Turkey May 6-21 2012

May 2012 Turkey 2 trips with Exodus... 

Kayaking (ATK)May 6 and multisport (ATM) May 14 (click underline links for operator's descriptions).  Last year in Kas ... with my  "I'm too sexy for my shirt" look: 

(click to enlarge)

paragliding May 9 2012 near Kas 

(video to follow when better wifi connection)

A link to: photos (a picasa album)... 38photos, +8pics May18

(+3kayaking of DynoMike's+3parasailing of Inigo's

extra: "Canyoning album"

Various comments:

Mxxx (name withheld): "If the current fundamentalist AK government wins the next election, I will leave the country.

Maho: "Cyclists are a much easier group, they have a kind of horse blinders, .... are focused only on the summit, and dont see the beautiful scenery" ... come to think about it ... I tend to agree, ... comes with the "as fast as I can" mind set, GG.

Mike, Andy: when seeing the tarps covering unattended vendor stalls for the night, "In the UK, it would be nicked, and the stalls would be up-ended"

Strange: 4 of 13 were in police work of some sort, English people use bad grammar often...and seem proud of it, English seem a little too delighted with toilet humour,..... but overall, as a group got along rather well together

Ranking (overall satisfantction) of recent Exodus trips: Nepal 8.5, ATIcycling2011 7.0, ATM2011 9, Central America 2012 8, ATK2012 Kayaking (8/10), ATM2012...(7/10).

Geof: Israelis (esp backpackers) as a group are very difficult (arrogant, self important, exploitative, ... lots of examples). There are shop signs up: "No Israelis". Guides are paid more to take them, but still wont take them. Israelis say they will, but won't, respect local customs, sort of defiantly, examples given.

Special Moments: waking up on the 2nd and 3rd camp mornings in the tents, amid the ancient Greek ruins, .... peaceful and a kind of "heavy" sense of history, and a feeling of one's insignificance.

May 21  Arrived home 6PM, after 21 elsapsed hours since 4:00AM departure.... uneventful, not fun,.... but Turkish Airlines does a good job.  Luggage took 1 hour to appear.

May 20  Sunday is a sunny day (coolish) for cycling, (mostly downhill) mountain biking, ...mostly a different route than last year. The others went extautemely fast, whereas I'd say I was prudently cautious. I noticed I was the only one who cycled up the longish hill, whereas the others walked or took the van. Lunch was a picnic, but in a cafe, better than usual... ended fairly early at 3:45. Downloaded a computer alarm since mine didn't work... need it for 4am tomorrow, a 9am flight to Istanbul, Toronto about 6PM. Our 6 had dinner at Sultans Garden, gave Geof the group tip. 

May 19 Sat started off as a rainy day, a deluge in fact around 9:30, but then the skies broke and it was a delightful sunny day, ... a bit cool, 65F. It was our kayaking day ... and it all went fine. Dinner at Smiley's, and the Brits were off to watch some big soccer game at a local sports bar ...not for me though.

May 18 Friday was our free day, butgn was raining before 9:00AM and sort of set the mood (dull) for the day, although it became partly sunny, and nobody did much of anything. I went to the Friday open market in Kas. The vegetables don't interst me much but there were a lot of veggie nursery plants. I did buy 3 pillow covers (easy to roll-up), a pair of army fatigue type knee shorts, and 250g of crushed chillies. I noticed fake hand bags (Gucci, Luren etc) at 50 TL and relayed it to Jamie (important to family back home), because he couldnt find elsewhere, except at 750 TL. 

May 17 today,Thurs, was "canyoning", I was the slowest of the 5+2 guides, a long tiring exhausting!!!! day 8:30am-6:00pm ... one short absail, lots of jumps: 3m or so, ... but I was not so ultra-fatigued as last year, in retrospect maybe last year I was having an "atrial flutter" episode, not diagnosed till Sept 2011, ... this year I carried 3 diltiazem in a tiny MEC canister .... just in case. We all agreed we had a fabulous day, and the weather was perfect (not too hot). We couldnt use the canyon of 2011(level3) because the water was too high. Last week, our guide's group had two fractures, a collar bone and an ankle, ... taken to hospital in Fethiye (... not talked about till our trip was over).... yikes!

May 16 A rare rainy day to start, then cloudy, then partly sunny around noon. Scuba dive day. I was the only certified diver, 2 dives ... lots of attention from the staff (getting equipment on, etc), pretty much like a private trip, saw 2 turtles, grouper, but diving in Kas is not something to generally "write home about",although the staff, the boat (capacity 40), the equipment was all top notch.Joined the trekking group for dinner,... made  about 15 people. 

May 15 A day of Saklikent (gorge), walking (struggling against flow) up the canyon, rather than the usual 'tubing', then fish lunch on those typical Turkish platforms, then van 30 min. to Lycian way walk, about 2-3 hours, to Lycian ruins (impressive) and Patara beach. Dinner with the 5 of us, not Jeff.

May 14 Brenda left at 4:00am, Phil&Hayley before breakfast, DVDs (with 1400 pics,50 TL) distributed, and they dropped me off in Kas after a 35 min van ride. Receptionist said! she remembered me from 2011. Met Jeff, the guide, NewZealander, said only 6 in group (I was disappointed), and at that one didn't show, they arrived 6:30, had BBQ dinner at Oreo hotel. 

May13 another waking up in a campsite among the ruins, then to pirates cave, then to castle town, lunch on the boat, then paddling by well preserved sarcophagus, slalomed through rocks then on to pension. Last dinner was unanimously agreed to be together on the boat. Harbour was windy so captain relocated accross the bay, .. BBQ turkish sausage and chicken, ... captain said: "they lost 5 kg during the week,... tonight they gained 10" . Settled accounts totaled 553 TL (~$300CAD) for the week, incl 50TL tip ... overall pretty reasonable/good, where the low non-alcohol drinking costs, 31TL, offset the pricey parasailing (100Euro).

May 12, awakened in pension, gray day, then paddled to crowded beach (everybody commented they didnt  like it) then through sunken city and across to mainland where a boat full (30-50)of Istanbul older ladies tied up beside us.  The captain cooked individual fish for all (17 with crew)... not easy to do....excellent. A water-taxi picked up 5 of our group to go to some "pirate" bar with dancing and drinking,(pretty much just a shack, with neon lights) ... arrived back at 1:30 AM noisy and rather drunk.

May 11, woke up amongst sarcophaguses in a rather peaceful greek? cemetery, ... that might sound creepy but it was really quite impressive, .... a sense of time in another civilization. Another full day kayaking, beautiful weather, to Uiczaz? (really small town) tonight in pension with shower (Oh Joy!!) and wifi.

May 10, full day of kayaking, 18km,.... in the PM the winds exceeded the 18km/hr, more than the guide expected and it was admittedly rather scary(for me), as the white caps splashed into my cockpit (hadnt put the kayak skirt on yet (...silly me), and other kayakers were often out of site. Camp site in a bay, the winds died down, and had a good 8 hour sleep, and woke up in ruins / many ancient sarcohaguses.  Dinner on boat, meatballs,... not bad, ...played spoons (crazy silly game). In general, the boat meals are modest, but fairly good, ... maybe I'll lose some weight.

May 9 ... parasailing at 11:45 (100 Euros) mett a Spanish couple who joined me  was great, ... made it interesting..... then for next few days camping apparently on the beach/kayaking, .......wifi unlikely. Left at 5pm to board a boat. Late arrival at beach had to set up tents after dark, then to boat for dinner: BBQ chicken wings... not bad. Since the place for tenting was more or less rough pasture, I set up in an abandoned hut, tent on top of an old mattress, but maybe because I felt like an intruder I didnt sleep well

May 8 ... sunny day, mid 20s, but quite hot in the open sun, transferred to Kalkan to begin our 16 km paddle back to Kas.....was a pretty compatible group, ...... while in kayak on the water is rather nice temp, but on the beach/full sun is exceedingly hot. Dinner in Kas as a group... was good. 

May 7 ...  met group as they straggled in, 2PM, group of 13, then a van transfer to Kas, 3 hours. weather sunny mid 20s. Maho, the guide from multisport 2011 is the kayak guide this year, ... he remembered me.

May 6  a 23:55May 5th departure from Toronto on Turkish Airlines, 10 hour flight (7 hour time diff) to Istanbul (a jammed 777 due to a cancelled Emirates flight,...  not fun), at least slept a bit, then a delayed 60 min onto Dalaman, found basic near airport hotel. Remarkable coincidence: Brenda, originally from Newfoundland, now Toronto, also going on same kayak trip, happened to sit next next to me on the flight to Istanbul, ... amazing.