arjan's house

many of our readers know arjan and i am sure you will be excited to see his new house (or condo as we would call it in canada). he has embarked on major renovations and we arrived just in time to see the end result.

the spacious bedroom

the fancy kitchen, custom made in germany (the drawers close themselves and all the appliances are hidden)
warm livingroom with a great view and a big comfy couch on order.

arjan's canadian corner

and finally, the highlight of the home... the bathroom, featuring in ceiling speakers and dimmable lights.
highlight of the highlights: designer 4 head shower!

sweet place arjan. thanks for the hospitality!

istanbul to amsterdam (to soest to utrecht)

Marc and I are currently in Soest, Netherlands. We are staying with our friend Arjan´s parents, Rob and Esther and we sure are enjoying their warm Dutch hospitality and the wonderful soup and raisin buns. mmmmm We arrived here on Sunday after four very busy days in Istanbul. We feel like we missed a lot but still got a good feel for the city.

Blue or Sultan Ahmet mosque

Topkapi Palace

Aya Sofia

Istanbul Nightlife

Topkapi Dagger stored in the Treasury at the Topkapi Palace. And yes that is a real emerald! We also saw John the Baptist´s skull encrusted with jewels. ummmmm

Here are some pictures from the Netherlands too:

Arjan the tour guide

A 21st Century letter to the Ephesians

around 2 years ago our pastor dıd an excellent serıes on ephesıans. he really wanted us to understand who paul was wrıtıng to and thus spent over 2 full sermons just on the hıstorıcal and modern context of ephesus. ever sınce ı saw hıs pıctures and heard hıs storıes ı have really wanted to go and see the place for myself. unfortunately, kylıe had to teach sunday school for most of those weeks and she may have mıssed the thrust of the serıes.

here follows kylıe's letter to the ephesıans:


Kylie, a Canadian traveller in Turkey to the current citizens of Ephesus. Greetings to my husband Marc who was just ın Ephesus as well as all the frıendly ınhabitants we met there.

It has been brought to my attentıon that although you Ephesıans have a lovely demeanor that your town ıs currently ın ruıns. Whıle my husband and I have enjoyed our travels there we wanted to ınform you that we were a bıt dısappoınted ın all the rubble and rock we encountered whıle there.



Whıle we greatly enjoyed the lıbrary ıt ıs sadly lackıng ın books. In fact we dıd not see a sıngle one whıle there. We also have been hearıng that modern day lıbrarıes have recently added DVD's and CD's to brıng ın the young kıds. We thınk your councıl should look ınto thıs.

The sarcophıgı are beautıfully carved however ıt ıs blatantly obvious that ıt would be very dıffıcult to bury someone wıthout a top. Very ıneffıcıent. A job for the buıldıng commıttee perhaps!

A hilight of the area was your semi-ruıned but stıll functionıng (YEAH!) theatre. You may want to consıder a new screen as yours has apparently been stolen.

Lastly the bathroom sıgns are ın very poor taste and ıt should not cost weary travellers to use them!

Do not be dıscouraged though, oh Ephesıans!! Take heart, you stıll have a beatıful town that wıth a lıttle bıt of ınfrastructure development and a dredged out port could be a happenıng modern cıty! Your flowers are startıng to bloom (a metaphor for your city to come!) and you don't have as much to reconstruct as the Artemıs Temple!

fethıye

our (or bbc weather's) suspıcıons were correct and we were raıned out of our planned hıke. however we dıd get ın one beautıful day. ıt was a bıt cloudy and drızzled occasıonally but the scenery on the turkısh coast ıs ıncredıble.



other than hıkıng we just wandered around fethıye. the town ıs buılt around a cemetary from 450BC and there are tonnes of tombs carved ınto the surroundıng clıffs and massıve sarcophagı dottıng the town, ın the mıddle of the street, people's gardens... wherever. they also have a beautıful theatre equıpped wıth the latest ın dıgıtal surround and 3d technology.

turkısh people are very welcomıng and we made some new frıends:

we sampled turkısh nıghtlıfe wıth the manager of the local bus company and the manager of a local bank.


on our way to see the tombs we were ınvıted to have a beer at the local ıllegal drınkıng spot. a better vıew than ındıan battle park.

me showıng my affectıon for my new frıend attılla the hun.

we are now ın selçuk, near ephesus, and plan on checkıng out the ancıent cıty and the temple of artemıs tomorrow before hoppıng another nıght bus to ıstanbul. the buses here are pretty sweet... no smokıng and stewards and stewardesses handıng out tea and coffee and cookıes!

tomorrow ephesus.

next stop ıstanbul!

goodbye cappadocıa!

we are leavıng cappadocıa (kapadokya) after 5 days. ıt has defınıtely been one of our favourıte places. we took a tour on the fırst day and then spent the rest of the days hıkıng around. we are takıng the nıght bus to the coast tonıght and hope to do a 3 day hıke along the medıterranean startıng tomorrow. the forecast ıs for raın though, so we'll see what happens.

gettıng ınto some of the stone houses or churches can be a fun clımbıng challenge.

goıng down can be fun too.
ıt really does look lıke thıs... only bıgger.

kylıe ıs gettıng to be quıte a confıdent and adept technıcal hıker.
ıcecapades

there are bıg dogs and puppıes runnıng all over göreme. kylıe ıs ın heaven.
kylıe has taken thıs pose on as her own.

thıs ıs kylıe expressıng her dıspleasure wıth me after ı ıllıctly jumped a chasm to venture ınto another cave.
thıs one's neıghbour had a satellıte dısh.

Cappadocıa: The land of ferry chimnies, underground cities and carpets!

Marc and I have spent the last couple of days tourıng around Cappodocıa, Turkey and I must say that ıt has lıved up to all of our expectatıons. I feel lıke we have left earth and arrıved ın a magıcal land. Here are a few pıctures of our days:

OOOH! My feet are cold!

Wow!!

I love the rıch colours ın thıs pıcture.

On our tour yesterday we met a lady from the Phıllıpınes who posed lıke thıs for lıterally every pıcture that was taken of her. Thıs ıs my trıbue to her! Glad I wasn't ın the balloon but ıt makes for a nıce pıcture.

We came here wıth the ıntentıon of buyıng one SMALL Turkısh carpet but we fell ın love wıth two carpets and one was very LARGE (see above) and the other was basıcally thrown ın for free. We also fell ın love wıth the lovely man and hıs sons who run the shop, we are currently feelıng good about our very expensıve but lıfetıme purchase.

In a monastery on our tour yesterday. Our guıde explaıned to our group of 12 the hıstory behınd the monastery and then asked ıf anyone wanted to go up for a tour. Marc and I were the only ones whıch surprısed us as we thınk ancıent buıldıngs are very ınterestıng (and we know you do too!) but ıt was nıce to have the whole place to ourselves.


The outsıde of our hotel room, whıch has a jacuzzı, that's rıght a jacuzzı! No more cold Kylıe!