1. Before we leave

I decided to change the posts to make the blog start from the beginning because this blog is my travel journal. I didn't write every night as we just didn't have time - there was too much to see and do!

I've also decided to turn parts of the blog into study notes for History because I'm doing World War 1 this term, and also World Religions so the info about the Blue Mosque, Ramadan and Islam is also useful. 

You need to click on the right hand side to see the different posts of the trip - they are in the list.

If you want to you can click on this link to see:   Some of my earlier travel journals from 2012-2015     I put the link in only for me to keep my memories together. 


BEFORE WE LEAVE 

Mum wanted to share an adventure to somewhere she hadn't been before. All my travelling have been to places she'd explored, so we're off to Jordan. 

Mum was 17 years old when she first experienced the Middle East (it was Bahrain), so I'll be 3 years younger than she was. When I saw how close we were to Turkey I urged Mum  because I was eager to see Gallipoli. [Mum said it was cheaper to go through Istanbul anyway]. 

I've been to Hellfire Pass and the Burma Railway, Sandakan and walked the Death March in Borneo, Singapore's Changi and Kranji, and Long Tan & Nui Dat and I've been to ANZAC Dawn Services in Singapore, Saigon, Sydney and Phnom Penh, but mostly I understand World War 2 and the Asia-Pacific war. World War 1 is now going to be explored, which is lucky because I'm studying WW1 in History next term! 

I've already watched Lawrence of Arabia and a documentary on Petra (for Jordan), and Gallipoli (the 1981 movie) but Mum has copied my History textbook pages so I think I'm going to be learning a lot more!

Here's the route we're doing:
Sydney to Singapore (dinner with Bea - yay!)
Singapore to Dubai (6 hours at the airport, but there's a Qantas Club there!)
Dubai to Istanbul (we leave Syd on Sat morning and will get to Istanbul on Sun night)

* Istanbul - we'll be careful
* Gallipoli - 
* Cannakale - 
* Troy - Mum says she'll tell me about a horse. Well as a matter of fact, I do know about   Trojan horses from Peabody and Sherman!
*Anzac Cove - boat across the Dardanelles (snorkelling) 

* Istanbul to Amman (that's the capital of Jordan, we're going to take things to Syrian refugees)
* Petra (archaeologists have just found more ruins)
* Wadi Rum (camels - yay)
* Aqaba - Red Sea (snorkelling - yay)
* Dead Sea - Mum swam in the Dead Sea from Israel, this time she'll do it from Jordan. 

Then it will be a looooong flight from Amman to Istanbul to Dubai to Singapore (and Bea!)

I will also get more maths practice because I will have to learn how to convert Australian dollars to Turkish Lira and Jordanian Dinar. I only know Riel and Dong! Yay more conversions! "sigh"

And Mum showed me the weather forecast for Jordan! and we need to cover our shoulders and legs so I need to think about what to pack. 

2. Sydney Singapore Dubai Istanbul

We got to the airport early so I could have breakfast with Ashlee at the Qantas Club! She and Estelle were flying east (to LA) and we were flying west (to Singapore for 6 hours). I watched a documentary on the way to Singapore called 'Australian Walers' used by the Lighthorseman in the Middle East in WW1, with Lawrence of Arabia, the sturdy, hardy horses are able to travel long distances in hot weather with little water. 13,000 were taken to Egypt and the Middle East but Australian quarantine and the cost of transporting them back mean they were sold to the British Army for India or slaughtered for commercial gain. 

So I had breakfast with Ashlee and dinner with Bea! Also a swim and meeting Bea's friend from WAB, Elly. I'll see Bea again in 2 weeks, I wish I HAD got the annual Universal Studio pass when we went in April!

Then we had to wait 3 hours at Changi airport for our Emirates flight to Dubai. I love the A380, the economy seats are soooo big, it was almost like premium economy so I got about 4 hours sleep in the 8 hour flight.Their movie selection is great too! The Qibla compass to find Mecca was really interesting but probably more for Muslims because it tells them the time to pray when they cross time zones. 

We got to Dubai at 4am, which was 9am in Sydney so we were awake for a 6 hour transit. Lucky we could get into the Emirates Business lounge (no, we weren't traveling Business, but Mum's got Qantas Club and our flights are QF codeshares). The 6 hours went fast with the unlimited buffets and free wifi! (landing into Dubai is on the left)


The flight path missed Syria and Iraq (just as well), and we landed into Ataturk Airport in Istanbul at 5pm. It took 42 hours to get here but it didn't seem that long - seeing Ashlee and Bea helped .. and the Business Lounge in Dubai!

3. Istanbul wanderings

It was quite strange arriving at an airport that I didn't know. There's usually a known routine when we disembark a plane: Singapore, Saigon, Phnom Penh, and Sydney are all so familiar, even Lombok, Luang Prabang, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan had an expected Asian feel. I didn't know what to expect of Istanbul, and weirdly Ataturk airport arrivals reminded me a bit of HCMC. 

We got to the small Albinas Hotel about 4pm and even though we had been flying for 42 hours we left our bags in the room and went wandering. But after a quick sit down admire the Blue Mosque first - and the street from our balcony. 

Darkness didn't fall until 9pm so the sun was shining as we meandered the cobble stone streets. I was blown away by the serenity of Sultanahmet's backstreets, the picturesque balconies edged with colour, the age of my wandering.  I couldn't help but wonder who lived here when it was Byzantium or Constantinople,  when it was part of the Greek or Roman Empire, or when it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1453. (I read it was the second largest city in the world in the 16th century, only Beijing was bigger). 

Sultanahmet is the old historic district and is usually quite touristy because the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Cisterns are all circling Sultan Ahmet square.  We walked around the square about 6 times in our first 24 hours, sometimes we didn't mean to, we just got a bit lost and the minaret of the Blue Mosque  our compass bearing. 

Summer doesn't only mean heat, it means stone fruits! Peaches, nectarines, apricots and cherries became our breakfasts, as well as the dried fruits (which we followed to Jordan). 

We need towels for swimming but thought we'd get some authentic Turkish towels, so this was our first stop!

Sultan Ahmet wandering no. 1 take 1, take 2, take 3....)

Blue Mosque backdrop  Selfie No , and who could pass a fountain and not capture the moment? ..... or rather stop, pose and snap!



tram heading to Hagia Sophia



Refreshments and rehydration. The more snaps around the historic area, including the Grand Bazaar. The travel warnings have clearly scared off tourists, there were hardly any around as you can see in these photos of square and the bazaar. Mum kept commenting on how the emptiness, how surreal it seemed to her but also how sad for the Turkish economy. (note: this was before the Ataturk ISIS bombing!).





The Blue Mosque was closed to non-worshippers when we first walked past. It was Asr prayer time (that's the afternoon call to prayer) about 5pm, but we did wander around with the locals who were doing their ablutions before praying, and the kids who were dressed up for the service.

First dinner in Istanbul, after Mum's glass of wine! (even though it is Ramadan, Istanbul still provided alcohol for the non-Muslim tourists, unlike Jordan so Mum had a dry spell!).

View from our room .. over the Sea of Marmara. 

4. Blue Mosque [Geography - Islam]

I saw the Blue Mosque first when we were driving from the airport to Sultanahmet, then from the balcony of the Albinas Hotel where we stayed in Istanbul. During the 36 hours we were in Istanbul we walked to it, in it and around it - many times. This post is about the Blue Mosque. 

To get there we climbed more narrow cobble stoned streets. It didn't matter which ones we took because they all led to the Blue Mosque and the minarets made it easy to find. The colours and perspective changed every time. 

I've been to mosques in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia  (and there's a Geography excursion next term to see one in Sydney!), but the Blue Mosque was magnificent with its 6 minarets and domes. It's colloquially called the Blue Mosque because of the blue painted tiles that adorn its interior, which were hard to capture on the cameras. 

Inside the chandeliers they put ostrich eggs to repel cobwebs, and spiders. How clever is that?

It was built in the early 1600s to assert the Ottoman Empire's power when it was in decline. Pope Benedict XVI visited the Blue Mosque in 2006, he was the second pope to ever visit a Muslim place of worship. He said Turkey "will be the bridge of friendship and collaboration between the East and West."

There are 5 main domes and 8 other ones, and the 6 minarets which all have balconies. Before the loud speakers, the muezzins climbed up the minarets five times a day to call to prayer. 

 

Islam is the second largest religion in the world (Christianity is the first), there are 2.6 billion Muslims and it's the fastest growing religion in the world.  

 

Muslims follow the Five Pillars of Islam through their lives. These are:

1.  Declaration of faith (Shahada)

2.  Praying 5 times a day (Salat)

3.  Giving money to charity (Zakah)

4.  Fasting (during Ramadan between sunrise and sunset)

5.  A pilgrimage to Mecca once in their lives (Hajj)

Muslims holy book is the Qur'an (Koran), and they believe it was given to Muhammad from god (Allah) from the archangel Gabriel who is the same Gabriel who told the Virgin Mary of Jesus' birth. 

Muslims believe in one God (Allah) whose sent his message through the prophets. Islam believes Adam, Abraham, Moses and Isaac were prophets - the same biblical prophets Christians believe in. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, and his virgin birth and his name in mentioned in the Qur'an almost a hundred times. They believe Muhummad was the last prophet and every time they say his name, they say "Peace be upon him."

Before we could enter the mosque, as non-Muslims we needed to take off our shoes and cover our head, shoulders and legs. Mum had a long dress so she didn't need to use the green clothing I adorned, but we both needed the blue head scarf. 

Before praying Muslims have to do their ablutions. They have to wash their hands to the wrists, wash their mouth, nose and face with water, and both arms up to their elbows. Their head has to wiped with the three middle fingers and their feet are washed to their ankles.

Muslims are meant to pray five times a day, and the muezzin calls remind people when to pray. They pray facing Mecca which is called the qibla. In every hotel room there's an arrow showing the direction of Mecca (like in Malaysia and Indonesia) and it was on the Emirates plane. 



There's also a timetable App to state the time in each country, because it depends on the sun which changes in latitudes and longitudes. The Emirates plane had a channel which helped worshippers know when to pray when they cross timezones. 

Prayer "purifies the heart and prevents temptation towards wrong doings and evil."

Fajr - morning prayer after dawn before sunrise
Zhur - early afternoon when the sun is at its zenith before it starts to decline
Asr - late afternoon when the sun is midway on its way to setting.
Maghhrib - sunset prayer immediately after the sun sets
Isha - early night prayer which is said before going to bed. 

We were in Muslim Turkey and Jordan during Ramadam. This is the fasting month when Muslims are not allowed to drink or eat between sunrise and sunset. During Ramadan they are also meant to focus on helping the poor and to share their opportunities with the less fortunate. I like this, thinking of the poor, it would be good to have a time when ALL privileged people would focus on giving to those who aren't. 

Mum and I sat on the lush carpet to draw in the grandeur and to read the information. Mum was aware that this area (Sultanahmet) had been bombed earlier this year so we she didn't want to stay for long, but it was so peaceful that we did. Except when Mum heard a grumbling noise and felt the carpets shake. She said "Sa, we need to go now .. let's go." I asked her why? She told me what she heard and felt. I replied to her: "Mum, it's the vacuum cleaner." !!!!!! We stayed a bit longer:)