Never Simle at a Crocodile

While the the crocodile will never rise to the status of the elephants and monkeys they still get top ratings in my books. The crocks mostly just lay around pretending to be logs but we discovered if you want them to move around all you have to do is start climbing the fence... they don't move much ... just enough to make sure they can see what your up to.... and every beady yellow eye in the place suddenly brightens up a bit while they also look like their smiles might just be a little bigger...hoping you might be bringing lunch...and while I thought i might have seen a few crocodile tears when I did not go too far over the fence... I had no inclination to be Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin... but Crikey the people that work with these crocodiles are just as tough and twice as crazy... besides even as a kid being raised in the Yukon I was prepared for the moment I come across a large man eating reptile.... run away chanting 'see you later, alligator... or after a while crocodile"

See pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623532226734/

chicken

These guys at the crocodile park are anything but chicken... and these crocks are anything but tame so it is actually quite impressive to watch these young guys risk life and limb playing with these ancient creatures. These boys put their heads in the crock's mouths and do other crazy amazing things with these frightening creatures. When the show is finished the audience are encouraged to throw money. And, as if they are worried someone watching the show might leap down and steal their money, they put the money inside the crocodiles mouth for safe keeping...!

The main diet of these crocks is actually chicken, which I thought was ironic because when I tried a bowl of the crocodile soup, being sold at the concession, I realized that crocodile does taste like chicken....so I think if these regal reptiles ever figure out that their pals taste like chicken there would be a few less crocks around to entertain us tourists.

Pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623532226734/

Where are the Elephants

The main thing my daughter Layli wanted to do in Thailand was ride an elephant... and from the moment we arrived we were teased with symbols and signs of them everywhere. Elephants are the main animal associated with Thailand. Elephants are an important part of Thai culture and the Thai way of life. Prior to the 18th century they were the main machine of Southeast Asia. In fact one Thai king of the late 17th century had 20,000 war elephants trained for battle and at one time the number of white elephants held by a king largely determined his power. The elephant was also the featured emblem of the national flag of Siam until the name of the country was changed to Thailand. So while we are enjoying all the signs of elephants we can't wait to actually get a chance to see a real one.


picts at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623531736128/

The pacaderms

We finally got to see the pacaderms up close and personal, watched them in action logging, playing football, and saw how they were used in war. It is not hard to love these amazingly smart, majestic, powerful and entertaining animals. What Layli laughed about the most was watching the elephants dance which the elephants seems to have a certain knack for. They're intelligent, nimble and they do have a natural sway to their walk. Apparently they love music and it seems to show as they sway and prance to the rhythm, with their trunks swinging and feet keeping time with the beat, and heads swaying to and fro. After the show we got to feed them sugar cane and bananas.... and although we were still laughing about and remembering the non stop thrills of feeding the monkeys, I could not help but think that I am glad there were not 100 elephants wandering around freely trying to out smart us for our bags of bananas. I can see why this animal is so highly respected and loved and is a worthy symbol of Thailand for, like the people of this country, it has great strength and great gentleness.

memories

Layli finally got to ride an elephant....and now elephants became her fun animal of choice... replacing the monkey... she has always loved monkeys because her favorite stuffy from when she was a child was a monkey... I think it will be a ride she will not forget... nor apparently will the elephant if what they say about elephants memory is correct. You pretty well have to have an elephant driver as the elephants connect and bond to humans in a very deep way... but that is ok with me, for although I could see that the trunk was in the front, I could not see where they put the steering wheel. Ok that was an old joke, however, the hardest part was trying to get down from the elephant... because apparently you don't get down from an elephant, you get down from a duck. ok that was an old joke too... as the ride went on and we weaved our way to the to the top of a small hill and I was just about to worry about how we were going to get down from the hill when I remembered that we didn't have to worry because as I already said, we get down from a duck. ... not a hill...

pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623531736128/

hike

The Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park is located on the east coast of the southern peninsula of Thailand. Khao Sam Roi Yot is translated "Mountains of Three Hundred Peaks," an area of limestone hills and caves. The most beautiful cave in the region is named after Phraya Nakhon who discovered the cave by accident when he was traveling by ship and was forced ashore by a violent storm. Today you can still hire a boat from the village of Bang Pu 3/4 of the way or you can save the $7.00 round trip price and hike the steep winding 4 km trail up and down steep hills in 30 degree temperature to the cave entrance. I can see why it took a shipwrecked person to find this cave as no one would have accidentally found it hiking. My older brother Thomas was keen on the hike, and to our surprise set a hard to keep up to pace on our journey. After hiking one way to the cave we discovered that on the way back you can catch the boat for the half way trip back for $7.00, the same price as the round trip. I guess they figure after the hard hike to the cave you might cave and be willing to pay for the boat ride instead of hiking back. We hiked.

Aja's comment: I was just like Indiana Jones from the hat to swinging on vines.

Phraya Nakhon

After the steep and winding hike from the beach into the surrounding hills we came to the Phraya Nakhon cave. After you enter the dark cave you are soon delighted as you enter into a large cavern, illuminated with an enchanting magical light coming down from holes where part of the the cave roof has collapsed. The feeling in this cave is like walking out of time into some ancient place.... one of those places where the Buddhist concept of existing only in the now seems to make total sense as we slowly explored this fascinating place which feels so lost in time.

Aja's comment: I was as good as the sherpa Tenzing as you can see I had to carry Layli just like he did sir Edmond Hillary.

View picts of cave and hike at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623387832023/

time

'Everyday is Saturday except for Sunday' is an expression that I have used since the trip started... that is, every day is the weekend and we have nothing in particular to do... Having lost all sense of time since early in the trip the only thing that seemed to mark the passing of any time at all was when it was time to cut our nails again. Then we would wonder how they could have gotten so long when no particular period of time had passed... In this case after our hike to the cave it was nice for Layli and Aja to get some girl attention. We went to a small shop and the girls looked thorough piles of magazines of pictures of painted nails. Having found ones they each liked, green with yellow flowers for Layli, Blue with butterflies for Aja , the lady looked at the picture and then painted the designs onto their nails.... it was brilliant to watch....I was more than impressed as I love practical art and art that you can wear.... so for $5.00 for Aja and $8.00 for Layli (who got matching green and yellow flowered toe-nails) we spent a delightful part of an hour..... Pablo Picasso said "Art is not the application of a set of rules about beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any rules. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs". measuring limbs... no way... painting the ends of them... absolutely

Aja's comment: What I liked about having my nails done professionally is that when my dad cuts them he cuts them way too short with some snappy line about needing short nails to do judo.

picts at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623391408003/

Shrimp

Who ever used the word 'shrimp' to insult someone small obviously has not been to Thailand. In the movie Forest Gump, Bubba made the following list: 'shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.' but here in Thailand I have eaten shrimp in at least 10 other dishes and am looking forward to seeing how many more I will sample before we leave.

Aja's comment: These long shrimp legs are good for playing swords. As you can see Layli's turned on her and mine were the best as one was big for attacking and one was small for grabbing.

monkeying around

I remember a quote by Malcolm de Chazal who said “Monkeys are superior to men in this: when a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.”... after looking at these pictures I was wondering what my daughters see in the morning when they look into the mirror.... (and lets not have any jokes about which of their parents they look more like)... Oh well remember what George Carlin said "Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town."

Aja's comment: lets vote, who thinks my sister looks most like a monkey... the votes are in! Layli Wilson is disqualified! No professionals. :P

monkey on my back

From feeding the monkey's here in Thailand to remembering how the monkeys tore all the chrome off a car that Aja's grandfather borrowed to go into the Ontario African safari, I can see where the expression 'It was as much fun as barrel full of monkeys’ came from .... monkeys are hilarious, and they are endless fun to watch, definitely the most playful creatures in existence... sure they can appear to be a little frightening when they surround you........even though they are trying to look all cute so you will feed them... but with sharp little teeth and pushy attitude they are not as cute as they think they are being ... and you can tell, despite the cute act they are really plotting to outsmart and steal your little bags of corn...which I am sad to say they did twice, once from Aja and once from me... they are so clever it made me believe that statistical theory that if you gave a million monkeys typewriters and set them to work, they'd eventually come up with the complete works of Shakespeare.... which is impressive, however, what I was wondering if they actually would or could have come up with such classics as "Last Train To Clarksville," "Daydream Believer" or any of the Monkey’s other greatest hits?

Aja's comment: my dad was as funny as the monkeys, especially when he was chasing them because they stole a bag of his corn or trying to kick them away when they tried to pull down his or my sisters pants. I never knew monkeys ate corn.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623511131518/

the Zodiak

After being in Europe where the understanding of balance in the personality and the human condition is dominated by the likes of Freud, Yung, and my favorite Fromm. It is interesting to be in the East where, for the last 5000 years, the human condition is based on the principles of Feng Shui and the Chinese Zodiac interacting with the 5 elements on one’s destiny. These 5 elements being metal, water, wood, fire and earth. Until now my understanding of Feng Shui was fairly simplistic .... along the line that Feng Shui was Chinese for ‘Ikea.’ So now I will ponder the connection between things, because as a Goat who is creativite, intelligent, dependable, and calm. Comfortable being alone to ponder the workings of our inner minds. (If you don't believe me you can look it up) I am fortunate to be traveling with my daughter Aja, an Oxen who possess such character traits as dependability, strength and determination. Oxen are tolerant individuals who believe that the road to success involves hard work and scrupulous behavior; they don’t believe in taking shortcuts. (and has stopped me from taking many). We have been joined for 10 days by my daughter Layli whose animal is in the 1st and most prominent position on the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat. It symbolizes such character traits as wit, imagination and curiosity. Rats have keen observation skills and with those skills they’re able to deduce much about other people and other situations. Overall, Rats are full of energy, talkative and charming. So as a goat, an ox and a rat continue our short journey we will see what the elements have in store for us.

putt putt tuk tuk

For those of you with fond memories of movies showing Asian cities full of people pulling rickshaws which were the means of transportation for the elite... and as the elite were being pulled around others gazed at them in admiration...(elite defined in the dictionary as ‘enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status’) today the rickshaws have been replaced by the three-wheeled auto rickshaw or tuk-tuk...the means of transportation for the opposite of elite tourist. Today, in Bangkok, when your riding a tuk-tuk the people still gaze at you in admiration from their metered air conditioned taxi’s, while you, after having bartered for a way too high price, are have a thrilling ride weaving in & out of traffic inches away from other tuk-tuks, motorbikes and buses in the heat and the exhaust...on the up side you have earned the right to wear a tuk-tuk t-shirt as you visit the rest of the city in a metered air conditioned taxi.

Keeping track of what you eat

Some days you have to get off track to find adventure but where we are staying, in the Thai province of Samut Songkhram,( about 70 km southwest of Bangkok) you have to get on track then off track then on again for a little shopping adventure. When your willing to risk life and limb to buy a bit of food for a meal you know people are serious a bout eating. This unique market is located directly on a set of operational railway tracks. Eight times daily, a train runs through without care for stopping, sending vendors and us curious shoppers scrambling out of the way.

Aja's comment: "How about... this is better than platform 9 3/4" says dad in a high pitch voice trying to mimic Aja's voice. "That is a sad attempt at my voice... even for you dad..." said Aja then she sighed "Almost as bad as your Scottish accent. (and that's saying something!)

train market spotting

You have seen the 1996 movie trainspotting...based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh... so now the long un-awaited sequel 'train market spotting'

local warming

After a morning hiking to an inland cave we stopped for a couple of hours at a beach to relax and swim. This was not one of Thailand's famous beach resort areas but the water was warm, there were plenty of shells to admire and we did not have to fight off crowds of people. Layli and Aja enjoyed splashing around freaking each other out with stories of things leaping out at them or swimming by them... always a laugh ... Brother thomas was trying to figure out how much deeper the ocean would be if it was not full of sponges soaking up water or was it how to grow sponges to soak up all the extra sea water that's going to be around with global warming. So while thomas pondered and while the sisters were on jelly fish watch and jumping around I relaxed and got some beach-therapy ... ahhhh the truth of Isak Dinesen's words “The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.” ... after the morning sweating, climbing to the caves, now I have the sea... and it has me... but I hope it doesn't get the girls... and no one gets my brother but he will probably find the solution to global warming... but till then I will contemplate the beauty of local beach warming..

Aja's comment: how come dad looks like the only sane person? I remember him jumping at a beetle when it flew at him (when we didn't) when will he tell that story?

Resturant on beach #1

After a day on the beach my brother Thomas took us to a restaurant with everything you could want from a restaurant in Thailand. An excellent view, a friendly relaxed staff, amazing food, and a lay-back restaurant dog... yes most restaurants have a couple dogs walking around looking all hungry... and while you can point at the lobster, fish, crabs and other things in tanks that you would like cooked fresh, the dogs are not for eating. But I did noticed they finish off the extra squid tentacles etc that just happen to fall off aja's plate. Food and restaurants will be a big ongoing item on the blog as a great part of any day in Thailand is spent eating or thinking about eating, or getting ready for eating, or shopping to buy stuff for eating, or waiting to be hungry again so you can eat again....mmm is it lunch yet?

aja's comment: why do i have to comment on these blogs?

Welcome

Because of the very polite and delightful way of being welcomed and hailed in Thailand, the greeting is usually the first thing you learn.... you press your palms together in a christian prayer-like fashion and give a slight bow while saying "sawatdee" adding ‘khrab’ if your a man (pronounced kind of like crap) and ‘kaa’ if your a woman.

But friends, delightful as the greeting is, you have probably been reading the regular or wrong guide books. The first thing to learn is actually ‘mai bpen rai, mai mee bpunhaa’ roughly translated as a combination of "it doesn't matter", and "no problem." which basically means ‘Don’t Panic’ ....the all important first words of the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy... so when you bump into something annoying or alien ‘mai bpen rai, mai mee bpunhaa’ or if you loose your camera ‘mai bpen rai, mai mee bpunhaa.’ or if you see an elephant careening down the street ‘mai bpen rai, mai mee bpunhaa’ or if your hair is on fire ‘mai bpen rai, mai mee bpunhaa’.... This message is important everywhere in the galaxy but I think it was originally coined in Thailand as ‘don’t panic’ is way more typical of the Thai approach to life than the English.

Riding Cats

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,

In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
by William Blake

The beauty of the tiger is awe inspiring, so is the size and power, especially once you get up close and personal, like we did. Someone once said that God made the cat so that man might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger. But after patting these felines I think their is a very distinct difference. To actually touch such a monumental creature gives you an appreciation and respect for other creatures as high as us on the food chain ... or higher ... and I can appreciate even more the wisdom in the Indian proverb that says ... “Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank Him for not having given it wings.” and perhaps it is good He did not give us wings either although I think a tail would have been alright.

For all the pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623311389601/

Valentines and New years

Aja had lots of fun here with some of her cousins in Thailand. It is Valentines day and Chinese new year so there is lots of red and hearts and dragons and tigers when you go around Thailand, especially in the big malls in Bangkok. You don't see it in the country where my daughter and I mostly are....but in the big city they are attempting to understand valentines day and although they haven't gotten it down quite right, they do understand that anything that makes people spend money is worth trying. Well i am not sure we have gotten valentines day right in north America either....i guess it is as unique as the various relationships that we have.... even here in Thailand the land of simplicity things are complex... may be that is the thing about hallmark holidays is that no one knows the rules... Chinese new year, which aja and i spent with my brother’s wife’s family in Bangkok, is a little easier to understand... give the kids some money in red envelopes... eat lots... set off a few firecrackers...put out food and fruit and candles and incense to honor your dead relatives... say a few prayers...burn a bunch of paper money and in some cases things like paper cell phones, paper cars and anything else that you think the dead can use ... and of course you can do it anytime during the day or you can go on for 3 days or so... anyway it was fun and i wish i had bought a couple of small paper cats or elephants to put onto the fire because even in the spirit world i am sure when all is said and done and you’ve made all your phone calls, spent all your money and driven everywhere you can go, it is nice to sit and relax with the cat or ride an elephant... which is one thing we are going to do here in Thailand.... happy new year and valentines day to all.

Layli In Thailand

When we arrived in Thailand my middle daughter Layli joined us. She is here for 10 days and then has to go back to work in Edmonton. She has never spent time with my brother or his family, so this will be a great time for us all to get to know each other. I was going to include a great quote here on daughters that was being sent around on facebook...you know the inspirational quotes that we are all encouraged to re-post to honor our own daughters ... but then I saw that the first person who posted it, to recognize her daughter, got a single response back and it was from her own daughter.... it was one word.... LIES... so let's forget the nice quote honoring daughters and just see what truth will come from Layli's visit... or lies... whichever is better...

Good-bye Europe and Turkey

As the sign says..."genuine fake watches" ... Yes Turkey is the 'Real Thing" in any language... cool and refreshing.... This is a wonderful country with wonderful people and it is all that you love and remember from what you learned in 7th grade history class... Well, for those of you who yawning through most of it and cramming your brain full of purely memorized data come to Turkey... in real life Turkey is never boring and history, old and new in the making, will spring to life right before your eyes. I will remember a lot about Turkey, a country that gave us an interesting start to our time there (being dropped off on the side of the road 6 km from any town" to being worried that we would not get out because of a snow storm that hit us.... however 4 hours delayed and a quick plane de-icing with fire hoses and we were off to Thailand.... Loved our time here... will come back again one day... although we will wait until we are in Thailand to buy a Genuine Fake Watch for uncle Ray

Victum pectus pectoris hominum

Although Baha'is world wide would say that even though Bahá'u'lláh was brought to Constantinople (Istanbul) as a prisoner and an exile he could also have said Veni Vidi. Vici. (I came. I saw. I conquered.)... except of course, instead of the world He only wanted to conquer the hearts of people.. "I have never aspired after worldly leadership. My sole purpose hath been to hand down unto men that which I was bidden to deliver by God..." -- Bahá'u'lláh

Veni. Vidi. Vici

Veni. Vidi. Vici. (I came. I saw. I conquered.) famous words said near Istanbul by Julias Caesar two thousand years ago after the battle of Zela. As memorable as Julias Ceasar’s words are who can forget the immortal words of Ghostbusters, Bill Murray's who said "We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!".... We neither conquered or kicked ass however we did down more than enough cups of Coffee and hot chocolate and a plates of Kebabs.

Walking from Europe to Asia

If you were impressed by Aja driving from Manitoba to Ontario you can be equally impressed with us walking from Europe to Asia on foot.... Ok you just have to walk across the Bosporus Bridge. So physically, literally and figuratively Istanbul links Europe and Asia, connecting and combining the heart and culture of both the East and the West. (In May 2005 tennis star Venus Williams played a show game on the bridge, making it the only game of tennis to be played on two continents.)

Galata Tower/ Lighthouse

The Galata tower which was built in 500 A.D., is one of the dominating landmarks of Istanbul. As well as having been used as a lighthouse it was also used as a watchtower to help defend the city. ... from my childhood, i always liked lighthouses. There is something magical about a lighthouse. A sailor once told me that every ship on land is a potential lighthouse, I liked that image, they also said houses are upside down badly built boats....so every landlubber like myself, who does not want to get too far from shore, can imagine sailing nowhere in a lighthouse. Like the aqueducts lighthouses are beautiful and serve a great purpose as well they are a great metaphors for the mystics among us...because in the words of Benjamin Franklin “Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.”

Water Water Water

I have always loved the aqueducts which were built so well they have lasted over many centuries. Or may be conquering people left them alone as they were beautiful as well as functional. Powered entirely by gravity, aqueducts could carry large amounts of water very efficiently. The challenge of an aqueduct was to get the gradients just right to ensure a regular and smooth flow of water. These great artistic forms of architecture and engineering brought in water, moved it around and took away the gray water and sewer. The massive masonry aqueducts have inspired not only us travelers and tourists but also architects and engineers from the Renaissance up until today.

Obelisk

The Obelisk of Theodosius was transported from Egypt to Istanbul by the Roman emperor Constantius. At first I thought it strange to have an Egyptian obelisk, complete with hyrogliphics in the center of Turkey, but upon reflection, realized that Egypt was then part of the Roman Empire and Egyptian arts and wonders should be present in other parts of the empire. Each of its four faces has a single central column of inscription, celebrats Tutmoses III's victory on the banks of the river Euphrates in 1450 BC. I love the art, but marvel how often it is used to exalt the military and the political powers of the day.

Jenga

It is impossible to look at any major building in Turkey that was not either built by or inspired by Mimar Sinan. To me, his masterpiece is still the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, but I think his his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul. Before he became an architect he was an archer and a gunner in the army. Being a gunner taught him how to find the weak points in structures so he could gun them down, he said this inspired and helped him later in life to design strong buildings that would be hard to knock down. Considering that Istanbul is built along two fault lines I think his knowledge is what has kept the building standing all these centuries.

Fine food familiar friends

Istanbul is know for the amazing beauty of its history and the friendliness of its people. Alp, a business associate of my brother's showed us both. He took us out to an amazing feast of Turkish food overlooking the Suleiman mosque after a delightful walk around the city. The Suleiman Mosque was, at the time, quite innovative and modern. It broke away from but drew on the Byzantine style, (particularly the Hagia Sophia), which created a symbolic connection with the city's past, while moving forward with creative new elements. Modern designers of buildings we have seen on our trip seem to have neglected this concept in their works. But even more brilliant, apart from the main mosque with the prayer hall and courtyard, is the fact that the mosque complex also included a caravanserai for people to stay, a public kitchen to serve food to the poor, a hospital, a school and a bath-house. I think people today should be so enlightened in designing public buildings.

The spice of life

I am not sure why but i think this is my favorite market of all. May be the spice market is what I connect with the images I have always had had of the thousand and one Arabian nights. But there were far more than a thousand and one spices, dried fruits, nuts and seeds, lokum (Turkish Delight; and thanks Jeff for the tip which shop to buy it from) and other edibles.... I think the expression that 'variety is the spice of life' had to be coined by someone one who had visited here... for the variety of spices is wonderful. The sounds the colours, smells, and delights are truly amazing. The blended teas alone were astonishing and would have taken me a day to see and taste... I had to content myself with the smells... mmm... Erma Bombeck said, "Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I'm taking with me when I go." and Henry Tillman said 'Oregano is the spice of life' .... personally i am leaning toward cumin..... let me know the spice of your life....

Blue Nights

We have seen many of the great sights of Europe during the day.... We have been delighted to see many of them at night lit up under the lights and even seen them glowing under the moon and stars ... and of course we were also had the wonder of making sure we saw many of them at sunset. (i would like to describe the view of the many monuments and wonders at sunrise but hey we are on holidays and have not seen any as my traveling partner like to sleep in at least until 8) However, to be in Istanbul during a fireworks show over the mosques was an unexpected, surprising and wonderful treat. 2010 is Europe's recognition of Istanbul as the cultural place to see and we were there for the start of the festivals. We are very lucky for we managed to see fireworks over the cool charming castles in Edinburgh Scotland and now double delighted to see the night light up over the many magnificent mosques of Istanbul.

Blue Days

Sultan Ahmet 1st wished to build an Islamic place of worship that would be even more majestic than the ex-christian church turned mosque (the Aya Sofya). The Hagia Sophia, better know as the Blue Mosque is the result. The mosque was designed by architect Mehmet Aga, whose unfortunate predecessor was found wanting and executed, so he tried a lot harder. The two great architectural achievements now stand next to each other in Istanbul's main old town square, and it is up to visitors to decide which is more impressive on the outside. On the inside there is no contest as the Blue mosque’s interior walls that are covered with tens of thousands of Iznik blue tiles (hence its name) and more than 200 windows that give it a bright airy magical luminescence.

Aya Sofya

After coming from Sofia Bulgaria, here is Aja standing in the Aya Sofya in Istanbul one of the world’s greatest buildings with a massive dome soaring 53 meters over the old city. This building is one of the first of the several amazing buildings you see as you enter the old quarter of the city, where we were staying in Istanbul. The Aya Sofya, originally built as a Christian church in AD 527, was such a masterpiece of architecture and so impressed the conquering Muslims, in the 1400s, that, instead of destroying it, simply tossed out a few statues and chipped away and plastered over the religious icons thereby converting into a Muslim Mosque. It became a museum in 1935.

Religious Icons

The beauty and brilliance of the religious icons in the Aya Sofya are being restored. When the church was converted to a mosque the icons were mostly plastered over, which covered, but did not destroy them. Now that the building is a museum, rather than a holy place, the local Muslims have allowed the restoration of the mosaic icons to enhance the historical independent ambiance and beauty of the building. When the icons were covered the inside of the building, despite the majesty and wonder of the architectural design, was quite plane and boring compared to the ornate insides of the mosques. The restoration of the icons makes the museum more comfortable and pleasure to visit and spend time in. When commenting upon the religious icons of the past Pope John Paul II said that the idols of modern society are pleasure, comfort and independence (because people have closed their hearts and become selfish.) Now the museum has the icons restored it is a wonderful place to visit to idle away part of any day.

Calligraphy

I love the amazingly artistic forms of calligraphy of the Muslims. Calligraphy in the Islamic cultures provides a link between the languages of the Muslims and the religion of Islam. The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters and 18 different forms of writing making it as decorative as it is communicative. Calligraphy has become to Islam what the vast number of religious Icons, drawings and statues are to the Eastern Orthodox church. Muslims do not allow the use of figurative art in holy places and mosques as they saw the overuse of human images and statues in churches as a step back to older forms of pagan and Roman idolatry. The adoration of pictures and statues of the saints, Mary and even Jesus was seen as taking away from the worship of the one God. So calligraphy replaced religious icons in holy places as the main form of spiritual and artistic expression.

The grand Bazaar

A style of shopping that defines not only picking up the essentials (and many non essentials) but also a way of life that has not changed in many centuries. The Grand Bazaar is known the world over. There are some 4,000 merchants selling their wares on this series of covered streets. Opened in 1461, it has to be the world’s oldest shopping mall. Normally when you think of arab markets you think of dirt floors and narrow dark alleys, however, here you find wide walk-ways and even high soaring arched ceilings. Anything you may want to buy in Istanbul can be found here and bought with a little haggling. No matter how long you look around the grand bazaar it is impossible to see everything, however, saying you have gone to Istanbul and not gone to experience the Grand Bazaar is also impossible.

coffeehouse culture

Being part of the coffeehouse culture of the west coast, and non-drinkers, we have always enjoyed the outstanding coffee experiences of 'the broken paddle' in Mechisin and other fine independent cafe's and I even enjoy timmies and Starbucks. So we delighted in the older coffeehouse culture of Europe which was different but totally amazing mixed with chocolate and old european ambiance. Being there in the late fall and early winter, the cafe's gave us a great place to hang out to read and write while escaping the cool and the rain. Then to come to Istanbul and discover the many delightful coffeehouses in this even older coffeehouse culture, developed in the ottoman empire, was the most primal and delightful of all our coffee drinking experiences. The word for "coffeeshop" in modern standard Arabic is maqha, literally meaning "place of coffee-ing." As I understand there is no special variety of coffee bean that is used. Turkish coffee is rather an expression of the preparation used, not the raw material. Everyone has their unique secret method of brewing the coffee and as much as I could squeeze out of one barista was that it is prepared by boiling finely powdered roast coffee beans in a pot (cezve), possibly with sugar, and then serving it in a small cup, where the dregs settle into a fine coffee mud at the bottom. Apparently you can also have your fortune told by reading the dregs. Aja looked at mine but all she could see was 'the grim', but of course she had just finished reading the Harry Potter series...or maybe she just thought it was grim. Anyway to the rest of you good fortune and happy coffee-ing.

Standing at Point Zero

This stone in Istanbul, standing at the corner opposite to Hagia Sophia, was part of a Byzantine arch that was used to indicate the center of the known universe. Litterally the zero-mile-marker for the Roman Empire. All roads in the vast Roman empire were measured from this point. In England we stood at the end of one of these roads which was, as all Roman roads, marked with a tree. The tree which the Romans planted at the end of every road is known as the Sadrat-el-Muntaha, the tree beyond which there is no passing.... (For mystics it is a metaphor for the Prophet of God in each age.) What also makes this place special is that we live in Victoria B.C. which is mile ‘0’ for the trans-Canada highway which crosses from there to Newfoundland. We all know what to think of the end of the road in Newfoundland, with little or no trees, but I wonder if anyone in Victoria would be so bold as to consider themselves to be the center of the universe as those living at this point in the world did...