Moving Into Asia

After an uneventful flight I arrived in Istanbul at midnight on Sunday night. I spent a couple of days acclimatising, which is harder than it sounds, as Istanbul is currently experiencing an heatwave. Istanbul is currently 39 degrees! I visited the major attractions inclunding the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sophia. As I have been to Istanbul before I did not revisit everything. Once place I did visit for the first time was the cistern basillica. It is an underground cavern with hundreds of columns holding it up. Originally it was built to store water and it is a stunningly eerie place. I would recommend everybody to visit if possible.

Istanbul is full of friendly locals, even the policemen who are not usually known for their friendliness towards tourists were cool. Some of the police ride segways through the tourist pedestrian areas. A segway is a vertical shelf with two giant wheels and a handlebar. It is only slightly faster than walking. One policeman even let me have a go on his segway!

On Wednesday evening I was walking past the main square when I noticed a large crowd of people gathered outside the Aya Sophia. It turned out Madonna was inside! She was playing the Istanbul stadium the following night and fancied doing a spot of sight seing. They had closed off the place for here so she could admire the architecture in private. I got the tiniest glimpse of her head through the throngs of bodyguards she had before she was bundled into the waiting van which was surrounded by police vans. She does not travel light!

Thursday morning was time to depart Istanbul. I met the other 8 people who would be travelling with me, then we were introduced to the Japanese film crew. They will be following us all the way to Beijing. They are making a travel documentory for Japanese tv. It will be four episodes long. They set up their equipment and filmed us all leaving the hostel and climbing aboard the truck. It felt very strange. As the truck set off, the film crew continued filming us and we chatted and looked at maps. It is very difficult to act natural with a large camera and a sound boom pointed at you. I'm hoping as the journey continues I will get more used to them.

Our first stop was Gallipoli. This is were thousands of troops were killed in a pointless exercise during world war one. It is now a series of war memorials to the Turks, Austrailians and New Zealanders who died. On April 25th, Anzac Day, a dawn service is held and ten thousand people attend. I was there in 2007. April 25 1915 was the date when the Austrailian troops first landed on the shoreline. 2015 will be the 100th anniversary of the landing and already 30,000 people have booked to attend the dawn service. The Turkish government believe around 50,000 will attend. They are alreading planning the logistics of it all. From Gallipoli we boarded the small car ferry which took us over to the Asian side of Turkey. Everyone on the ferry thought we were famous as we were being followed by the film crew. We stopped at the site of the original city of Troy where this replicia wooden horse has been erected. You could even climb inside the horse! Outside of Troy we stopped and set up our first bush camp. What did we find but a wild tortoise! I was not expecting that. We were all introduced to our tents and then to the trovels that can be used to dig small holes! The tents are domed and have a mosquito netting all over, so it means as you lay down you can see the stars through the mesh. Its a lovely way to fall to sleep. I am now at the town of Selcuk, where the ruins of Ephesus can be found. This roman city is so well preserved. The picture above is of the library. The place is amazing. It has an amphitheatre, a marbled street, even some of the mosaics are still visible. It is the best Roman ruins I have seen. I must have been enthusiastic about it because the film crew asked if they could interview me on camera about the city! I may become famous in Japan! Its been a week since I left the UK and already I have seen so much. What will the next 15 weeks bring?