Hello Turkey!

I can't really remember how it started and why... But "suddenly" we went on a holiday to Turkey with my inlaws, Ibu and Bapak, Dije, my brother in-law and his wife, Mba Dewi. For days I've practically stared at AirBnb website to find the perfect homes for us to stay and tourist sites to visit. And I must say it was quite a success :) But first we spent 1 night in Doha, Qatar at Mas Rama's house. Mas Rama is Hubster's second brother. He's a Qatar Airways' pilot and has been living in Doha with his family since...forever. Kukka was very happy there because she could spent some time with her cousins. Then finally, after a very long and tiring flight, on April 18th, 9:28pm local time - 01:28am Jakarta time, we arrived at the Ankara Esenboga Airport, Turkey. We were in awe. Not only because of how cool the airport was. But also because of the weather! MAN IT WAS COLD!!!! Not as cold as Finland but still... And the biggest problem was that we didn't pack our suitcases for cold weather!

On April 18 - 20th we stayed in a nice small hotel with a classic look named Gordion Hotel - Special Class. We stayed in Gordion for 2 nights. Anyways, I loved Ankara. It's a beautiful city. My favorite part while visiting Ankara must be the Anitkabir. It is majestic, beautiful and mysterious! I couldn't stop taking pictures. It's like there's no corner that is not worth admiring. Kukka and I also couldn't stop looking at the soldier...or guard (?) who was standing there. He practically looked more like a statue rather than a living human being :)) The guard just stood there. Body straight, didn't look like he was breathing at all and eyes wide open. I wonder... What if he wanted to sneeze? Or poop!!??!!? We were lucky because when we were there it was time for the guards to change...shift? Kukka recorded a cool video of the guards marching. It's a very interesting material to post for her vlog. Yeah... Kukka's teacher gave her an assignment. Kukka had to make a vlog about the places we visited during the trip and post the videos on her youtube channel. 

SEE!?! Don't you just want to like... Tickle him? 

Offer him a seat? Or just... Make him move juuuuust a bit? :)))

On April 20th - 22nd we drove to Ortahisar Belediyesi... Ummm.. Well it's still somewhere safe in Turkey :)) Anyways... We stayed in a unique cave house, also courtesy of AirBnB. Most importantly it's a cave house with high speed internet :p The house belongs to a man named Hayrettin. A Fairy Chimney House he called it. Meeting Hayrettin was another experience. It turns out that many Turkish people don't talk english (very much). Including Hayrettin. But we still were able to communicate and Hayrettin is a very friendly host. Now... The reason why we stayed here in the first place was because the chimney house is quite close to Cappadocia. Yes. THAT Cappadocia. The one with hot air balloons rides. Oh I wanted that hot air balloon ride so bad... Just as bad as Cersei wanted those elephants*... Long before we left Jakarta, I specifically asked my doc whether it was okay for me to hop on a balloon ride :p But I guess we have to come back again someday. Because the weather was impossible. Why?

BECAUSE IT WAS SNOWING!!! :))) Imagine how shocked we all were! Good for me and Kukka, our jackets are thick and warm and we brought long trousers. But Hubster? Most of his clothes were t-shirts and shorts :)) I think it was snowing all night long because when we woke up, snow was everywhere. The temperature was -5Celcius. While Hubs and Precious Godsend were having a snowball fight, I sat very close to the heater with the rest of the family members. With clattering teeth, I kept sipping on my hot cup of coffee, hot chocolate and hot tea! Anything that was hot!!! :)) I couldn't even stay long outside the house to take pictures or videos of my babies having snowball fight or taking pictures of anything for that matter! I was shivering!!! It was not what I've expected it would be. But of course, it was super fun.

On April 22nd - 24th we continued our roadtrip and moved in to Mr. Volkan's house in Sapanca, a 5-hours drive city from Ankara. This was our last stop before we finally flew back home. Staying at Volkan's house was another experience. To me it felt more like spending the nights at a friend's house rather than a B&B place. Why? Because when there's no guests, Volkan does stay there. So the feeling was different than any AirBnB houses we've stayed before which probably are actually being left empty when there are no guests. Volkan's house looks like a typical traditional european house, complete with a classic looking chimney. It has a very large garden with lush green grass and there are 2 big dogs, 1 on a leash and 1 in a cage. They're very friendly. As far as I can remember the dogs never bark at us even once! And they were very happy whenever Kukka came to them and petted their heads. The doggies' tails would wag here and there and their faces looked excited. Too bad I couldn't remember their names... 

Anyways we spent the last day shopping at Anatolia Bazaar to buy some sweets. To be honest this place was not on my list. I didn't know Anatolia Bazaar is apparently a must-visit place when you're in Turkey. Being in there made me dizzy. People were practically screaming and moving fast here and there. The guys kept asking you which snacks you wanted, where you come from and stuff. Not my kind of place although I did buy a box of rocks-looking chocolate. But our little family has never been the kind who buy souvenirs (Kukka said: "Olé-olé) for others, like friends and family members. Not even for my Mom and Dad. Unlike Ibu and Mba Dewi who did buy lots of stuff for themselves and others :)) I guess Hubster, Kukka and I prefer to... eat and hang out rather than shopping? :p

On April 25th at 15:37 we finally landed in Jakarta and then arrived at home safe and sound. Alhamdulillah. Kukka practically squeezed Moochi in her arms because she missed him very much. I miss my bed and my maid's sambel terasi!!! :)) I've planned to blog about this trip as soon as we got home but sadly it was impossible. Why? My eyes didn't want to cooperate! :)) All I wanted was sleep, sleep, sleep. And now as I'm writing this, I do realize that I must have forgotten and missed a lot of stuff. Sadly I could only rely on some of the things written on my notebook and some tweets. What I can say about this family trip is that I had fun. I've spent a lovely time with my inlaws. I got to know Mba Dewi, my sister in law, better. I've been given a chance to experience another phase in my life together with my preteen baby. I've seen beautiful buildings like Anitkabir and Ayasofya Müzesi. All in all, this Turkey holiday was a hit and I'm very grateful for it!

*Game of Thrones fans only