Aug 2010

Well from Selcuk we made a short by our standards 1 1/2 hour trip out to the coast and are staying in Ciftlikkoy a small fishing village on the Agean Coast with a view of Chios a Greek Island which is a mere 7 km away though a rather expensive $70 pp boat trip.

They seem to like cows in Cesme - so Holly's happy

The town has a nice feel to it and we have a house which is about a 3 minute walk into the village - handy when you don’t have a car. The house is nice the landlord a little "involved‘. On our arrival we got a full 30 mins of does and don‘t as well as a folder full of accompanying instructions what to do if you squash a mosquito on the wall and it leaves a mark and a reminder to take care with the kitchen knives as they take no responsibility should you cut yourself. Anyway it's clean and comfortable and most importantly has air conditioning. However we are finding that we are not needing to use it so much here as the temp is down to a pleasant 35 degrees and there is a relatively strong 'see breeze' most days - the first day the kids were unable to stand up down at the waterfront. Funny how we have become acclimatised - we were running the air conditioning overnight at 18 degrees, that has now crept up to 25 degrees with Matt still finding it too cold with Bella and I and so moving into the next room. Not sure how we’ll survive at home - we'll probably be the only family in Richmond running our fire all summer.

Ciftlikkoy Village

Sunrise over the fishing boats

Ciftlikkoy is part of the Cesme peninsula and there are 4 or five different beaches to choose from. Our favourite is Altinkum which is a short 10 trip in the Dolmus (like small buses) costing 2.5 Lira per adult, kids are free. So this week is about chilling at the beach. The kids are enjoying themselves, Toby and Bella are less keen on the salty water and sand but each day are enjoying it a little more. Toby is as brown as and looks like the real surfy dude. We have always joked that he would one day work as a surf instructor In Bali but after the first windy day at the beach we were having to revise our thoughts and picture him teaching surfing indoor at a wave pool. The beach is stunning and as usual we are almost the first there - our tendency is to go about 9am and head home at 1pm for Bellie to have a sleep and to get out of the hottest part of the day. lt seems that the beaches here don't start to up until after 2pm. We have met a couple of lovely families from Istanbul at the beach, we've enjoyed chatting to people who speak relatively good english and the kids have enjoyed playing with other kids “with toys" as opposed to the couple of empty water bottles we gave them to play with (and they had a lot of fun I might add)

The Dolmus

Antinkum Beach

Where did that wave come from Holly?

Sand Angels?

Tob looking buff

Bellie you have a bit of sand on your face

Where's Holly?

There are some great ideas NZ could use from here - for example, the village has a small one way loop road and it is set up with these road spike things that go down when you drive the correct way round. Should you make a mistake however you ruin a couple of tyres - I have seen the results of that once since we arrived - very definitive! Last night we had a beautiful fresh meal - fun as we got to choose our fish and after some discussion it was taken away to be prepared for us. Not a cheap meal at $47 a kg but beautiful and scoffed down by the three little Watson’s leaving very little for Mum and Dad - ahh the sacrifices you make for love!

Selecting a fish for dinner - Toby said - “we should bring Poppa he’d like it here"

We are heading to Izmir for the weekend to watch NZ play Lithuania in the world basketball champs. As you can imagine Matt is very excited and reckons we’re bound to get on TV as there will be few NZ supporters and we’ll be dressed in our NZ gear. I’m thinking we might too but only because Bellie decides she’s had a “guts full” and runs onto the court mid game. Sad to report one of her front teeth is starting to turn grey - and it is the one that was whole still - damn! lucky she’s cute. Her vocab is coming along at a rate she had us all in hysterics the other day when she passed some wind and then announced “bubbles”.

From Ismir it’s back out this way to Cesme for a week another nice town to explore. The biggest hassle is carting all our luggage round even though we only have two bags one of them is pretty much full of warm clothes that we don’t touch but need to wear home. Oh, and my running gear - not sure what the hell I was thinking - walking is as much as I can manage in this heat!

Forgot to mention Molly’s first squat toilet experience the other day. There was the intrigue of why they had “cut off the toilets” and then the exclamation when she discovered her stream was not direct-able and the fits of giggles at trying to keep her shoes dry and me clinging to her to prevent any slipping down the hole mishaps.

Holly and Toby are enjoying each others company, not that they have much choice really but they are good little friends and Holly tries to Mother Tob through the odd strop that he pulls. We had to laugh the other day though they were walking down the street Holly with her arm over his shoulder looking like they were in the middle of world peace negotiations and all the local people smiling and thinking “how nice”. However when we enquired we were informed that Holly was just checking Toby wasn’t going to ask for the Bakugan toy back that he had given her.

World peace talks

So off to the basketball for the Watson 5 - keep an eye out for us on TV.

Well a bit of a flurry of activity for our last few days in Urgup after cruising for a week or so we realised there were a still a few things on the "to do" list.

A trip to the Kamakli underground city being one of them . These are amazing a complete city joined with a network of tunnels. Kamakli is believed to have housed thousands of people from the 6th to 9th centuries. Five levels are open but a further 3 levels are thought to exist. The underground area is thought to cover 2.5km. The underground cities housed the Byzantine Christians and their animals at times when the Persian and Arabian armies were sent to banish them. The narrow walkways lead you into the depths of the earth, through stables with handles used to tether animals, churches with alters and baptism pools, walls with air circulation holes, granaries with grindstones and blackened kitchens and ovens.

Kamakli was a very exciting place for Holly and Toby - they were intrigued by all of the nooks and crannies and amazed that people could live underground. Bellie and I got down two levels but it all became a bit challenging for 6 foot me to carry her through the very low tunnels so we baled and went for a wander round the nearby stores instead.

Exploring Kamakli

Next on the agenda was ballooning. Matt and Holly went first and Toby and I the day after. You get picked up at 4.30am and taken to the take off site which varies from day to day depending on wind. It was amazing driving seeing all of the balloons being inflated - there is a maximum of 52 in Goreme that could go up each morning and both days they were getting pretty close to that. Matt had 12 passengers in his balloon and I had 20 it was quite a buzz that initial lift off and realisation that we were travelling on hot air alone. Matt had an awesome pilot who told them all about the balloon and where they were going mine by comparison didn't utter a word. Matt and Holly went up to 700 metres Holly was in awe she described soaring over cliff faces. Toby thought we were on the set for the movie "Up" and was fascinated by what he could see namely the pool with a waterslide at a campground below.

cake and wine (juice) at the end of the flight

The pool was still a daily feature in our schedule and the best thing to put some life back in our wilting children. Miss B had a nasty fall at the pool, she slipped on the wet tiles surrounding the pool and came crashing down on her front teeth and lip. So she is now minus a decent chunk from one of her front teeth and the one beside it. This all necessitated a visit to the Dentist. It was 6pm and Sacit the hotel manager offered to drive me to find a dentist, after a few phone calls we headed for the local hospital and on arrival were told the dentists finished at 4pm to do their private work but they wouldn't hand out any details as to where we could find them. Funny how you can tell when a conversation is getting a little heated even though you don't know what is being said. So it was back to our accommodation with poor Miss B and her huge fat lip, bleedi!ng teeth and bruising starting to come out round her eyes. Off in search of a dentist again the next morning - this time with more luck. The dental surgery was impeccably clean, we didn't have to wait at all and there were 4 dentists all peering into Bellie's mouth. Through Sacit they prescribed her some antibiotics to help lessen the chance of abscess formation and said that they felt the teeth should be fine but time would tell whether they will turn black - fingers crossed they're okay - little girls are not so cool with missing front teeth at the age 1. I was very impressed with the dental service and they refused to charge me at all for the visit - again not something that would happen at home. And also the hotel - driving me to the dentist twice and translating for me - we find that people just can't do enough for you in this country.

Bellie and her mates at the pool - her last pic with an even set of teeth

As leaving day drew close we felt somewhat sad at the thought of having to farewell our friends both at the hotel and the pool. It is funny how our friendships had developed despite the language barrier. You kind of take people more at face value, knowing and unable to ask anything at all about their lives or backgrounds, instead attracted by their smiles and warmth. The day before we left we had cake and photos at both the hotel and the pool. It was lots of fun and our friends seemed genuinely grateful we had gone to the trouble apart from our omission that it was Ramadan and so some of them were fasting. During the month of Ramadan those that observe it do not eat or drink during daylight hours. I struggle to fathom how they manage in this heat without so much as a glass of water and yet they continue on with their jobs during this time. Suha the hotel manager told us many people die during this time but it is seen as "Gods will". Our farewell was full of hugs and kisses especially for the kids - I have to admit it was sad saying goodbye to these people whom it was unlikely we would see again. The only upside being most of them are on email or facebook and we have already had some messages that I am having some difficulty translating in some cases.

Our Esbelli Evi Family

Waiting patiently for cake - not!

More cake with our pool friends

We look back at our month in Urgup with many fond memories and it will remain of the best experiences we have ever had. When we planned our trip to Turkey we knew our kids were too young to truly appreciate things such as museums and ruins - our hope was that they would have the opportunity to become immersed in the culture, making some Turkish friends to play with and be part of a community. We knew we would be lucky to get this experience yet here we are just halfway through our trip having achieved these goals. Our friends at Esbelli Evi and down at the Tas Konak pool shared their lives with us and made us a part of their families - we feel lucky indeed.

Well that's exactly what we have been doing - just hanging out. We are pretty well known round town now as the average stay of tourists in this area is around 2-3 days and when we leave we will have been here 26. The pool remains a daily essential to cope with the heat and revive those small people. Our pool family are as attentive as ever, fussing round after the kids smothering them with kisses at any chance. Holly and Toby are picking up a few Turkish words both can greet and farewell, count to 10, ask how are you? and reply very good thank-you. They are enjoying the food and becoming very adventurous. Biscuits, chips and muesli bars are but a thing of the past. It's not that they are not available it's more that there are many other foods that taste much better and are much healthier. Bellie almost goes spare every time she sees a watermelon. We visited a Kuruyemis which is a shop that sells bulk dried fruit, nuts and spices. We went to buy dried apricots and after a taste of about 20 different items came out with a bag of goodies. In apricots alone there were about 5 different types. We went for the sun dried, sulphate free ones which don't look that flash but a absolutely beautiful. It amazes me that they are just dried out in the sun on big verandahs and roofs. We also bought roasted apricot kernels, cranberries, sesame covered peanuts, dried salted corn ( it is the best) and some potato snacks. The kids have gone mad on them. When we first arrived they were not that keen on eating all the new foods and it's fair to say that caused me some angst, especially with Bellie who is usually our best eater. However that phrase bandied around by every child expert "A healthy child will never starve themselves" popped into my head and I decided to let it slide and see what happened - sure enough after a few days of fussing it all fell in to place and they are now thoroughly enjoying the culinary experience.

Man check out the change in Bellie - thought she was getting heavy!

Yesterday we went to the local Saturday market. It was busy, noisy, and colourful. We bought 2kg of strawberries for $5 shovelled into a bag with a plastic shovel. 1 kg of grapes for $2, and nectarines, tomatoes and zucchini all for $2. We also saw a man selling leeches, and another selling brightly dyed chicks and ducklings. It was lots of fun just wandering many of the stall holders tried to get us to buy clothes for the kids but they were funny old fashioned looking Lacy dresses. The strawberries we last night's dessert treat though they were almost jam by the time we got home after Bellie sitting on to them. We stopped for lunch on the way home and Bellie was up to her usual tricks of befriending another family and trying on their kids sunglasses and hats. They were a Turkish family who lived in England and they appeared to be quite wealthy. It caused me some anxiety that the boys sunglasses that Bellie was wearing were Ray Bans - I was relieved when she finally returned them in one piece. Poor old Bell was genuinely upset when they left and she had to go home with her boring old family.

Check out the Strawberries

.....and leeches

Bellie and her Ray Bans

Today's outing was meant to be a double decker bus ride around the surrounding countryside so we scooted through breakfast to get down town by 8.45am for a 9.00am departure. First we were told to come back at 10.00am as the bus was being cleaned so we wandered the streets to fill in time and found a playground. Only to return to be told the cleaning was taking longer than expected and they wouldn't be leaving till 1.00pm - ahhh Turkey time! Needless to say we will give it another go tomorrow morning.

Monday 9th August
Well the bus was there this morning and we had a great personalised 2 hour tour with the whole of the double decker bus to ourselves. Made up for yesterdays mucking around and gave us the opportunity to have a good look around the area at our kind of speed and without the kids getting bored.

The town of Uchisar

Oh and pleased to report - no more sightings of "school-pens"

Well another few hot days have passed since our last blog. Each day the temperature is getting up to around 42 degrees and at night time still sitting around 28 degrees. We've just been hanging about in town, swimming lots, visited the museum (two rooms - they unlocked the padlock for us to go in and locked it back up as we left), and keeping the kids cool with regular icecreams.

Tob picks up the girls at the pool - ever so cool about it

Afternoon cool down with water pistols

We have had a couple of room changes due to extending our stay which has been fine as we don't have a huge amount to pack. Our present accommodation is the home of the hotel owner who has kindly let us have, it is across the road from the hotel which means we don't have to mute the kids quite so much and we still have all the benefits of the hotel, including the breakfasts and the lovely staff who all seem to love kids. It means also we continue to meet people as we realise in a place on our own we would be quite isolated. One of the staff brought her 5 year old boy to play with the kids the other evening. It was funny - they were all quite shy and reserved to start with and then Toby spotted his Ben 10 watch - well the universal language was spoken and they were the best of mates for the rest of the night. That same night there was a circumcision party down town, all boys around the ages of 7-9 are circumcised and along with it is a big celebration. This night must have been a big town party as there were many boys and they all dress up in the traditional satin circumcision suit/costume and being driven around town in a double decker bus. There were even fireworks and live music. We are told the boys are given gifts usually gold coins.

Ahmed and Toby - superheroes

Boys circumcision outfit

By now you'll be wondering about the title of this blog - well on our first night here we had a bit of excitement.
Matt here: At around 11pm I got up to use the toilet - I have been a frequent visitor to this room of the house for the last few days with a Johnny Cash BRF. Anyway was sitting there contemplating life when I saw something move on the wall about 2 metres in front of me. At first I picked it as a lizard and then realised that no it was a Scorpion!!! I freaked out. What the fuck was a Scorpion doing in the bathroom and what was I supposed to do with it. Do I catch it? or do I kill it? I searched around the bathroom for something to use to kill it and picked up the biggest thing in there which was a roll of kitchen towels. I crept towards the Scorpion which was moving across the wall until common sense kicked in. What was I going to do with a roll of handee towels! At best clean its back and at worst piss it off. It was at this moment I felt let down by the NZ school system. I all my schooling years I had never, and I mean never been taught how to kill a scorpion in your bathroom. So with one eye on the scorpion I looked around for something more suitable to use. I passed on the toothbrushes, roll-on deodorants, hair brushes and sunscreen and picked up the shower squeegee. It had a decent handle and a long flat surface. The Scorpion was about 10-12cm long and I was packing myself - when I got to about 2 feet away it noticed me and arched its back raising it's tail in the air. I shoved the squeegee into its body a pressed as hard as I could against it. It waved its tail around looking to sting but with the length of the squeegee it was about 6-8cm away from my fingers. I held it there for a couple of minutes and when I thought it was dead pulled back with the squeegee and jumped back at the same time. If the scorpion was still alive I didn't really have a plan B, however its was dead and I was a hero. It was a kill or be killed moment and I was the victor. Those that know me will agree I am not a hunter gatherer type and don't even like taking a fish of the hook when I go out fishing with Doug but now things are different. There is no doubt that I saved my family's life and potentially those of the village. Who knows how much damage that little bugger would have done without my intervention? Willie Apaiata got a VC for saving less peoples lives so I'm looking forward to returning home to see what honour will be bestowed upon me. I think maybe a movie could be in the works and I reckon Danny DeVito would play a great Matt Watson. (Portions of this have been taken from my book. Pre-order now for only $25 incl pp)

Back to Rach - Shortly after this I got up as I could hear Toby crying. I came out to get Tob some panadol for his aching legs and a cold drink. Matt was down with Toby in his room and was gesturing madly to me not to open the fridge. Disgruntled and wondering what the hell he was going on about I went to see what was up. He explained that he had put the dead Scorpion in the freezer but because it was dark he hadn't checked to see if it had fallen out of the handee towels and onto the floor. Well you can imagine my "what the ........" Scorpians had never even entered our head, none of our guide books had mentioned them and we had never seen them on our previous trips. Frantically we fired up the internet to check out what we were dealing with. It was a Yellow Scorpian we are told by the hotel staff they are not deadly however this seems to apply only to adults. Our reading suggests that any scorpian bites in under 5 year olds are frequently fatal due to their small body mass compared to the poisonous venom, and that victims should get to a hospital within an hour for an injection of antivenom. OH CRAP - we were beside ourselves thinking what the hell are we doing here. Then as if that wasn't all enough Matt looked up and saw another one just above our heads in the kitchen and man they are mean looking creatures. I don't think I have ever moved so fast - a fair description would be that I flew across the room with a face that resembled something like that famous "scream" painting. Out with the shower squeegy weapon again and to death with number 2. By this time to be honest we were planning our trip back to New Zealand - our safe haven where there are no deadly scorpians, snakes or spiders yet another reminder of how lucky we are to live there. We had next to no sleep that night worrying about what might get us when we were sleeping.

The next morning we dragged our weary bodies and sprightly children to breakfast armed with our two frozen Scorpion's in a container. The hotel staff were surprised we had seen / killed two but were also relatively unfazed by it all as this is part of life here. They said we had been extremely unlucky to have seen two of only four spotted all year. That however was cold comfort and we had to weigh up our options. We talked through an interpreter to Fatma the Mum of 5 year old Ahmed who had played with Toby a couple of nights before as we felt she would have a Mum's perspective having a small child of her own. She was very reassuring and said it is unusual to see them inside and they don't consider them dangerous. Apparently it is the hot weather that drives them in - you know you have no chance when it is even too hot outside for the scorpions. The hotel staff have been awesome in reassuring us and doing all they can to keep us feeling safe - so all gaps in the windows have been plugged up and the house has been perimeter sprayed and there have been no further sightings. We now check any shoes and clothes before putting them on and have versed Holly and Toby in terms of what to do should they see one. Bellie is a bit more of a worry as it is that much harder to school her up but we just have to be vigilant with her and discourage her habit of trying on all our shoes for entertainment. Scorpions are nocturnal however it is just if they decide to have a sleep in your clothing. Our best guess is that they came in that evening when I sat with the door open writing some emails. It didn't even cross my mind that that would be a problem - I mean we leave the door open at home in the summer and the most we get in is a couple of moths.

Yip that's them they were in the rubbish skip by this time - photo was a bit of an after thought

Needless to say we are still pretty jumpy - every time something touches your skin or any little shadow has us skipping around the room with raised blood pressure. Sleep is sporadic - mostly due to the heat and a couple of Gins before bed does help in calming ones nerves. Holly was a bit frightened and we talked it through with her explaining that we were unlikely to have any further sightings. She kept on saying she had "Scorpions" in her class at school - we gathered there must have been a picture or something but she kept on repeating her story. When we finally got the bottom of it it turned out that they had "school pens" and she thought it was strange they should name them the same.

The kids are doing great - getting more adventurous with their food and looking like real little travellers. Miss B is growing up so fast and getting way more direct-able. At her tender age of 18 months she now swims with floaties and jumps in from the side of the pool pretty much "if my brother and sister can do it then I can too". She hasn't really been sleeping that well in with Matt and I so the other night we left her on her own in the master bedroom while Matt and I bunked in with the kids - giving the littlest princess a couple of nights to sort herself out.

Seasoned travellers

So that's the excitement for now folks - their have been no further sightings the last two nights and Matt's crook gut is settling with the help of some antibiotics so no need at this stage to abort the trip and come home via Disneyland and McDonalds - whew! Also thanks for all your comments it is great to get your feedback and to know you are enjoying the blog makes it that much easier to write.