12th May 2008
Today we took the long drive from Kusadasi to Pamukkale to see the calcium terraces. It took about three hours to get there and, on the way, we stopped for lunch and swam in a thermal pool, which wasn’t actually very warm at a nearby hotel. We drove up to the cliffs and walked through part of the ancient city of Hierapolis before we got to the white terraces.
We got there and we managed to get about halfway down, before deciding it was a bit rough on our feet. We took some really cool photos; Nigel and I have basically decided to share a camera because he only has a 256-memory stick and well we all know I broke my camera. We are quickly getting the reputation on being the paparazzi of the training trip.
The terraces were amazing, as this was my second visit to them, I pretty much went with the flow and let everyone else decide what they wanted to do. We ended up visiting the terraces, which was actually quite different on a sunny day, not as many frogs. We then went off for a swim in the Antiquities pool. Thank God I got longer than 15 minutes this time. It was great to be able to relax there and just float amongst the warm water and the columns. The other option was to visit the ancient theatre, but I told the group we would see plenty of those along the way. I’ve seen loads of them! We stayed there until Bridget and Cat came and got us saying the group had gone without us. Slight miscommunication there.
We got a little lost trying to catch up with the group, but we eventually found them in the Necropolis of Hierapolis. We walked among the tombs for a bit before getting on the bus for the long drive back to Kusadasi.
That night we went out to dinner to one of the many restaurants down by the water, Burak’s aunty also joined us for the night. The amount of food we got served at this place was crazy! They just brought out plate after plate after plate. The best thing they brought out were these mushrooms stuffed with cheese, I think I actually ate a whole plate of them. The night wore on and we were all a bit tired, but these guys came out and started serenading the table and Burak’s aunty got up and started dancing. So bingo, not one to sit around and fall asleep, I got up and started dancing too, closely followed by everyone else. I don’t think any of us had the slightest clue what we were doing.
We eventually left the restaurant and Burak’s Aunty went off home and we were taken out on the town. They took us to a place called Jimmy’s Irish Pub. We drank cocktails and the music was nothing short of awful, but as usual I made the best of it. ‘Dare me to get on the speaker box?’ I said to Nigel. I can’t remember what the response was, but I think it may have been ‘If you won’t I will’ to which I’m sure my reply would have been a hearty ‘You won’t do it!’ So up I got on the speaker box a Jimmy’s Irish pub, (A far, far cry from Club Blink or Abduction) and far from the management coming over and yelling at me for my outlandish behaviour, they were actually cheering me on and when I eventually got down (when a song so terrible even I wouldn’t dance to it came on) they dragged me into the middle of the dance floor with the rest of the girls in an attempt to get the crowd going and gave us all free T-shirts.
While this had been going on, completely unknown to us, Nigel and Paul had snuck next door and were drinking in there. Can’t say I blame them, but its something you just don’t do in this country, in our jobs. People get very possessive of us. Vanessa and Burak decided to get a Dolmus (Big Maxi Taxi) back to the hotel.
Despite how tired I had been at the restaurant; I was now totally revved up! Nigel was too and both of us ended up staying up and roaming around causing trouble. We started out looking at photos in the dorm, but this soon progressed to recording Paul’s snoring with Nigel’s phone. I don’t know what’s funnier about that recording Paul’s snoring or me and Nigel’s stifled giggles.
We left the room and hung out by the pool for a bit and chatted, not wanting to wake the others up…..some people actually value sleep I guess. We wandered around the hotel for a bit and were even cheeky enough to have a poke around in the kitchen. We eventually went off to bed about 3 hours before we had to get up again.