South Turkey - Day 1

17th Sept05, Saturday -- Day to leave for South Turkey. After so many discussions over terrorism and our flight Onur Air, it was finally the day. Our flight was delayed, surprise surprise.... Juz some history over Onur Air y it caused anxiousness to most parents. Onur Air was vorbidden to land in Germany, France and Holland in May.Apperantly it was considered a dangerous airline, without meeting the safety measures.But well, the ban was lifted and most importantly, it was never vorbidden in Switzerland.

In the plane, heard the 'perfect' song : If Tomorrow Never Comes by Ronan Keating.Great. Perfect for soothing our souls in a plane which was once vorbidden in 3 European countires. If Tomorrow Never Comes....

It took us about 2 and a half hours to reach Antalya airport.We clapped hard when we arrived safely in the airport.It was worth a celebration coz 'we survived Onur Air' !The minute we stepped out the plane, it was so damn hot! Just like Malaysian weather, not to mention it was also really humid too.At the imigration counter, the officer looked at me as if I was some criminal or some refugee trying to smuggle into Turkey together with a bunch of Swiss, coz my passport was the only Malaysian passport within 24 Swiss passports.He asked my for my name, family name. I gave him the privilledge of saving time by even spelling out my whole name.Luckily, everything went on fine....hehe...

No surprise that the guys rushed to the duty free shop to buy vodkas, spirits, etc.It was so cheap compared to Switzerland.Took the bus to Side, which is about 60km from Antalya.Along the highway, the scenery was just different from Switzerland and Malaysia. It seemed more empty and dry.

Finally reached our hotel, Altinkum Hotel.3 of us to a bungalow.Patrizia, Debbie and I had the best bungalow.1 queen size bed, 1 normal bed, sofa, cushion, it was really spacious compared to the other rooms.hee hee....

Our hotel was really just by the sea.Really beautiful.....had our dinner by the sea...the sound of the waves were good enough to make up for the terrible music aired through the speakers.Food was not bad, was expecting some typical Turkish food though...but apperently with German tourists, they dont like change. Therfore had the typical European stuff...salad, chicken...nothing to foreign to me....

Some guy from the community invited us to a Russian Ballet at night in the Side Amphitheatre. We were like,'wow, how cool is that coz normally we have to pay quite a sum to watch a really good Russian Ballet'.The Side Amphitheatre was quite beautiful, old, looked like some Greesisch ruins...but in all, quite beautiful, something we wont be able to find in Switzerland or Malaysia.

We were really in for a surprise. The ballet sucked.I was really surprised coz usually Russian ballet is the best in the world! & this 1 really sucked. The dancers werent in time with the music, they were just dancing to their own tempo, the music would just suddenly cut off at the end...in short, terrible.

Then it was an intermission, although it wasn't mentioned, we assumed it was an intermission. All of us finally left during the intermission coz we were really bored and it was really a waste of our time. Seeing that the guy who invited us to this ballet performance had left, we left too.Can't blame us for being rude....

Went back to our bungalows...sat around...chit chatted...tomorrow would be a good day.... =)