Ransom

As a continuation from last week, which was a continuation from the week prior, I have another story of lost and found for you… This week, in the Lost Property Bin, was my friend’s iPhone. I think that pretty much makes it a complete set that he has lost over the course his time overseas. So congratulations are in order.

Church in Cappadocia

It was one of those ominous days from the start, because he was woken up half an hour earlier than normal (at 04:35 am) by the call to prayer. This put him in a phenomenally bad mood. 

Wishing Tree in Cappadocia

Next, his phone fell out of his pocket in a taxi to the airport.

He realized this just as the taxi disappeared into the sunrise

The plane was boarded.

Homeless man in Istanbul

He arrived in Istanbul with no cash.

He also had no money on his credit card to get cash out.

~ I paid for his bus ticket to Taksim Square ~

~ Saint Steph saved the day ~

New Mosque, Istanbul

There he found some Wifi to use his laptop.

Which was unable to transfer money to his credit card, because he needed his phone.  

~ I leant him my phone to do this ~

~ Saint Steph saved the day ~

Turkish delight and baklava heaven

He was able to get some money out.

Our Turkish friend then rang the hotel to enquire about the phone.

Delicious spices in the Spice Bazaar

The taxi driver proceeded to hold the phone ransom for 100 TRY.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Which was finally retrieved, 2 days later, at the agreed ransom price.

Unfortunately, there were no exciting taxi-hold ups nor were there any exciting ransom videos where the phone was tied to a chair and the taxi driver (with a balaclava, of course) explained the terms of the deal to us. 

ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli

However, things are slowly getting more exciting (given that there was a ransom bargain involved…). 

Beach Cemetery, Gallipoli

Stay tuned for the next episode of Stupid Stuff My Friend Does While Travelling.

To Blame

As a continuation from last week, to add to the items lost, my friend’s camera power cable was added. To resolve this, he bought another. But then his SD card has also broken, so he is limited to the 25 photo capacity of his camera. Such is life travelling with an Australian...

Travertines at Pammukkale

In our travelling duo, I always take the blame for everything – that was established early on, when I was blamed for the losing of the bag, the losing of the shorts, the heat, the tiredness, the laptop being insufficient, and of course, his getting sick.

View over Pammukkale

But it’s ok that he got sick, because I had drugs (imported from NZ and everything).

I gave my friend some pills and told him to get better.

Castle at Selçuk

He didn’t improve nearly as well as expected.

Library of Celsus, Ephesus

Then I was talking to the parents about the drugs. They kindly informed me that there were two lots of drugs that they had given me. One for skin infections, and the other for gastroenteritis.

Details at Ephesus

Unfortunately, to me, pills are pills and drugs are drugs. Turns out, that despite my 50/50 chance of choosing the correct ones, I had in fact chosen wrong.

I am still deciding if this was a pure accident, or if perhaps it was horribly passive aggressive.

World's cutest kitten

Either way, he’s still sick, I still have the drugs, I am still getting the blame for everything and nothing has really changed.

Cappadocia houses

However, if he had even tried to contract a skin infection, he would have failed miserably on this front, due to my forward thinking and preventative measures.

Hot air balloons over Cappadocia

So, you see, I’m actually the hero in this story.

Lost and Found

This week, I found a friend.

This dog is also a friend, but not the one I am talking about

Who had lost his bag (and previously his passport. Twice).

Water angle #1

So he found some shorts, to tie him over.

Water angle #2

Then he found his bag.

Water angle #3

And promptly lost his shorts.

Water angle #4 with Turkish flag compliment

Morning sun on Bodrum

Crows on a hilltop

I found my friend.

Sunrise

But I have lost my sanity.

I'm going to be a pirate now

Monty Python and the Life of Turkey

Another week… This week, I have travelled to Turkey. Here I am effectively doing WOOFing.

A turkey... In Turkey...

Sometimes, the situation reminds me of Monty Python (for the sake of this blog entry and privacy, my superior will be impersonating the Knight of Ni and later the Bridgekeeper).

Some pretty fuchsia flowers

Recently, the Knight of Ni had me move a large pile of straw (about 20 m to the east).

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

The Aegean

Then they wanted me to rake up the leaves and feed them to the goats (but now while there are customers, which is all day every day).

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

The countryside

Then they wanted me to sweep the path (but it was too dusty, so my mission was aborted earlier than anticipated).

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

Dinner

Then, they wanted us to ‘clear everything’ from a particular area on the farm.

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

The café

Two days later, the Knight of Ni, who has, for the sake of this weeks’ blog miraculously become the Brudgekeeper and exclaims:

“He who approaches the Bridge of Death, must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see…”

The café

To which we replied:

“Ask me the questions. I am not afraid”

“What are you doing?”

“Clearing everything”

“What for?”

“Because you told us to…”

“No, I just told you to pick up the rocks. There is a machine coming through later to do what you are doing. Are you stupid?”

“Do you know the definition of ‘clear everything’?”

“Huh? I don’t –“

The café

And then he was fired from his role as Bridgekeeper and thrown into the great chasm beneath the Bridge of Death.

The dogs

My life here thus far has reminded me of the epic 'Monty Python,' minus some of the epic-ness.

Teddy Bears' Picnic

So, I’m currently in Sweden. I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of woods in Sweden. As a result, ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic” has been rattling around in my head for the past week.

Teddy Bears' Picnic

I haven’t been able to go for a walk or a run without there being:

‘If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise.

If you go down to the woods today, you’d better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain,

Because today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.’

As much as I wanted to see a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, it really wasn’t top of my list. A moose would have sufficed.

Or an Isbjörn

Or a deer.

Or a Persiska Leopard

Or a bear.

Or a Kodiakbjörn

Or a wolf.

Varg

Or a wolverine.

Or some Hästar

Or a lynx.

Or another Kodiakbjörn

Or anything cool really...

Hus

I saw none of these things in the wild woods. I did however see a snake. Rather too close for comfort. I was just minding my own business walking along the path, when, BAM, there it was.

Blommor #1

I’ll tell you what, I got a huge surprise… I screamed.

Disguise = down

Unfortunately, I wasn’t that well disguised… I screamed.

Blommor #2

In The Teddy Bear’s Picnic, The Original, there are two useless verses in the middle before we get to the important final verse that goes like this:

“If you go down to the woods today, you’d better not go alone.

It’s lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home.

For every bear that ever there was will gather for certain,

Because today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.”

Dammen

I have concluded that the Teddy Bears are not so likely to eat you, but you should definitely watch out for the snakes. If you don’t think you need to be concerned about the snakes (did I mention that I saw two on the same day?) then maybe you still need to look out for the horse flies (that don’t differentiate between humans and horses) or the sand flies baby cousin (just large enough to be incredibly irritating). 

Träd

Disclaimer: Jag kan inte prata svenska, so if there are mistakes in my swedish, I apologise but it can not be helped and I can not be helped.