The start of the travels
Preface
In 1999 I had driven down to bring Sheila back to Bathurst, New South Wales from staying with our eldest son Adam and his wife Rosalind in Melbourne. The first night there I was feeling a little ‘pale’, and I thought it was a ‘crook’ pie I had bought in Albury on the way down. No: it was my third heart attack, and to cut a long and tedious story short I had to stay and have my second lot of triple by-pass, open-heart surgery. Prior to the operation Adam bought a bottle of Grange Hermitage, and said that if I survived we would drink it together. It was a pretty close run thing, but due to the skills of Dr Alistair Royse at the Royal Melbourne Hospital we were able to share the Grange.
It was a long hard road to recovery; and then Adam and Rosalind said that they would like to send us on a holiday to help my recovery. In September 2001 we went to Istanbul, Turkey; in September, 2002 Hanoi, Viet Nam and October, 2003, Italy Thailand and Malaysia. This is the 2005 edition will including our Christmas in Bangkok and New Year in Phuket with pictures of some of the tsunami damage in Patong and then tales of our September 2005 visit to Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Bangkok
This is a record of those trips.
Dedication
Adam and Rosalind for their love; and making all the trips possible.
Our youngest son Patrick and wife Karen for their love and support.
Dr Alistair Royse for my life.
Sheila; for making all things possible and for loving me even when I am impossible
CONTENTS
Chapter one: ‘Turkey trot to paradise’
Chapter two: ‘The roar of the traffic and the perfumes of the pagoda’
Chapter three: ‘All roads lead to Rome even when you are heading for Rebak’
Chapter four: ‘Thailand: Land of smiles; Bangkok: City of Angels; and wave goodbyes very many people
Chapter five: 'Peking Duck number 115,130940
CHAPTER 0NE
‘TURKEY TROT TO PARADISE’
25th September 2001 was the day that we arrived in Istanbul. We landed at 1050 local time, and the entry procedures were very quick and easy, apart from a fee of US$20 each for an entry visa, a fee that we were not expecting. But luckily they accepted Australian dollars, but forty of them for each of us did seem a bit over the top. As we left the airport building to my surprise I saw a chap holding a sign with our name. Adam our son had organised this chap from VIP Travel to meet us, and take us to our hotel. Gee it was nice to not have to worry about that after travelling from Singapore since 0300, in the morning, Singapore time.
However, after we loaded the car I did try and get into the drivers seat as I had not realised that they drive on the right hand side of the road, and so have left-hand drive cars. It took about thirty minutes to get to our hotel, ‘The Citadel’ on the waterfront just where the Bosphorus joins the Sea of Marmara.
Sheila and I booked in and went straight to bed and slept for a couple of hours. I got up about 1830 and went for dinner on the patio overlooking the sea, and watched the ships going up to the Black Sea passing those heading across the Sea of Marmara to the Mediterranean. Sheila stayed in bed until next morning; it was a hot night.
Day two started with a leisurely breakfast on the patio. It was a huge smorgasbord including many varieties of breads, cheeses, meats, fruits, cereals, pastries etc etc. We staggered off to a taxi, which we had ordered, and headed for the Fatih mosque. The plan was to see the mosque and the Wednesday markets nearby.
The taxi driver did not speak much English, but assured us he knew where we wanted to go. The taxi fare was about 5,000,000 Lira. I had a fit until we realised that this was about Australian $6.00.
It took me a while to count the zeros on the meters, and then the zeros on the bank notes and try and match the two. As it turned out we were dropped near the Fatih museum, which was closed on Wednesdays. We sought directions and many local people were very keen to help us, and after a 45-minute walk through cobbled streets we found the market and the Fatih mosque. We were sure that we would not be able to go in as there was a notice asking people not to go in if they were wearing shorts. Sheila had bought a scarf in the market to cover her head, but we did not know about the concern over shorts. While we were talking about it a tourist policeman encouraged us to go in, and he acted as our guide and explained many things to us about the mosque and the nearby tomb of Mehmet.
The mosque was the third major building on this site. The first was the Church of The Holy Apostles, the burial place of most of the Byzantine emperors in the period first century AD until the 14th century. On 29th May 1453 Sultan Mehmet II (1451-1481) known as ‘the conqueror’ entered Constantinople after a 54-day siege. As part of his redevelopment of the city, he had conquered, Mehmet commissioned a mosque on the site. The first Fatih mosque collapsed in an earthquake in 1766, and most of what can be seen today was the work of Mehmet Tahir Aga, the chief imperial architect under Mustafa III. The tomb of Mehmet the conqueror is very close and stands just behind the prayer hall. The serenity in his tomb was palpable. It was amazing to see people in deep prayer, and the enormous reverence that was apparent for someone that lived in the fifteenth century. We certainly learned something about respect for ones elders. Sheila also visited the tomb of his wife Gulbahar, which was in another separate building nearby, but not as grand as the Sultan’s tomb. We walked around a nearby graveyard, and the headstones had stone turbans of different designs and sizes, or various headgear depending on the status of the person.
As we were leaving a Muslim lady indicated that we should follow her and she pointed out a very small tomb that must have been a child’s. We did not know if it was her child, but she appeared pleased that we had shown an interest in what she wanted to show us. We found that a smile is a universally accepted gesture of friendship and in all our time in Turkey was successful in transcending any language barriers.
We left there feeling very peaceful, and took a taxi to the Galatasaray Fish Market. This was across the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn.
In 1999 I had driven down to bring Sheila back to Bathurst, New South Wales from staying with our eldest son Adam and his wife Rosalind in Melbourne. The first night there I was feeling a little ‘pale’, and I thought it was a ‘crook’ pie I had bought in Albury on the way down. No: it was my third heart attack, and to cut a long and tedious story short I had to stay and have my second lot of triple by-pass, open-heart surgery. Prior to the operation Adam bought a bottle of Grange Hermitage, and said that if I survived we would drink it together. It was a pretty close run thing, but due to the skills of Dr Alistair Royse at the Royal Melbourne Hospital we were able to share the Grange.
It was a long hard road to recovery; and then Adam and Rosalind said that they would like to send us on a holiday to help my recovery. In September 2001 we went to Istanbul, Turkey; in September, 2002 Hanoi, Viet Nam and October, 2003, Italy Thailand and Malaysia. This is the 2005 edition will including our Christmas in Bangkok and New Year in Phuket with pictures of some of the tsunami damage in Patong and then tales of our September 2005 visit to Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Bangkok
This is a record of those trips.
Dedication
Adam and Rosalind for their love; and making all the trips possible.
Our youngest son Patrick and wife Karen for their love and support.
Dr Alistair Royse for my life.
Sheila; for making all things possible and for loving me even when I am impossible
CONTENTS
Chapter one: ‘Turkey trot to paradise’
Chapter two: ‘The roar of the traffic and the perfumes of the pagoda’
Chapter three: ‘All roads lead to Rome even when you are heading for Rebak’
Chapter four: ‘Thailand: Land of smiles; Bangkok: City of Angels; and wave goodbyes very many people
Chapter five: 'Peking Duck number 115,130940
CHAPTER 0NE
‘TURKEY TROT TO PARADISE’
25th September 2001 was the day that we arrived in Istanbul. We landed at 1050 local time, and the entry procedures were very quick and easy, apart from a fee of US$20 each for an entry visa, a fee that we were not expecting. But luckily they accepted Australian dollars, but forty of them for each of us did seem a bit over the top. As we left the airport building to my surprise I saw a chap holding a sign with our name. Adam our son had organised this chap from VIP Travel to meet us, and take us to our hotel. Gee it was nice to not have to worry about that after travelling from Singapore since 0300, in the morning, Singapore time.
However, after we loaded the car I did try and get into the drivers seat as I had not realised that they drive on the right hand side of the road, and so have left-hand drive cars. It took about thirty minutes to get to our hotel, ‘The Citadel’ on the waterfront just where the Bosphorus joins the Sea of Marmara.
Sheila and I booked in and went straight to bed and slept for a couple of hours. I got up about 1830 and went for dinner on the patio overlooking the sea, and watched the ships going up to the Black Sea passing those heading across the Sea of Marmara to the Mediterranean. Sheila stayed in bed until next morning; it was a hot night.
Day two started with a leisurely breakfast on the patio. It was a huge smorgasbord including many varieties of breads, cheeses, meats, fruits, cereals, pastries etc etc. We staggered off to a taxi, which we had ordered, and headed for the Fatih mosque. The plan was to see the mosque and the Wednesday markets nearby.
The taxi driver did not speak much English, but assured us he knew where we wanted to go. The taxi fare was about 5,000,000 Lira. I had a fit until we realised that this was about Australian $6.00.
It took me a while to count the zeros on the meters, and then the zeros on the bank notes and try and match the two. As it turned out we were dropped near the Fatih museum, which was closed on Wednesdays. We sought directions and many local people were very keen to help us, and after a 45-minute walk through cobbled streets we found the market and the Fatih mosque. We were sure that we would not be able to go in as there was a notice asking people not to go in if they were wearing shorts. Sheila had bought a scarf in the market to cover her head, but we did not know about the concern over shorts. While we were talking about it a tourist policeman encouraged us to go in, and he acted as our guide and explained many things to us about the mosque and the nearby tomb of Mehmet.
The mosque was the third major building on this site. The first was the Church of The Holy Apostles, the burial place of most of the Byzantine emperors in the period first century AD until the 14th century. On 29th May 1453 Sultan Mehmet II (1451-1481) known as ‘the conqueror’ entered Constantinople after a 54-day siege. As part of his redevelopment of the city, he had conquered, Mehmet commissioned a mosque on the site. The first Fatih mosque collapsed in an earthquake in 1766, and most of what can be seen today was the work of Mehmet Tahir Aga, the chief imperial architect under Mustafa III. The tomb of Mehmet the conqueror is very close and stands just behind the prayer hall. The serenity in his tomb was palpable. It was amazing to see people in deep prayer, and the enormous reverence that was apparent for someone that lived in the fifteenth century. We certainly learned something about respect for ones elders. Sheila also visited the tomb of his wife Gulbahar, which was in another separate building nearby, but not as grand as the Sultan’s tomb. We walked around a nearby graveyard, and the headstones had stone turbans of different designs and sizes, or various headgear depending on the status of the person.
As we were leaving a Muslim lady indicated that we should follow her and she pointed out a very small tomb that must have been a child’s. We did not know if it was her child, but she appeared pleased that we had shown an interest in what she wanted to show us. We found that a smile is a universally accepted gesture of friendship and in all our time in Turkey was successful in transcending any language barriers.
We left there feeling very peaceful, and took a taxi to the Galatasaray Fish Market. This was across the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn.
posted by John Lunn at 6:33 PM
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