debauchery is the main item on the menu at the pink palace. with clothing optional booze cruises, atv safaris, a pink satin toga party, an all night hot tub, two bars, a night club and a lot of drunk girls...there's more than enough chances to "party"...


ahhh corfu. i won't see much more of this island than the pink walls and mirrored disco ball of the palladium night club here at the palace, maybe a little bit of the beach. the 25 euro a night charge includes breakfast and dinner. last night was ridiculous...drinks at the bar, drinks by the pool, drinks in the room, drinks on the roof, drinks on the beach....missed breakfast.


two nights is all i can spare in this place, though i could probably stay a few more just for fun. my roommate is a canadian from vancouver, named mike, not misner, something else...i head to saranda, albania tomorrow.


goodbye greece, you expensive country, goodbye!

|

santorini was awesome. we rented a car and drove around the island the other day and got way too drunk at murphy's bar downtown for the liverpool vs ac milan game. i can't believe they won! unbelievable! i was drinking absinthe and have nay a recollection of the evening.



Stay Away From The Stuff! Deadly!

the next day it was off to athens and i said goodbye to matt, karen and helen (They were off to crete). i met some people on the boat...brady and his sister brittany (from tacoma) and lindsay (from good ol vancouver). we all headed to a hostel downtown and shared a room for four. i spent the morning at the acropolis, the ancient and roman agoras, the temple of olympian zeus, the roman stadium (where the first olympics of modern times were held), the benaki museum and the national archeological museum. if you can believe it, that's all there is to see, pretty much, and so i was done by about 3pm the same day i arrived. that night we all went out for dinner in the posh plaka area and drank beers on this huge rock behind the ancient agora overlooking athens at night with the acropolis lit up behind us.




the following day, i headed westwards to the city of delphi to see the delphic oracle at the temple of appolo. the oracle, usually a peasant woman 50 years of age or older, would sit over a chasm (i thought i knew what this word meant but had to look it up: a deep, steep-sided opening in the earth's surface; an abyss or gorge OR
a sudden interruption of continuity; a gap) and inhale fumes that were given off. then she'd go into a trance and start mumbling gibberish which would then be interpretated by a priest. wars and marriages, the outcome of battles or tournaments, were all predicted by or decided for by the oracle. i only had about 20 minutes to experience the ruins. but that's okay it was just a bunch of rocks in the shape of broken rocks and the museum just had a bunch of rocks in the shape of broken people.

from delphi i had to take a bus to itea...wait 1 hour.
from itea i had to take a bus to lamia...wait 45 mins.
from lamia i had to take a bus to trikala...wait 1 hour 45 mins.
from trikala i had to take a bus to kastraki...and finally...i was where i wanted to be: METEORA!




this place is extraordinary. giant cliffs rise up around the city formed millions of years ago from wave action. perched high atop each pedestal is a monastery. of 24 original monasteries, only 6 remain today and are accessible. i spent today hiking through the forest and made it to three of the monasteries just before it started to rain.

|

well cavo paradiso was not as expected. we all went down to paradise beach sometime in the evening to catch the tail-end of the day-party there. apparently it never happened, next thing i know i lost everyone and headed to cavo pardiso with some other people i met. once there i used my elite peeking skills to sneak a look at the guest list and got myself in for free. i was the only person in the club.


suddenly, i was back downtown with some other people sharing a 26'er of mandarin vodka in little venice...and i was home and tired and had to get on a boat and it was 8am.


so paradiso was no fun...probably just because we went at the wrong time...it was still early and doesn't fill-up until 3am...



Santorini Island, Greece


now, i'm on santorini. it's gorgeous here...huge rocky cliffs rise up from the edge of the sea with the town of fira perched on the top...we watched the sunset last night and drank santorini wines with enormous gyros at a local bar...today, matt, helen and kelly went on a boat-trip to the volcano and hot springs and i'm just hanging out here trying to save money. i'm heading to athens in two days.

|

mykonos. party central of cyclades islands in greece. white-washed walls blinding in the sun, blue domes and windmills dot the landscape through tiny twisting alleyways of high-end boutiques and cafes. wish you were all here!


i'm with a couple of autralians, kelly and helen and an english bloke (yes) from liverpool, matt. met them in rhodos...i had been hoping to spend another day on that island checking out what lonely planet calls, "the finest surviving example of an old medieval walled city on the planet," but as the only boat out within the next four days was the other night, i had to leave. had to say goodbye to tony, anita and anna there (later guys, it was fun!). then a 16 hour ferry trip to the beautiful, laid-back island of paros, where i stayed in a little cabin for 5 euros a night and got drunk on free shots of ouzo with lamb souvlaki and kalamari and five-finger discount beers and bananas (thanks to matt) from a little shop. it was gorgeous. the following day we all headed to mykonos...we're in a little house with an upstairs loft about 10 minutes drive from downtown. our first night here was spent wandering the streets drunk before finally ending up at a little bar affectionately called "down under" and partied with some swedes til 5am.


the next day was a wash...hungover, i ate breakfast with helen at a little pool restaurant and headed back to sleep the afternoon away...later that night we all went back downtown and had a beer at a packed club/restaurant filled with drunk greek youngsters in thanks-daddy versace, flashing valentino watches and mirrored visor ray-bans with coiffes afforded only by at least an hour in front of the mirror. i met some cypriots and germans and we shared a smuggled in bottle of bacardi with oj (it was 7 euros [$11] for a heine!!) out on the patio and they poured out their stories of the greatest party scene this side of athens...cavo paradiso...which doesn't start up til 3am and goes well through the next morning. i hear the parking lot is still packed at 8am and the bar can easily host 2000 people. cover is a hefty 20 euros ($38...which thankfully includes ONE free drink), but can be avoided by sms texting to the guestlist the day before. it should be good...in fact, it better be good for that price. it's located a few km away from downtown on the mostly nude paradise beach where daytime parties take place everyday to booming trance and house. we'll be visiting tonight.



Cavo Paradiso

tomorrow, it's off to the volcanic island of santorini...hopefully we'll be up and in our right minds to catch the ferry on time...

|

INDIA PICTURES! YAY!


most of my india pictures are now developed and up...from kolkata to rajasthan...


if you're wondering where i am now...i'm in the cyclades greek islands on paros...heading to party central on mykonos in an hour...


i still have to develop and finish the photos for punjab, delhi, varanasi, khajuraho and agra...they'll be coming in another month or so along with photos from dubai and turkey.


you can see all my photos if you click 'the gallery' link on the left sidebar or go straight to the india ones that are up below...




Kolkata


Puri, Chennai, Pondicherry


Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore


Goa


Mumbai, Ahmedabad


Rajasthan

|

The Colossus of Rhodes in Greece


my last few days in turkey have been spent on beaches along the mediterranean sea: olympos, kas, patara and now fethiye. tomorrow, i'm heading to greece from the turkish port of marmaris. it's a 1 hour trip to the dodecanese island of rhodes, home to the ancient wonder of the world: the colossus of rhodes...it doesn't actually look like the picture above, that's just an 'artist's rendition', in fact nobody really knows what it looked like, or if it even existed! what will i be looking at? just a couple of platforms on either side of the harbour...


lonely planet says that internet prices in greece can be as much as 15 euros ($20) an hour!!!! ridiculous!!! if you don't hear from me soon, that's why!

|

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING DRINKING IN TURKEY...AT 26?


yes...today is my birthday. i'm now officially over-the-hill...last night was spent in the seaside town of patara beach in turkey with three australians that i've been travelling with, lion dog, choking dog and the old turkish lady who ran the pension (turkish hostel). we had beer and cake and wine...


now i feel old and what am i doing all the way over here spending all my money? i don't know.


i'm near the aegean sea in fethiye...a beautiful (though touristy) little place with a nice harbour and beach. i'm here for two days and then off to greece on a ferry to the island of rhodes!

|

selcuk. home to one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, the temple of artemis, which i saw. it's not much more than a single column standing in a grass field. we also went to the ancient city of ephesus, the second largest in the world. it was great! we found the ancient communal toilets that romans shared thousands of years ago and they were still in perfect shape, there was a beautiful library and amphitheatre and streets, even an ancient roman pictorial sign for a brothel that featured a foot (pointing in the direction you should walk) and a drawing a woman! it was carved in the marble of the marble roadway off to the side a bit, a little secretively...





pamukkale. after a short bus ride from ephesus the other day eastwards towards central anatolia we arrived at the natural calcium pools of pammukale. the place was pretty cool...a little hike up a cliff brought us to these massive calcium ledges and turquoise pools filled with mineral-rich spring water. there were lots of fat european tourists around trying to cram their feet (or their whole bodies) into a little stream of water at the top. unfortunately, the water supply here has dried up in recent years and the pools only exist in certain corners, most of which are now off-limits. there was an 'antique pool' where you could swim in the spring water but the entrance fee was $18...so naturally we decided not to go...





later that same day we all hopped on a bus towards central turkey to cappodiocia and the ancient canve houses in goreme. we actually got to stay in dorm rooms in renovated cave houses that were inhabited thousands of years ago. we went on a tour yesterday through one of the underground cities where the people of this region would hide from invaders...there are over 200 of these cities, some reaching more than seven stories below the ground. we also hiked through the ilhara gorge and saw some old monasteries cut into the rock and 'monk valley' filled with strange conical rock formations topped with 'hats' of basalt rock. there were just like the 'hoodoos' of the badlands outside drumheller, alberta. the ones that dustin humped.


the buses here are really fancy and pretty expensive compared to what i'm used to. they are like airplanes with a 'bus' attendant who serves coffee, tea and soft drinks as well as a snack. there are no government buses for long-distnace trips and so we've been forced to fork over way too much cash for these posh bus rides...oh well, i guess that's turkey...here where an instant nescafe coffee is $5, an hour on the internet is $3, a chocolate bar is $4....my money is disappearing fast...


we leave goreme tonight and head to the mediterranean coast to a town called olympos that is home to the ever-burning chimera flame...

|

now i'm in cannakale a little ways west of istanbul waiting for a bus that'll take me south to the warmer waters and the warmer weather of the agean sea.





the town i'm in now serves as a base for exploring two important nearby areas. first was the ancient ruins of the city of troy and the tacky replica trojan horse there. there's not much more than crumbling walls and some marble remnants of the tenth city to exist on the site during roman times.





second was gallipoli (gelibolu in turkish). it was here in 1915 that hundreds of australians and kiwis (and turks, americans, canadians, indians etc.) met their end in a bloody nine month battle for control of the only ice-free waterway to russia. now thousands of australians and kiwis congregate here on april 25th (anzac day for australian and new zealand army corps) to remember the lives lost and the sacrifices made. you might remember the (at the time) boring film from social studies 10 starring mel gibson where at the end all the soldiers just run into the gun fire of the turkish army from an opposing trench.


tonight i'm off to selcuk to see the ruined ancient city of ephesus and then the natural calcium baths at pammukale.

|

turkey. istanbul. first stop was the great church of aya sofya, one of the largest and most elaborate churches ever built. it's over 1500 years old and is the fourth largest church in the world. it was converted to a mosque during it's existence and many of the ancient religious mosaics were covered up as religious images are forbidden in islam. they were only rediscovered some 70 years ago. gigantic depictions of christ and the virgin mary constructed of thousands of tiny gold and porcelain chips. it was awe-inspiring, the ceilings, the domes...definitely worth the US$15 entrance fee.


from there i went to topkapi palace, home to the ottoman sultans of istanbul for four centuries until the mid-1800s. the sprawling complex, which required about 3 hours to see in it's entirety and cost a whopping US$30 enter. within the halls and treasury are stored some of the world's most valuable diamonds and emeralds including a gigantic 82-carat diamond! there are rubies and pearls and rock crystal vases and jugs, medals of honor and gigantic solid gold candlesticks encrusted with hundreds of diamonds. they even have the supposed now dried and decayed arm and skull of john the baptist, the sword of king david, moses' cane rod and many relics of the prophet mohammed including hairs from his beard and his tooth. the latter are kept in a mosque where the qu'uran is sung non-stop by priests and played over loudspeakers to the massive crowds who've come to glimpse.


i also saw the blue mosque, which is pictured above. the next day i went with my neighbor's daughter, sinem, and her friends to taksim, the modern hub of istanbul where designer shops run along cobblestone streets lined with cafes, doner and kebap restaurants and smoke shops. it was beautiful! we went for coffee and dessert in the french district at a small restaurant and climbed to the top of an ancient tower there where they snuck me in for half-price (the unadvertised price paid by turksih citizens to see the sights).




i wandered through the grand bazaar (just like the tea party song of the same name "above, the city of the evening star, behind its walls, the grand bazaar, as she walks through its endless maze, cursing those who mistrust her ways") and yes it was an endless maze...i could have wandered for hours and not have seen the same shop twice. i also saw the spices and pet market of the egyptian bazaar and took an afternoon boat trip around the bosphorus waterway.


i've been enjoying turkish food. eating kebaps and donairs and funky sandwiches stuffed with sausage and sour cream and fried potatoes and dripping with ketchup and mayo...not the healthiest things. and turkish cofee, not quite thick like molasses as i said earlier, but almost there and really grainy like you've added a spoonful of sand. it's good, i like black coffee...


i'm waiting for a friend from india to arrive now and then will head westwards toward the aegean sea. first stop is cannakale and then troy and gallipoli.

|

i was walking by the blue mosque here in istanbul and i saw this turkey and...it was looking at me funny and so i ate it and now it's dead. mmmmm i love turkey!

|