Turkiye Day 4 - Pamukkale Archaeological Site, Denizli

Assalamualaikum. Marhaba.

Previous entry (here).

Selesa gila bergolek beramah mesra sama katil, after almost 11 hours tidur duduk. Kalau ikut hati memang lagi best sambung tidur tapi sudah datang jauh-jauh kan, ndak kan meroyan layan ngantuk. Malam baru pulun tidur.

Sebelum keluar bilik, sempat jumpa Ahjumma house keeping complained pasal bidet toilet yang rosak. Mengucap panjang Ahjumma bila dia tengok bidet yang rosak tu. Siap minta maaf banyak kali. Erk, terkedu kejap depan toilet bila she continuously uttered "Masya Allah, Allahu Akbar!". Suddenly terbit rasa guilty dalam diri. Apakah?

Settled masalah toilet, on the way down to the lobby I told the Ahjumma I will be leaving for Selcuk early the next morning. My plan was to leave for Denizli Otogar & I will hop on a bus to Selcuk. Pastu Ahjumma buat muka comel, mata bersinar suara excited. With very limited English, sungguh-sungguh Ahjumma tarik tangan aku sambil cakap "U buy bus ticket from here!" Gitu! Turned out bangunan sebelah hotel tu adalah company bas Pamukkale Turizm. Ada bas departed from Pamukkale direct pi Selcuk. Ndak payah mau transit pi Denizli Otogar bagai. Alhamdulillah, Allah permudahkan. Tesekkur ederim, Ahjumma.

Lepas sudah secure seat dalam bas, marilah kita teruskan dengan highlight plan of the day. Dari hotel walkertapaki in less than 2 minutes to reach the ticket booth.

7 April 2015
Pamukkale, Denizli

"Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site together with Hierapolis in 1988.The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in the River Menderes valley; which has a temperate climate for most of the year." -wiki-

# Entrance to the archaeological site is TL 25. 

# Lepas dapat tiket, bertabahlah kena menapak sampai nun di hujung sana. 

# A park at the bottom of Pamukkale

# Pokok tandus di dataran putih.

# Sila gigih climbed sampai atas.

# Saujana mata memandang. 

On the way up tu memang silau sesilaunya. Reflection of the sunlight on the white limestone is definitely no joke! I had to put on my sunglasses. Alasan baik untuk mem-vogue-kan diri katanye. But seriously, boleh berpinar kepala when surrounded with white landscape. Memang cotton castle sungguh!

# One of the many pools of Pamukkale.

# Take five kejap. Ndak larat kalau daki non stop. Lepak di 'longkang' belah kanan tu sambil main tadpoles. Mampu main anak katak di negara orang? 

# My brunch. 

Unfortunately, that is the ONLY sandwich available at the cafe up there. Sandwich sedap semua sudah disapu orang. Pasrahlah demi perut lapar. Siapa suruh bijak bestari kasi tinggal segala simit di bilik. Terimalah vege+cheese sandwich. Gigit pepper adalah amazingly sedap di kala lapar. Habis mencekik, lets start exploring. I have decided to spend the whole day up here so tiadalah kejadian rushing. Lagipun bukan ada apa mau dibuat sangat di pekan Pamukkale tu.

# Di kejauhan, the Hierapolis site. 

Mampukah si Err menapak sampai di situ? Challenge of the day! Rasa macam mau terburai isi sandwich upon seeing those ruins from afar. Terus bersoal-jawab sama hati. Minda masuk campur juga. When it comes to decision making, hati & minda perlu bekerjasama. 

# Close up. 

# Some of the pools that has dried up. 

# See that terraces? That's where I had my brunch. Jauh juga kan aku sudah atur langkah. And yes, that's also the route that I walked upon just to reach Pamukkale from the town.

# Walau panas mentari mengigit kulit, I thanked Allah for the cool breeze. 

# Travertine yang sudah kering dari kejauhan. I wasn't strong enough to walk to get there. 

# Alhamdulillah. Up till now, whenever I look at the photos I took here...I still feel it's like a dream. 

# The pools.

# Terraces of the travertines. 

# Overlooking the town from up above. I sat here for almost an hour. Sambil layan drama dalam diri. 

# More & more people coming towards the late evening. To catch sunset, perhaps? 

Initially I intended to leave the site during sunset but decided to go down when the weather suddenly turned gloomy. Mendung kalu, confirm lah sunset pun ke laut.

# On the way down. Matahari macam chipsmore, kejap ada kejap tiada. 

Unlike pagi tu, kali ni memang ndak ramai yang mandi manda di kolam ni. Maybe yang datang ramai-ramai tadi tu dalam tour group. Haruslah diorang akan spend masa berendam di kolam hotspring. Lepas jadi badak berendam baru layan sunset. Yang tu aku ndak masuk sebab berbayar. Sekian. 

# Muka hangus! Sampai bilik, nangis tengok beza warna muka sama tangan. Lagi nangis bila cuci muka, rasa pedih tiada ampun. 

# This is how the ground looks like. Take extra precaution climbing the limestone especially during descending. Kalau jatuh, memang goodbye.

So adakah si Err explore Hierapolis ruins? Haruslah jejak wei! Sudah naik bas berjam lamanya, rugi besarlah kalau aku lepas peluang. Yes? Tapi yang tu aku cerita next entry. Saja mau kasi asing dua tempat ni.

TIPS: As to protect the carbonate minerals, u have to walk barefoot all the way up. Hence, bring along a plastic bag to store your shoes/slippers. Thanks Merengmate for the tips. I tapau-ed the plastic given to put my boots when visiting Blue Mosque the other day. Just like she did!

eryantierdabdulkarim

Turkiye Day 4 - From Istanbul to Denizli

Assalamualaikum. Marhaba.

Semangat sikit mau sambung entry ni. Few of my friends happily told me they might be visiting Turkiye in the future mainly because of what I've blogged about the country. Like seriously, that one was so unexpected. I scribbled based on what I saw, what I experienced & the feeling I had when visiting Turkiye. Totally didn't anticipate such feedback.

However, I am glad they enjoyed reading my experiences. Maybe bagi aku ni cuma caca cerba, sharing yang ntah apa-apa but for some people; what I scribbled gave them a little bit of 'intro' about Turkiye. Terus si Err rasa ondos (keluar slang Kadazan). Give way please. Perlu ruang untuk menggembangkan diri. Gitu!

Ok mari sambung from where I last stopped (here). 

7 April 2015
Enroute to Denizli 

# RNR owned by Kamil Koc. Major bus companies have their own RNR but sometimes they stopped at public RNR as well.

# Too lazy to go down & take the whole picture of the cafe at the RNR. Sejuk oii!

Before reaching our final destination, we stopped at few bus stations. I woke up every time the bus stopped to dropped off passengers. But I don't remember how many stations we stopped. 

7 April 2015

Enroute to Denizli

# Taken on the way to Izmir.

# Izmir Bus Terminal (Izmir Otogar). 

I remembered this terminal because it was the biggest among all the bus terminals we stopped at. For those who intended to go to Selcuk (Ephesus), one can board the regional minibuses here. 

# Random pictures I took along the way to Denizli. 

I didn't get back to sleep after Izmir. Matahari sudah memancar. I had my breakfast while on the bus. Hasil tapau-an lokums & simits I bought in Istanbul the night before. 

# Give way to bebiri to crossed the road. 

After almost ~11 hours on board the bus from Istanbul, we finally arrived at Denizli Bus Terminal at 730am. Masa ni rasa macam mau ketuk diri sendiri. Why? Because I didn't expect it to be that huge. Memang ada buat research before this trip tapi ntah kenapa memang sudah set mind the terminal would look like the one we have in Double K city. Boohoo me! Boleh-boleh kau samakan level bus terminal di Turki sama KK, Bie! Sobs betul perangai. 

# Main entrance of Denizli ultra-modern Metropolitan Bus Terminal.

Bus dropped us at the parking bay located at the basement level. Pastu naik escalator untuk pi lobi. First thing first, beli tiket Denizli-Goreme. Cuma akan spend one night in Denizli. Next day will be leaving for Goreme pula. Tight sungguh schedule! P to the Yo. Lepas beli tiket, I went down to the lower level where the minibus stop (dolmus otogar) is.

# Banyak major bus companies buka kiosk di sini so ndak payah risau kalau mau keluar pi other cities in Turkey from Denizli. 

# Few cafes at the lower (minibus) level.

# Minibuses a.k.a Dolmus

If I'm not mistaken, the minibus stop for Pamukkale is at Pillar #29. IF! Ingatan aku lately sangat ke laut. Kalau agak-agak ndak confident with my ingatan...refer jak sama signboard at each pillar. Memang ada tulis destination each dolmus. Kalau rasa malas mau baca, tanya jak driver dolmus yang tengah lepak-lepak tepi dolmus. They will be more than willing to help. Turkish adalah sangat helpful walau ekspresi muka diorang macam mau ndak layan jak! Sekian.

# Inside the dolmus. Please know, dolmus ada istilah "standing seat". Fare to Pamukkale is TL 3.50.

# Subhanallah. View on the way to Pamukkale. 

The journey to Pamukkale takes about 20 minutes. With stunning view along the way. Ndak sedar pun sudah sampai area Pamukkale. Pastu pening sebab based on my research, on the way pi hotel akan nampak travertines on my right side. But all I could see was buildings on my right side. So solution adalah to asked the lady sitting next to me. And showed her my hotel's name. As expected, she doesn't know how to explain to me. She then asked the guy next to her. Alhamdulillah the guy works at a hotel nearby...and he knows where my hotel is. Long story short, rupanya dolmus from Denizli akan ikut jalan belakang. No wonder lah tiada langsung kelibat travertine yang aku nampak. Turun dari dolmus, walkertapaki lah pi hotel. 

# Another 'bukit'. Memang exercise paha jaklah aku sepanjang di Turki haritu.
Read: Arrow tu hotel yang aku stay.

Sampai hotel, syukurlah boleh check in awal. After settled semua, teruslah si Err naik bilik. Walau cuaca sejuk gila, mandi adalah perlu before continuing with my itinerary of the day. Ndak siok berjalan kalau sudah rasa rimas sama diri sendiri. Saiko sebenarnya. Kalau ndak dapat check in awal, ndak juga aku mandi. Tetap semangat teruskan itinerary. Tapi ni sebab sudah dapat masuk bilik, teruslah rasa rimas menerpa. Over! 

# My room. After shower, golek-golek atas katil kejap untuk kendurkan urat. 11 jam oii dalam bas. 

Harini aktiviti panjat memanjat. And since matahari macam memancar terik, aku pakai baju nipis jak. And layered with jacket. Matahari memang memancar, tapi haba nan hado sebenarnya. Plan asal mau bawa simit, bolehlah lepak mengudap simit sambil menikmati keindahan alam. Tapi, boleh perangai pelupa muncul di saat genting?!!? Bawa badan jaklah aku naik pi travertines tu. Hampagas betul. 

# Dolmus akan ikut jalan ni untuk balik pi Denizli otogar. Facing this road, the travertines is behind me. 

I climbed the travertines at around 11am. Angin adalah sepoi-sepoi bahasa. Tiada kejadian munculnya angin penampar. But! I got off the travertines with a charred face. Sunburn & windburn! Sungguh mencari nahas. Sudahlah aku cuma pakai sunblock ala kadar. Hmm, honestly I only put a layer of it. Akibat terlampau underestimate the weather there. 

Fuh! Biarlah muka hangus sekalipun demi cotton castle; demi hierapolis. Will continue more about the travertines & the ruins in my next entry. See ya!

eryantierdabdulkarim

Turkiye Day 3 - Balik Ekmek / Taksim Square / Kamil Koc

Assalamualaikum. Marhaba.

After spending more than 4 hours exploring Topkapi Palace, I exited the palace & walked to Eminonu. Opted to walk instead of hopping on the tram because I wanted to enjoyed the city on foot. Lagi best! Feeling tu terus meresap dalam jiwa.

The distance isn't that far from Topkapi to Eminonu Pier but I took nearly an hour walking. Sambil jalan, sambil cuci mata. Sambil click sana, click sini. Santai. Bukan ada apa yang mau rushing sangat pun.

6 April 2015
Istanbul 

# Gulhane Tram Station

# Some street along the way to Eminonu

# Another shot of Yeni Camii (New Mosque) 

To get to the Balik Ekmek boats area at Eminonu Pier, I passed by Yeni Camii once more. Kena ikut underground passage. Still drizzling masa ni tapi ku gagahi juga. Demiiiiii Balik Ekmek.

# The boat where they make the fish (Balik) sandwich (Ekmek). 

Memang ndak plan to take away pun. Sit-down experience is what I aimed. Lepas order sama Abang sado, I quickly search for a vacant chair. Abang muka garang tapi tiba-tiba request aku ambil gambar dia. Ndak payah poyo mau cari meja kosong, janji ada kerusi. Alhamdulillah, I didn't struggle much to search for a vacant space. Pusing kepala dua-tiga kali, tadaaaa...meja & kerusi kosong right before my eyes. Magic gitu!

# My TL 8 Balik Ekmek. Harus asingkan onion dulu. 

My verdict? Superbly delicious! Generous amount of fish fillet, walau the bread a bit keras. I enjoyed my luncheon. Before this trip, I came across comments from few people who dislike the taste of this fish sandwich. Some said it's too bland. While some even suggest one should bring their own chili powder or MSG. Amazingly, I just consumed the sandwich as it is & sangat sangat suka! Tuang jus lemon & sprinkled a bit of salt. Walla!!! Makan ndak tengok kiri kanan. Siap beli lagi satu. Tettttt!

# Walau cuma jual street food, lampu deco gerai tetap kebabom kan.

Lepas mencekik, perut kenyang...senang hati. Tiba masa untuk proceed to next plan. I took the tram back to Taksim Square; cancelled my plan to walkertapaki because it rained heavily soon after I hopped in the tram. 

# One of the colorful staircase at Findikli, Istanbul taken from inside a moving tram.

One of my regret during this trip is not being able to witness all those beautiful rainbow staircases at Findikli & Cihangir. If it's not because of the heavy rain I would have pose-ndak-hengat-dunia at all those staircases. Never mind, next visit harus akan ada misi yang ni. Insha Allah.

Back to Taksim, before balik hostel untuk packing...kill time ronda Istiklal Street. Syukur juga masa tu hujan redah sikit. But still kena beli payung. Nampaklah orang jual payung transparent, terus niat mau beli colour pink. Walhal di Eminonu tadi punyalah banyak orang jual tapi kau jual mahal, kan Bie? Sekali sampai Taksim, nan hado yang jual pink umbrella so si Err pasrah beli polka-dots transparent umbrella. 

# Mau masuk WC pun mencabar. Underground! And yes, it ain't free!

Public toilet or WC memang susah sikit mau jumpa di Istanbul. Jadinya when I saw WC sign, haruslah singgah! Walaupun kena turun tangga Harry Potter. Actually WC ni dalam masjid. Kiranya cuma tempat wudhu' jak yang free...yang mau membuang before beribadat, silalah masuk WC berbayar. 

# Hujan di bumi Istanbul

# Stand for EXO. *flip tudung*

# Lori sampah comel yang langsung tidak berbau. Relaks jak aku jalan tepi lori ni.

# Singgah sini untuk tunaikan pesanan kehormat from someone back home.

# Istiklal Caddesi

# Singgah beli lokum untuk bekalan dalam bas.

Habis ronda cuci mata, I went back to my hostel. Mandi manda. Packing. Pastu check out. Aku memang request for late check out & the manager charged me half day rate. Next, tinggalkan anak gajah di luggage storage. Luckily the storage is only a block away from the hostel else harus patah pinggang mengangkut. 

# More info about this left luggage service here. 

Settled with the anak gajah, singgah beli bread & bun di Simit Sarayi. Then I walked to Kamil Koc office. Was told to wait for the shuttle bus that will bring me to the bus terminal at 8pm the latest. Bus will pick me up at 830pm. Si Err datang awal so lepaklah dia kejap di waiting room. Sambil charge segala devices yang ada. 

# Cuma angkut that small backpack. Nasib baik muat.

Shuttle bus arrived on time. It started to rain heavily again soon after I got on the bus. Sepanjang hari bumi Istanbul disimbah hujan. Tapi memang perfect timing! Kan aku naik overnight bus, haruslah bakal tidur lena. 

# Is Park. 20 minutes from Istanbul. It is home to many popular bus companies in Turkey.

# Kamil Koc waiting tent. 

Besar sebenarnya building Is Park ni tapi aku tiada mood mau menggambar malam tu. Hujan satu hal. Sejuk satu hal. Then masa pi WC, aku super malas mau korek camera dalam bag. I totally forgot about the existence of my handphone. Jadilah kan dapat gambar seketul dua.

# Kamil Koc coach bus.

# My ticket. 

From Istanbul it will take approximately 10 hours to reach Denizli. Bus departed at 920pm sharp. Luckily I got to choose my seat upon purchasing the ticket. Nampak jak seating 2+1 terus laju si Err pilih single seat. Senang kerja. Tidur kuak lentang macam mana pun tetap ndak ganggu orang sebelah.

# Inside the bus.

# Free food & drink.

# Power point at each seat.

Less than an hour after we left Istanbul, steward cum bus assistant started serving light supper. Rasa macam naik flight pula kan siap ada snack berhidang bagai. FOC pula tu. TV pun ada. Tapi aku ndak lah melayan movie sebab nan hado movie English. Ada 2 usb ports for charging. Lengkap! Toilet jak tiada. Tapi aku bersyukur sebab aku ni kan ada penyakit 'hantu tandas'. Kenapa bersyukur? Sebab bila tiada toilet dalam bas, automatik pundi kencing tunjuk tahap toleransi paling tinggi! Langsung tiada rasa mau terkucil hokey! Grrr sangat perangai.

Regardless mindset has changed pasal toilet, aku tetap ambil langkah berjaga-jaga. Hence masa steward datang offer drink, aku cuma minta air mineral. And grabbed whatever snacks in the cart. Dasar piranha! Wifi onboard is free so I went online for a while prior dozing off. Terjaga juga few times tapi sambung tidur dengan jayanya. Bas ada singgah RNR twice if I'm not mistaken. And aku cuma turun sekali. Paling win, most of the big bus companies have their own RNR! Yang complete fuel station, restaurant, mini market. Bapak impressed aku wei.

Anyway, thanks to Merengmate for mentioning the ferry ride. Aku pilih seat jauh dari pintu depan & belakang. Because according to her, it will get extra cold during the ferry ride. "Aku rasa macam sejuk gila tapi aku tak tau kenapa Bie". Mampu statement gitu? Haruslah sejuk membeku sebab both doors of the bus must remain open throughout the ride as to allowed ventilation. Nanti ada juga passenger mati ndak cukup oksigen, kan. Aku sedar masa bas start masuk ferry, pastu ada juga terasa angin beku menerpa masuk once the driver opened the doors. But I managed to get back to my beauty sleep soon after that. Cocooned myself in my jacket...and off I went to dreamland. 

I woke up in Denizli the next morning. Tipu! Walhal terjaga awal because the bas stopped at few bus stations before finally arriving at Denizli Otogari. 

Part Denizli, yang tu kita continue next entry. 

eryantierdabdulkarim