True tales from the over-night bus. (Where is the Knight bus when I need it Harry??)

So in the last 3 nights I've slept a total of 4 hours in a bed.  Night 1, an hour in London before catching the night bus, train and the first morning flight to Istanbul. 

All covered up heading into the Blue Mosque

As I last left you, we were starting our journey to Cappadocia...

The man at the hotel said 25 minute,s 30 MAX to the bus station.  So off we go into the steep terraine and cobble stone streets of Istanbul with our big packs on our back and our day packs on the front.  This is where the journey to our over-night bus adventure begins.  And oh what an adventure it was!!!  To quote from Marnie's travel journal.....

"After what was supposed to be a half-hour journey to the bus station, it actually took us one hour with a 20 kilo day pack on.  We got onto the bus, which to easily describe, was a local bus that had not one english-speaking person on there, but two; an Aussie and an American.  The Turkish squeezed between 4-6 people between two chairs, so the bus was filled to the brim.  Just to get your bag on the bus was push-and-shove.  Almost impossible unless you were a Turk.  The bus ride actually took 14 hours.  We had to stop to go to the toilet which was a ceramic hole in the ground, a hose to flush water, and doors that don't lock, they just swing right open when the next Mouslin lady decides it's her turn.  Toilet paper is a myth here.  Except of course, one euro for one 10cm x 10 cm square.  We finally arrived at our hotel at 11am after finally figuring out what bus stop to get off at."

What claimed to be an 11 hour bus ride took us 15 hours door-to-door.  The entire time I'm riding the bus I'm remembering after telling my dad that we were taking an over-night bus, him saying, "Oh, that shounds like fun"  I've been on a lot of long rides before, for this one, there was no uno-champion, there was no car sickness (thankfully), there was funky smells, and there was not much sleeping.  It was terrible, but I suppose it could have been worse.  At least Marnie and I at least got to sit next to each other and, there was only 2 of us in our two seats.  Night 2: zero sleep in a bed.
We didn't have much time here in Cappadocia (before our dreaded return to the overnight bus) so, we were off to walk through town and head to the Open Air Museum.  What should have been a 15 minute walk from our cave hotel, turned into 1.5 hour hike heading on a huge loop on the outskirts of town on the dusty streets in the heat of the mid-day without any shade in site.  The signs we were following for the Museum was a car detour, don't worry we found the "short cut" on the way home.  We lounged by the pool to cool off and relax from our rough journey and got to eavesdropping on some other hotel guests who were talking about their cheap flights back to Istanbul.  Marnie turns to me and asks, "How much would you be willing to spend on a flight back instead?"  We immediately went inside to do research and decided to stay in Cappadocia for an extra night, fly back and chalk our already paid for tickets up to a great story, and something we never wanted to do again, especially with just one night in between!! 

After getting all of our tours, trip and extra night details squared away, it was getting late.  We asked a solo travelling Chinese-American who just arrived to join us for dinner.  Whereas I would have much rathered it had been Kelsey Cheng, Sophie has continued to provide with good laughs.  She's quite the character and stereotypical Asian tourist (don't worry, we have been quite sterotypical tourists ourselves-nothing screams tourist like having backpack straps tan lines)!!  Late to bed and next thing I know, I'm woken up to the sounds that Marnie's only told me about.  The 4 am Mouslim prayer, sung through loud speakers that spread throughout the city.  Night 3: 4 hours of sleep in a bed

Today, our real wake-up call was shortly after the prayer at 4:15 so that we could take a hot air balloon ride (Don't worry Mom, it's the safest method of air travel).  The sky was full of everyone in their hot air balloons and it was awesome to get to see the whole town from above.  After our morning adventure, we proceeded on with a day tour, and guess who's there, but that we had to turn bacl around to get....Sophie!!  We went hiking through Rose valley, visit a Turkish Greek city, see the fairy chimnys, eat a proper Turkish lunch, see one of the rock castles, and visit an underground city.  Sophie showed up late for the bus in 3 of today's 6 events (4 if you include the start) and only because the other 3 were done as a group, with her camera clicking wildly the entire time.  She's great :)

Hot air balloons are going up everywhere!

Up we go!!!

Stopping at a cave church during our hike through Rose Valley

Going through the underground city!

Notice Ed's not missing out on any of the fun!

Being deleriously silly through the underground tunnels

(It's been a LONGGG day!)

I couldn't be happier to get a good night's sleep tonight in a real bed.  The next 12 day's agenda is going to be quite busy!

I would also like to give a shout-out, a year ago today I got the celebrate the marriages of Joanna&Dylan, and Edie&Chris in Mobile, AL, congrats guys!! Fun times :)  Also, happy anniversary to Mom&Dad.  Sorry, no card.