Izmir, Turkey
I'm getting married. Three weeks to go. After a nightmare of a week running around, basically being the government's bitch, we finally have our permission to tie the knot and thus choose a date. As it turns out, August 4, 2010 will be a pretty important day for me!
So now the running around begins... We wanted a small wedding. Just a few people, family and friends..... no such luck. Okay, it IS small, compared with many... probably about 50 people will come. But still, the amount of work we have to put into planning it is fairly large. The good news is, we don't have 6 months to stew over all of it. We'll just put our heads down, get stuff done and in three weeks we can relax! Not a bad deal. Besides, our honeymoon will be in a place called Olympos named after the Gods. It's in Southern Turkey along the sea. Long white beaches, green hills, and houses in the trees. Gonna be awesome!
Also, consider this an open invitation for anyone who wants to come. It looks like a return flight is going for about $1200 with only one stop over. So that itself is not so bad for Turkey. If any of ya'll have some vacation time and want to head out here, send me an email wcarne@gmail.com and I will help you find a good ticket and a place to stay!
That's it for now, just a quick update. I don't imagine I'll write much in the next few weeks, but I'll try to get back to things in August. Still not sure where I'll be off to in September but Oman and Istanbul are the front runners. Will let you all know!
Also, I have published the first of many prospective travel articles based on this trip. If you'd like to read it, the first is online at www.travelmag.co.uk/?p=2215. Hopefully I will be able to get it published in a few more places as I go.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Ancient Architecture in Saudi
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
I finally went traveling again!
It was only for 3 days but it was so great to be on the road again. Random encounters with people, great historical sights, beautiful landscapes, and most of all freedom. Man I love to travel.
I just came back from Mada'in Saleh, which should probably be on a few lists of world wonders. But no one knows about it, cause it's in Saudi. Well, coming here I found out a bit and knew it would be a must see.
I flew to Medina, rented a car and drove North 400 km to find Al Ula, a nearby city. I spent the night there and the next day, started driving the 20 km or so to Mada'in Saleh. With poor signage, most of which in Arabic, I promptly got lost. Which was awesome. I drove around the desert for quite a while and when I finally started to get close was treated by this great, Star Warsish landscape. You know the pod races from episode 1? Just like that. Big towers of rock jutting up from flat plains. Camels wandered around the roads and there were even little sandstone and mudbrick villiages. It's probably the best desert landscape imaginable.
So after that, I finally found my destination and began to explore. A lot of Arabs believe Mada'in Saleh is cursed, and so they don't go there. The reason is that apparently a prophet visted the site many centuries ago. The people of Mada'in Saleh didn't believe he was truly a prophet though so they asked him for proof. For a miracle. So the prophet came back the next day and with him, brought the first camel. He said this animal can drink one day, and you can drink the next (of its milk). The people of Mada'in Saleh still didn't believe so they killed the animal. God got so angry that in return, he killed all the people of Mada'in Saleh and that's why the place has been abandoned for so long.
I heard this story from a local guy I met that morning, and although he didn't believe it was too dangerous to venture to, he did say that it's not safe to stay more than an hour or two. Anyway, it's a shame that a lot of Saudi's don't go here, because it really is a wonderful place. There are maybe fifty or so of these buildings dozens of rock outcroppings. Most of them are tombs but some appeared to me to be living areas and the like. One huge building with something like a trough running all along its perimeter might have been a stable.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos. Enjoy seeing a taste of this place that most will never even hear about.
One of the more dramatic entrances to the site.
More of them. Erosion seems to have hit the bottom over the last 2000 years
Cool overhang
Looking inside one of them from the doorway. They are very roughly carved inside.
They started carving from the top down, as seen by this unfinished one. It would have been the largest I think.
The stables, or perhaps just a meeting place of some sort.
Me at what may be the "stables."
Lone building.
A shot from down low.
Camels crossing the road.
I finally went traveling again!
It was only for 3 days but it was so great to be on the road again. Random encounters with people, great historical sights, beautiful landscapes, and most of all freedom. Man I love to travel.
I just came back from Mada'in Saleh, which should probably be on a few lists of world wonders. But no one knows about it, cause it's in Saudi. Well, coming here I found out a bit and knew it would be a must see.
I flew to Medina, rented a car and drove North 400 km to find Al Ula, a nearby city. I spent the night there and the next day, started driving the 20 km or so to Mada'in Saleh. With poor signage, most of which in Arabic, I promptly got lost. Which was awesome. I drove around the desert for quite a while and when I finally started to get close was treated by this great, Star Warsish landscape. You know the pod races from episode 1? Just like that. Big towers of rock jutting up from flat plains. Camels wandered around the roads and there were even little sandstone and mudbrick villiages. It's probably the best desert landscape imaginable.
So after that, I finally found my destination and began to explore. A lot of Arabs believe Mada'in Saleh is cursed, and so they don't go there. The reason is that apparently a prophet visted the site many centuries ago. The people of Mada'in Saleh didn't believe he was truly a prophet though so they asked him for proof. For a miracle. So the prophet came back the next day and with him, brought the first camel. He said this animal can drink one day, and you can drink the next (of its milk). The people of Mada'in Saleh still didn't believe so they killed the animal. God got so angry that in return, he killed all the people of Mada'in Saleh and that's why the place has been abandoned for so long.
I heard this story from a local guy I met that morning, and although he didn't believe it was too dangerous to venture to, he did say that it's not safe to stay more than an hour or two. Anyway, it's a shame that a lot of Saudi's don't go here, because it really is a wonderful place. There are maybe fifty or so of these buildings dozens of rock outcroppings. Most of them are tombs but some appeared to me to be living areas and the like. One huge building with something like a trough running all along its perimeter might have been a stable.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos. Enjoy seeing a taste of this place that most will never even hear about.
One of the more dramatic entrances to the site.
One of the cliff walls
More of them. Erosion seems to have hit the bottom over the last 2000 years 
Cool overhang
Looking inside one of them from the doorway. They are very roughly carved inside.
They started carving from the top down, as seen by this unfinished one. It would have been the largest I think.
The stables, or perhaps just a meeting place of some sort.
Me at what may be the "stables." 
Lone building.
A shot from down low. 
Camels crossing the road.Friday, June 25, 2010
My First Travelversary
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
That's right, it's my first anniverary on the road. June 25, one year ago I left Calgary to start this thing and here I am, June 25th again.
It feels strange, my life is moving fast now. Nine more days in Saudi and then it's back to Turkey where I'll get married and make the next big change in my life. I'm looking forward to it.
I've always kind of felt like since I graduated high school in 2000 I've let my life kind of plateau without making any forward movement. Even though I got a university degree, went to SE Asia and fell in love for the first time, I always felt like I was standing still.
But as of a year ago, I'm moving forward again. I've traveled a lot, and in that travel I've managed to make a lot of (in my view) much needed changes in the way I think of myself and run my life. I feel more confident these days, and I've started trying to affect my future instead of just looking forward to it. I still struggle with some things, but the forward momentum is back and I feel good about that.
So what does the next year hold? Well obviously there's marriage. The plan is to work the next school year in Istanbul to save some money. Saudi has helped get all my accounts back into black, but I still don't have a whole lot of extra cash to work with. I think I found a well-paying job in Turkey so 10 months of that should put me in pretty good shape to travel a bit more with Sadife and then take the next step forward and move to Vancouver to finally start my career in film.
That's the plan as it stands right now anyway. My plans have been pretty fluid though since this trip started so I'm not really sure if they'll be the same one year (or one month) from now, but I feel pretty good about them. We'll see what happens.
As for the immediate plan, I am off to a place called Mada'in Saleh tomorrow. It's an ancient city carved into mountains much like Petra. In fact, it was made by the same civilization. It looks pretty spectacular and it's the one thing I'm excited to do before I leave Saudi. I will take lots of pictures!
So I think that's it for me today. I'm looking forward to seeing a few of you guys in Istanbul for my wedding and the rest of you I'll see in another year or so when I get back to Canada!
That's right, it's my first anniverary on the road. June 25, one year ago I left Calgary to start this thing and here I am, June 25th again.
It feels strange, my life is moving fast now. Nine more days in Saudi and then it's back to Turkey where I'll get married and make the next big change in my life. I'm looking forward to it.
I've always kind of felt like since I graduated high school in 2000 I've let my life kind of plateau without making any forward movement. Even though I got a university degree, went to SE Asia and fell in love for the first time, I always felt like I was standing still.
But as of a year ago, I'm moving forward again. I've traveled a lot, and in that travel I've managed to make a lot of (in my view) much needed changes in the way I think of myself and run my life. I feel more confident these days, and I've started trying to affect my future instead of just looking forward to it. I still struggle with some things, but the forward momentum is back and I feel good about that.
So what does the next year hold? Well obviously there's marriage. The plan is to work the next school year in Istanbul to save some money. Saudi has helped get all my accounts back into black, but I still don't have a whole lot of extra cash to work with. I think I found a well-paying job in Turkey so 10 months of that should put me in pretty good shape to travel a bit more with Sadife and then take the next step forward and move to Vancouver to finally start my career in film.
That's the plan as it stands right now anyway. My plans have been pretty fluid though since this trip started so I'm not really sure if they'll be the same one year (or one month) from now, but I feel pretty good about them. We'll see what happens.
As for the immediate plan, I am off to a place called Mada'in Saleh tomorrow. It's an ancient city carved into mountains much like Petra. In fact, it was made by the same civilization. It looks pretty spectacular and it's the one thing I'm excited to do before I leave Saudi. I will take lots of pictures!
So I think that's it for me today. I'm looking forward to seeing a few of you guys in Istanbul for my wedding and the rest of you I'll see in another year or so when I get back to Canada!
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