Turkey Honeymoon

(Warning: A photo-rich post, very long read)

Turkey, our choice city for our honeymoon! We have planned this since March 2014 but because it's a group tour, there's not much real planning on our side of things. What we did before this trip was just to read up on the places of interest and Turkish foodstuffs!

We got booked with BesTours which offered us an amazing deal from Matta Fair. And mind you, in these kind of places where English language is not primary language and where places of interests is never in the reach of taxis, my advice (after returning from Turkey) is to NOT travel alone around Turkey, if it's your first time there. I am not saying it's not safe (it's safe alright). I am saying, most touristy places are inaccessible unless you join their ground tour.

Us and our new found (tour) friends at the Bosphorus cruise. Left of boat is Asia; Right is Europe. Turkey has the best of both worlds!

Turkey is the country that has the best of both worlds. Asia on your left, Europe on the right. My hubby was saying that if Istanbul has a full marathon, you can boast to your friends about running from Asia to Europe! Hahaha, good idea. Turkey has been a critical part of the Greek and Roman civilization for thousands of years, therefore the history is extensive. Imagine, Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople) was a Christian city before the Ottoman took over in modern history making Islam its official religion and churches were converted into mosques. And then in 1900s, revolution led by Mustapha Kamal Ataturk made Turkey a republic, making it a secular country. (Disclaimer: My version of history may skew a bit, as I was always napping in the bus. Go and wiki if you are dissatisfied).

Thousand years of accumulated histories allows this country to be decorated by buildings of great architectures which leaves you in awe. Greek and Roman ruins around this countryside are evidence of thousands of years of war and peace. The ample natural resources allows for many great armies and governments to want to be conquer Turkey and own every grain of soil and (hot) springs it has. Even Virgin Mary, accompanied by the Apostle John, has a home near Ephesus, Izmir.

So many nice architecture building but don't ask me their names.  This is one infamous mosque situated next to the Bosphorus river that separates Asia and Europe.

We took Etihad Airways where the from KLIA to ISTANBUL via Abu Dhabi. We were lucky, as we've got an upgrade to Business Class. Of course, that means, demand demand demand (no, I didn't ask my peanuts to be served on a plate), and more leg SPAAAACCE! The Business Class at Etihad is simply different from MAS flights in a way that the former is more personal, but less romantic. My hubby was sitted next to me, but separated by the aisle, and because this is a honeymoon trip, I felt, ya... "separated". But we both crave leg-space and so: leg-space, flat-bed and massaging-chair is what we got!

Transformers and my vodka with lime and peanuts served in a bowl. Phew! :-P

Weird, seat number says we sit next to each other, but it's actually separated. So unromantic, Etihad's Business Class sittings. Meh.

We visited many many many historical places. You may think historical places are boring. But no. Historical places here come with loads of great stories of mythical origins (these mad Greeks and Romans) and real facts. And historical places here come with scenic views. Major agriculture in this kinda wintry weather are olives and mandarin oranges. First time jakun see olive trees, thought it was grapes.

I would like to again emphasize why a tour is essential at Turkey because one great city to another takes between 4-6 hours by bus. The tour crosses farms, hills, agriculture area, hills overgrowned with (real) Christmas trees, and old cities that eerily resembles ghost cowboys towns. Our Turkish tour guide did tell us a lot of things about the country, its history and their way of live throughout the journey so we did learnt quite a lot (although I slept all the time)!

Preparing their land for the next harvest. Towards Pamukkale

You cannot escape the thought of food or beverages associated with any foreign land you visit. In Turkey, it's no wonder that the infamous Turkish black tea, apple tea, and their crazy thick brewed Turkish coffee was the first thing that comes to mind. I like the black tea a lot, which taste like Lipton anyway, but the turkish one has a little more 'kick' in it. Well, I would say, I LOT MORE kick. Cause I had a major heart palpitation for the first time in my life at a cafe at Acropolis with a cup of black tea! My heart beat profusely fast that I had nausea and held on to dear life in the bus.

Tea MUST be served in curvaceous glass; Turkish coffee MUST be served in a banyak pattern punya cup. Just tradition, I guess. Then of course, other food may sound familiar to us Malaysians: Kebab, and Baklava. The lamb kebab is so delicious I almost cried (also because it was pricey). The cheese here is different from that of NZ or Aussie, and will surely decorate each and every bread I had here. This is because most cheese here are processed from goat's milk. I never thought I would say this (because I am not a foodie), but I must return here for the cheese.

Enjoying our cup of Turkish black tea over the Aegean Sea

Turkish coffee is bleh!

Our lamb kebab near the Grand Bazaar. Pricey but worth every Lira.

Aegean Sea is the sea in Turkey associated with Greek mythology. Of course, crossing this sea to get from Istanbul to Bursa (west coast), and back, requires your vehicle to be ferried through this sea. The trip is 1 hour, and yes, felt like Penang ferry, but here's it has a scenic view of the coast, and it's realllllllly cold now. Don't you dare stand outside the ferry. Your face sure frozen. No, I didn't spot Hercules and Pegasus killing monsters from this sea.

At the ferry. Let's get in before our face freezes.

He daringly face the cold outside , but I relented. Everyone else relented., as you can see.

Sunrise over Istanbul from the ferry

Aegean Sea over the coastal land of Kusadasi (a summer rich-man's playground). View from our hotel balcony.

Animals are so fat here, we wonder if those strays are even strays. Maybe because it's a four season country, therefore they develop great amount of fur, as Darwin's natural selection precedes. Cats are everywhere, Dogs are everywhere. Dogs and cats hug each other. I don't know. Everywhere in Turkey is dogs and cats that never fights. And yah, also, we spot a 'horse' at Troy.

Must be a cat's gossiping ground. So many at Bursa vicinity.

Another black cat crossing me at Bursa.

At Acropolis, 3 dogs were playing near the ruins, and one of them approached Fong. I am jeles.

My bus driver offered food to the dog and cats. One cat was riding on the dog's back like horse at Troy.

You cannot miss this animal at Troy

Baa baaa.

This fat one I saw at Ephesus on top of the Goddess of Victory, Nike.

Like Malaysia, Turkey is a secular country. But people here are 60-70% Muslim, and others are: "..dan sebagainya". You can pray if you want, don't want also can. Because if you Sunni, you pray 5 times a day in a mosque. If you Shiite, you don't pray in the mosque because history says a Shiite leader was once killed inside a mosque (as I was told by history book), so mosque is not "clean". But almost every corner city of  is filled with mosques, which is normal in Malaysia, but here, the mosque have super unique architecture: those oldy, moldy, Italian gothic type. Or Ottoman type(?). If they built a mosque in Turkey, they MUST follow back the same architecture or design. Cannot change. Like dat also can. 

Several mosque are to be mentioned: Bursa Ulu Cami a.k.a. Grand Mosque (there's a ski resort nearby), where there's a beautiful fountain inside the mosque. The super famous Sultan Ahmet/Blue Mosque in Istanbul where it's khat and ceiling design is incomparable to any mosques in this world. The pope came here to pray too in November 2014. And the Hagia Sophia, which if you read Dan Brown's Inferno that describes this museum beautifully, is I dare say, one of its kind in this universe. Yes, Hagia Sophia is NOW a museum; no longer a mosque nor church it once was. Because Mustapha Kamal Ataturk said so.

Outside Bursa's Grand Mosque

Bursa's Grand mosque (Ulu Cami) in front of a fountain inside the mosque.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque at Istanbul

Design inside the Sultan Ahmed Mosque

Hagia Sophia featured in Dan Brown's Inferno. Read that book to get more precise description.

Turkish lamps that can be found at Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

At Topkapi Palace where the Ottomans once lived. Now a museum containing loads of jewellery exhibits. That includes a 84 karat diamond, really.  

And what are the Fongs without some adventure, kannn?

Hierapolis at Pamukkale has 2 special elements: There's this natural wonder called Cotton Castle (a.k.a. Pamukkale) is only one of its kind in this planet. And because hot springs are associated with healing and cleanliness, the Romans (with bathing as their hobby), of course, made this place their home for hundreds of years.  They create a city around the springs called Hierapolis, which includes Necropolis (for the dead). So, if you come to this place, it's like super huge. Like from 20 km square (I guess nia, ok), Terraces of white hot springs sprung from carbonate salts, and surrounding it the ruins of the Roman city of Hierapolis and Necropolis.

This is what I was looking fwd to, not the hot-air balloon ride.

Winter and hotspings are soo compatible. Felt so good, as the springs is not too hot nor cold: 38 degrees C

Apart from carbonate rock formations that what made Pamukkale it is today, there's also yellow sulfur deposits which is a healing element.

LONELY PATH. No one ones a hike up the crazy path, only Mr. and Mrs. Fong.

Me and hubby performing alone at a theatre ruin. Because no one likes history in our tour except us, apparently.

We hiked up to this theatre, and we are alone in this vast stage !!!!!

Empty theatre. I like, cause no one kacau our photos. Can be creepy.

ALONE. Just you and me, Mr. Ruins!

A 6-hour trip from Pamukkale, is the great Library of Ephesus, which again we are all alone to visit this place. Crowd are thin in winter. But no crowd is good!

Another library, this one at Acropolis, is larger than Ephesus.  Must use cable car to get up here. That time was 1-2 degrees Celcius!

Selfies, oh Selfie! How can we not have couple pictures to end my already lengthy post: 

At the Hippodrome where it was once a horse racing stadium. But Ottomans sais that horse racing is gambling (true lah), so banned. COLDDDD.

Overall, I had a blast. My husband had his dream come true to visit Turkey. Let me just say, you need to love history to come to Turkey, but even if you don't, you will surely like their tidbits, baklava, and tea. And the natural wonders too. No regrets of not going for something more "relaxing", because I don't want relaxing beach vacations anymore.

But say if I do come back to Turkey, I must try a couple of things: Aegean sun bathing in summer, Cave stay at Cappadocia, Pamukkale once again, Hagia Sophia, and Basilica Cistern/Medusa's head. (http://yerebatansarnici.com/)

Must go:
1. Hagia Sophia
2. Sultan Ahmed mosque/Blue mosque
3. Pamukkale, Hierapolis, Necropolis
4. Ephesus, Izmir
5. Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

Skip:
1. Topkapi palace
2. Hippodrome
3. Kebab restaurant at Grand Bazaar (cheater!)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for a great year!

Thank you so much for reading through this lengthy post. You're a survivor.

Ivy-out.

Holidays Milestone in November

Holiday milestone achieve all in one month! November.

But NOT forgetting my holiday trips to Bangkok in May and Chiang Mai in August.

Entering November, it started with a Beijing business trip which I missed-out because my Chinese visa has expired and I was not-in-time to renew it due to the absurd short-notice for the trip. I don't miss Beijing though. What I missed was the thousands of Enrich points that could be collected from this trip. Not entirely a loss, as I felt restless knowing that I will be going onto the equivalent of the doomed flight MH370 (albeit now a different flight code). And with MH17, who dare say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place?

1. Melaka over-night
Being denied Beijing, Melaka trip was next. I was excited because husband good friend from UM, Janice, was getting married. We were there over the weekend and were so lucky to have Siow Nee  and the bride & groom themselves(!) to bring us around jalan-jalan cari makan. I love the chendol in Melaka more than that of Penang all because the santan at the former is more lemak. I had satay babi (just next to Melaka river), Donald and Lily's mee rebus (many fresh cockles) & rojak.The last makan stop was the longest queue ever coconut shake at Klebang,15 minutes car ride off Melaka city. Of course, hubby and I took our own time out roaming Jonker street to have lunch and coffee. Certainly a memorable trip.

Janice and Ivan

Mee Ketuk at Donald and Lily



Fresh cockles at Donald and Lily

The infamous satay babi near Melaka River

Klebang's infamous long-queue, sweaty but worthwhile coconut milk shake and other Malay delicacies.

2. Grand Lexis, Port Dickson
Just the next morning(!) after returning from Melaka, I had to board the company's bus to Grand Lexis, Port Dickson for a short team-building event there. The water villa was huge and unsuspectedly beautiful beyond words. The catch is that each villa has their own swimming pool! Yes, private swimming pool in your room. How about that for a Monday! My roommate ended up making a day trip (her baby's ill), so the entire king-size bed was mine. Mine!! I highly recommend this hotel to whoever wants to have a relaxing vacation with a family of maximum five.



One of the Water villa with a view of the ocean and from the floor.

Each room has its personalized pool and open shower.

Since this is a team-building, there were games and surprisingly, I had a marvelous time. They were all indoor team building games, and one of it was a Trading Game where we trade with other 'countries' based on commodities selling prices, information of the countries and collaboration, etc.

Another game was a Masterchef Black Box Challenge, where my team (out of 40 teams) got 2nd placing!  We had access to a small kitchen, and just cook whatever was given to us, and we cooked a perfect Curry Chicken and Pengat Pisang (which I contributed the most) and Pineapple juice in 1 hour to win second placing. We were commended and honoured with a 4 star certificate by the real Head Chef of Grand Lexis. I was proud because it felt like you could even please the hellish Gordon Ramsay with your normal Pengat Pisang (I watch too much TV). Should I lose my chemist job in Petronas, I am pretty sure I could make it as a chef of Pengat Pisang and Curry Chicken :-P. Naturally, hubby don't quite believe my achievement.


This Cert means more to me than any sports achievement. Because it's rare that I get to show off cooking skills openly.

Oil platform with Lego building blocks - one of the exciting Team Building game.

3. Penang
Upon retuning from Port Dickson, the same weekend itself, Hubby and I drove to Penang for his inaugural Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM) at the Second Bridge. This is the first time PBIM is held at the new bridge. We stayed at Equatorial Hotel which room is soo comfortable, I didn't want to move out of the bed. Hubby and I loved the swimming pool, and we had a short dip to relax both our minds and body. I did not run, but since I played supporter this time, I need to wake up as early as 4am to wait at the finish line for my hubby, which I estimated would finish at 6.30 am sharp. So, there I was taking the shuttle to the finish line about 10km away, and spotted Ling Ling in the same bus! What got me surprised was that she is running 10km, like for real..

We did savour some Penang cuisines at Bayan Lepas, courtesy of hubby's bosses and managers which were also runners and doing various distances at PBIM. We joined them for some great chit-chat and at the end, went to bed early with stomachs full (even I carboloaded). Hubby woke up 11 pm to catch the 12.00am bus to the starting line for Full marathon. Crazy! I am so proud he did sub-5 hours this time. Guess what, I missed my husband at the finish line. Just tooo many people finishing the same time as him.

At the end, he found me instead at the supporters line. Hah!

Ohh-chien

Frantically looking for my hubby, I was already glad this nightMARE wasn't him.

4. Turkey Honeymoon
And then, not even 2 days later, we board an Etihad plane, on business class(!), to Abu Dhabi (transit), and then to Turkey for our honeymoon. That shall be a 8 days trip, which I shall describe in my next blogpost. Wait up!


Four holidays in a row. Who needs a breather when it comes to holidays. And nope, not tiring at all.

SCKLM 2014 - My 6th Full Marathon

When I think back about the day I started doing my 1st full marathon in Singapore, I was afraid to the knees and butterflies because I had: 1. No strategy 2. Unfamiliar with route. This Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 is my 6th full marathon, but I am still stuck to ponder points no. 1 and 2 despite all the experiences gained from previous marathons.

SCKLM changed its 42.2km route completely this year. I watched the video recorded by the pacers and to my horror saw two 10 km-stretches along AKLEH and DUKE. That is a total of 20 km of nothing but the highway.

I felt dreadful days leading to SCKLM because the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the race was my Licentiate Chemistry Examination. It was a marathon exam on its own where 6 to 8 hours straight of exams for 3 consecutive days. On the Saturday, there was this practical exam which was itself was an ultra marathon: 3 experiments to be completed in 8 hours including a written report. I did not have lunch because I had no time, hence my carbo-loading was literally - zero.

Well, completing a FM is common, but whether you suffer during the race and post-race, is another question. Completing a FM for 9 hours and suffer? - that is exactly what I am trying to avoid.
My personal best for a FM is during the Borneo Marathon this year of 5 hours 20 minute under the dreaded sun. Read it all about it here.

After Tijani at Bukit Tunku. Thank you Sumer Heh.

I had not much training leading this race, so I did not even set ANY expectations on myself. I want to just complete it below 6 hours without any injury to the finish line. I woke up at 2.30am, took like 4 teaspoons of peanut butter onto 2 pieces of bread, drank like a tonne of water, and drove my hubby and I to the JKR building. Met my bunch of running friends, at the Dataran Merdeka, but got scattered up at the starting line.

At the beginning, the route was rather flat. I ran the first 10 km closely behind my hubby (he didn't know I was stalking him for 10 km). Finished 10 km around 1:05 and felt amazing. After that, I lost my hubby as he sped up totally. He trained like amazing hard for this year's SCKLM.

Then I met AKLEH hiway and the boringness starts. Steels and tar-roads are the only thing that meets your eyes. My hubby was way front, I guess, and I somehow gladly followed the 5:00 pacers (in white balloons) for a around half-hour before I lost them too. ZzzZzZzZzzZzZZzzzz...What kinda rubbish route is this?! At round 17 km, we were led down to MRR2, and then I saw......ta da!....the dreaded and boring DUKE at kilometer-21 for another 10km!. Wah lau, worse than AKLEH. When I arrived at Duke Highway, I saw my clock was 2:19, which is just about my timing for a regular 21 km race.

DUKE highway do sound like royalty, but it's one "pariah" piece of route to run. Yet again, I could only see tar and steel and apartment buildings left and right. No scenes, no trees, just nothingness. I only thanked God for the superb weather (no sunshine), and the slight haze was perhaps, helping. I also felt good leading towards the 30 km mark with zero problems on my legs, as yet. Nevertheless, I felt a sharp pain my neck and shoulders (rarely happens) which could be due to accumulated sleepless nights due to my Chemistry exam and studies.

33 km onwards, I felt a slight pain to my right knee and I had certain pain-indications of a cramp about to come. I lather up a blob of Sloan to my thighs and calf. To tell you the truth, those cream didn't work this time, why lah?! Went down to Tijani at KM 37 and then to the dreaded route near Bank Negara interchange where runners from 10, 21, and 42 km converged. Why dreaded, because that was where a huge crowd of runners and walkers (pasar malam like that) coverged and killed the momentum of "real" runners (i.e. like me who hates crowds). At that route towards Muzium Negara, my right leg was greatly in pain and I piled up on the Sloan cream, but to no avail.

I checked the time when I saw Muzium Negara. 5:05. Damn, I might not be able to finish in my PB, but well, that's not the point, right? When I saw Daya Bumi which was 500 m to the finish line, I ran soo hard, I almost fainted. I could amputate off my right leg that very instance, just that I wasn't given a saw.

200 m to the finish line di. The torture face.

Met Farah at the finish line. Not easy to meet her up!

100 metres to the finish line, I saw Vincent and we had a epic fail hi-five because some runner blocked our hands. Boo. Then, I saw my Hubby! Wee!! That motivates me to sprint albeit frantically to the finish line, and of course, it looks better on the official cameras when you do RUN to end.

So, with not much training, no carbo-loading, no sleep (mere 2 hours), I completed my full marathon in an ugly route in 5:25 gun time. I was so proud and happy because...most importantly...I did not suffer upon completion as much as I would thought (though I had a sadistic thought of purchasing an electric saw to saw off my right leg)

But tell you the truth, I could have done much better with some amount of training. Oh well, there's always another marathon, right?


Ivy-out.

Study-No-Enough

Many people were asking why would I want to study (again?!) when I've a doctorate that comes with the "head-damage" title. Isn't it enough of studying? If you didn't know, I have taken a series of high-level chemistry course & examination that allows me to be a Licensed Chemist. The question that has been thrown to me a thousand times: "Why do I need to study for a Chemistry License after all the 10++ years of accumulated studies in my entire 20s?"

 

I graduated from a first degree called Bachelor's Degree Bioindustry with a major in Entomology. What that actually means is that I am a agriculture science graduate which does everything else, biology of plants, insect sciences, and how to kill insect pests. In a nutshell: I learnt the best ways to kill pests such as my little brother and caterpillars munching on your sawi. :-P

 

After my first degree, I received a scholarship from Kuok Foundation to do my Ph.D. to continue to find fancy methods of killing insect pests. Yes, best gilerrr to kill insects like cockroaches, mosquitoes, caterpillars, locusts, etc. But upon graduation of my doctorate degree, I was hired into a non-related industry - the Oil & Gas industry. Let me tell you, this studying is something personal that I want to do, without any coercing by my boss or company. It's entirely personal. Actually, my brains is already wired to do chemistry (I do a lot of chemistry work in my Ph.D. dissertation & in my current job), but it's more like ....if I don't get a Chemistry License, I can't sign off any chemistry reports at my workplace. Why? Simply because I am not from a chemistry background. Damn. That does frustrates me that even a Ph.D. is insufficient for the O&G industry! Btw, there's a governing Act for Chemistry that requires that only one from a Chemistry degree could be a Licensed Chemist.

 

So what I did was to take up a whole entire comprehensive course on chemistry - high level Analytical, Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, and sat for their examination to obtain the so-called "chemistry background". It was very refreshing yet intimidating to study chemistry from zero (e.g. memorize the periodic table, again?!). You know, this is harder than STPM. Imagine fitting the entire STPM chemistry (and even harder) in 5 months, to then take the exam on month-6th. Total: 6 months to get a Chemistry degree.





#Wefie during the practical exam that took us 8 hours(!!) to complete 3 experiments, with the complete lab report.
And the next day, I went to run a full marathon 42km.





President of Institute Kimia Malaysia (IKM) handing me my Chemistry completion certificate.

I am old. Don't appease me by saying I am not. I have so much workload in my company. My hair is turning white literally. To juggle between studies and work is pretty difficult and therefore, am amazed by how some of my colleagues could find time between studies, work and family (kids!). And my handwriting too, or should I say: my penmanship has deteriorated, probably  due to the reliance of keyboards to write reports.

 

I am old because I realised that I could not memorized reactions and mechanisms anymore. Being in the 30s compared to my Ph.D. years (in the 20s) is completely different (180 degrees). My brains couldn't store any information as easily as before. The only strategy was to study last-minute, where I packed all knowledge a week before and spill (read: vomit!) them all out on exam day. Well, to say the least, that strategy worked rather well for some papers.

 

I am now awaiting the results of this exam results, to which I have both my toes and finger's crossed. My worry basically lies on Organic Chemistry where memory is required the most.

 



Article on us by Dr. Sharon. My coursemates at the end of our 4 month chemistry course.

I do enjoy Chemistry because I can relate to my current jobscope. But the truth is, I still enjoy biology more than chemistry, although practically you can't independently separate 'em both. Again, some people JUST LOVE STUDYING. Nothing is more satisfying than solving a problem related to chemistry or biology both at work and in life (think: cooking!)

 

I thank God because He allows me gave me the thirst for knowledge (albeit all the time!), the ability to study well and handle stress alike. I thank God for his grace for getting me through this stressful/sleepless period with ample support for my husband (he is a fan of mine), and family members. I study because I am personally happy for myself for having the extra edge against others apart from my accumulating experiences at work. With all these in mind, I hope to climb up the career ladder and slowly accumulate more wealth for my family and to....errrr...errrr... buy myself a bungalow or a Mini Cooper or anything for that matter - without thinking twice! That's the whole point kan? Far-fetched objective for a cute little lady, many thinks?

 

For years, I have gained or am accumulating knowledge in:

1. Insect science (Entomology)

2. Agriculture

3. Microbiology

4. Pesticide science/formulation science

5. Analytical Chemistry

6. Environmental sciences

7. Oil and gas, EOR

 

Next knowledge to acquire based on my passion:

1. Management (MBA). Planning yah...

2. Psychology

3. History

4. etc.

 

For now, let's just find some time to finish a bunch of novels and fiction....bought from past two Big-Bad-Wolf ago. LOL!