Day 3 - Athens sight seeing

We headed off in a random direction whilst holding a cartoon map hoping to see parts of Athens before we have to head off to the Greek Islands. Since I couldn't buy any memory cards for my camera, we decided that we should empty Moishii's memory sticks so I can use them in my camera. We find a photo shop which would do that for 5euros a CD. We had enough stuff to throw it onto 2 CDs so we left the cards with the guy whilst he transferred everything onto CD for us. We rock back up only to find out that we owe him 15euros because its 5euros a CD and if you want more than 1 card per cd, you have to pay 2.50euros per memory card. LIKE WE GOT SCREWED! That was $30AUD!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS COUNTRY IS TRYING TO SCREW ME OVER FFS! @%#$#^%#

We decided the best thing to do was to go sight seeing to help release our stress. We made our way to the Acropolis and ended up getting ripped off from buying 6 vouchers to get into 1 place. We climbed our way to the top of the mountain after almost slipping and breaking our necks to get to the Acropolis. We pulled out our cameras and started taking photos left, right and centre and made multiple mini films with commentary and an explaination as to which pile of stone was what. Around 5:30, half an hour before the whole place was locked down, SOMEONE suddenly screamed that we were at the wrong place! That the pile of stones on the other mountain was the acropolis and that we were at the wrong place! He pointed at the map and started ranting and raving. And since it was always HIS obsession to go to the Acropolis, I knew that he would never shut up about it if we went to the wrong place. I also knew I wasn't going to come back just to climb another mountain to take more photos with stones, we decided to bolt towards the "real acropolis". Instead of taking a nicely paved walkway, someone insisted that they knew a shortcut to get to the "real acropolis". I don't know what in the world I was thinking when I decided to listen to him. I guess it was jetlag plus the sunstroke, but I decided to follow him. Boy was it fun climbing down the side of the moutain that was overgrown with weeds and thorny bushes........

After tumbling down the side of the mountain, we bumped into a guy who was peeing himself in the bushes. Running around the guy, we climbed up another hill only to go around in a big loop before we ended up at another tourist booth. The guy told us that they closed at 7. I know at this stage I should have strangled someone, but since I was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, I plodded along to the "real acropolis". When we finally arrived after 30mins of trekking, we started taking as many happy snaps and film clips as possible to make up for the photos of the "fake acropolis". Something didn't feel right. I'm sure you know where I am going with this. We asked a tour guide sitting by the pile of rocks if we were at the acropolis. Her reply? "No, the acropolis is up the other mountain".

@#)!$%*)^_@)$*@#!&%($)&@#%()&@#$%()&@#% *deep breaths*

eing totally confused, we showed her the photos we took to see if we've actually gone to the "real acropolis" and the woman goes through our photos saying "errrrrrmmmmmm......hmmmmmmm......errrrrrr......" YOUR A FREAKIN TOUR GUIDE! HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHAT THE DAMN ACROPOLIS LOOKS LIKE!? And its not like we didn't have enough photos for her to look at! As the sun was setting, we decided to call it quits and leave not knowing if we went to the acropolis or not. I swear, only can we go to a famous historical site, have no idea what is what and confuse everyone around us. Oh.......by the way, we finally found out that we DID go to the acropolis. And that its a name for the entire top of the mountain and not an individual building like SOMEONE was screaming. FFS

Day 3 - Getting to Athens

OMG....6:30am wake up call. Who the hell wakes up at 6:30am on their holiday? UGH....we were the first people there for breakfast. The waiter freaked when he walked into the breakfast hall to find us there. He didn't expect anyone to be up so early. He probably would've walked around naked if we weren't there!

The night before I wanted to buy more memory cards only to have all the stores close on me before I could buy them. After breakfast I dashed out hoping to find a store that is open to buy a few memory cards but they were all closed. So there was nothing to do but to go back to the hotel and checkout to head towards the airport. As we got into the cab, ALL the photo stores around the hotel suddenly opened their doors for business. -_-" #@%$#^

We got to Istanbul Airport only to find that we have no check-in counter. We walked around for awhile before they decided that people going to Athens will need to checkin (Well DER!) After checking in we headed towards our gate as we were allowed to start boarding. We got to the gate where they wouldn't let us board because that gate was to London. ?????????????? 15mins before we were to take off did they change the gate to Athens! GRRRR We haven't even left Istanbul and we've been screwed left right and centre!

We FINALLY made it onto the plane only for Moishii to get a seat that was broken. Everytime he leaned back, the back of the chair will flip down. It was quite amusing watching him not to lean back whilst the plane was taking off! AHeaEaHEha We decided to have a quick nap before we landed in Athens. BAD IDEA. I nearly had the top of my scalp taken off by the bloody food trolley! I was lucky enough to duck only to get my foot jammed between the seat and the trolley! FFS! Like wtf is happening!?

After all the incidents, we made it safely to Athens only for the airline to forget our luggage. The entire plane was standing around the belt waiting for the luggage for over 30mins before anything came out! Collecting our luggage we headed towards customs where there was no customs. I mean I could've bought a damn bomb into the country and they wouldn't have known!

For some STUPID reason, me and Moishii thought it would be a good idea to change our return flight to Istanbul so we get to spend an extra day in Istanbul. We were looking for the Olympic airways counter when we bumped into a Turkish guy trying to get to Germany. The only problem was that he didn't speak greek or English. So he dragged moishii off to help him translate whilst I lined up and started fighting people who were trying to jump the queue. We finally got to the counter, and without thinking, spent 40euros each (Which is $80AUD) in changing our tickets. We've totally SCREWED UP our accomodation in Athens and Istanbul....

We realised we have absolutely no idea where our hotel is or how to get there. We had no map and neither of us speak Greek (Fun!). So we did the most obvious thing. Lets catch a cab! We ended up getting a "tour" of the city whilst the meter ticked to 47 euros. When we got to the hotel, the guy turns around and goes 50euros. WHO THE HELL ROUNDS UP THE AMOUNT?! FFS! We just got royally screwed and didn't even know! All of this happened just trying to get to the damn place!

Day 2 - The Grand Bazaar Part 2

Yes! The Grand Bazaar again. I thought it was time i started buying belly dancing belts. But before we could handle such a hectic shopping session, we stopped by the cafe for a cup of turkish coffee where moishii wanted to have my cup read. He asked the shop keeper if anyone knows how to read a cup. He said to moishii "Well why don't you just make something up to entertain your japanese friend?"

LIKE FFS!
1. I'm not japanese
2. HOW THE HELL FAKES A READING?!

We headed towards the grand bazaar after where we walked into this store where it was covered with belts and I started going crazy pulling belts off the shelf and trying them on. The guy thought he scored a big customer and went and bought me an apple tea (YUM!!!) whilst I continued to pull things off the shelf and out of bags. I chose quite a few scarfs I wanted and started to bargain with the guy. He said he was giving me a special deal of $75million for all 3 things I wanted. This is the conversation that happened:

Him: 75million for you
me: 50 million
Him: No No! 75 million
me: 50 million
Him: Ok Ok 65million
Me: 55 Million
Him to moishii: Oh My god she's dangerous.

I got them for 55 Million dollars! :D Of course.....things never go so smoothly for me. As we walked away with my big bag of belts, this guy went running through the crowd and elbowed me in the back of my head! LIKE FFS! CANT I EVEN GO SHOPPING WITHOUT GETTING FARKING ELBOWED IN THE HEAD! ITS NOT LIKE I HAVE MUCH BRAINCELLS LEFT! I SHOULD'VE CHASED THE GUY AND ELBOWED HIM BACK! I WOULD HAVE IF I DIDNT HAVE CONCUSSION! FFS!

As we were leaving the Grand Bazaar with a bruise on my head, we noticed this guy(?) standing outside a shop. His whole posture said woman but everything else said penis. I guess you had to be there to appreciate the freaks we see...

We went to Ortakoy for dinner which is by the sea. We ordered my current favourite, Kofte. Which is turkish grilled meatballs of some sort. We got sausages without the skin and wedges. FFS! Even I know how to make better kofte then that. The only consolation was that the restaurant was right by the water there they give you blankets to wrap yourself in whilst having dinner. We were going to take a blanket home with us but I think we would've been arrested before we even made it out of the restaurant.

There were quite a few markets around Ortakoy including this store that sold scarfs. They drap the scarfs on a table and by making sure they don't fly away, they scrunch one end up and shove it amongst the other stuff. I picked up afew scarfs to look at and then placed it back in the same manner (After deciding not to buy it when my bargaining didn't go well) and the guy complained that i was creasing the scarfs! WTF? HOW THE HELL DO YOU CREASE SOMETHING THAT IS ALREADY CREASED! WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! UGH

Day 2 - The Tour

The first stop of the day was the Sunken Palace which is basically a palace that has....sunk. We discovered that the palace is actually a shrine for Cherry's toe where she displays her tropheys of kidneys by hanging them from balloons from the ceiling. (Long story)

We walked across the road to the Blue mosque where I had to slip on a long sleeve shirt in this bloody heat and wrap my hair in a scarf. This was my first wrapping! The mosque was gorgeous inside and the roof was absolutely amazing! No wonder so many tourists swarm to this place.

We also joined a tour to go sight see around Istanbul today. The day barely started when the tour guide try to rip us off. Me, obviously NOT turkish, he wanted to charge me $15 whilst charging Moishii $10. Of course we chuck a tantrum and we both only pay $10. We went around the city for awhile and decided to get off to see the Galata Tower. After the horrible uphill climb to get to the damn place, we were going to give up going into the tower as we were going to have to climb up 23954320520525 sets of steps. Luckily, we walked into the lobby to find elevators! w00t! We got to the top of the tower to get a 360degree panoramic view of the city. Absolutely breathtaking! Unfortunely.....the battery on my camera died! Doh! We still managed to get quite a few happy snaps with the 3 cameras between the 2 of us anyway.

After our happy snaps we walked back to the main road to wait for the bus. We notice this woman standing infront of an abandoned building talking to the window. We have no idea WTF she was doing. Praying? Confession? OMG! She was talking to the window of truth! We tried to take a photo of the woman but we were distracted by the sirens on an ambulance tearing down the street only to skid to a stop 15m from us where a woman and a baby was lying on the ground. Our first reaction was to scream "CHERRY!" By then the crazy window talking woman had disappeared.

Oh...moishii made me run for the wrong bus where I almost got ran over thinking we were going to miss our connecting bus! Luckily some random asian woman walked by and gave him a dirty look!

Day 1 Continued - The Porn Cinema

Taksim square. The home of the night life in Istanbul. Cafes, restaurants, shops, scarves, Porn cinemas, deserts and CDs! Out of all of those shops, we decided to go visit a porn cinema. Like what the hell were we thinking? Actually, i wasn't thinking. Moishii was thinking that it would be a good way to start my holiday. We paid for our tickets, walked in when a guy asked Moishii for a "Service fee". ???? Exactly. We walk to the seating area when the entire cinema turned and stared at me. The only chick in the cinema. The ASIAN chicken in a bright PINK top in a porn cinema. OMFG.....We quickly turned and got the hell out of there. This is when Moishii decides to tell me that the floor was covered in USED tissues! UGH. Now you know what the service fee was for....

We made our way to the nearest Starbucks, slammed down a few coffees, laughed ourselves into an asthma attack and then decided to go back to the porn cinema to take a photo of it. And that, my friends, is how I began my holidays...Stay tuned.

Let the fun and gmes begin!

Day 1: Yay! I am finally in Istanbul! after 6 months of talk, I finally made it! Moishii met me at the airport and we made our way to the hotel to drop my stuff off. We decided to cab it to the hotel. This was my first experience in an istanbul taxi. Now i know where Moishii gets his driving skills from! Lights mean nothing. Indicators mean nothing. Speed limits mean nothing. Pedestrian crossings mean nothing. Lane markings mean nothing. You will be going at 60km/hr when the driver will slam on the brakes because someone decides to cross the road. The best bit is, you don't need to wear seat belts in Turkey. They have seat belts in the car, and because i was fearing for my life, I thought I'd better put it on just in case, only to find out they have removed the buckles.....YAY!

Anyway, we got to the hotel in one piece. Because we were early, we coldn't check in so we left my lugagge there and headed straight for the Grand Bazaar! We had a quick stop for me to load up on turkish coffee and a few yummy turkish snacks. I have no idea what they are....but tasted dammn good! (I think I found a pea in my chocolate)

Finally made it to the much talked about Grand Bazaar only to find myself totally overwhelmed by the amount of shops, people and shiny shiny things! I'm like a moth! I'm automatically drawn to lights! We spent about 3 hours in the Grand Bazaar only to go around in circles because we got totally lost! All the shops look the same and most of them sell similar things! It took u 3 hours to find our way out of there and we've only been to a tiny portion of the place! LIKE OMG!

And btw, I exercised great self control! I only bought shawl and a ring! That might have to do with the whole bargaining thing. I've been told not to offer more than 25% of their asking price, but I feel really bad about it and tend to offer 30-50% of the asking price. Maybe thats why they don't want to sell to me...oh wells. I still have a few days.

We decided to head towards Taksim Square which is like the Pitt St mall of Istanbul. When we got there, we noticed that there was riot/bomb squads EVERYWHERE! Like every intersection! Just swarms of them standing on the street ready to charge!! LIKE OMG!! Cherry is stalking us! So we did the most logical thing. We ran to the nearest phone booth and called cherry. Unfortunetly, she wasn't answering her phone so we just left a message. MAUahaUaha *Evil Laugh*

Running away from the bomb squad, we headed back to our hotel to check in so we can shower before we go out again. We get to the hotel only to find out that their Internet booking has been stuffed (Despite the fact that I didn't book via the net) and that we have no room! @%#$^#@^@$^ BUT, this is the best bit, they went and upgraded us to another hotel down the road which is "poshier" than the one we were going to stay in! So we trudged on over to the hotel and checked into our room. Yay you say? Ahhhh....life is never that simple for Oishii and Moishii. Our air conditioning was broken. The porter was tring to demo to us how simple it was to turn the aircon on. After banging on random buttons for awhile, he realised that it was screwed. So he goes and calls some other guy to come in and try and fix the damn thing. Moishii was asleep so I had to deal with the guy who said "No problem. Technical service" and then walks out. Aircon remains broken until an hour later when another guy rocks up to "fix" the aircon only to find that some asshole had manually turned the aircon off! ARGH@#% The life of Oishii and Moishii...this all happened in the space of 6 hours. Lets see what happens after dinner tonight! AehaHahe