Turkey Trip

I went on a 10 days familiarization trip to Turkey which was sponsored by my company! :)

I think that most people have a bad impression of Turkey. Thinking that the country is dirty, people are evil, food is bad.. blah blah. But I really think that once you give a place a chance and go and experience it for yourself, you will find yourself pleasantly surprised. I think that Turkey is a very beautiful country with a rich history. 

It's also very fascinating cos it's the only country bridging Europe and Asia.. There are snow-capped moutains, beautiful landscapes and there's the beautiful Agean Sea, Black Sea & Sea of Mara Mara...

I went on the Hot Air Balloon in Cappadocia, saw the whirling dervishes performance, went for the Turkish Bath and cruise on the Straits of Bosphorous.

Now I can add Europe to my travel list! Haha.. Cos i've been on the European side of Istanbul.. and I can also add in Dubai, cos I've walked around Dubai International Airport twice during the transit. LOL!

What I've learnt in Turkey:

Do not smile at everyone and do not be too friendly
They will interpret that you are "easy" and leading them on to take advantage of you. Be firm, smile sparingly and do not hem haw with the men there.

Most men like plump girls
Needless to say, I was bullied incessantly by the men over there, especially at Grand Bazaar. They kept trying to touch me on the pretext that I am cold and I need a hug and a kiss from them.. Like huh? It's 30degrees lah! Where got cold??? One man even knelt in front of me, hugged my knees and refused to let go.. kept on kissing my hands and fingers. I was sooooooooooooo traumatized, I ran out of the Grand Bazaar and sat at a cafe till the stipulated meeting time.

Lentil Soup is THE soup
Every meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner.. you will see Lentil Soup, Lentil Soup and more Lentil Soup... it taste so powdery and weird.. Bring your own instant Mushroom Campell Soup like me and you won't go mad - unless you like Lentil Soup

It's really hot as it's summer now in Turkey and I became really tanned even though I put a lot of sunblock lotion. :( My trainer and the local guide + driver are all very nice to me and I had lots of freebies! Well, my trainer said it's because the local guide looks me as I am plump. -__- Dunno if I should be happy that I am so well received over there. Hur hur.

Below are some of the pictures from my trip! :) 

Elson's BBQ Birthday Party

It's Elson's birthday, and he invited a few of us for a BBQ gathering at Downtown East Chalet..

Not many people turned up though.. i think in total there was only around 12 people including me and Pipimon.. most probably many of them were overseas or were busy cos this silly Elson only informed everyone 1 week prior the BBQ, and some of the kiasu ones made plans in advance of at least 2 to 3 weeks.

Anyways, Elson's friends bought him two balloons which are super cute.

I called them Turtle & Pig..

Very unimaginative I know... but a spade is a spade mah. We took many many pictures with the balloons.. well, Me and Nat took many many pictures.. too many!

We even brought them for a walk.. attracting many stares from other people who either think we are cute, acting cute, or just plain crazy.

Nat and I were there early to help with the preparations and when his friends arrived, we began to relax and camwhore with Turtle and Pig. Afterwards, I helped in putting the candles on the Awfully Chocolate cake which Elson's friends bought for him...


We sang Happy Birthday to the boy at around 10.30pm -- which by this time his parents have already went home! So no pictures of his parents. :(

But his mummy damn cute lah. HAHAHA. She was wearing a Bad Badz Maru teeshirt lah!
*sings* Bad badz maru... deng deng deng... (my siblings will know. lol)

Elson & Me

Pipimon, Me, Elson

CTC Gang

Me, JiaZhao, Gideon (Yi Ge), Nat, Elson

Sarubobo

Just arrived in Singapore today and I did not sleep at all yet! I am afraid to mess up my body clock and sleeping at odd hours..It's almost midnight after finishing blogging the previous entry, and I asked Pipimon if he can drive me to Wany's and my sister's house.. need to return Wany's jacket and pass them the stuff I bought for them in Japan.

SARUBOBO! - Good luck Charm

Anyway the bunny eared ones were damn difficult to find lah.. But managed to find it in Sanmachi "Little Kyoto".

Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (Toyama - Nagano)

On 14th May '09, we went up to Kurobe Alpine route to take 6 different transport systems from Toyama prefecture to Nagano prefecture. No private vehicles is allowed into this region during the 2 months of snow corridor cos they want to control the traffic and reduce pollution (and of course, make a killing out of people who wants to go up and visit). The whole journey costs around 10,000Yen which is around S$155.

We left the hotel at 8am, arrived at Tateyama Station around 9.45am and we ended in Ogizawa Station at 4pm. Here are some pictures of the transport we took....

View from the cable car

Before the trip, I was calling all my customers telling them that the temperature will be around -3 to -5degrees Celsius up on the mountain top where the snow corridor is. Moreover common sense tells you that in order for snow to be piled that high, temperature must be 0 or below right?

Some of them argued with me saying that "Internet says it's 12degrees Celsius" or that my colleagues told them during briefing that it will be around 10 to 15 degrees Celsius and some even questioned my capability to lead the tour when I do not even know the basic thing like the temperature.

The night before our ascent up the mountain, our local guide said that the temperature will be ranging around 13 to 15degrees celcius, and it won't be too cold.

Imagine the killer stares and murmurings against me from my customers who accused me of burdening them to bring so much extra thick clothing.

I just ignored them, and hold steadfast to my prediction of minus 3 to minus 5 degrees Celcius.

The next morning, my local guide informed the rest of the group that the temperature has dropped as it rained the previous night.. and the current temperature was 6degrees celcius..

When we actually arrived on the top of the mountain, it was snowing, and the snow was like hailstones cos it's so hard and big.. like bullets pelting you from all directions.

Temperature?

MINUS 3 DEGREES CELCIUS!

And as expected, all those idiots who doubted me just avoided looking at me when I stared back at them defiantly. Moreover those doubters who refused to bring extra clothing on my advice ended up hiding in the station and not venturing out cos it was freaking windy and fucking cold.

Sometimes, I really believe in a God up there somewhere.

Anyway.... I ventured out with Betty, who's a Branch Manager of my company and was there as a paying customer to take pictures!

Signboard telling you the Dos and Donts and showing the map of the corridor

Wearing the Hello Kitty mask that Linn bought for me. Thanks girl! It really helped cos the air was very cold and thin and difficult to breathe. :D

Cute Doraemon!

Afterwards we went for lunch, and then begin our descent down the mountain to Kurobe Dam!

The Kurobe Dam is Japan's largest dam. It generates electricity for the Kansai Electric Power Company. It stands 186 m high and holds 200,000,000 cubic meters of water. Its construction, completed in 1963 at a cost of 51.3 billion yen, claimed the lives of nearly two hundred people.

We had to walk approximately 2km across to the tunnel leading to the last transport system back to Nagano.

I cannot repeat how many times I love Japan! And the Alpine tour is one of the best tours I've been on! :D

Dim Sum with Wany

This afternoon I went to yum cha with Wany at Asian Garden, Odeon Towers! The service is impeccable and non-obtrusive, and the food is nice yet affordable. I will definitely go back again...!!