jobsdb career fair!
we're between the stage and adidas booth!
ta-dah!
getting the exposure from our backwall...
my knees ached dreadfully after the first day coz we stood for like 12hrs? lotsa foreigners tho' totally not our target audience for the program we are offering...we have ah peks grabbing our freebies like the welcher's toffee sweet, pens, mints and paper bags..old graduates who look 40+ but tell me they have 2 yrs of work exp with masters..pple with bad breath n funny english!! we are looking for graduates lor anyways think the university fairs will be much better =)
asia minor...
is the ancient name for turkey. 97% of the country lies on the asia continent while the remaining 3% (known as thrace) is on europe. i was pleasantly surprised during this trip and did not realise turkey has much more to offer behind its rather conventional facade. it is a culturally rich country and the architect of existing landscape and ruins shows influence from both greece and the romans in the past. this is a secular state where muslims, christianity and other religions co-exist freely together. modern turkey is different from most islamic countries because they don't believe in taking the koran literally ie. word for word. interpretation by the newer generation means they follow the religion with an open minded heart rather than taking it to extreme ends. it is said the locals practise monogamy, dogs are treated properly as any other animals and drinking is allowed once in a while to de-stress from work...they seem more tolerant in reaching for their allah and respect is the keyword for not denouncing other institutions of worship for the same god .
our first day of visiting the mosques...blue mosque, hagia sophia museum & grand mosque. hagia sophia maintained the christian icons/mosaic even after conversion from a basilica to a mosque.
hippodrome of constantinople where chariot races used to take placeresting with a glass of turkish or apple tea after walking through silk market where olives and yogurt/cheese lined the shelves of shops.
proceeded to snowfields of uludag! Brrrr....
Selcuk we went to the House of virgin mary and all of us filled a bottle of holy water each!
Ephesus one of the largest archaeological sites with library of celsius, hadrian temple, marble street and agora...yesh that's the olden days pottty cynthia is sitting on ;p
Pamukkale known as cotton castle a unesco world heritage site made of white limestone terraces and pools created by spring waters flowing down the mountain..especially mesmerizing with the sun setting in the background.
the ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white castle we had lunch at cave/underground restaurants and stopped over at the 13th century sultanhani caravanserai, a hotel for ancient traders along the silk road.
Cappadocia explored the underground city of kaymakli since the Hittite period. it is said to be 8 storeys below ground and we had to duck-walk through some of the tunnels.
Goreme open-air museum comprised of 29 rock-cut churches and decorated with beautiful frescoes made from natural food dyes.
sights of uchisar small dwellings carved into massive rocks, valley of the birds where pigeons love to perch on the rocks and of coz enjoying turkish ice cream in the cold!
the famous fairy chimneys where basalt acts like a cap to the softer tufa rock beneath eroded by elements of nature...atilla our local guide in which this trip would be less enjoyable without his stories and vivid explanation on everything!
ataturk mausoleum final resting place of mustafa kemal ataturk who introduced women's rights and modernised turkey.
food! all provided in the tour package and mostly meatballs kebabs mackerel and bread (something like crepe or pita) and always very savory like they use salt for marinating while their desserts are practically doused in honey baklava, rice pudding...
my fav organic yogurt with honey and poppy seeds! the yogurt is so thick tastes like ice cream..yum!
trying local delights along the streets of istanbul...pistachio ice cream is nothing like those medicinal flavoured ones we have in sg this is really nuttty with AUTHENTIC pistachio taste & the tiramisu we ordered was to die for *_^
that's veal sausages and their pastry dessert shops in ankara...kebab shops near taksim square of istanbul
random pics...the whole lake was frozen except for that part where the ducks are swimming...n turkey sunset.
shoutout! the contents of this picture costs USD5.5k! guess who bought it?? ;] it's for her dowry next time wor..
local drink raki! tastes really horrible 45%? alcohol and you mix it with water tastes like fermented something LOL at grand bazaar which is very touristy and you see repeat souvenirs every 5 steps you take and stall owners coming up to you saying you have beautiful lips (eh cynthia?) or making weird proposals to ya =p
at the airport while waiting for ahem..which was basically the highlight of the trip for some ;) turkish words which our guide wrote on the windscreen of the coach to teach us..
hoşça kal turkey!
ta-dah!
getting the exposure from our backwall...
whatever makes me happy