Aaaaand we're back...

16:00.20 - Friday 15th October 2004   (Link to This Entry)

This is just a quickie update: It's bloody freezing here; I'm knackered and need a rest; had a great time; loads of friendly people trying to sell me things; ate loads of good food and drank loads of good beer; came home to 418 spam emails but no major problems. Huzzah!

I'll go into further detail later (with pics!) but I need some hot food right now.

Trip to Marmaris, Turkey.

23:04.45 - Friday 15th October 2004   (Link to This Entry)

We've been in Marmaris, Turkey for the past week with M's brother and his partner. The idea was so catch a bit of sun and partake of some cheap booze and generall have a relaxing time. We did both is equally humongous amounts.

First hurdle was getting used to the currency. Turkey used the Lira, but thanks to some insane inflation in years gone by, a million Turkish Lira (TL) is about 40p. Don't ask me, I just work here! Thankfully the majority of the people there are really honest and will give you the correct change in Turkish, even if you pay in English (£20 gets you TL52.000 million). The only exception I found was a cafe bar owner who had invented his own little exchange rate that benefitted him greatly - except that his place was empty most of the time.

Because it's a tourist economy in Marmaris, most prices are multiples of TL1.000, or 40p. A half-litre of beer can be anywhere from TL2.000 to TL4.500 depending on the brand (Efes or Tuborg) and the restaurant in question, and meals start at around TL2.000. Biggest bargain we found was a half-chicken for three quid, which comes on a big plate surrounded by heaps of veggies. We made the mistake of having a bit of garlic bread beforehand and couldn't finish the main course as a result. Well worth the cash!

One of the reasons we went was for shopping. Aside from the bars, every shop on the main road sells either Leather, Jewellery, Gifts or Knock-offs. Replica clothes are all the rage there, comprising mainly sunglasses and baseball caps, towels, T-shirts and jeans. There are insane bargains to be had if you don't mind dressing in imitations as well - eleven ladies' tops for a tenner, three pairs of trousers for a tenner and so on.

At the other extreme are the long-established jewellers who will sell you anything from a simple bangle to a Rolex watch. I took time out to try a few of the latter on, ranging from £2000 to £4000, and was sorely tempted. I didn't buy anything in the end since I'm currently not in any kind of position where I can drop £2000 on a watch, but M plumped for a 14 Karat Gold bracelet in yellow & white. Interestingly, Egg's computer called me on my mobile to confirm that the transaction was legit, which was nice.

On the Monday we took a boat trip out for the day. All-inclusive food and beer, plus a couple of swimming sessions in the lovely warm sea made for a relaxing, yet fun day out. I jumped in from the top of the boat a couple of times (equivalent to jumping out of a1st floor window) as did M, and even our non-swimming friend got in on the action.

Most of our time was spent relaxing by the pool, visiting a few local markets and then going out in the evening for a meal. We could easily have eaten out without visiting the same place twice because there was so much variety, but we hit the Mayfair and another resaurant a couple of times because they were pretty good. On the last day I went for a 22oz steak that I'd been looking forward to trying. I actually skipped breakfast to ensure I'd be able to finish it off but it turned out I needn't have bothered - it wasn't quite the monster I had expected.

The homeward journey started at 3am, with a coach trip from the hotel to the airport, followed by a 7am flight back to Manchester and a three hour drive home. We got back sometime around 2:30pm today and my first task was to go over the email I'd amassed in the week. Despite unsubscribing from the list I still received roughly 200 messages in addition to the 418 in the spam account (which, incidently, was full and was bouncing messages back).

The house was freezing when we got in, so we've had the central heading on full blast ever since. Coming back to the grotty weather here was a bit of a shock to the old system, especially after having sunshine for a whole week.

Edit: The photos to the right were taken with my camera phone, hence the slight dodginess!