TURKEY DAY 1

6TH DECEMBER // FRIDAY

{DEPARTURE TO ISTANBUL}

Yay, finally I have time to actually sit down and update my favourite social network here. Though currently, I'm now laying on the bed of my first/last hotel before checking out. The first and last hotel I stayed at is the same cause it's nearer to the Istanbul airport. Finally we have a late check out time of 12 in the afternoon. On most days we have to check out and depart at 7.45am. So this is such a reward.

update: I'm currently at the hotel lobby rushing a little to get this post posted before I check out in like 15 minutes! (that is dedication there)

Okay here we go. 

We were quite lucky (I think) to have gotten a midnight flight cause we all know how rushing and stressful morning flights can be.

We departed from Singapore at 12.30am. Our flight was a longer route to Istanbul cause we took Emirates. For this particular flight we had to have a layover at Colombo which is located at Sri Lanka. How cool is that, that I've already 'sort of' been in the Sri Lanka land but not really though. We didn't get off the plane while there were some others who boarded and alighted.

From Singapore to Colombo, it took about 3 hours 55 mins and reached there at 4.25am Singapore time. And from there, we had our next flight transit to Dubai which took 4 hours 35 mins. Landed there about 8am plus. I think I landed the same time as the uk you tubers! I was struggling to get wifi there and when I did, I saw their tweets like 1 hour later. Lol, such fail. & plus, I was a little tired to hunt them down at the airport. The airport itself is hugeee, they could've been anywhere!

anddd i got to go nowww. will continue to edit this when I get wifi again

Our supper

Breakfast

Lunch

7TH DECEMBER // SATURDAY

DUBAI - ISTANBUL

Had a transit at Dubai airport for a couple of hours where we had Mcdonalds there, lol. 

At the dubai airport

flying to Istanbul like finally!

Of course I'd naturally get the beef/lamb.

my mum got the fish instead.

So our flight was about 4 hours. We departed around 10am and landed Istanbul at around 2pm+.

Cause the hotel we stayed at was only 10 mins from the airport, so we got to check into the hotel first while we waited for the other half of the tour group to arrive. (There's 42 of us) Also we met our tour guides. We had two, one is Singapore based, another is a Turkish guide. Our Singapore guide is Lincoln and the Turkish one is Can (pronounced as Chan) which you'll see them in some photos.

Wyndham Istanbul Petek Hotel

So far I think this hotel has the best & fastest internet. It's free of course. The best part about Turkey is that wifi is readily available everywhere. Not sure about the malls, but the hotels will have free wifi services. & for my particular tour group, we even had wifi on the bus. Like whaaa...hah, but so very convenient. It's like I never even left.

All icky and disgusting after the 14-ish hour flight.

Had some rest at the hotel for a while and then we went back to the airport to collect the others and have our first dinner there. The temperature when we first came was like 9-7 degrees which was like a slight 'weather shock' for me. I have a low tolerance level for the cold, so that was really cold for me. The last time I experienced winter was like in 2009 when I went to Europe which was ages agooo.

Have no idea where we ate but it was a 10-15 mins drive from the airport. 

Had some fish. It was interesting cause we had their traditional 3 course meal. Like they would send course by course in this order: Soup, salad, main course(fish), deserts. I'm not exactly impressed with the food there. It wasn't horrible or anything (tho we had some of those days), but they tasted blend and ordinary.

8TH DECEMBER // SUNDAY

{DAY 1: ISTANBUL}

Had our breakfast at 7am and departed from the hotel at 8am. A little side note, we change hotels everyday. So every night and morning, we have to pack our luggages to put into the coach where we'll leave them throughout the day till we check into the next hotel. In the meantime, during the journey we still have our tours and sightseeings.

 

1. TOPKAPI PALACE

Residence of the Ottoman sultans in the 19th century. The palace has old artefacts like clothes, thrones, jewellery, swords and even the prophet's beard.

I definitely turkey-ed myself out since most of the turkish ladies wore their scarves that way. Though I was the only one in my tour group to do so.

This is Can, our turkish tour guide that I mentioned earlier on.

2. BLUE MOSQUE ( TURKISH: SULTAN AHMET CAMII )

Built in 1609 to 1616. This mosque is popular for their blue tiles in the interior part.

love the interior and them lights!

I personally like this photo of my mum.  so much that I tried copying her.

assalamualaikum!

I look like I don't belong there that I stand out.

turkey is really pretty at every angle!

ooops, I'm guilty for making them pose this way.

3. HAGIA SOFIA MUSEUM ( TURKISH: AYASOFYA MÜZESI )

This place started out as a greek church and then it became an imperial mosque. And then into a museum. Thus the place has both islam and christian writings/scriptures all over.

a touristy shot by the streets

Had our first lunch at this place called Yelken Cafe & Restaurant.

The food portions were a little small but I think it's okay for me. Their staple food is interesting because they eat their meals course by course in this order: soup w bread, salad, main course (fish), deserts. After all the lunches and dinners I've had throughout this trip in turkey, this was one of the better traditional meals I had.

After lunch we left for Canakkale which is a town in Turkey.  This town is like the asia part of turkey where we had to take a 30 mins ferry ride to cross to Canakkale.

Of course we had a couple of pit stops here and there and stealing some time to have some hot drinks in the chilly weather.

This is just day 1. lol, I have too many photos. I'll try to post a couple days worth of my trip daily or it'll just pile up.

me in the room earlier just now

me at lobby now. lol.

Update: 19/12/13 1.45am I'm currently awaiting for my flight back home from Dubai airport! My flight is at 2.15am!