So Im a Little Behind The Times....

I have yet to write about my trip two weekends ago! So, here I go:

PAMUKKALE

So we went to go see the cotton castle aka Pamukkale.
Its really tough to try to describe this place, but Ill do my best.
When you walk to Pamukkale you start off by taking your shoes off.
Then you can climb up this large hill which is covered in minerals and flowing water and hot springs and thermal pools. The weird thing is that it looks like snow, but its definately not. The climb is really scratchy on your feet. And on the way up you can walk through and chill in the thermal pools.
When we were there it was also repulsively hot.
So to solve this problem we were classy gals and changed into bathing suits halfway up Pamukkale (using towels as walls).

As soon as you get to the top of Pamukkale, there are a whole bunch of ruins to check out. And of course they would be strategically placed to cover as large a surface area as possible so you die in the heat.

Now, the first set of ruins we come upon, have like no tourists, or security guards, so we decided it would be a great idea to start climbing them! So, we are all chilling and climbing all over these ruins. We reach the top of the ruins and start enjoying the view when all of a sudden we hear this loud siren. It appears that climbing on the ruins is not allowed, and these two guards on a motorcycle are pointing to us, and shouting (most likely for us to get down, but not knowing much Turkish, this is only an assumption). Of course, we all scatter and bolt down the ruins as fast as we can. And as we reach the bottom, the motorcycle turns around and drives off.
The greatest part of this story is that when we continued on to the rest of the ruins, we realized there was a sign BEHIND what we just climbed saying 'Danger, Dont Climb'.

Anyways, we walked around the ruins. Then we left to the bus station office to catch a shuttle to our next destination. Entering the bus station office, we come across two employees. Now, these employees were probably about 10-11 years old. And not lying to you, they were running the show. They called to see if our shuttle was coming, we saw one sell a ticket, and then when a bus came to collect passengers he was giving orders to the adult bus driver. So, we trusted the kids and got to our next location, which after a couple of buses was a small village outside of Izmir.

Now, the reason we are staying in this village is because one of our Turkish friends had offered to take us that weekend, and he sent up host families to take us in so we wouldnt have to pay for accomadation.
We arrived in this village probably around 1100 pm. And we have taken probably 3 buses. So we are all pretty tired.
However, our friend offers to take us to a circumcision ceremony. So we go and dance around abit. And when it gets late we attempt to contact our host families. Unfortuantely most of them bail on us. So me and the ladies on the trip stay at our Turkish friends place

EPHESUS

The next day we go to ephesus.
Theres a lot of ruins.
It was really hot.
We spent about 2 hours at a restaurant to avoid the heat.
We return to the village in the evening.
We go drinking in the village.

IM ON A BOAT

The next day we go on a 7 hour boat trip on the Aegean sea. So much FUN!
The boat stops at these really cool beaches, and you get to jump of the boat and swim around the sea.
On of the beaches had a mud bath.
The Turkish people on our boat would dance and drink.
All around good fun was had.

OUR AMAZİNG RACE MOMENT

After the boat trip we returned to the village for a quick meal before leaving for the bus station office to catch a shuttle to the bus station. So, we had asked our Turkish friend what time we should leave to catch out 1010 pm shuttle. He said 900 pm. He was wrong.
The dolomus from his village to the bus station office was stuck in traffic for a long time. At 1000 pm we realized there was no way we were going to catch this shuttle. Plus, we never stopped in Izmir so we didnt know the city at all (in other words we didnt know how to get to the bus station office where the shuttle takes off, or the bus station). As we discussed our options on the bus, we got the attention of all the other passengers. So figuring out how we could catch our bus became a group bus effort. What we were told was that there was no way to catch the shuttle and we would have to take a taxi which should be about 40 lira. So we arrived at the bus station office at probably 1020ish. The office was closed, the shuttle was gone, but luckily the guy closing it was still outside when we arrived. He helped us flag down a taxi. At this moment in time we had approximately one hour to catch our bus. The rate the traffic was going was not looking good either. Plus we needed a second taxi because there was so many of us. Eventually we got another taxi and hit the road. Unfortunately the two taxi drivers had different feelings about our situation.

CAB 1 (not the cab Im in) -- was super excited to drive fast and wanted to do his best to get us to the bus station on time. I call him speed demon.

CAB 2 (my cab) -- indifferent about the situation.

At one point, Cab 1 slowed down to chat to Cab 2 in the middle of the highway between rolled down windows. Again, with the lack of Turkish knowledge, I can only make assumptions as to what we was saying. However I think it was something like 'hurry your ass up'.

Of course, Cab's 2 carelessness meant that Cab 1 sped off without us.
On top of that, our meter had just reached 40 lira, which according to the people on our bus, should have meant we should have arrived at the station already. As our meter slowly rised, we decided we should attempt to speak to the driver to see if

A) We where close to the station

B) If we could go faster.

The conversation went something like this:

Us -- ne kadar otogar? (how far, bus station)

Cab driver -- nothing

Us -- pardon?

Cab driver -- nothing

So we give up. Our meter rises. Our time becomes limited.
Then we hit a construction zone with a speed limit of 30 km.
Great.

Luckily, that construction zone was close to the station.
We arrive at the bus station at 1115pm.
Had enough time to spend my last 50 kurus to use the bathroom before the bus.
Snipe.