...Cont'd
From the Ottoman Palace, we took sight of the continents connected Turkey (Europe & Asia). Such a beautiful sight!

After 4 hours later, we went to catch our waiting bus and head for lucheon @ 1 o'clock. We reach a nearby restaurant and had water (in glass pitcherm no refill, huhu) + salad (with olive oil dressing& vinegar) + some sort of pancake that looks like 'roti canai' with cheese, and then the main course i.e. rice & chicken kebab & mashed potatoes. Sedaappp...!


Took my first leak at the restaurant. I kept wandering up to this day whether I actually need to pay for the service or not (mind you, the cost is approx. 0.5 to 1 YTL per entry, that is, about RM1.50 to 3.00 er entry!) We never paid, anyway.
After lunch, comes the long distance-ride to Kanakalle, The Land of Retirees (Lol!) It took a good 5 hours' ride (with a stop at a market which serves 'Good' Turkish coffee & tea!). It was a boring ride, however compensate with a soothing scenery of suburban area. The final 2 hours were filled with stories by B.A. (Beyazid) on history of Turkey, among them as follows:
- Old name of Istanbul = Constantinople
- Old name of Turkey= Turkiyyah
- Old Name of Ankara = Angora
- Why is Istanbul has a second capital, i.e. Ankara? Answer : Due to geographic reacon, and to 'mistaken' any enemy for security reason.
- The neighbour of Turkey, there are seven of them. All have their unique history in relation to Turkey, and Armenia (on of the neighbour) has no diplomatic connection with Turkey. Sad. This has in return affect the importance of Mt. Ararat between the two countries.
- Turkey also has a divided diplomacy at Cyprus Island
- The wealth of Turkey is on military (2nd largest in the worls, approx. 1 million count), no need of importing food (top 7 at surplus nation), sheep (for leather and wool garment), cotton, figs etc..and tradition!!
- The only country in the world divided into two Continents! aka Asia <>Istanbul <> Europe

8-Oct-08 (08:10 hrs, Turkey timezone)
We touched down Attaturk Airport at this time (Dubai~Turkey, time difference is 1 hr). But before that I have been awake 1:44 hrs from the arrival time (I guess that makes it about 06:30 of Turkey timezone?...i dun know)...Immediately I went to look for any vacant window seat and eyeing opportunity to witness sunrise at Turkey. Such a beautiful scene!! *God, thank you for the give of life and the beauty of nature for us once again*
The walk and custom clearance at Turkey International Airport was quite a short one (20~30 mins, i guess). There were 18 people in our group - comprising my 5 frens and I (Sandha / Santhi / Uma / Usha / Susie); 2 couples (Indian and Chinese); 4 friends (3 ladies and a guy); 2 Malay ladies and two Chines ladies. I was quite disoriented with the time difference, jet lag and all, however I felt quite energetic to start off the day..and what a day it has been!

?? am ~ We reached our first destination - the city of Instanbul. We were introduced to three main obelisks of Istanbul - i) of Theodisius of Egypt; ii) of French and iii) of Greece (which has serpent-like image). We also had a chance to see the (water tank??) a gift from Germany to Turk leader during those days. Afterwards we had a *loonnggg* walk to Blue Mosque. Once we reached there, again we were stupended with such a beautiful sight! It felt like we were pulled back to the time of Caliph, warlords and great leaders of the olden time. Things that attracts me was the Triangle architectural design / patent, which became the main structural for the mosque.
By the way, Blue Mosque consist of at least 21,000 blue tiles (dug from cobalt mines), worth gazzillions (forgotten the actual figure), i.e US$**thousand for every 20 cm sq. tile. No wonder it prone to thievery...

After that we went out from the Blue Mosque and walked down the Ottoman second palace (..or was it the first palace? I have forgotten). There we saw plenty of ancient 'accesories':
1) The Sultan's kitchen and the many porcelain (mostly with Chinese design)
2) The relics of religious symbolization
The most interesting would be the hand and skull of St. John the Baptist, Prophet Moses' staff (which is famous for the spitting of the sea for the salvation of Israel people from Egypt, in Bible history), Prophet David's written pieces, St. John's turban (oh yeah, they wear turban during those days), among others;
3)The treasury of Turkey. Consist of most valuable items collected during wars, or gifts from other countries. The most astounding is a 48kg of candle holder, with the biggest diamond i've ever seen. According to B.A., the total value in the Treasury alone can pay all Turkey's debt and support the nation for another fifty years without the people have to do any work! What a wonder!
**It's too bad that no photo is allowed to be taken in the palace. I've attached some (which is allowed for snapshot though):

7th-Oct-08
17:30 hrs (Malaysia time)
~ Ging sent me to Senai Airport (thanks Ging!). Waited for the flight from JB to KL. The plane delayed for 40 mins. Hence I kill the time by indulging into Mocha Ice Blend + Chicago Cheese Cake at the nearby Coffee Bean...
~ At last, after a boring wait, we managed to depart at 19:20 hrs and reach KL approx 20:05 hrs. The flight to Dubai is only departing at 23:59 hrs (such a sly structure from the tour agent to counting the number of day as One day, ugh). This is (T__T) my first time stepping my feet at KLIA *sigh*...such a superb place with awesome architectural design!
~Guess what, it is my first time to board MAS international flight! I am studying the flight interior feature all the time, and I guess the thing that attracts me the most is the mini screen that is constantly showing the i) route of the flight; ii) how many hours to go and; iii) altitude, temperature, bla bla..The flight from KL may have taken about 5 hrs to Dubai, but I'm not sure...I'm such a lousy bum on identifying time zones and stuff. It's weird to fly 'back' from the present time, Sandha said we may have made a 10 hrs ordeal with flight, transit time & waiting time alone, WoW!!