PLEASE! No More Buses

Its been a whirlwind last couple of days here in good ole' Turkey. Let me try to remember where I left off. You can't blame drinking because I haven't really drank since the night before I left Istanbul. Ok last time I had just arrived to Canakkale. I stayed two nights there. The first morning I went to Gallapoli and ANZAC cove. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. Gallapoli is the pennisula in Turkey where the famous 1915 battler took place. If I remember correctly some 250,000 young men died from both sides. Really it was all for nothing because the Allied forces ended up pulling out. It was funny because while we were at the military museum there were bus loads of kids there. In Turkey it is required for all kids to visit the Gallipoli pennisula. They kept waving at me. There must have been 5 or 6. I was sitting on the wall eating an ice cream cone. I would wave back. Then they would wave again, I would return the wave. This went on for a couple of minutes. Then I gave them the peace sign. Well they started giving me the peace sign back. I don't think they had ever seen a man with a big beard and gray sunglasses on before. I was rather amuzed. At the end I had to get up and walk away because I didn't want to affend them by not returning the gesture. It was really a great tour though. The guide's name was Morat but everytime he said it it sounded like Borat. He was very knowledgeable. That night a guy from the tour and my hostel, Angus from New Zealand, and I decided to go grab a bite to eat. We went to this one kebab and pide place. I ordered the chicken shish rolls which was two soft breads wrapped around chicken chunks. I ate the first one no problem. After two bites of the second I noticed a plastic wrapper. I motioned the waiter over and he went to the cashier stand and brought over a piece of candy. The wrapper was from the candy they offered at the desk. He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Well normal that stuff doesn't bother me but I figured it had to be done on purpose. How else would a candy wrapper get into a shish roll? I didn't finish the rest of it. He only charged me for half. Even then he tried to charge me 25 kuros more. Oh well. At least I didn't get sick like a bunch of people did at my hostel in Istanbul. Yesterday I went to the ruins of Troy. It was ok. There wasn't much to see. That doesn't surprise me because the city, or cities, 9 in all, dates back to 4 Century B.C. or something like that. That afternoon I got a bus to Kasadusi along the coast. It seemed like it took forever. Everyone, and I mean everyone takes the bus. Why not when you get free water, coffee, tea, a piece of cake, AND oil to not make you smell. I haven't taken the oil yet. They rub it all over their hands, arms, face, and neck. It smells like lemon. The ride took about 7 hours. I had to get up at 7 this morning so I didn't really do anything when I got there. Today I went on a tour to Pammukale. The city has two things really. First is the ancient city of Hierapolis. Second is the limestone and calcium pools. You can't go swimming in them anymore. BUT if you look at any picture or postcard they show people swimming. They stopped it about 10 years ago because of all the pollution. It was causing the white to be yellow. Now you can only walk through parts and they have even built some manmade parts. You can go swimming in one pool though. It is the only one left they allow. It cost 18 ytl. I figured hey what the hell, you are only here once. So I did it. It was sweet because the pool has ancient ruins from the palace that had fallen into the pool. So you swim and wade amoung thousand year old pillars and rocks. By the way, the water is from underground sources. It is about 35 degress Celcius, which is pretty warm. It is supposed to be theraputic for your skin and certain eye disorders. While I was there I met the owner of the place. He asked where I was from. He didn't believe America because of the beard. Then him and his friends thought I was a spy. We started to talk about politics and what not. It was rather enjoyable. I arrived to the city of Fethiye about an hour ago. I have to get up early to catch the boat so I didn't want to go out an party. Instead I am just enjoying my normal travel diet of cookies and beer. This would be Efes Pilsen. It is easily one of the best pilsners I have ever had. This city looks very nice. I wish I had more time. So tomorrow it is off to the boat. I can't wait. The weather has been fabulous so I expect the same on the Mediterranean. I will post pictures when I get to Olympos in 3 days. Cheers.