Sunday, February 04, 2007

A BEAUTIFUL MALAYSIAN IN BEAUTIFUL ISTANBUL

My daughters' Istanbul trip must have been their best vacation so far. A holiday made possible and easier with the help from many quarters, namely Boogey who helped contact his old friends from Said Nursi foundation who fetched the girls on arrival, gave accommodation and introduced them to some students who brought them around and acted as guides.After covering the major attractions in Istanbul,on the third day, they set out on a 9 hr night bus journey to Troy (where the ruins are), Canakkale (where the Gallipoli battlefields are), later Izmir and lastly Selcuk (Ephesus, where the Roman archaeological ruins are better than Rome itself).

The route was planned by ikelah who extracted traveling info from a website, got it checked by Boogey (being the true-blue expert, here) and finally suggested to the girls. Ironic isn't it? A trip that is planned by someone who is not even in the journey and has never set foot in the said country! He even strongly suggested that they travel by night, to save time and money on accommodation as sleeping is done on the bus, :p

Despite some conflicts in their travel plan, they stayed a night in Izmir as requested by the Said Nursi people to meet with some medical students over there. Even though they were pressed for time, ikelah insisted that they obliged with the request. Nevertheless it was a worthwhile stay as they made good friends there.

Perhaps the icing on the cake was when they got to meet Simah, another blogger, who upon marrying a Turk, resides in Istanbul. I am at awe of brave individuals who will to part from their family and country and pursue a different kind of life in a foreign land, especially when it's for the course of Islam.

Simah was so kind to offer to meet the girls, bring them shopping, treat them to lunch and sight-see Ortakay as insisted by Boogey. However, after reaching the place and looking around the splendid view, they were surprised that the place has nothing more to offer. Perhaps Boogey must have some other significant memories of it to have suggested it persistently, :p

Simah's children, Hatice and Baddin are fine and cute kids as vouched by my daughters. They took to my girls, instantly and they had a grand time. Hatice apparently is excited each time she gets to meet people who comes from her mom's roots. In fact, Simah related this to me:

hatice said to me the moment we were parted
"anne,ablalar cok seviyorum. beni unutticaklar mi?"
(anne, i love those 2 sisters. will they forget me?)

n while we were on the bus.. baddin said:
*o ablalar cok guzellar.. hem gulumse*
(the sisters r very nice. they always smile)


Thank you Simah for giving my daughters a memorable time that day. May we meet one day, insyallah!

*photos are courtesy of Simah








My girls with Simah






With Hatice and Baddin, waiting for lunch





Feeding the pigeons at Taksim Square















At Ortakay
*(Ortakoy was a resort for the Ottoman rulers because of its attractive location on the Bosphorus, and is still a popular spot for residents and visitors. The village is within a triangle of a mosque, church and synagogue, and is near Ciragan Palace, Kabatas High School, Feriye, Princess Hotel.
The name Ortakoy reflects the university students and teachers who would gather to drink tea and discuss life, when it was just a small fishing village. These days, however, that scene has developed into a suburb with an increasing amount of expensive restaurants, bars, shops and a huge market. The fishing, however, lives on and the area is popular with local anglers, and there is now a huge waterfront tea-house which is crammed at weekends and holidays.)

29 comments:

Ku Keng said...

Tebessumum çok tatlír!! Tanya Simah apa dia.

Anonymous said...

Hey awok orang ni betul lah tak de jiwa seni. Ortakoy tu la tempat penyair mencari ilham. Kena duduk sana lepak 3 - 4 jam minum teh main backgammon and sembang dengan kawan-kawan, absorb the atmosphere, baru la syok. Kalau jenis berjalan lalu gitu je memang la 15 minit dah settle. Ish ish ish.

Anonymous said...

Dith
****

ur daughters r lucky.. though far away, they r still under the wonderful protection of their dad..siap plan lagi for the girls' journey.. :0)


The pleasure is ours..we thank u for letting us know bout ur daughters.. n we thank the girls for wanting to see us..

my kids memang buat *show nakal* masa dengan ur girls to atract their attention hehehe:0)

my only regret is we had very limited time .. if they had stayed another day,halil would be off from work n he could have brought the girls to other places to visit by car (instead of hopping from one public transport to another)..
kısmet (fate) i think.. i also hope the girls managed to buy the cili kering that they wanted..

on another not..tumpang lalu akak..

hehehe keng bey, türkçe öğrenme zamanı mı şuanda? :0) peki..pekii.. cevap verelim..

utk menjawab keng bey..

tebessumum = gülmek = to smile
çok = very
tatlı = sweet

*to smile is always sweet*

:0)

Anonymous said...

akak tumpang lalu

boogey hehehehe yea la yea la awok tu orang romantik :0) nak pergi situ dengan 2 anak mcm mana nak romantik? hehehe kat situ kena pi dengan buah hati baru romantik :0).. tapi si sofi tu non stop tangkap gambar..her eyes r thru the lense.. ni trait ni mesti dapat dari bapa dia n uncle dia..a.? :0)

Anonymous said...

Simah,

Ni dah macam nama Turki ni=Sema.
Dah berapa lama duduk situ? I left Turkey on the 3rd Jul 1999.
Duduk sana memang romantik. Duduk Malaysia ni hancur semua romantik, tengok je la gambor terbaru di fotopages kawan. Jangan lemah semangat dah la.
http://hatira.fotopages.com

Anonymous said...

ikelah,

you seems to be well experienced. your dad ever plan any vacation for you?

Anonymous said...

I noticed DITH didn`t give any comments on our taipusam images. Why aaa? Too busy or what?

Anonymous said...

red
yeah he did but not the details. the first hols without parents around when I was about 10. vacation at rumah cik da at dato' keramat for a week.... that was 'raya' for me.
the second was in 1976 aftre my LCE and musim banjir. a week at pesagi.... berenang sungai pahang waktu air besar. that was another 'raya'.

third... 2 week in pakistan 1980 after the matriculation. he sent me to karaci to visit my sis but i planned my own hols to lahore-amritsa-jammu-srinagar-delhi, after getting tips from malaysian students. i save lodging by travelling by train at night.

jom pergi turkey next year..... kena kumpul duit dari skg. lodging banyak tempat spt rumah mak angkat and adik angkat boogey..... hehehe

Ku Keng said...

".... sight-see Ortakay as insisted by Boogey. However, after reaching the place and looking around the splendid view, they were surprised that the place has nothing more to offer." Ortakay is known for good seafood with raki at night. (Of course raki is not for us.)

Anonymous said...

akak tumpang lalu..

ikelah
*******
flat simah pun boleh lodge :0) tapi kalu tak cukup space kena tido dalam bath tub heheheh

Boogey
*****
hahah my name tak ader connection dengan turkish name sema.. i am purely simah with a normal pure malaysian full name.. :0)

dah tengok dah ur fotopages.. boleh buat horror movie dengan gambar tu..seramnyaaa...like dith said..sg18

u left in july 1999.. i reached there in mid september 1999..
have been here eversince then.. iskh tak sangka dah 2007..

dith said...

Keng Bey:

How long were you in Istanbul?

Simah:

Cili kering murah sana?

Boogey:

Awok selisih dgn Simah 3 bulan jek, hehe

Red:

I remember your Indon trip with ur dad

iKelah:

Wah, banyak nya vacation you!

Keng:

Raki must be beer huh?

Simah:

Kalau dtg 4 org boleh tumpang tak? :p

ayumi said...

salaam...

it must've been a really wonderful trip.. they're all smiles in each of the pictures! i hope to go to that place on day..

Anonymous said...

dith,

tell me, which of my thaipusam photos is your favourite?

i mean, the one you cannot shake away the image from your mind.

dith said...

Ayumi-
Insyallah you will!

Red and Boogey:
It's amazing that the opinion of a non-photography enthusiast like me is so much besotted by both of you, hehe.

Anyway, obviously ,Red, your purplish hue of the kadavi carrier's silhouette against the breaking dawn is my favorite. The rest, due to their goriness, shaking away their image from my mind would be difficult, thus why I refuse to look at them longer, hehe

Boogey, you have captured the true spirit of Thaipusam by depicted the extreme gory ambiance of the celebration which I find distasteful, hehe. Your last picture is my fave as it catches the general sombre mood which I find serenely attractive.

Sincerely speaking, I love the photos of Thaipusam taken by doubleukayes.fotopage.com. Very well composed, edited and much, much less gory!!

Anonymous said...

I love the nurses. It shows that the Taipusam spirit is widely and deeply shared even by non Hindus. I should have put a better title for that image something like : Melombong ke perut gua.

Anonymous said...

I love the nurses. It shows that the Taipusam spirit is widely and deeply shared even by non Hindus. I should have put a better title for that image something like : Melombong ke perut gua.

Jo Kontan said...

I wanna go tooo..

Huwaaaah. Kalau ngan Maam ajer jadik. Kalau yang setengah dozen tuu nak ikot sekali, puuuurgh, kena plan betul2 tuu.

Arifah said...

They must have enjoyed themselves very much. I hope to go there one day too... Kene kumpul duit sendiri la tapi. Hehhe. =)

Arifah said...

Em, nak tanye, can u open mama sarah's and habibah's blog tak? I can't seem to get to their respective blogs. Geram betul. Hehhe. =)

Anonymous said...

dith..
can.. if u dont mind kena squeeze her n there.. our flat kecik ja.. but our dorrs r always open.. :0)

Anonymous said...

dith
****
cili kering tak ader la murah sangat....tapi dia fresh.. boleh jumpa masa winter ja.. dia orang cakap kat russia susah nak jumpa.. kesian pulak dengar.. if i had known earlier..i would have bought the chili on the way masa nak pi jumpa diaorang....but by the time i learnt about it.. kitaorang dah kat taksim.. mana nak cari cili kering kat situ..

Arifah said...

Oh dah dpt dah bukak mama sarah's n bibah's. Thanks anyways. =)

Count Byron said...

Lovely entries on Turkey DITH. Beautiful pictures, beautiful people.. and what a great way to meet up with fellow blogger. Simah, u've done us proud.
I'm happy for your daughters. May they be very successful in their Medical Courses.

Anonymous said...

best jugak blog nih baru jumpa hehe



FItri

http://muncung.fotopages.com

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday dith

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday drroza! =)

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday drroza! =)

Anonymous said...

happy birthday dith!

Anonymous said...

Selamat Hari Ulang Tahun DrRoza.

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abraham Lincoln.


Bukit Tinggi 2008

Great Wall 2009

Followers

 

ReMiNiScEnCe....as the garden of memory grows arid... | Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial License | Dandy Dandilion Designed by Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates