turkish delight (Istanbul, Turkey)

Merhaba

Heya, hasn't it just been a beezzy month of globaltrotting and entertaining you with it:)!!
Meanwhile I've been to Tunis 3 times this month, no need to tell you much, just that each time I feel the same fresh feeling on arrival. The place is just plain gorgeous and I'm in love with it. I went to England, where it is Spring and the flowers and trees are beautiful and there is actually a bit of sun. Am going there again tomorrow, hopefully can meet an old school friend of mine.

Oh yes, the few curious ones who were asking for the juicy bits from my last letter... about Rico... Well, I have been seeing Rico for a month and a half, blonde haired blue eyed 39-year old who I communicate with in Afrikaans (being half Saffie, half Swiss) who would marry me tomorrow. Ah, life!

And in between I responded spontaneously to an invite to go to Istanbul......
- with Param! I squeezed this in right between two flights of mine, where I had 3 days off... and off we went. Param came from Israel on his way to Cape Town and I met him there.

And Istanbul blew me away. Oh wow! Man, the place is amazing. First of all, the Turkish (most of them) are genuinely, friendly, hospitable people that would stop you in the middle of the road to ask what you are looking for and give you the needed direction and then finish it off by asking where you are from and that you are welcome in Istanbul. Even the cabdriver would direct you where to walk, and then you tell him that you actually would like to catch a ride... Lol.

Istanbul is DEFINITELY where East meets West. Tulips grow everywhere, European trees, cats, shisha, humus, mediterranean food, laundry hanging from railings next to the cute flowerpots, colourful buildings that fall apart, clean streets, underground apartments, shitty sewerage systems (excuse the pun) and being one of the most expensive cities to top it all (we paid around R500-700 a night for a room in a hostel, the cheapest we could find). Param and I didn't plan much and spent most of our time on foot just exploring and getting lost. The Blue Mosque was stunning as well as inside, the Hagia Sophia (AyaSofya) museum was great also - these two were our point of direction, we walked passed them 42 times, haha.
We stood right in the centre of the universe (called the Million Stone - because many many years ago that is where they measured everything from). In the evening (both actually) we ended in a backpacker style restaurant (cushions on the floor and low tables)... where u get beer towers (this long big tube of beer that you pour yourself, draught style, 2.5L) You get a t-shirt with every beer tower. We had TWO of these, hahaha! And a shisha (waterpipe). The place was packed with Australians (it is Anzac weekend) and fish bowls were going from one mouth to the other (filled with lots of cocktails and straws). It was all happening, the music, the vibe. Man, it was awesome. Soon I was shouting: "Been here, done that, GOT THE T-SHIRT!" Hahahaha. We were quite sober for two who had 5L of beer;) Then we had an interesting incident with a guy that became friendly with us, driving us around, offering us (more) beer, and me threatening him with the police at the end of it.(This has to happen, makes the journey so much more enjoyable). Always go with your gut feeling..

And then Rico broke up with me on the 3d day..

Even though it's been a Arabic/Muslim overload for me, and hopefully I won't have shisha for another 6 months, it has been an amazing month.

Next month I'm on reserve again and a bit of holiday in between, so surprises surprises:)

Money unit in Turkey: Turkish lira
Drive on right side of the road

Teşekkür (Tooshekkur)
You guys rock!

Mwah
A

a holy holiday, Jordan

Marhaba!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I spent mine exploring the Holy Land (in Jordan) a little and was blown away with the amazing experience.

We (Rico and I) landed in Amman, and explored the town a bit. The city is sooo cute (from some photos I've seen, it looks a little like Israel). Buildings are all clustered in the same off-white/pinkish colour and same design, just different heights. And because it's very "hilly", ups and downs, it gives an interesting effect to the image. We had a feast in some local restaurant that night, smoking shisha till it came out of our ears, lol. The traffic is chill and the people are really friendly and helpful (or trying to help at least).

Then off we went to Petra (Wadi Musa). A 3hour drive south through red dry land. South and then west becomes very mountainous. Petra took my breath away. It is such a cute town and the surrounding mountains and roads hugging it, are stunning! We dropped our bags and went to the main gate where we were about to embark on our hiking journey to one of the 7 wonders of the world. Words can not describe this place and neither can photos. It's almost unbelievable. An entire 'city' has been built in rock, about 2000 years ago. It took us about 2-3 hours to reach the top (we weren't aware of this) and once there, we found the cherry on the cake. The aweinspiring Al Deir, a religious meeting place(monastary) in those days. I stood in front of this grand carved rock and struggled to get it all 'in'. It was overwhelming!
Then we had a chat with the Bedouins selling their jewelry over a cup of strong coffee and mint tea. There are donkeys, horses and camels everywhere (including the unfortunate 1000s of people wandering the sites) and so we each grabbed a camel to relief us of a portion of our descent. And THIS was another highlight of my life. I raced on a camel!!! The crazy (yet beautiful Captain Sparrow looking) cameltender listened to my request to go faster, so got on the saddle with me and we went as fast as these camels could go!!!! They listen like horses. So Rico and I were in our own race. This to me was ecstasy!!!!
Then afterwards another feast at a local spot, including Petra 8% beer and local red wine. The weather btw was fabulous!

Then a beautiful drive to the Dead Sea(3hours).
Along the road we saw many goats and sheep with their shepherd and dogs.
We were soon floating and I was trying to do a few moves and flipped over. What a disgusting experience, hahaha!! Take a small glass of water, put 42 spoons of salt in there and throw it over your face. (the water is just to make it splash). If you play with salt again, you might realize salt has an oily texture to it. The water felt like this, a bit greasy. It evaporates fast, leaving a thick white trace all over your scalp and body, and then you begin to itch. I'd rather use a lilo. Covered myself in mud for some free spa treatment and soon I was surrounded by some 10 local men, staring at this woman in a costume (they are not used to it, it's like this in Dubai also, hehe)

Then on our way back to Amman, we saw the Dana Village down in the Rummana Mountain ranges. We drove passed Mount Nebo (where Moses was buried) on our way to Madaba (the town with the most memorable places in the Holy Land) and you could actually feel the Jesus/Bible vibe around these areas. I could just imagine an Arab Jesus, with his long robe walking with sheep through these beautiful farmlike stony yet green bushy fields with an air of Peace, Love, Calm and Joy:) In my mind everything came together, as if I understood the history. Israel is afterall just on the other side of the Dead Sea where we were.
We had lunch in Madaba (which is an interesting Arabic Christian town) at some real skanky local diner. I ate fresh chickpeas for the first time (comes out like peas).

Back in Amman, we stayed in the Old Town, at backpackers. Short and schweet. Rico allowed me take the lead in the trip, but mostly we went with the flow. Oh, how fantastic is it that I go through immigration with just a stamp in my lovely South African passport, and Rico pays 20JD (R200) and wait in a queue to get a visa with his Swiss passport, haha!! In Jordan, everyone has the same habit: "Where are you from?" (reply) South Africa. "Welcome". :)

Bless in bliss
Mwah
A

breakfast in tunis, Tunisia

Salam!

My goodness, I haven't even heard of Tunis before joining Emirates... and how this place took my breath away. North Africa, close to Morocco - Tunisia. Tunis to me was like cruising on Campsbay drive, going to Greece, romantic French and strong Arabic. The people are chill, friendly and seem to be happy (man, our cabdriver was a lunatic, he gave us the most amazing experience). Roman ruins are quite a regular sight, yellow blossomed trees (could only get the name in French), mandarin and lemon trees, winding roads, antique and new cars, mopeds, beaches, pizza shops and just plain beauty. Our driver took us (we were 7) to Carthage (pronounced French - Kar taj), where there is a beautiful mosque and some ruins overlooking the peninsula, to Sidi Bou Said, where you would find markets and little coffeeshops, and finally La Marsa beach.

The hotel was absolutely marvellous! I left my balcony sliding door open, to find myself waking up to the peaceful sound of birds on my birthday. We get a massive breakfast buffet for free for crew. Yes, I had to work on my way back on my birthday, but was blessed with amazing crew.... who reminded me of my birthday every 5 seconds, and right at the end after landing (even though it was 1am and my birthday was actually over), they surprised me with a cake and candles, and a perfume bought from duty free, even including Emirates stationary birthday card signed by all in their respective languages. Bless them:)

I would recommend Tunis to anyone. It's an all-in-one mix of the whole world:) And it's romantic!

Money unit: Tunisian dinar
People drive on the right hand side

Hope you are all fabulous
I love my job!

Hugs to you all
Mwah
Ella Alleqa'a
A