U can find 1kg of cherries at only $0.90! Amazing eh?? I've neva eaten so much cherries in my life b4... The 1st time to taste zucchini as well, as they dun seem to have cucumbers there... n i neva noe aubergines(s'pore call it brinjal) can taste so gd, thanks to the great chefs down there!!!

Athens: We spent 4 days there. It's Europe n everything needa X2! alamak... budget eh, budget... lucky for us, Kash, the friend who joined us in Athens, brought food from Singapore to feed us! hah! Thanks a lot still, Kash! There were cereals, cup noodles n lotsa biscuits! The pastries n sandwiches in Athens were realli gd, but if we were to eat tt every meal, we wud not be able to buy any souvenirs! one MacDonald's meal cost $8.50! However, their ketcup is realli gd! Realli sweet, unlike the ones found in S'pore which has a sour taste due to the added vinegar! argh.... There's no rice there as well! Hard to find n expensive! Im a true Asian in tt i LOVE rice n there's no rice for me for 5 days! Can u imagine the agony??!!!

Went to the Acropolis n i paid double the amt cuz i left my ISIC card in the last guesthouse in Turkey! My ATM n credit cards were there too but they're on the way back to S'pore(i hope so!) argh....disappointing but still magnificent....the Parthenon... smth tt i've wish to c since a tender age. There were cranes n frameworks around the whole structure n many others as well. Of course, we cud not enter n walk ard it... Ephesus in Turkey was gd... n cheaper as well... It's the upcoming Olympics that's causing all the undergoing maintenance n restoration of many buildings, roads n structures. We wanted to visit the National Archaelogical Museum(a must-see in Athens) but it was closed for restoration till the Olympics! ARGH.....Sighz... There's still much touching up to do in the whole city. The 1st thing i noticed when I reached Athens at their Piraeus was tt there's lotsa graffiti ard, smth which reminds me of those suburban districts in US where all the blacks hang out(as alwiz depicted in the movies). According to friends, several other European cities are like tt as well.... Quite an eye-opener to me. Wanted to snap a gd one, but failed to find it.

Many Olympics souvenirs ard n typical tourists us wud get some stuff! In fact, I spent quite a bit on the souvenirs! Rem. a few yrs back when a few friends n i talked abt goin to Athens in 2004 to c the Olympics. Well, almost there... cannot believe tt i actually went...

It was a contrast between the 2 countries. Liked almost everything abt Turkey tt i've experienced except for the fact tt 95% of the pple smokes there. Athens was a dream country since young. Perhaps cuz i went to Turkey 1st n it pales in comparison. But i believe every country has their own attractions n culture to boast abt, n i've not been to the whole of Greece. Hence, i will not make biased comparisons here. Nevertheless, I still njoyed Turkey very much. Maybe it's their hospitality, maybe cuz it's cheaper, maybe it's the different amazing sights, maybe it's the food(GREAT FOOD!!!), maybe it's the Turkish tea served everywhere,maybe it's the fact tt i met some wondrful n unforgettable pple there.... maybe, maybe, maybe.... wateva it is, Turkey has left a very deep impression on me n it holds a special place in my heart among all the places i've been to. Someday somehow, i'll be back....

Missing travelling,
Eunice