Travel: Turkey

Unbelievably, our four months here involved being invited into even more homes than we had been in Sri Lanka. The only places on our trip that came close to Turkey for friendliness and hospitality were Xinjiang in China, Kerala in Southern India and Sri Lanka. What a perfect place to wrap up our  trip... and conceive a child.

Turkey Stories:

Istanbul, Turkey: Bill, Brando and The 5 Pack A Day Guys

So there we were, two nights ago, celebrating Canada Day here in Istanbul by watching the Euro 2004 semi-final between Greece and the Czech Republic when Greece suddenly, somehow, inexplicably, won the game in extra time to advance to the final against Portugal. The 5 Pack A Day Guys were not impressed.

Kemaliye, Turkey: Always Obey Hilmi

Located in a remote, isolated valley in eastern Turkey, with not a single foreigner in town besides us, the village of Kemaliye was simply amazing. And we weren't even supposed to be there! We had been heading to Erzurum, near the Armenian, Georgian and Iranian borders when a really friendly 65-year old man named Hilmi invited us to get off the train 5 hours early and take an hour-long mini-bus ride over the mountains on a dirt and gravel road to visit his hometown with him. Of course we said yes.