Tao Garden Health Spa - Days 5 and 6

Day 5
Time to begin the second round of cleansing...

Detox Day 5 schedule (see past blogs for descriptions of repeated treatments):
8:00 - Breakfast
10:00 - Chi Nei Tsang (abdominal massage)
11:00 - Colon Hydrotherapy
12:00 - Banana Leaf, Herbal Steam Bath
1:00 - Lunch
2:00 - Foot Detox (50 minutes of foot soaking, scrubbing, and massaging)
3:00 - Thai Massage (50 minutes of deep pressure point massage with stretching)
4:00 - Five Elements Massage (90 minutes of heavenly relaxing massage and acupressure along with aromatherapy that is supposed to help bring balance between the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, metal)
6:00 - Dinner

After Russ' first Chi Nei Tsang the masseur told him that he needed the Muscle Tendon massage (on day 3) to loosen his muscles so he could make the next Chi Nei Tsang more effective. Boy was he right! On Russ's second Chi Nei Tsang, the masseur was able to dig deep into the adomen, massaging each major organ. At the end of the day, Russ felt extremely tired as his internal organs were beginning their healthy recovery.

Day five was Lesley's turn-the-corner day. Instead of feeling wiped out from treatments, she felt absolutely radiant and energized (and realized how long it had been since she last felt that way).

In the evening, Russ went for some needed sleep while Lesley hung out with Jackie, David and Rae. All of us have major decisions coming up in our lives in the very near future, and so somehow everyone started telling sordid tales of decisions past (relationships, travel, jobs, etc.). Some of the stories were actually pretty tragic but generated peals of laughter from all, even the storyteller. (A testament to how much healthier and balanced we're all feeling after devoting so much energy this week to our well being.) David and Jackie are into jyotish, a method of eastern astrology which more or less says "it is written," so they seem quite peaceful about whatever their lives bring/have brought them. Rae, David and Jackie have all used a pendulum method to try to help them make decisions (hold a pendulum, or use your body as a pendulum, ask a yes/no question and see which way the pendulum moves). Rae prefaces her questions with "Is it good for my highest being to..." Just for giggles, I stood up and asked "Is it good for my highest being to... stay in Seattle?" Well, I won't tell you all what it said, mainly because I'm a skeptic. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable and expanding to hear others' ways of perceiving the world, life's challenges, and life's decisions. We also found out that David and Rae both make jewelry, and we pulled up Rae's website--she showed us some of the jewelry she has made (she even makes some for Hollywood) and clothing she has designed. She paints, too--very creative all around.

One of the most interesting aspects of our time here at Tao Garden is managing skepticism while trying to be open minded. We've signed up for some treatments and evaluations (such as the NES, see Day 6) purely out of curiosity. In the cases of actual treatments, we have been fairly amazed by the changes in how we feel. In the cases of evaluations, such as the energetic nutritional analysis we both did, and Russ's aura test, we remain cautious; nevertheless we are having fun and receiving information that is not only strongly upheld by the practitioners here but fascinating to contemplate as well.

Day 6
Finally--our last big day of detoxifying and cleansing our bodies. Its amazing how much better we look and feel. Our skin is glowing, our posture is effortlessly better, and our bodies are generally more loose and relaxed.

Detox Day 6 schedule (see past blogs for descriptions of repeated treatments):
7:00 - Chi Kung (Russ made it up for this; Lesley slept)
8:00 - Breakfast
10:00 (Russ) - Karsai Nei Tsang (50 minute genital health massage which is basically Chi Nei Tsang for the first 35 minutes followed by working the pressure points, tendons and other tissues in the genital area to release sediments in the reproductive system)
10:00 (Lesley) - Chi Nei Tsang (abdominal massage)
11:00 - Banana Leaf
12:00 - Ozone treatment
1:00 - Lunch
2:00 - Full-body far infrared (30 minutes of far infrared over the body [from the farthest segment of the infrared spectrum from the visible light spectrum]) and Chi machine (ankles are placed on a device that moves them rapidly from side to side to loosen up your body, move the energy around)
3:00 - NES-Nutri-Energetics Systems (Place hand on device and an electromagnetic reading provides information on the body's nutritional successes and needs, pesticide contents, enzyme sufficiency, vitamin and mineral sufficiency, presence of antibodies to various viruses and bacteria, and various other things)
4:00 - Sauna and herbal steam bath, fresh fruit
6:00 - Dinner

The NES was pretty fascinating, particularly since some of the results it returned confirmed some things each of us already knew from other sources. Russ was told that his body is low on B-complex vitamins, contains too much oil (fried food) fat and has had too much computer exposure. Further, his liver still needs to keep working on the long process of removing toxins from his body, and that he must work on cleansing and detoxifying his colon (made some progress there...) and kidneys first. Lesley was told that her body is very low on calcium and B-complex vitamins and that it's because she isn't breaking down food well enough to absorb those nutrients. Her report also said she has a high concentration of agricultural pesticides (typically used on non-organic fruit and vegetable crops). She was told she needs digestive enzymes, particularly lipase (body doesn't do a good job of breaking down fats to get rid of them, just stores them) and, interestingly, that she's technically lactose intolerant (!) and that she should think about that possibility whenever she feels fatigue, has emotional swings or has digestive difficulties after consuming any lactose. Food for thought--we'll let our inner skeptics and optimists continue their grappling :)

Another thing we enjoyed was the infrared sauna (different from far-infrared treatment). It was amazing how fast it made the body produce perspiration, and how much! Lesley lived in a house with a sauna for five years so she is accustomed to dry heat and doesn't turn into a faucet when the temperature rises, but she was surprised by the fast results of the infrared spectrum.

Over the week we saw some of the same healers several times, and warm connections have developed in spite of limited ability to communicate linguistically. The men and women working here are highly skilled, committed to their work, and kind-hearted. Lesley connected really well with Daeng, who gave her an abdominal massage and a Thai massage. Daeng was absolutely thrilled to feel how her work was successful on my body during the Chi Nei Tsang. It was so clear that she was personally invested in my health and well being. She even talked me through the Chi Nei Tsang so that I can use some of the technique on my own. Russ enjoyed working with John, a masseur who did the majority of his massages, since he took extra time making sure Russ's muscles were loose and without pain. John also taught Russ a few Thai words and a couple of different ways to tie the traditional light-weight Thai shorts we'd bought in Bangkok.

Our skin feels like satin. There simply isn't any more to slough off. We've been sweating and bathing and getting rubbed all over the place so much that all of our body tissues feel refreshed, healthy.

We've posted pictures Tao Gardens from this week online. Including pictures of our red blood cells before and after our detoxification. The clumped RBC's are oxygen and nutrition deprived while our 'after' pictures are healthy RBCs.) Please check them out http://carmichael.smugmug.com/Events/99386
(Lesley's are the first two pics and Russ' are the last two pics)

Final quick note: Rae keeps calling this place a "health farm" which is cracking us up.

Tao Garden Health Spa - Days 3 and 4

Day Three
Today's 7 a.m. Chi Kung class was abbreviated to 30 minutes so that we could all hike out to a big lake and dam nearby for a meditation. The "15" minute hike actually took about 40 minutes, but in fact that made it more enjoyable. The hike itself was done as a meditation, following these four rules:
1. Walk single file, evenly spaced (about 2 feet)
2. While walking, remember to breathe deeply in the abdomen
3. Maintain some kind of comfortable hand shape consistently for the whole walk
4. Walk in unison, in the same footprint if possible

Our morning was misty and humid, typical for this time of year here in the foothills of the Himalayas. We finally emerged from the greenery to face a huge sloped dam. Our meditation walk continued up the slope as we carefully, steadily, silently climbed the dam. The serene, undeveloped lake was beautiful in the soft early morning light. We meditated by the lake for a little while and then relaxed, conversed and took a few photos before heading back by a different route, this time all chatty and social.

Here's our Detox Day 3 schedule (see past blogs for descriptions of repeated treatments)
7am - Chi Kung and Meditation hike
9 am - Breakfast
10 am - Lymphatic/Rife machine
11am - Herbal Steam Bath
12pm - Colon Hydrotherapy
1pm - Lunch
2pm - Foot Detox (90 minutes of foot rubbing, soaking, kneading, sloughing and massaging heaven) & Reflexology (our feet never felt so light and healthy and the reflexology made our organs feel refreshed!)
5pm - Tendon muscle massage (Russ only - 110 minutes of theraputic massage stretching and loosening the body's major tendons and muscles from the head to the feet)
7pm - Dinner

The tendon muscle massage was the best massage Russ has ever recieved (sorry CA friends who've given him massages before). It wasn't a typical massage--it was like partner yoga with deep tissue massage loosening and stretching tendons as well as muscles in the legs, shoulders, neck, upper back and chest.

After dinner we hung around for a while with David and Jackie (a couple from Carmel, CA) and Dennis (a Tao Garden employee, who is from the Bay Area--wassup with all these Californians at the hippie farm here?!? ;-) David is a Transcendental Meditation instructor among other things and Jackie teaches ESL. They have just spent 9 months in Turkey, where Jackie was teaching English, and now they're trying to decide where to live next. They are scoping out possibilities in southeast Asia. Dennis has been "traveling" for 20 years now. Back in the day he used to work as a salesperson for IBM (back in the days of the marvelous blue chip) and currently he is a Tao master and at home here in Chiang Mai. People's stories are so fascinating.

Later in the evening we got online and got some fun news: Lesley's long-time friend Jason from Detroit is arriving in Phuket on the 27th! Jason visited Thailand a few years ago and really connected with the people, their culture and the way of living here, so he stayed for many months and even was trained in Thai massage in Chiang Mai. When the tsunami hit the Phuket area last December, Jason immediately got on a plane and came here to help (he is an EMS/ambulance health care provider), again staying many months. Now he's coming to stay for one year, this time employed by a health/wellness facility in Phuket. We have tentative plans to visit Ko Chang, an island in the southeast part of Thailand, but with this news, we are reviewing our plans because it would be excellent to spend time with Jason, see Phuket through his fond eyes.

Day four
Day four was a much needed day off. Russ managed to get up for the 7 a.m. Chi Kung class but slept for several hours after returning in a relaxed state. Lesley, often a mild ansomniac, burrowed deeper into bed when the alarm went off, acknowledging that serious rest is hugely important for the detoxification process. On her way to the pool for a swim in the morning, Lesley passed an outdoor satellite TV area, and found Dennis watching... the World Series! Dennis claims things like the World Series and the Superbowl are tendrils of connection to his old American culture (although he has lost his taste for beer during his life's quest).

After lunch, Russ, Lesley and Jackie took a Thai vegetable carving class. We made leaves out of cucumbers, a rose out of a tomato peel and other carvings, decorating a whole plate. It was fun! We'll have to bust out our new skills at a dinner party someday. We manged to squeeze in a swim and a few pamperings (steam bath, banana leaf treatment) before the usual 5 to 6 p.m. total downpour. Lesley bonded in the herbal steam bath with Rae, a friendly yoga teacher from LA who has been traveling alone for many months and is currently teaching yoga in the hills of Indonesia. She came to Thailand just to visit and ended up getting sick on some bad food somewhere, so she came to Tao Garden to recover. She decided to do a detox and it is causing some heavy emotional circumstances to bubble up for her, so it's great that she is surrounded by supportive people along with the thoroughly serene environment. We all attended the Tao Yin evening exercise together--a quiet, yoga-like floor-based series focused on the spinal core of the body. The Laughing Buddha posture was a blast: you lay on your back, put your arms and feet up (like a dead bug in an old cartoon), shake them around like crazy, and--laugh. Yes, laugh and giggle and chortle your heart out. You'd think it's hard to laugh on demand, but everyone found it so goofy that in no time we were all laughing for real, and Lesley actually couldn't stop giggling even though the posture was long over.

And that, dear family and friends, was our delightful day off. Tomorrow we go back to poking, prodding, rubbing, steaming, and so on. Phew!

Tao Garden Health Spa - Day 2

We're in better shape after today's detoxing than we were yesterday. Both of us notice our skin developing a healthier glow and our bodies feel better.

Here's the schedule for Detox Day 2 - (activities without descriptions are listed below in the schedule for day 1)
9 am Breakfast (We skipped the 7am Chi Kung since our bodies needed the rest)
10 am Abhyamga (50 wonderful minutes of a luscious warm oil massage given by two people - the oil was a detoxifying sesame oil with four herbal scents added; one for each element)
11am - Ozone treatment
12pm - Banana Leaf treatment
1pm - Lunch
2pm - Lymphatic/Rife machine
3pm - Herbal Steam Bath
5pm - Colon Hydrotherapy
6:30pm - Dinner
7:30pm - Tao Yin Evening Exercise (Russ only - The class consisted of breathing, stretching, and sound exercises intended to remove your body of bad chi (energy) and replace it with good chi)

Our bodies are feeling much better at the end of today than they were feeling yesterday. For Russ - it was the colon hydrotherapy which exhausted his body yesterday (making him feel like he had been snowboarding all day) however today's didn't nearly have the same impact on him.

Our skin looks amazingly healthy after the Abhyamga (oil) massage! After layers of oil were rubbed into our bodies, the masseuses scrapped the oil off of our bodies along with many toxins and unhealthy skin. Unfortunately we're not getting anymore Abhyamgas however we feel this massage served its purpose.

As they say here...Good Chi **Good Heart** Good Mind

Bodrum, Epehsus, Kos

After ten days of cool, autumn weather in Croatia, Slovenia, and Istanbul...the warm, sunny weather of Bodrum was greatly appreciated. Stepping out the back of the airplane was a bit odd for Lesley: the only time she had exited out the back of a plane, she was jumping out of a Skyvan over Pennsylvania.

As our taxi took us to Seckin Konaklar, our hotel in Bodrum, we passed tourists browsing through the plethora of shops, a smorgasbord of restaurants, and a big bay full of sailboats and yachts. Ah, the Turkish Riviera. The people at Seckin Konaklar were extremely nice and accommodating. With four geeks and three laptops, our main concern where we stayed was strength of the wifi signal. After walking through several different rooms with a laptop in hand checking the wifi signal the hotel owner appeared and told us we could move one of their wifi points right into the apartment. Now that is service.

After geeking out for a while, we walked along the busy bayside street in search of dinner. We were mobbed by every restaurant/bar frontman... They jump in front of you, arms wide, yelling "My friend! You are hungry! Come in! Where are you from?" (We're not sure whether "You are hungry" is a translation issue or a psychological ploy.) We finally got hooked by one place offering a sweet deal on fresh sea bass and a table right on the water. The view was stunning....the contrast of the dark bay at night against the colorful lights all around the bay.

Bodrum is known for its non-stop nightlife. Since we arrived just after the end of the high season for the town, the crowds were gone. This made for great access to the region's ferries, beaches, etc. - but to the dismay of the two single men among us, most of the cute summer patrons were gone.

Scuba!


As we mentioned in the Istanbul Part Bir blog, we took the recommendation of our friend Kutoy at the Istanbul nightclub and connected with his old scuba company in Bodrum. This was the first time for three of us, so we did "discovery dives" down to only around 10 meters. Scott Northrop is certified so he did two solo dives. Lesley got to play with an octopus on her dive and got inked!

Ephesus

We rented car one day and Scott Northrop dashed us up to Ephesus like Mario Andretti (indeed, he deserved an honorary Turkish driver's license--he fit right in). The zippy ride didn't stop Russ from being able to sleep sitting up in the back seat, though. He can sleep anywhere, anytime. Scott L. loaded up the book of Ephesians on his iPod so we could review it on the way there. It was pretty awe-inspiring to be setting our feet down on these old, well-trodden roads... the same roads walked on by St. Paul and so many prominent figures in history. But we can't be serious all the time: on the grand stage of an ampitheater, the Scotts reenacted the sword fight from Princess Bride. We also visited Mary's purported last home as well that day. All of the visitors were quiet, reverent--you could feel their focus in the air. Outside people tied tissues or fabric along with their prayers and intentions onto a wall-mounted rack to move them with the wind through the air.

Unfortunately Scottoni had to fly to Istanbul Thursday night and begin his long trek back to Seattle. Scottino and Scottoni continued to hit it off like old friends; Russ and Scottoni got to know each other better; and Russ and Scottino, best friends for a long time, got to spend some much-needed time together again. Of course Lesley had a blast hanging out with three fun, dashing men--she and various Turks referred to them as her harem.

A Restful Friday...

Lesley blogged, enjoying a quiet day though struggled with the less than consistent wifi connection. Scott L. and Russ got a little one-on-one time while they explored the city, figuring out how to get to Kos (Greek island) the next day and which buses to take to depart Bodrum. We originally had grand plans to go out that night but our plans changed as we got wrapped up in deep discussions over drinks at the apartment. We had all been reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Way to Love by Anthony DeMello on this trip, so we considered our own "personal legends" (a la Coelho), events and choices in our lives and where we are headed. We went out for a late dinner and the discussion continued, so rather than shift gears to participate in a noisy, superficial club scene, we just took long walk along water and through the town.

A touch of Greece...

That morning we barely woke up in time to catch the 9am ferry to Kos. Our mission on the island was to find a nice beach so we rented some bikes and pedalled our way down the island. It wasn't long before we all agreed on a good beach... we rented chairs and palm thatch umbrellas and spent a lazy day reading books. Late that afternoon the wind picked up and the air got downright chilly so it wasn't a problem prying ourselves back to Bodrum.

A most Delightful and Delicious Dinner at La Jolla

For dinner, we decided to go to La Jolla, an elegant tapas and wine bar. We were greeted by the friendly owner Serdar, a Turk who lived in California for many years and loves wine. He and his wife Ece, a pharmacist, were both educated in the U.S. Serdar strategically built La Jolla on the edge of the bay by the yacht club to pull in wealthy vacationers. He told us Bill Gates was at his restaurant the day before. Lesley told Serdar that if Gates returned, tell him to hire her :) Serdar is a smart businessman--he recently bought up the restaurant space next door to La Jolla to open a sushi bar for the next summer season. He has a niche market: nowhere else in the area can you get quality California and other wines, much less sushi and sake. He gave us some awesome wine and tapas recommendations and sat down chatting with us for most of our lingering meal. He invited us to join him the next afternoon to see a quieter, less touristy area on the other side of the Bodrum peninsula, a town called Gumusluk.

The small fishing town was very pretty--no tourists. In the center of the bay there was a small island about thirty meters from shore. We walked out to it in thigh-high water on a rocky underwater surface. Under the water we could see an old Roman road that was built to reach the island (see photo) (the water level must have been consistently lower then). The smooth stones of the road were very slippery. Ece tried taking the old Roman road but slipped and fell in! The good news: she got to splurge on a new (dry) dress for her troubles. The rest of us avoided the slippery road and tiptoed on the sharp stones, grimacing... Russ finally put his Tevas on to save his feet, and then came back in to carry Lesley over the stones. Scottino got no such princess treatment. We had a pleasant afternoon chatting with Serdar and Ece. They gave us tips on Istanbul and we showed them pictures from our silly night at Halikarnas.

Halikarnas

We headed to Bodrum's largest nightclub Halikarnas--a massive (holds several thousand people) open air club located right on the water. Everything is white, and video screens are supported between Corinthian columns. There is a plushed out chill room inside--plushed out in a Turkish way, with traditional carpets and pillows. The music was pretty fun but drinks were Ibiza priced. The off-season crowd was small given the size of the club. We could imagine though how killer it probably was during the high season (albeit tacky-touristy). But if you didn't mind that, and you wanted to throw down and dance in a big crowd on the Aegean Sea, it wasn't a bad option :) The memorable part of the evening was the foam party--a very strange thing that has sprung up in dance clubs all over the world including Seattle and San Francisco. It was the first time for all of us to be present for such a thing. What a strange, strange phenomenon. At first just a little was sent flying onto the dance floor. Some people thought it was fun and got into it, and others retreated to the drier side of the dance floor. But then the stuff just kept coming. I mean, it was really ridiculous. We got completely soaked, dancing and laughing, as it came literally up to our waistlines. It was goofy fun but it sure drove most of the patrons away. Then again, it was past 4 am, so perhaps that was the intention. We met some friendly Israelis on the dance floor who were also bathing in the foam.
It's funny; when we make friends with other travelers, topics such as politics often come up in conversation, and all travelers generally feel the same way about events going on and people running the political show. Must be that certain kinds of people who tend to have certain points of view are the ones who are more likely to get out and travel.

We finally turned in around 5 am, but we had to be up and at 'em to meet Serdar and Ece at 1:30 at La Jolla for our visit to Gumusluk. Serdar thought it was hilarious that we actually went to Halikarnas the night before--he said the last time he went there was 15 years ago because it was so touristy-tacky. We scrambled in the morning to get Scottino's music onto a CD (hacked our way through an iPod to do it). Serdar knows people who run the famous catamaran parties in Bodrum... the catamaran leaves the dock at 1 am and returns around 5 am or so, and apparently it is just a crazy party with huge name DJs and a rambunctious crowd. We're all pulling for Scottino to get a spot on the catamaran next summer! We burned a CD just in time. The cool thing was, later on, (after we took Scottino to the bus station) Russ and Lesley stopped by to say hi to Serdar on the way home and he was playing Scottino's CD at his restaurant! Yay!

WB = 85

Istanbul - Part Bir

Perhaps it's because 16 million people in one city cannot help but be dynamic, or maybe it's the inevitable cultural elegance of a city poised on the cusp of Europe and Asia... whatever is driving Istanbul, it's electric, eclectic and wildly fun. Our adventuresome gang (Scott Northrop, Scott Larson, Russ and Lesley) are in agreement that this city, and in fact this country to the extent that we have been able to experience it, has a flair for living, good humor, and a tenacity that wins in sociopolitics as well as it does in the bazaar.

We all flew in to Istanbul on the same day, and after a wild ride through Istanbul's rush hour (notice the motorcyclist on the sidewalk), we settled in at the lovely Hotel Alp (which we recommend highly--cozy, fun staff, gorgeous view over the Sea of Marmare from the terrace). We strolled the streets of our Sultanahmet neighborhood and finally decided to have dinner on the marvelous rooftop of the Seven Hills Hotel, which is snuggled right between two majestic mosques: the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. An enthusiastic frontman for the restaurant (an archetype we have since found to be ubiquitous and to which we have had to build resistance) enticed us to "view" the terrace (with "no obligation" of course). The view took our breath away, and the menu looked de-luscious too, so we were sold! Glorious mosques to the east and west, the Bosphorous merging with the Sea of Marmare to the south (and, well, we don't know what was to the north because we were consumed by the rest)... The jovial and extremely courteous staff provided us with rich paisley shawls to ward off the chill of the night as we sat down to peruse the many delights on the menu. Little did we know that this gesture was but one instance of the pervasive, sweeping generosity and hospitality of the Turkish people. (They were also commendably patient with our constant field trips from the table to the terrace's edge for photos.) After dinner, we patted our bellies full of fresh fish, eggplant, good spices, and Turkish coffee and beer and called the night a rousing success, even if it stopped right there...

But everyone likes a bit of foreshadowing, don't they?

Well of course our night didn't stop there, oh no. This gang had to go all out on our first night in Turkey. It was a Saturday night, and Scott Larson (some of you know him as DJ Scottino) just happened to be reading in BPM magazine about a mega-exclusive, invite-only, ultra-slick penthouse-rooftop club in Istanbul called *Godat*Disco*... so we all decided we should try to get in. Why not? The article mentioned the name of the producer of the club night, which we all memorized (with the best Turkish pronunciation we could muster at that point)... Because *of course* we met him in Ibiza this summer, and he *told* us that when we came to Istanbul later in the year, we should come by his club...

Istanbul is a huge city and we had absolutely zero idea where this place was; nevertheless, we piled into a taxi and off we went. We climbed out at the Surmeli Hotel (the hotel with the penthouse club) and watched the taxi drive off as we sauntered up to the several stern-looking men in suits at the door. Scottino and Lesley had it all planned: Scottino, with his DJ credentials, would give the drivel about Ibiza, and Lesley would be on improv backup (and reasonable Turkish name-pronouncing) duty. Scottino goes first, telling the alpha bouncer guy with the headset and the beefy backup crew that we're happy to be finally visiting, and Can (pronounced sort of like "John") said to come by when we made it to Istanbul. Bouncer guy asks for the password!!! Doh! Bouncer guy says: "If you don't have a password I cannot do anything for you." But we were armed and ready: the BPM article informed us that entrance to the exclusive club is controlled by a password that's distributed via SMS. So Lesley jumps in: "Can told us about the passwords but we didn't know how to work that out since we're traveling and don't have phones right now. Besides, he told us to just come by." Then Scottino seals the deal with something like: "Is he here? Let's ask him." (Smooooth, ultra confident.) Bouncer guy peeps a few words into his super secret headset, makes us wait for a while. We converse among ourselves about Ibiza, we drop Can's surname, etc. Bouncer guy says: "Okay" and gestures us past. We're IN! We got the super secret passcard (see strange image at left), hit the elevator, and went all the way up. Scottino opened a tab in celebration of our reckless success, and our first drink was a round of champagne at 20 lira each... That's about 15 USD, yikes! All told, this place was almost as expensive as Ibiza. At one point during the night, we actually saw Can walk by (we recognized him from photo in BPM mag, which we also memorized just in case ;). We thought about going up to him and saying "Hey Can! We made it to Istanbul, remember we saw you in Ibiza and you said we should drop by!" just to round out our lie fully, but figured that might be pushing the fates.

The View from the Top

We could see for miles over the sprawling nightscape, extending from the lights of the city to the lights of the zillion ships in the sea. There are so many lights from ships that at nighttime that it is disorienting: it looks as though the city proper extends far into what you recall was water in the daylight. We didn't take photos at the club because we didn't want to blow our cover... it's a shame because it was a groovy penthouse with half of the club indoors and half outdoors. We met Haldun, a friend of the club's owner who actually constructed most of the interior, turning it from a spa into a night club. He made tables out of old sunbeds (just changed the bulbs from UV to neon!) and fashioned a see-through dance floor atop what used to be a swimming pool. It was impressive. Through Haldun and his wife, we met several fun people, all of them friendly, chatty, and an absolute blast. One great person we met was Kutoy, a professional diver who discovered an amphora from 5th-7th century on an archeological dive (his discovery filled a timeslot that had thus far been empty in the amphorae record). He also taught scuba diving in Bodrum, our next destination in Turkey after Istanbul. He recommended that we scuba dive with his old company while in Bodrum, and gave us their name and number. In the spirit of our reckless night, we decided right then and there that we would do it! And we did. Stay tuned for Bodrum tales, including our underwater photos...

We planned to stay late late late in anticipation of a glorious view of sunrise, but a moderate rain began to fall around 4:30 and the party moved indoors. The club became too packed, too smoky, and frankly too dramatic (the club really filled up around 3:00 and the drinks were flowing freely), so we called it a night. Not bad for our first night in Istanbul!

One new acquaintance of ours was Hakkan, who works nights at our hotel. He probably hated having us wake him up when we came in at various hours of the night, but he commented with amusement that we didn't hit Istanbul like most tourists do :) so we think at least we were curious to him. All of the staff there were super friendly--every time we came in or left, they would ask how we were, what we're up to, and take a few minutes to converse and offer tips and ideas as well as hear about our adventures.

We slept in until noon and then met up with Hakkan to go to the Blue Mosque. In conversation the day before, he offered to go with us, which we thought would be interesting; most of our gang had never been to a mosque before so having a Muslim around to ask questions of would be instructive. In between our oohs and ahhhs at the majesty of the place, we found out that 98% of Turkey identifies as Muslim, and about 25% practice strictly, including prayer five times a day and fasting during daylight hours of Ramadan (which would begin a few days later). We had fruitful discussions about the state of the world, the "war" in Iraq, the policies of various governments, etc. Our conclusion? We, a group containing Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and No Label Please members all felt the very same way about the state of affairs in the world.

Turkish Hospitality

After the mosque, we went to Hakkan's family's carpet store to meet his big brother, Salih. Over tea, Salih taught us about the different styles of rug making in Turkey (carpet vs. kilim, double vs. single knotting, hand vs. machine made, etc.). Of course it was a sales ploy but Salih turned out to be quite a character--which worked out well with this crew...before you knew it, Scottino and Salih were stirring the pot of bawdy humor and getting along famously. It turns out Salih will be in San Francisco within a handful of months. Cards were exchanged, reckless plans were laid... What a pleasure here in Turkey that even though vendors are hoping to make a sale, they are interested in just enjoying their time with guests as well. And so it was with Salih that day - we could afford nothing in his perfect-tourism-location shop one block from the Four Seasons Hotel in Sultanahmet... but we could be accomplices in bad jokes and good cheer.

Deep, Rich, Warm

The color palette of Istanbul is deep and rich, with warm earth and jewel tones. Even in the rain. We spent part of one day wandering around the Arasta Bazaar (not the Grand Bazaar) in our neighborhood, and what a pleasure to have our senses saturated with color and music and texture and the over-the-top sound and sight of persuasion as good-humored vendors tried to almost literally scoop us into their shops. The saturation continued into dinnertime, when we went to Turkmenistan restaurant, where we enjoyed live mellifluous Turkish folk music, utterly decadent yummies (perfectly spiced stuffed grape leaves, ayran [watered-down yogurt drink] with mint), lush traditional decor and several purring kittens at our feet.

Topkapi Palace

We visited the opulent Topkapi Palace, which was home to Selim the Sot, who drowned in the bath after drinking too much champagne (thank you Lonely Planet for that tidbit). There we viewed the living, ruling, and worshipping quarters of sultans along with a museum of weapons. The guys had a rather strong reaction to seeing the Circumcision Room (see photo). On a terrace over the sea, we met a sweet Ukranian woman, Katya (props to Scott N., who asked her to take our photo). It was her last day in Istanbul, and she was traveling alone, so we asked her to join us for a drink. We ended up finding a plushy corner to relax in for a while. We invited her to dinner and she accepted (by then she realized we weren't mean or dangerous ;) We shared stories, laughs, pictures, and drinks at our hotel before meeting up with Lesley's friends Hande and Dana.

Friends in Istanbul!

Hande is one of Lesley's former coworkers at the Language Learning Center at the UW, and Dana is her awesome partner. They pampered us silly, taking us out for the most amazing Turkish cuisine in the Taksim Square area. I think everyone's sides hurt after the meal - partly from eating too much, but mostly from laughing so much! What a great evening. We only got to see them for one evening in Istanbul Part Bir, but Russ and Lesley will see them again when they return to Istanbul (Part Iki!) after traveling around Turkey.

Ecumenia

We've been able to talk with many people who practice the Muslim religion. Their humble demeanor would earn the respect of any believers of anything: they have demonstrated a conscious acceptance of other faiths and have professed no judgments at all. In fact, they have reminded me of Muslims I have met in the United States--good people with good hearts, solid families, and friends from many walks of life. Nice to be able to confirm that Muslims outside the U.S. are just as great, just as human--not that we would have thought otherwise, but we appreciate the blaring contradiction to the image our government would have its constituents believe...what a disgrace. Rick Steves' "Back Door" travel series has this to say about Islam: "For us to understand Islam by studying Muammar al-Qaddafi and Osama bin Laden would be like a Turk understanding Christianity by studying George W. Bush and Jerry Falwell." A comment told to Steves by a Muslim mayor of a small town in central Turkey summed up the general attitude we've encountered nicely: "It doesn't matter what you call Him, as long as you call Him." Tell that to Dubya.

Five pillars of Islam:
1. There is only one God, and Muhammad is His prophet.
2. Pray five times a day.
3. Give to the poor.
4. Fast during daylight through the month of Ramadan (which began during our time in Turkey).
5. Visit Mecca. (Incidentally, Muhammad said: "Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you've traveled." This is very reassuring for Russ and Lesley who left jobs and responsibilities to round out their life credentials with travel ;)

That's all for now! Next up: Bodrum, Ephesus, Cappadocia, and Istanbul Part Iki.

A Short Stop in Slovenia

Our short two day stay in Ljubljana was an abbreviated version of the familiar chant April showers bring May flowers. It rained the entire first day we were there. Luckily for us it was only drizzling that afternoon when we (Lesley, Scott Northrup, and Russ) had to walk a short distance from the train station to the apartment we rented. As the day went on the rain increased its intensity, and we were recalling some of the dramatic flooding that had occurred in central Europe and the Balkans earlier in the summer. Our only adventure that evening was about 20 steps away: a quaint little Slovenian restaurant next door. The kind waitress there didn't speak any English at all, which was oddly refreshing to us but she was shy and apologetic about it. We enjoyed trying to meet her on her side of the language barrier with the Croatian we knew, and many giggles later we had a nice meal. When we left for the looong journey home we were stopped in our tracks by a massive puddle--several inch deep--that had suddenly developed between us and the entrance to our apartment. We tried to tiptoe, run, jump across the enormous puddle but we got soaked anyway. Ah, it was good to tuck in that evening in our cozy apartment. It was a good night's sleep and recuperation.

The next day turned out to be a marvelously sunny, crisp autumn day, perfect for discovering the elegant beauty of Ljubljana. Scott Northrup and Russ spent the afternoon together walking around the small town center while Lesley played Hausfrau and took advantage of the washing machine in our apartment. That evening all we all went on an informative and really fun guided tour of Ljubljana and its medieval castle. The highlight of the tour was the time we spent on top of the Ljubljana castle tower. The castle is located on top of one of the three prominent hills of Ljubljana. While on top of the tower, our guide Marty passionately told us stories about his city, country and culture as he pointed out points of history. He emphasized how lucky we were to see Ljubljana on such a clear night--probably the last of the season. We were able to see the highest peak in Slovenia which is rarely visible from the castle. Ours was the very last walking tour of the season for Marty. He was visibly moved by the beautiful night, and we felt lucky to be participating in it. We reflected on all of the serendipity and beauty we have experienced this summer.

The next day we got up at 5am and headed to the airport to fly to Istanbul. Since then we've been in Turkey for ten superlative days...stay tuned! We've also updated the smugmug site with pictures from Tuscany and Croatia (click on the Photos link in the sidebar on the right).

WB=80 (it's probably bigger but we've been sharing with many friends and we're losing track.)

Elba

La Isola d'Elba: A Lovely Place for Exile

Napoleon didn't do too badly when he was exiled to Elba as part of the peace treaty enacted when France retreated from Russia in 1814. This was after Napoleon had pretty much annexed the rest of Europe. This small island off the west coast of Italy is shaped like a rather twisted United States:
Notice "Florida" for instance. Seriously, doesn't that peninsula on the south look somewhat like Florida? And to be sure, it is edged with sandy beaches. I definitely see the Pacific Northwest up there, and I can even stretch the bay near Portoferraio in my mind's eye to represent the Great Lakes. But - let's recount the myriad ways in which Elba is different; that is far more interesting. The first and foremost difference that strikes me is the presence of palm trees and beaches on *all* sides. Then, of course, there is the rampant use of the Italian language, and the delicious, strong, creamy Italian espresso. There seems to be a lack of any real traffic jams (or perhaps we just didn't get stressed out by them because we were on a palmy island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy?) and, pleasantly, a lack of 8-lane highways. Perhaps the only deficit of Elba is that there is just one wine appellation on the whole island (albeit one that produces tasty wines and even puts pictures of Napoleon on the labels).

Yay for Friends!

Before I extol further virtues of Elba and tell of our enjoyment there, it must be said that the *most* marvelous thing about Elba is that it had our wonderful friends Mez and Natalia on it at the very same time we were there. Yay for friends! Russ and I arrived with a hotel address in Marina del Campo clutched in our hands. It took us two trains, a ferry, a bus, and a walk to get there. If only we hadn't been distracted by the purveyor of local wines and tasty goods on the way from the bus stop to the hotel, we wouldn't have been caught in the torrential downpour. We were grateful that we'd be spending two nights in the same place, and that it wasn't a youth hostel dorm, so that we could empty our packs and hang everything up to dry. We had plenty of warning from the sky and the air pressure before the rain began... but we justify our mishap with the *entire wall* of wines produced on Elba. I suspect the storm was Nature's way of scolding us for letting our Bacchanalia delay us from connecting with our friends. The old man who owned the shop kept pointing at my backpack, and then at the clouds, saying "Forza! Forza!" It was very sweet of him. We waddled off into the storm with smiles on our faces and a few extra pounds in our packs. Mez and Natalia had come from a wedding in Lucca - Russ and I were wondering whether the Tuscan wedding was an outdoor one... we were relieved to hear that all went well for the wedding.

I just realized that in all these words I have only covered about an hour of our time on Elba. I will try to speed things up, but it is such a pleasure when I actually am staying in a place where I can take out my laptop and leisurely walk through a part of our journey in my mind...

We were upstairs, relaxing and drying out, when Mez and Natalia returned from the beach (taking cover from the rain near the beach, actually). It was so wonderful to see them! We have seen so many amazing sights in our travels but laying our eyes on family and friends trumps them all.

Napoleon's Villa

Portoferraio, the port town of our inbound ferry, is where Napoleon lived (er, was "exiled" in his villa with lavish French furnishings). We (Russ, Mez and I) saw his iconic black felt hat
and learned more about this incredible force in European history. Napoleon was responsible for substantial improvements in Elba's civic life, including public works such as road systems as well as government style (Napoleonic code). Russ shared a story with us of Napoleon's 100-day return to power upon escaping from Elba: He arrived on the southern coast of France, and Louis XVIII sent an army of a couple thousand to fend him off. When they arrived, Napoleon presented himself to them unabashedly, and dared them to strike him down. His legendary charisma won them over, and Napoleon, fortified now by the army sent to keep him away, moved toward Paris. Upon hearing this, King Louis XVIII sent another, larger force to accomplish what the last had not. Napoleon won them over as well and continued to move north. In a snarky but probably well-earned episode of "I told you so," Napoleon sent a letter to his cousin, who was the commander of France's army saying "Thank you cousin for the troops, I have all I need, please don't send any more." What a great story.

As we left the villa, the sky darkened and then burst on us, so we waited it out before returning to the south side of the island. As we drove back, I jokingly suggested that Natalia had been sunbathing on the beach in perfect sunshine all day. Well, that *is* the nature of islands, and when we returned to the hotel, we indeed found a note from her directing us to her spot on the beach! Not a drop of rain had fallen there.

Island Clubbing

Or not. Both nights we spent on Elba, we intended to go out and hit a few of the dance clubs--perhaps Inferno with its funky mosaic bar, or Morumbi the Brazilian style club or Club 64, tucked to the side of a main road in the middle of the island like a club on Ibiza. Both nights, after big dinners and the requisite "when in Rome" carafes of wine, we tired out. We even powered down a few espressos after dinner to rev us up. All we got out of that was restless sleep. But hey, we are on vacation here, and that means relaxation!

Beaches and Vistas

We had two main objectives for Sunday: 1) explore Capiloveri, a town on the southeast portion of the island, and 2) find one of the nude beaches indicated on our map. Capiloveri is a town that has been known historically for its artistic, fresh culture (I say fresh, some say hippie). It was a gorgeous spot, with hills that afforded novel views at every turn. From one high point, we could see the Mediterranean coast on both the north and south sides of the island because the land narrowed so much.
We strolled through shops of local artists and enjoyed some gelato. It was a quiet, pleasant Sunday. That is, after I got over my nausea from all the incredibly twisty roads that make it possible to get from one town to another over the naturally mountainous terrain. I am grateful that Mez's response to my carsickness was to simply toss me the keys for the rest of the day (I am certain it made things easier for all of us).

We left Capiloveri and aimed for the nude beach on the east side of "Florida" (see map above ;) An hour and about 20 turns-around later, we finally learned from two returning sunbathers that the beach we were seeking was in fact where we had tried to find it--it was just the small matter of a dead-end road and an hour-long hike. Well, it was pretty hot outside and suddenly the regular ol' beach sounded just right. We enjoyed the sun, the salty spray, and the antics of children on the beach. Eventually, our weekend in exile had to come to an end... Soon we were back on the continent, with the four of us and all of our baggage crammed into the sporty little space-pod Fiat Mez and Natalia had rented. They were sweet and dropped us off in Pisa on their way to Milan so that Russ and I could catch a series of trains into Siena. That lift to Pisa allowed us to arrive in Siena two hours earlier than we would have if we had parted ways at the ferry dock!