BBC News has a photo of the Mersin Hilton

In an article describing thel Hilton company's latest profit result there is a photo of the Mersin Hilton. I could not believe it. Of the hundreds of Hilton Hotels around the world there is a photo of Mersin's hotel, possibly the least profitable of the chain!

See the second photo in the article.

Tabriz...continued

At the bazaar a carpet and antique-style metal product seller said hello as we walked passed. If I was in Turkey, Egypt or another touristy country I would have ignored him and carried on walking. As it was Iran we went along along with him to his shop, drank tea and conversed in English and Turkish. He contacted a money-changer as we wanted to change some USD into rials. We then went to the carpet-seller's other shop in the bazaar. However, the rate the changer gave when he visited the shop, 8,500 rials, was less than the 8,650 he promised on the phone to the carpet-seller. Out of principle, we rejected the transaction.

In the afternoon we walked to the museum and Blue Mosque area. In front of the museum, waiting for it to re-open, were a group of 50 or so female students of various ages, all in chadors. When we walked nearby they swarmed around Karin first and later, myself. The students asked all the usual questions: Where are you from? How old are you, etcetera. I mainly chatted to their male teacher. When he asked if she (Karin) was my wife I said no, we were just friends. In hindsight, Karin and I agreed, for cultural sensitivity we should have said we were husband and wife. Unmarried and unrelated males and females virtually never travel together in Iran. It was fun outside the museum. Unfortunatly, we only thought about taking photos as the museum opened and the girls left us to go inside.

Karin and I bypassed the museum to walk across the park to the Blue Mosque. This mosque, built in 1492, was damaged many times by earthquakes over the centuries and is in an almost continual state of repair. The tiles on the walls and roof were interesting but I am sure it will be nothing compared to the splendour of mosques in Shiraz, Esfahan and Tehran.

The park was inviting and we relaxed for a while in the shade as ducks, a few chickens and a turkey nibbled at the nearby lawn.

The museum consisted of 3 levels. The ground and 1st level contained the usual coins, pottery and other antiquities. The lower level, with its modern sculptures, was personally more interesting. The 12 or 13 large sculptures displayed various human emotions and concepts from over-population to racism. Some of the sculptures were very graphic. The sculpture titled "Political Prisoners" was particularly vivid, showing prisoners in various forms of torture. The subject of this sculpture is fairly ironic for Iran I thought.

After a rest at the hotel at 7pm we met Nasser outside the tourist informaton. We caught a bus to a richer area of Tabriz. As the bus was 'express' it cost required 2 tickets at 600 rials each. The bus did indeed speed around the city. Karin entered and sat in the back with the other women while Nasser and I were in the front. There was no barrier between the the two sections as I had thought there may have been prior to the trip. When conversing with Karin one of the ladies told Karin she was too fat. All the foreign women she had witnessed on TV were skinnier. Karin thought this was very funny.

We bought our tickets for the Friday 5pm bus to Esfahan (55,000 each) at a travel agency. With the suggestion from Nasser, I asked the beautiful travel agency worker some questions in English. Everyone wants to learn English here. Nasser said native English speakers could earn USD 12 an hour giving English classes at one of the main English schools.

The area had a pedestrian street where everybody walked to see and be seen. Thursday night here (and in many muslim countries) is the equivalent to Saturday night in Turkey or Australia as Friday is the holy day holiday. There were less people walking as Iran was playing Jordan in a soccer game and many people would be watching the game on TV.

The local fashionable icecream cafe was 'Padina'. There I ate '4 kernels' and Karin, honey icecream. The '4 kernels' contained chopped almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts and pistachios on top of the icecream. Needless to say it was delicious! Nasser's nephew, Yashar joined us at the cafe.

The "Coffee Net" was the next destination. Internet cafes are called "Coffee Nets" here.

A shared taxi (2000 rials each) back to bazaar area and then the short walk to the hotel rounded the day off.


27/8/2004


This morning we again met Nasser near the tourist information. He was carrying a type of pide for our breakfast in the El-gholi park on the outskirts of Tabriz. We met 3 Polish women at their hotel and the 6 of us then squeezed into a taxi for the ride to the park. The park is large. In the centre is a pond with a restaurant nearby. Prior to the Islamic revolution in 1979 the restaurant was a disco serving the obligatory alcoholic beverages.

The park is levelled and we climbed up several flights of the stairs to get to the top. On the way Nasser pretended he was a foreigner and told a group of 3 young Iranian women they were beautiful. The policeman nearby did not apreciate it and had a word to him. Apparently the local ladies enjoy it if people, particularly foreigners, tell them they have beautiful eyes. No, I haven't been game enough yet to try it yet!

The park contained groups of young men smoking narghile and playing basketball, families socialising and having picnics and groups of young women walking around.

For breakfast Yashar joined us and we ate the bread with white cheese accompanied by tea. Afterwards I brought out some cezerye and Turkish delight I bought in Mersin.

A walk and a bus later we wrrived back in the centre of Tabriz to this "Coffee Net" where I am now.

A few notes:

-Every street seems to have a donation box for people to donate to. The causes are for poor people, people with kidney stones or requiring kidney transplants, and for the victims of the Bam earthquake.

-Some streets also have a 4 bins of different colours together in the street. I believe they are for different recyclables.

-An Iranian weightlifter has won Iran's first ever Olympic gold in Athens. I'm sure the footage of him winning will probably be shown again and again over the month. I would like to be in the welcome-home crowd when he returns to Iran.

-People are so generous and friendly! This cannot be emphasised enough.

-From first impressions, Iranian society is more stable, formal and organised with a greater number of rules than Turkey. There are hardly any beggers and people generally seem more dignified.

-Karin finished at the Internet cafe before me but when she went out on the street by herself, cars stopped when she wanted to cross and the local men stared at her. Iranian society is not yet perfect.


The next update will be from Esfahan

Salam From Tabriz!

WOW! IRAN WOW!

Yesterday I met Karin at the Dogubeyazit bus station and we caught a dolmus to the border. The border crossing was smooth. I enjoyed finally getting another stamp in the passport!

At the border we moved our clocks forward 1+1/2 hours and changed USD 40 at the low rate of 7,500 Rials (750
Tomen). Iran, like Adelaide, is on the half-hour. Karin and I jumped into the back of a covered ute for the short journey to the first village. Mount Ararat and its shorter twin peak were clearly visible from the Iranian side. At the village we got into a shared taxi to Maku. Well, we were planning to stop in Maku and catch a bus to Tabriz. However, the driver and onther passenger were friendly and the rate for the remaining 250 km was only 75,000 rials each (about USD 9) so we stayed in the car.

The scenery was largely arid although there were areas of green mainly in the vicinity of mountains, oh which we passed several. Many Turkish trucks were also on the road to Tabriz. The Arabic alphabet Farsi writng was one of the obvious differences with Turkey.

As mentioned above, the driver and passenger were friendly. We shared some tea in the car and the passenger prepared slices of salted cucmber. We communicated in Turkish. The driver, passenger along with several million people in the north of Iran are ethnic Azeris who speak a Turkish dialect.

The day was hot with the sun shining through on my side and I was very tired by the end of the journey I had started in Mersin almost 30 hours previous. In Tabriz Karin and I changed to another taxi. This driver drove us around the busy central streets of Iran's 2nd largest city. Of the 3 of us, nobody in the car had a firm idea exactly where to stop and we turned around once or twice before eventually stopping outside the Hotel Mashad, one of the hotels mentioned in the French-language Lonely Planet guide Karin had.

The room was average, the price at 45,000 rials, cheap, and we were tired so it was good enough. After dumping our bags we walked outside into the late afternoon receding light. The streets were alive with pants and shirt-wearing men and black chador and scarf-wearing women. As she had done so since just before crossing the border, Karin was wearing a scarf. All women are required to wear a scarf in Iran.

There were several varieties and shapes of fruit and vegetables we hadn't seen before. These included an ugly heirloom peach that tasted delicious. We also drank fresh banana, mulberry, melon and carrot juices and purchased roasted sunflower seeds and fat Iranian pistachios. The pistachios here are larger and have a different (but stiil fantastic) taste when compared to the Turkish ones.

Other observations from the Tabriz streets last night included the lack of music played and the female clothes models with half their head cut off. This allowed the models to be displayed wearing scarves!

We headed back to the hotel and chatted and ate pistachios and sunflower seeds for a few hours before falling asleep. The conversations were interesting as they concerned such things that were forbidden in Iran. If they weren't forbidden we wouldn't have been talking about them as we would have been in a pub having a beer!

26/08/2004

This morning after eventually getting out of the hotel we drank some more fresh juices and walked to the tourist information. There, there were a few other foreigners along with a very helpful guide called Nasser Khan.

After gaining a greater useful information we walked the very short distance to the Bazaar. Tabriz's bazaar is one of the best in Iran. For lunch we went upstairs near the beginning of the bazaar to a tiny restaurant with barely enough seats for 7 or 8 people. There we ate the local specialty: abusht (typical spelling may be different). This consisted of a metal tin filled with a stew of lamb meat, fat (2 big chunks), chickpeas, tomato and potato. Flat bread, similar to Turkish pide, raw onion and green chillies accompany the meal.

Abusht part 1: tear the bread into pieces and place it in the empty bowl. Then use a 'stopper' to hold the solid foods whilst draining the broth into the same bowl as with bread. The soaked bread is then eaten.

Abusht part 2: Use the 'stopper' to mash the solids in the tin. Eat the mash with bread.

It was only afterwards we dicovered the remaining solids were to be mashed. Both of us did not eat the fat. The meal with an orange soft-drink cost 10,000 rials each. I'm sure the locals pay less.

After the meal we continued into the bazaar and looked around the shops and marvelled at the arched ceilings. The gold jewellery in the bazaar was even tackier than Turkish jewellery!


To Be Continued....

The far end of the world: Dogubeyazit

I am currently in Dogubeyazit, a frontier town in far eastern Turkey. I visited here once previously in December 2002. Needless to say, the temperature is far hotter now than then. Dogubeyazit is the setting for two of my highlights of Turkey: Mount Ararat and Ishakpasa Palace. However, this time I'm here to visit Iran. I am now waiting for Karin's bus from Istanbul to arrive so we can take a Dolmus (minibus) to the Iranian border before crossing by foot.

Yesterday morning I defrosted the fridge-freezer, finalised my packing, turned the eletricity off, went to the office to say goodbye and complete one or two tasks before Ahmet dropped me off at the bus station. There I caught the 12:00 pm Agri Ararat (translated: Ararat Ararat ;-) bus to Dogubeyazit. On the way we seemed to stop everywhere. If not the main towns (Adana, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyabakir, Agri, etcetera), then in between for meal and tea breaks. We were at Gaziantep bus station for one hour!

Some of the highlights of the 20+1/2 hour journey:

-Gaziantep bus station: several young men were leaving for their military service. As is custom in Turkey, the men were dancing with their family and friends to the accompanying drum and pipe music. I heard up to 3 separate celebrations at the same time. It was a riot of music, people and colour.

-The bus stopped for a meal break the other side of the Euphrates River next to the town of Birecik. The Euphrates (one of the rivers of Babylon) was flowing well and created an okay reflection of the Birecik Fort in the water.

-I saw Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey for the first time. Unfortunately I only witnessed it in the middle of the night when it was barely visible.

-In the east the local farmers were harvesting hay and seasoning pads of animal manure to provide fuel in the harsh winter. The sun light began showing at 5am and some farmers were already out and about.

My next post should be from Tabriz, Iran!

In a few hours I'm off

on the 20 hour bus ride to Dogubeyazit, the far eastern Turkey town near the Iranian border. Keep reading this space for further trip updates.

Perceptions of Iran

The reactions of people when I tell them I am going to Iran are very interesting. Many of the reactions can be summed up in the following comment I received via email from a ‘westerner’:

Isn't there a lot of political dispute over there right now making it unsafe for visitors? What is there in Iran that makes you want to visit? I guess my image of most of those countries is a lot of desert and fighting...sorry if this sounds naive.

It is not surprising to hear these comments from people who live a long way from Iran and whose views have largely been shaped by sensationalist snippets every few weeks on the news. The funny thing is, almost all Turkish people I have spoken to share similar views. This is despite the fact that Turkey and Iran are in the same part of the world and actually share borders!

All the locals want to why I am going to Iran and not Europe, Australia or another country. They have absolutely no intention to visit Iran and effectively see Iran as a backwards country. I believe this reflects Turkey’s movement of the last 80 years towards Europe. Most people in Turkey look towards and learn more about the west at the expense of the east. I would say even many of the Islamists do not want Turkey to share the same laws and practices as Iran. Then again, I am sure a reasonable proportion do.

Congratulations Jeff!

In week 5 of the American game show, “Studio 7”, Jeff won USD 77,000!
He is now in the running to win $777,000 on the series-ending show.

I met Jeff when he was an AIESEC Adana trainee a few years ago.

Jeff studied Arabic language during his political science undergraduate programme. He started before the planes crashed into the World Train Centre. After this event, there were many bandwagoners who started studying Arabic and Jeff’s classes increased significantly in size.

After completing his political science degree Jeff worked for the Washington Institute before going to grad school where he is now.

Pizza 'Joe Style'

Last night I was going to prepare my pizza at home. I brought the dough from the ‘firin’ (oven – baker) and went back home to roll it and add the toppings before taking the readied pizza back to the firin to cook. Instead, Orhan, his Mother, Father and sister rocked up and we went to their place in their friend’s Mazda. On the way we bought a few more pizza ingredients.

At their place I showed them how to make the pizza. Orhan’s Mum oiled a pan and rolled the dough out flat. I then spread the tomato paste on the base, followed by grated cheese (was close to mozzarella). Sliced mushrooms, pineapple (canned), red and green capsicum, onion, tomato, sucuk (spicy Turkish sausage) and finally, more cheese on the top. Previously I had added chilli flakes, dried basil and thyme to some of the toppings and these spices added a good touch.

After some time in the oven, the first pizza was ready. 3 large pizzas were made all up and this was more than enough to feed the 5 of us. They were delicious, although some finetuning could be done next time to make them even better. Perhaps the base was too thin and the topping too thick. The house did not have resting tray to allow the base to air and harden. The pizzas were somewhat sloppy.

All but Zumrut, the young (about 11 years old) daughter, loved the pizzas. Zumrut picked apart the pizza and seemed to reject every second ingredient, even though a special pizza half without pineapple or mushroom was made for her.

The amazing thing is the family had not eaten pineapple before!

Last night was also the first time I have eaten my style of pizza in Turkey. The pizzas in Turkey are generally bland. Some Turks actually add mayonnaise and Ketchup to the cooked pizza!

A copy of the email I sent to my address list

Dear friends and family,

I am still living and working in Mersin. The summer is hot and humid with no rain for 2 months. It's hard to believe Istanbul flooded earlier this week.

In a few days I will visit Iran for a 2 week holiday. Iran borders eastern Turkey and it is one of the most historic and interesting countries in the world. As the centre of the former Persian Empire, Iran has a large amount of fantastic architecture. Besides Turkey, the other countries Iran borders are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran also lies on the Persian Gulf across from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Exciting, hey?

Despite what many uninformed people think, Iran is not an Arab country. The two most important events in modern Iranian history are the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Iran is now controlled by a religious theocracy and the rules are very strict. Sex outside of marriage is forbidden; alcohol is not easy to find; the mixing of the genders is limited; and women must wear a head-scarf in public. 70% of Iranians are under the age of 30 and there is a large generation gap between the older and younger generations.

In the right-hand column of my blog at www.taheny.com I have several links for Iran, including other travellers' photos and accounts of their time there. On my blog you can also comment after each posting I make and place your figure on my guestmap of the world (also in the right-hand column. I expect many more tiny humans on the guestmap!

I am very much looking forward to my trip. I will be travelling with a Swiss friend. Whilst I'm in Iran I plan to update the blog every couple of days. The cities we plan to visit are Tabriz, Tehran (home of the world's craziest traffic!), Shiraz (where the grape got its name), Esfahan and Yazd. The internet access will be limited on my trip and the blog will be first priority so I may take some time replying to emails- be patient!

This will be my first visit to an 'axis of evil' country :-)

Cheers,
Joe

A word invented in Mersin!

Well, not actually Mersin but the ancient town of Soli, of whom the word "Solecism" is named after.

The Chicage Tribune newspaper has a whole article dedicated to "Solecism". A solecism is a breach of grammar or etiquette.

I had never heard of the word before but a Google search brings up more than 11,000 hits.

Soli is on the outskirts of Mersin. Currently all that remains of this ancient city is a row of columns and a few other ruins. The first photo of this posting is of Soli.

As one needs to register to visit the Chicage Tribune website I have uploaded a copy of the article: Solecism.doc

Another Train Accident

Asli took longer than usual to come on the train from Adana to Mersin. On the way the train collected a female pedestrian. I believe the pedestrian died on the spot. I haven't seen any online reports of this accident.


Today I read two interesting articles. One concerning Turkey's improving economy and the other regarding Turkey's food culture.

BREAKING NEWS: Earthquake west of Mersin

In the last 30 minutes there was a small earthquake stretching from Erdemli to Mezitli, just west of Mersin. I used to live in Mezitli. I'm sure there will be further reports soon and I will update if I hear anything more. In Mersin I didn't feel anything.



UPDATE: [7:15 pm] I cannot find any news articles concerning the earthquake in English. The earthquake registered 4.6 and was centred at Erdemli west of Mezitli. Articles in Turkish: Zaman and Mersin Haber.

The earthquake obviously didn't cause much damage because there aren't any pictures. Turkish media just loves showing controversial and exciting images and footage.

Coincidentally, almost 5 years to the day was the major earthquake in Izmit.


UPDATE [18/08/04]: NTVMSNBC has an article on the earthquake in English.

More Turkish Truck Drivers in Iraq Taken Hostage

This time it is 2 drivers from Tarsus, 30 kilometres east of Mersin.

See here and here.

Photos to complement the words

Late spring flowers around the ancient columns of Soli/Viransehir.





Adana = Kebab and Kebab = Adana: AIESEC summer tour in Adana





Narrow houses along the Bosphorous north of Istanbul





Where the Bosphorous meets the Black Sea





Olivia, Brad and Beer!

The above 3 images are from this trip.




Oral and Yeliz at their wedding celebration. Notice the flower arrangements in the background and the money and gold pinned on the newly-married couple.





Iklim (Oral's brother), Sebiha, myself, Brad, Olivia, Buket and Serkan at the wedding.





Olivia with Hanifi amca using the hair-dryer to encourage the coals to burn and cook the kebabs.





Hanifi amca, Brad and Olivia with the cooked kebabs.

An Insight into the Turkish Bus System

On the Mercedes Benz official website there is a feature on Turkey, more specifically, HAS Turizm, a bus company headquartered in Antakya (Antioch). Along with the expected Mercedes-Benz slant, the article contains many useful insights into the Turkish bus system, one of the best bus systems in the world.

The 4-paged feature article is here. The links to each page are on the top-right of the article.

If you are interested in Turkey I recommend you read it!

Reflections on last night

How good was that tuna, tomato, roasted capsicum, mushroom, onion, lettuce and tomato paste roll? Sensational!

The thick fresh cream with jam and honey on bread that followed was almost as good.

I also picked up my latest photos last night. This roll of 36-exposure film took 2-3 months to finish like most of my rolls seem to so there is a good range of photos. At Muhammed Ali photography shop, the attendant mentioned about drinking as if I drink a lot. Looking through the photos, most of them are of social situations when alcohol either was or could have been involved. All drinking was in moderation of course (true – my previous hangover was new years day).

Oh, the Olympic opening ceremony was meant to be on last night. I didn’t have the TV on so I wouldn’t know. The most interesting Olympic news of yesterday in my opinion is the Iranian refusing to participate against the Israeli in the judo.

Some Local Olympic News

Meanwhile, Turkey's only hope for gold in track is Elvan Abeylegesse, who still carries on with her training in Turkey. She will continue warming up for Athens in Mersin (a southern Turkish city) with her trainer Ertan Hatipoglu for six more days.

Source


Elvan Abeylegesse broke the women's world 5000 m record earlier this year and is one of Turkey's megastars of 2004.

I haven't seen her running the streets of Mersin yet. I would know if I did see her. She looks distinctly non-Turkish.


UPDATE (17/08/2004): Apparently Elvan chose to train in Mersin because of its similar climate to Athens.

Olympics and other stuff

Olympics
As most people on earth probably know, the Olympic games will begin in Greece this weekend. I am not overly enthusiastic towards the games and am happy I'm in a country where I can ignore most of the hype. An interesting fact is 'as the crow flies' Mersin is closer to Athens than Adelaide is to Sydney, the 2000 games venue. This is despite the fact Adelaide and Sydney are both in same country.

I (hopefully) will be in Iran for last part of the Olympics. I am curious as to how the coverage will be in Iran. I don't expect to be able to watch the female synchronised swimming on TV!


More Weddings
As well as the Olympics, this weekend will also host Devrim (in English: Revolution) and Efkan’s wedding. Although Devrim and Efkan live in Mersin and Efkan’s family come from Tarsus, the wedding will be in Canakkale, where Devrim’s family lives. I was invited but it is a 20 hour bus ride to Canakkale from Mersin and I cannot take the time off work then.

The weekend before last was Hanifi amca and Medine teyze's son, Hakan’s wedding. This one was in Milas, Bodrum, where his wife is from. Hakan is manages a hotel in Bodrum. I received a small wedding arrangement from the day. The arrangement contains candied almonds, like those my parents had in their wedding.


Another Train Accident
Another fatal train accident in northwestern Turkey.


It is Summer so the Ants are About
The office, Huseyin abi’s shop and even my 6th-storey flat have had running around inside. So far in all cases they are manageable and not a real hassle.

And down come more branches!

In response to the accident yesterday, the local council is now removing many of the the branches (and most of the shade provided) from the 2 large gum trees and one smaller 'pepper' tree. I could hardly believe it a minute ago when I saw the worker cutting off the top branches of the pepper tree - but now he has stopped and moved onto the other gum.

Other news this morning: a few small bomb explosions hit Istanbul.

Gum Tree Branch Breaks and Lands on Car

Today at around midday I was at my work desk when I a heard a cracking noise outside. I turned around and a gumtree branch had broken off and landed on a Blue Hyundai Accent parked across the road. The branch was large enough to smash the windscreen and dent the roof. A few hours later, after the police had checked the scene, a tow truck came and towed the car away.

The owner of the car worked at the real estate agency next to my office. When he worked at another agent my boss rented my apartment from him. The area under the gum trees near the river is very popular for parking, particularly in summer when the trees provide shade from the scorching sun. It could have been anybody's car parked there. Bad luck!




As an addendum to the previous post, here is a photo of Huseyin abi in his shop prior to the makeover:

Huseyin abi's Shop

Huseyin abi, yes, the person I shared the lotto prize with, has been a bit down recently. The income from his small 'bakkal' (corner shop - named "Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi") is not covering his expenses. After the shop and house rents, tax, electricity, water and living expenses are taken out, there is not enough money left. The fact that both Huseyin abi and his wife both smoke about 1 packet of cigarettes each per day does not help. 150,000,000 TL per month goes up in smoke, literally. His share of the lotto prize went straight to the bank to cover part of his credit card debt.

Several times over the past year he has spoken about wanting to go to Australia like just about all Turkish people want to do. After winning the 2nd division lottery prize he wanted to spend more on the lotto each week. I didn't want to and suggested it was not a good idea as it is a waste of money. The chance to have all 6 correct numbers chosen out of 49 in the Saturday lotto draw is 1/13,942,000 or so. The odds are not on the contestant's side.

Last night after the lotto did not go our way he was not very happy and asked me what he could do. I thought of a few things and then the most obvious idea popped into my head: improve the shop and make it more customer friendly and attractive to increase sales.

Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi sells alcohol, cigarettes, basic food supplies, lollies, chips, snack nuts and seeds, soft drinks, yoghurt, bread, freshly-ground coffee (ground in the shop), headache tablets, bandaids, razors and other everyday needs and wants. There are many thousands of similar shops all over Turkey. I guess there are 4 or 5 within 100 metres of my apartment! I could write a whole blog article on the 'bakkal' and may do so in the future.

Huseyin abi used to work in a factory and does not come from a customer service, retailing or marketing background. This showed in his shop. The shop and its products didn't look nice, there was little to differentiate his private area with the shop area and the products for sale were placed in random areas with goods they didn't fit with.

After both working for 6(!) years at the Foodland Fulham Gardens Supermarket and studying several marketing subjects (sorry, 'courses') at the University of South Australia I had a few suggestions for Huseyin abi and his shop.

That evening I came out with the ideas:

*Place similar products (cooking ingredients, for example) together
*Remove as much cardboard as possible from the displays
*Bring the products from the back to the front of the shelves
*Turn around the products so the labels show properly
*Add extra lighting
Remove all the products on display in the private back area and bring them to the shop proper
*Disguise the back area so as to differentiate it properly from the actual public shop
*Dust the products!
*Remove the crap from the top of the freezers
*Add reasonable-size price tickets
*Remove all out of date or damaged stock from the shelves
*Make the outside view of the shop more attractive

In summary: make the shop as inviting as possible and for Huseyin abi to 'think as a customer' and 'be a friendly salesman not a shopkeeper'.

Several (most) of the ideas were difficult to communicate in Turkish but Huseyin abi got the point and by the end of the night I am sure he was sick of me and my ideas.

Earlier today, after completing a load of washing at home, I returned to Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi. Huseyin abi had already made several changes and the shop was looking better. We installed shelving between the private and public spaces, moved goods around, dusted and implemented most of the ideas I suggested last night. After a few hours of work, the shop is far more appealing now.

I sincerely hope this work is worth it and the sales turnover increases. I'm sure it will, particularly with more shop improvements in the future and a continued customer and sales-focus. Huseyin abi and his shop are on the way up!

By the way, in this Internet cafe a few doors down from Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi, Huseyin abi's son, Yigit, has been bugging me to write his name on my blog. There you go Yigit!

The Simitci and early Mornings

In summer it is difficult to sleep in the mornings. The heat, traffic noise (I live close to a busy road) and light are not conducive to good sleep.

In winter I shut the doors and windows and put the blinds down. These actions cut out the light and reduce the noise substantially. The heat is not a problem in winter (obviously) and although the apartment is cold, a hot water bottle and thick blanket perform admirably.

If I kept the doors, windows and blinds shut in summer I'd have an involuntary sauna. My bedroom does have air conditioning but it is noisy, not split-system and installed as an after-thought. It was placed in the window separating the bedroom from the balcony. The hot air is spewed out onto the balcony the other side of the thin windows. With the air conditioning I also have to open the curtains to allow the cool air to flow. Once in a previous summer I left the air conditioning running all night. Well, I planned to. In the middle of the night I woke sweating like no man before. The electricity was out and my involuntary sauna had come into effect.

Basically, it is more convenient to ignore the air conditioning. If I owned my flat I would seriously consider removing or upgrading the air conditioning system. The current 'box' is massive and effectively reduces my usable balcony space by %25+.

What has this got to do with simitci?

A 'simitci' is a person who sells 'simit', donut-shaped bread rings. Every city has their own style of simit. Ankara is famous for its simit but my favourite is the simit from Adana. Simitcis often walk the streets carrying simit on a tray above their head. Simitci's are almost always males - I have yet to see a female simitci.

To create awareness and attract attention as they walk along, simitcis call out in their deep voices "simitci", "taze (fresh) simit", "sicak (hot) simit" and other such war cries. Even the young boy simitcis have deep voices.

One of the simitci's who pass by work everyday has a mild intellectual disability. It is fantastic that he is making himself useful. To support him Sevil buys simit even if nobody in the office wants it. Daily he passes, opens the office door and bellows "simit", asking us several time if we want simit. If nobody is hungry for simit we have to say no two or three until he receives the message. Often his bellowing is not appreciated, when staff are either speaking on the phone or dealing with customers, for example. Sometimes he breaks out and starts singing a folk song. It is very funny and he is a good singer.

Simitcis walk the streets for long hours and work very hard. Some begin early in the morning at first light or before. The combination of deep voice and early morning create a penetrating sound. With the open doors, windows and blinds, in my sleep I can hear the simitci approach from a long distance away.

Today a simitci woke me up just after 7 am. I won't lodge a complaint or protest too much, just accept the fact that simitcis are a great part of Turkish life. They are certainly much better than the Ramazan drummers!

The Latest

Iran
In a few weeks time I will travel around Iran for 2 weeks. I am very much looking forward to the trip, particularly since it will be 11 months since I last left Turkey. 11 months! That is crazy and I would go crazy if I had to spend the next 11 months in the same country. To compliment this upcoming trip I have added a few Iran weblinks to the right-hand column below the archive section.

Move On!
Yes, it is time for both John Howard and George W Bush to move on. My favourite band, Pearl Jam, have joined a heap of other bands for a series of concerts in American swing states with the end aim of getting Bush out of office. Should be a great tour for those who can go. I hope it their goal is met.

Bomb Update
Previously, I was doubtful that a bomb had gone off. After looking at a few local Mersin news websites (all in Turkish) I can say that the bombing did occur.
-Here is a story with a small picture.
-On this page there a couple of stories on the bombing as well as the Atas fire and a UFO. There is also a large photo of the bomb sight.
-In this bombing article KONGRA-GEL (former PKK) are mentioned. I don't know the circumstances as my Turkish is not enough.

In other local news
*As mentioned above, a UFO has appeared on the Mersin scene.
*An update on the Turkish truck driver hostages released in Iraq. In response to the kidnappings, Turkish truck companies will now only operate to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Unfortunately another Turkish truck driver died.
*The weather has remained hot, humid and free of rain for the past 2 months. It has threatened to rain a couple of times but nothing eventuated. Some rain would be good!

The Importance of Incirlik Air Base to the Americans

The article Incirlik wing named an outstanding unit illustrates the importance of the Incirlik Air Base to the Americans over the past 2&1/2 years of Middle Eastern military endeavours.

As a point of reference, Incirlik is less than 100 km east of Mersin.

Some other people are not happy with DFAT's advice

Travel warnings: DFAT under fire at industry forum

Some news from Mersin/Iraq

Many foreign workers have been kidnapped in Iraq recently. Amongst them are several Turkish people. Two truckdrivers were recently released after their company Kahramanli withdrew from Iraq. Kahramanli are headquartered in Mersin.

Fish Lunch at Karaduvar

Today Huseyin abi and his friend Ali abi picked me in Ali's Volkswagen Passat. We were off the the nearby coastal village of Karaduvar. Today I met Ali abi for the first time.

Karaduvar is just east of Mersin, the other side of the Free Trade Zone. Karaduvar is also the location of the Atas petroleum refinery, the sight of the fire last weekend. Today I couldn't see any evidence of the fire as we drove past.

The restaurant, Habid'in Yeri (Habid's place) was a 2-storey place next to the coastal road. On the other side of the road chidren were swimming in the sea. To the west the port and city of Mersin were visible. A short distance to the east was Karaduvar's marina.

Ostensibly, the reason for today's lunch was to celebrate Huseyin's and my lotto win last weekend. Entreé was fried calamari with tartar sauce. Tomato/cucumber and rocket salads, toasted bread, lemon quarters, green chillis and grilled garlic and onion were also brought out. Ali abi drowned the salads in Nar Eksisi (Pomegranite sauce).

The grilled fish came later. I don't know the name of the fish but it had a mild, white flesh and was delicious. We chose the fish from fresh the fridge upon entry. After the fish some prawns were brought out. They were okay but nothing like fresh South Aussie prawns.

The traditional drink for such a meal and the drink consumed today was raki. As I didn't want to be in a car with a drunk driver I only drank one raki and let Huseyin and Ali go on their merry way.

The meal finished with fresh grapes, apricots, watermelon and honeydew melon accompanied by Turkish coffee and then lemon juice with soda (for digestion so I was told).

It was a great, relaxing afternoon with good food in a pleasant location and good company. Well, good, until it came to paying for the bill. It turned out to be Joe's shout. I didn't mind paying the 70,000,000 TL as I had a windfall last weekend. I would have appreciated if I had known this before. But, anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves.

As the sober one, I drove back to Mersin. On the outskirts of Mersin the road is under construction with large concrete pipes to be laid. I don't know why it is happening now, I thought all construction occured just before the election period ;-)

Ali abi's Passat is quite a nice car. The braking and the acceleration from the turbo diesel injected motor made a great change from the Renault Toros I usually drive when I have vehicle access.

Bomb or supposed bomb update

I went home after work on the 29th and I didn’t see anything on television concerning a bomb in Mersin. In fact, the only mentions of the bomb I have heard, seen or read anywhere were those two news articles linked to in the previous post. It is either a conspiracy of silence, the bomb did not actually happen or it was so small that it wasn’t worth reporting. Bomb blasts are generally widely reported even if no damage is done so I doubt it is the last reason.

On TV Thursday night I did see a few other things, though:

* Mersin’s weather forecast for Friday was 42 degrees C. The day felt like 42C, too!
The humidity adds to the fun of Mersin in summer (if you could call continuously sweating fun).

* The big story of Thursday night was Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to Iran and meeting with Mohammad Reza Aref, the Iranian First Vice President. 3 channels, TRT 2, NTV and CNNTurk showed dedicated footage of a joint press conference. An interpreter translated between the questions and comments from Turkish to Farsi and vice versa. At first I was not sure if the meeting was in Iran or Turkey. What tipped me it was Iran were the fact that none of the 30 or so people standing behind the two politicians were women. There were several female journalists but no ‘henchwomen’.

Later, Erdogan met other Iranian political leaders. An interesting take of the meeting with the Iranian President is here. You don’t need to tell me about the bias!

Other topics:

An insight into 'black marketing' at the nearby Incirlik airforce base.

Flic in China has a blog! Visit it for the stories of an Australian AIESECer in China. Flic is from Adelaide and came to Turkey in late 2002 for a short traineeship in Eskisehir.