Trek The Unknown

Image via WikipediaAt Every evening in Kusadasi we went out of our hotel to down town. Down town is full of bars, restaurants and coffee shops. Also, there are many tour Agencies which open until late, so It’s possible to order a trip for the next day.

One of the sites that looked beautiful on the photos was Pamuckale. My girl friend also heard that it’s suppose to be a great place to visit. So, instead of paying to a tour company we started to search on how to get there by buses.

It turned out that the site is 3 hours ride away from Kusadasi. We had to go to the central but station (The local name is “Garaj”) , don’t get confused with the mini bus station, it’s a different place.

We used a bus company called KamilKoc. They have a bus going to Denizli, which is a nearby town to Pamuckale) at 9:30 AM. It took us 3-3.5 hours to get there. The ride cost 20 Turkish lira per person.
Ask to get of at the Garaj in Denizli. From there we took a mini bus for 2 Turkish lira to Pamuckale.
After 20-30 minutes ride the bus drops you in the center of Pamuckale village. The village is right under the site which well seen from the village.

All you left with is walking to the terrace (entrance: 10 lira) for a few minutes.
It’s a beautiful site which really doesn’t exist anywhere in the world (as far as people told us).
You walk up the terrace and you have pools of water mixed with lime. People go in the water and it’s really nice. Don’t worry,the maximum depth is 10-15 inch.

Pamuckale also has a big Archeological site, but after seeing Ephsus on the day before, we decided we we will skip the archaeological part of the day. We think it’s a different entrance fee from going into the lime pools.

After we walked all around we went to a few of the pools that were allowed to swim at. No shoes are allowed when you step in the lime area.

The last bus leaving Denizli back to Kusadasi is at 18:00 ( 6:00 PM). We took a different company than the one on the way to Denizli. The company called “Pamuckale”,just like the site. the ride to Kusadasi costs 23 Lira and it even took less than 3 hours ride.

A few words about Denizli. We had a little time going around there. We never read of Denizli or tried to find out what’s to do there since we really didn’t have time. But, Denizli looked to us as an ordinary local city with no tourists. near the Garaj there are many restaurant serving local non toursty food and not expensive. Also If you need a bank or ATM machine there are a bunch around.

Concluding our day, we think that on a short vacation like we had, it wouldn’t be worth going all the way to there just for this. We had a 4 night vacation so this takes the whole day. If you have time It’s worth taking your time and going there as part of a whole longer trip. You can even stay a night or two at pamuckale village.

Our 2nd day in Kusadasi was very exciting. We heard about a local village called SIRINCE (pronounced: shiringe) which is very picturesque.

In order to get the “full” local experience and adventure we used the local transportation. a dolmush is running from Kusadasi to Selcuk (pronounced: selchuk) and it’s written on the front part of the dolmush vehicles. It’s a pretty short ride of around 25 minutes and costs 4 Turkish lira, which is about 2 Euro per person. You get off in selcuk at the last stop (you’ll see many dolmushes around) and then take another Dolmush going to SIRINCE, This ride is also not too long and costs 2.5 Turkish lira.

The Village itself is one of kusadasi tourist attraction and therefore it’s main strrets a re also very touristy like with stores and coffee shops. We decided to wonder around the village and get to it’s upper part where no tourists are preset.

A local woman who spoke no English grabbed us in one off the allies and took us in her house. It was a single room house and very modest. She gave us some Apricots and then suggested some of the crafts she makes for sale. We didn’t really want to buy anything, but she was very nice and we felt somewhat uncomfortable, not to mention that what we bought was really low priced. so, we decided it’s worthwhile buying.

later on we walked around some more and reached a church. This church has a good view point over the whole village.

Our next stop was Ephesus. We saw the entrance to the site right before selcuk. It’s situated on the road between Kusadasi and Selcuk. Ephesus ( Or efes, as the locals says) is really close to selcuk, just a few minutes ride with a local Dolmush.

Ephsus is a Greek archiological site. It’s well preserved and beautiful. Entrance fee for the site is 10 Turkish lira per person. vocal earphones guide is availble for rent also.

The site is huge and has a few attractions that worth seeing. there is a big Amphitheater, A magnificant wall of an ancient library. One of the most beautiful ones is the rich houses terrace. It’s partly rebuild with the help of the Austrain Government and has additional entrance fee (10 Lira). It’s worth that cost!

Since it’s a big site it’s recommneded for a 2-3 hour visit. The place doesn’t have much shade so it’s good to prepare for that. Take a lot of water, sunscreen and hats.

In order to leave you need to walk to the main road. It’s 10-15 minutes walk. From there you take a Dolmush back to Kusadasi. We decided to try and hitch hike. well…It worked! a car stopped with 2 nice girls and their mother. They were on vacation too and were locals from Ankara. They didn’t only take us to the main road but all the way to Kusadasi. They had a vacation house there. We exchanged phone numbers in order to meet later on.

on the whole we think it’s defently possible going to Sirince and Ephsus on the same day. They are pretty close and both are beautiful place. We even had time at the end of the day jump into to swimming pool.

After a few days of walking…it’s time to rest! So that day we decided to have a resting day.

Chame Is the largest village in the district and actually you can find some pretty cheap trekking gear or food that you might need later. Of course it all compared to the prices along the trek.

We bought some twix bar which were 50 rupees each. We also bought some trekking gear. A friend of mine bought a walking stick since his got broken. I bought another fleece shirt…(I thought I’m going to freeze when being closer towards Throng La (La means, pass).

Chame has hot springs! but….At that time of year which is the dry season ( We were visiting there at the end of October) the springs are actually a tiny pond you can either put in your hand or leg only.

On the other hand, I met some people taking a bucket, filling it and having a shower by the spring. The water are warm and great!

In order to get to the hot springs turn right, right after the last bridge in the village (when coming from Danaqyu village direction). Then you walk through a few guest houses courts down the river ( river on your right). After passing those guests houses you need to go down straight to the river, there you’ll see a concrete pool (which was empty at that time).

Our porter said that one or two month later there would be more water in the spring and the concrete pool would be full which would allow a splendid bath!

enjoy

oh! also, HAPPY NEW 2008!

After Covering my favorite guest house in Thamel, It’s time for Internet places. Actually there are so many, and you can’t really try them all. Just like you can’t try every hotel around here.

Prices of Internet vary from 15-30 rupees per hour. The main differnece is on the connection speed and services, such as Skype, microphone, earphones, messenger that are already install on the computer. If you get to a place where your favorite software is not installed, it very OKAY just to download it and install it by yourself. I personally download to installation files on my disk on key, so whenever I need one of the programs I just install it from there. It’s a good way to save some valuable download time.

The fastest connection I found is at “MSN cyber cafe”. It costs a little more (3o Rupees per hour, which still makes it 0.5$ per hour….not too bad…) but the connection speed is great. especially in the morning time.

It’s situated across from the Pumpernickel Bakery( great sandwiches, try it!) at the heart of the Thamel.

Since I’m already In the neighborhood (i.e. Thamel) for almost 5 weeks, I think I do have some knowledge on good places to stay.

I’ve been to a bunch of budget geust houses around here and must say that prices are about the same and vary 50 nr (Nepali rupees) from place to place.

Hotel DownTown is the one place I liked (don’t be confused with Down town guest house, it’s a different place). The hosts thee are very nice. rooms prices starts from 150 nr (around 2.5$) per night in a single room without inside bathroom. If you are 2-3 people traveling together you can get away with 100 nr per person.

The bad thing about budget hotels are that they have limited hours of hot water for showers, and even then the are not very consistent about it. Hotel down town has (almost) 24/7 of hot shower water (I’ve stayed there more that 3 weeks and I stumbled a cold shower just once).

So, This is my pick!

Hotel Down town Saatghumti, Thamel, Kathmandu
phone number: 01430471

If your Budget is even lower than this, Freak street, would be the place for you. As I mentioned I didn’t stay there, this is just from what I heard from other travelers. Freak street has limited selection of hotels and is around 20-25 minutes walk from the Thamel, which is where all the touristy happenings. But This blog is not about being a normal tourist, but being a traveler, get to know and experience places. So freak street can also be a nice experience.