Day 3 - Our 2nd night in Turkey, most of us still hadn't gotten used to the timezone. It's 5 hours later than Malaysian. So we ended up getting awake around 5AM which is 10AM in Malaysia. Memang sedang molek ngat lah kalau malaysia tu. So it was the one huge reason why we could cope with the timing to have breakfast at around 6:30 or 7AM. Well actually we could start the breakfast at 6:30, but Subuh was around 6:45. We had to wait and prayed first so usually we had our breakfast at 7 which made us only had at most half an hour of breakfast time.
We started the day by looking for money changer. Acik wanted to trade her Euro notes. We couldn't find one, and Ahmed decided to trade at one of the bank there. I followed Ahmed and Acik while the rest were just waiting in the van. While Acik was waiting for her turn, I quickly browsed through some of the shops nearby to look for Xiyad's new boots and Fiya's snow cap. Xiyad's boots bought online by Wawa was too small for his feet. Xiyad even mentioned that he had to crooked his fingers while wearing them. But I couldn't find any boots. Just a set of snow cap, scarf and gloves for Fiya.
We started the day by looking for money changer. Acik wanted to trade her Euro notes. We couldn't find one, and Ahmed decided to trade at one of the bank there. I followed Ahmed and Acik while the rest were just waiting in the van. While Acik was waiting for her turn, I quickly browsed through some of the shops nearby to look for Xiyad's new boots and Fiya's snow cap. Xiyad's boots bought online by Wawa was too small for his feet. Xiyad even mentioned that he had to crooked his fingers while wearing them. But I couldn't find any boots. Just a set of snow cap, scarf and gloves for Fiya.
I finished my quick shopping and Acik finally came back with Ahmed. Xiyad needs to wear the boots without zipping it for the time being. Ahmed looked so furious. It happened that somehow, Acik's turn (number) was skipped and the staff then didn't do anything to help and just suggested her to take a new number. So in the end, Acik didn't get any Liras.
Ahmed brought us to the carpet place called DOKU Art. We already said to ourselves we would definitely not gonna buy any. But it was really a great temptation to buy one. We were welcomed by a guy that explained to us the different types of wool and how they get the natural colour from specific types of flowers around Turkey. The carpets there are handwoven, we got to see how they weave them and it was super complicated I could say. We were then brought into a big room full of carpets and they started to lay them one by one. They are all so nice and beautiful. We were served with hot apple tea while browsing through each one of them. There are quite expensive but worth the workmanship though. The staff tried their best to persuade us to buy, but none of us purchased any.
Kitorang sampai sini pun baru nak cerah haa
Ni orang tengah tunjuk benang apa ntah tak ingat. benang paling kuat. 1/10 dr sehelai rambut. Tu aku bgtu kt family aku.."tu le rupa titian siratulmustaqim"
We then headed to visit the Underground City of Sarhatli (Cardak) where we could see the remnants of the underground old refugee camp developed by the 15000 christians that went for hiding. At first Ahmed advised not to bring the kids, but we assured him that we will take care of them with our own responsibility. Well, what do you expect of underground city or more like inside the hill refugee camp? There are narrow passage and tunnel which you need to carefully walk through and with kids, it might become a bit dangerous. But we managed.
You could see how they managed to carved and dig holes and holes inside there and I could imagine the determination, the will to survive during the time. They can cut the stones way centuries back. Amazing. After a while, we emerged out from the collapsed ancient city and got ourselves 15 minutes free time to buy souvenirs. Few locals sell shawls, scarfs and lots more. I just bought some fridge magnet. There were lotsa Malaysian other than us here.
Next stop was Uchisar Village by the road. Another ancient cave city. The scenery is beautiful and we spent time there around 30 minutes for photography. I bought my mug to add to my collection here.
Next we went to Pigeon Valley where our restaurant for our lunch was just nearby the place. Another mesmerizing hill view where there were some shops selling souvenirs and turkish nuts, snacks and sweets.
We then had our lunch at Tandirevi Restaurant and while finishing our lunch, I collected 90USD from each person for the jeep safari. We prayed at the restaurant's mescid as quick as possible as Ahmed mentioned that the Jeeps for the safari ride has already arrived.
Ok. One of the main attraction at Cappadocia is surely the air balloon. Ahmed has already talked about how it's just once a lifetime experience perhaps. Before coming, even my manager shared her fair share of experience and even mentioned not to compare it with Putrajaya hot air balloon. But you know, USD220 per person is not a figure that makes you hesitate though. After all the discussion and everything with the rest, we agreed that only Wawa and I will be going for the hot air balloon and another 4 of us will just take the dedicated shuttle to go for photography around the area of the take-off and even that costs you USD40. I did ask if we could buy the ticket from online as I browsed through it in the net and found some with as low as USD150. But then Ahmed said you still need to pay USD40 for the dedicated transport from the hotel to the take-off area and he said something about reliability bla bla bla.
Ok. One of the main attraction at Cappadocia is surely the air balloon. Ahmed has already talked about how it's just once a lifetime experience perhaps. Before coming, even my manager shared her fair share of experience and even mentioned not to compare it with Putrajaya hot air balloon. But you know, USD220 per person is not a figure that makes you hesitate though. After all the discussion and everything with the rest, we agreed that only Wawa and I will be going for the hot air balloon and another 4 of us will just take the dedicated shuttle to go for photography around the area of the take-off and even that costs you USD40. I did ask if we could buy the ticket from online as I browsed through it in the net and found some with as low as USD150. But then Ahmed said you still need to pay USD40 for the dedicated transport from the hotel to the take-off area and he said something about reliability bla bla bla.
Deep inside me I was like hoping "biarlah cuaca tak membenarkan"..haha boleh camtu? But somehow, it did happen. the weather was not permissible for a take off that morning, so after the carpet place Ahmed wanted us to confirm and prepared the money for the jeep safari. We decided to take the jeep safari for USD90 per person. Still quite expensive. But we already knew about the prices before we came. You need to know and prepare too. If you wana save money and do not take any of the hot air balloon, jeep or horse riding around the Cappadocia, then you better skip the place coz it's really far to travel and you wont get to savor the gem of Cappadocia without doing any of these activities.
We were divided to 3 separate Jeeps. My family and youngest sister of Najwa rode in the same jeep. They first brought us to a photography spot nearby before we started the real jeep safari. So as I mentioned the jeep safari route is the same area you would see from the aerial view of the hot air balloon. It's just that with Jeep Safari, you drive through more areas as the hot air balloon needs to follow the wind direction. But the feeling looking at the view from top is what makes it priceless.
The jeep would purposely drive as rough as they can at least by having one side of the tyres on a higher terrain. At first my driver was enjoying our shriek and shout accompanied with pop songs which for me immaculately add on the mood of the bumpy ride. But then I told the driver, "slow man..kids..they might vomit" while showing the gesture of throwing up, he drove as careful as he could right after that. But the other jeeps were on their own bump.kekekeke.
At the first stop, right after emerged from the jeep, we heard ayoh sighed "Ingat safari ada binatang macam afrika...dia kata takdop binatang sining. kalau tau tak mboh starang" hahahahahaha. Memang kelakar lah..I told ayoh to just let the driver knows that we don't fancy the thrilling kind of driving. But unsure if ayoh told them so. There were some other group that rides Nissan SUV but they did not follow the terrain that used by our jeep. So, yeah the jeep makes the ride more interesting. hahaha.
We had another stop after that to take some pictures on the hood of the jeep and then on the last stop where they served us pomegranate juice. Actually they would toast with wine if you want. The same as the hot air balloon trip. Once you landed, they will have a toast with you. After saying thank you to all of our drivers, I think none of us tip them. There's a tip box in each of the jeep though if you are kind enough. hehe.
Our merz picked us up and we stopped for some souvenirs at one of the photography spot where you could see the balloon if they were taking flight. It was cold, around 6-8 degree and after another cup of Turkish coffee we went to our last destination, the pottery center - Hisaronu Seramik Art Galeri.
We were welcomed by a guy with full suit that gave this aura of "i know our stuffs". He could even brief us in bahasa melayu. He mentioned that almost every family has someone who has the pottery skill around the area. But slowly the younger generation are no longer interested on the skill. Then he called the pottery master to show us how a vase can be made from a lump of clay. Looks easy, but the guy said usually it took 8-10 years to master the pottery skill.
Then they brought us to a room full of pottery product but yaa..we didn't buy any and headed back to our hotel. Ahmed said that they need to buy some mineral waters for tomorrow and if everyone wants to browse through the shops near our hotel. But Ayoh didn't feel well and wanted to go straight back to hotel. So the merz dropped my family and Ahmed at the shops area and drove the rest towards the hotel. I wanted to buy new boots for xiyad. I could see he's struggling with his small boots.
The first grocery shop did not sell his size so I ran across the road to the other bigger supermarket and finally found a pair that fits his size but pink in colour. Ah lantaklah..I bought it and headed back to hotel. At least now Xiyad has a convenient shoes to wear
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