✨🦄Nemrut🦄✨

Hi everyone I would like to tell you something before I start my blog today. I want to reach 10,000 views to surprise my parents before next year Christmas on my birthday. Please help me to reach my aim. For now, I only have 1125 views, so I hope I can really reach my aim on time with your help.

              Have you all been to Mount Nemrut? Mount Nemrut is very far from Malatya indeed. So, we took a car there. Mount Nemrut is the tallest mountain in Nemrut Dagi Yolu. The road was very windy. My sister and I had tummy aches because we aren’t used to that kind of roads, as in Malaysia we don’t live near or up a mountain. On the way, we slept off and I couldn’t feel my tummy ache any more but, I had a weird dream of my sister’s favourite song, Vaada Mapillai.

There was a king who decided to make a royal tomb for himself on the tallest mountain in his country so that he was closer to the Gods. It was built in the 1^st century BC. He wanted to make a royal tomb for himself because he thought that he was a great man.

We left our house in the afternoon and reached Mount Nemrut in the evening. When we reached Mount Nemrut, we first went to the East side. At the East side, we saw stone heads of Apollo, Zeus, Heracles, Goddess Kommagene, Head of a Persian eagle, bodies of a Sandstone eagle and a lion. On the West side, there were thrones for all the Gods there. 

Can you see my mother?

The sunset was magnificent! I enjoyed it a lot. The sky was rainbow in colour and it was magical to me in my heart. One thing I have to tell you is to remember to bring thick jackets if you plan to go because the wind is very cold. I will show you an example of how strong the wind is in one of my pictures.

This is my profile picture in WhatsApp. If you have my number you can go and check it out.

 

Fun fact about these statues is they have Persian clothing and Greek faces.

We bought KFC from a mall before leaving our house because my mom read that there were no shops around on the mountain. We had our dinner in the car and watched the sun set down behind the tall mountains.

We didn’t stay for long because the weather was very cold. After dinner, we went to our hotel. 

Do you know, the sky was already dark by the time we reached the hotel. Our hotel wasn’t dirty like the last hotel. Actually, it was way better. This hotel is a real hotel to me. The bed looked so comfortable and by the time I lay down to sleep I slept in 15 minutes.

            The next day, my family and I went to a river which was near a bridge. The river and the bridge have twin names but, one is for a river and one is for a bridge. Their names are Cendere. On the way to the river my sister said, “I want to vomit🤮.”

After my father stopped the car, my mother quickly unbuckled my sister before she could vomit, but it was too late. My sister vomited on my mother’s hands. We had to stop to clean that up before entering the river. Once we entered the river my sister, my Amma, my Appa and I started to shiver. 

After getting used to the water a bit, we moved forward along the swift and shallow blue river. We saw some tiny brown fish and we wanted to catch them. As you know fishes can swim fast so we didn’t try to catch them for long. After playing in the water for some time, my sister fell into the cold water. Her bottom was soaking wet and my mom was not happy about it.

I asked my mom why we didn’t pack our swimming suits. Then she said, “next week we are going to the beach and to a water park so this week we aren’t going to get wet.”

 I immediately said, “OK!”

 After the river, we walked to the Cendere bridge so that my sister could dry up her pants.

After the bridge, we went to a castle. It is called Arsemia Castle. Actually I can't remember that much about the castle. The thing  I remembered was, the castle had a deep cave that I wanted to go through but, they blocked it and if they didn't block it also we wouldn't have gone through because the cave was really steep. This castle isn't like the Dolmabache Palace. There are caves and statues only. 

I liked the river and the rainbow sky. My next blog is about me going around Malatya. I am actually in Malatya as we speak. Remember to answer me where is my mother in the picture that I am going to put down now in my blog. You can answer me in Facebook, in my blog or in WhatsApp. 

Gaziantep

 

Today I am going to talk about my trip to Gaziantep. Now, some of you may be asking why is it called Gaziantep!? Well, antep means pistachio in Turkish language. You might ask why must they put antep in Gaziantep. Because Gaziantep is famous for……..Pistachios!! Before you enter Gaziantep, you will see hundred thousand millions of pistachio trees. The pistachio plantations were along the whole way. If you happen to go to Gaziantep remember to try their pistachios!

The journey was a bit fun and a bit boring. The fun part was the view of the mountains and the boring part was the long journey.

When we reached Gaziantep, we went for lunch. In that shop, there was this food called BAKLAVA. My Dad told me that he had tried it in America when he was studying. He thought that if he starts to eat the baklava here, he will get addicted to it.

Then, my mom said, “It’s ok la, you won’t get addicted to it.”                        

So my mom and dad decided to try the baklava.

When it was served, my parents and I ate it. Once my mom took a bite, she realized that it was a sweet. My Amma got addicted to the sweet instead of my Appa.  The top of a baklava is made with filo pastry, in the middle there will be pistachios or nuts and at the bottom there will be melted syrup or honey. After we finished the baklava, we left the shop.

We parked our car in town then went to a Mosaic museum. The museum is called the Zeugma Mosaic museum. This museum is the biggest Mosaic museum in the world.

We saw a mosaic which was the most important mosaic in that museum – The Gypsy Girl.

Hello, I am the gypsy girl! 

When you turn the device that you are using to read my blog and see the picture, the girls eyes will follow you wherever you go. After the museum, we went to the cafeteria outside it. My mom and I had Magnum ice cream, my dad had Fanta and my sister had chocolate ice cream. After our rest in the cafeteria, we went to our hotel. The hotel is very far from the museum and the sun was shining like it wants to burn us as we were walking.

On the way back we saw these alphabets of Gaziantep. Can you find my sister?

When we reached the hotel, we thought that our hotel will be very nice, but when we entered the hotel room we saw cob webs at the corners, there were three flies flying in our room and the room was dusty! This hotel is the worst hotel that I had been to until now. After that, we went to a chicken rice shop. The chicken rice wasn’t as good as the chicken rice in Malaysia but I tried to look happy in front of my sister because, chicken rice is her favourite food.

The next day, we went to the Gaziantep Castle and saw some soldier statues. The view wasn’t that interesting. A fun fact about castles being built up a high hill - it is not to make us climb up and get tired, but it is for the soldiers to see enemies from far. After the castle we wanted to come to Malatya.

On the way back we stopped to eat lunch in Rumkale. The shops were partially on the water which was actually a dam. We parked on a hill next to the dam then took a van down the hill. The dam had cruises but, my parents didn’t want to go on it. After lunch we saw a terrace up the same hill where we parked our car but, it was on the opposite end. We took a ride in another van that was going up the hill. When we reached up we snapped some pictures from the terrace. The view was amazing. We saw a castle in the middle of the dam and below us were some cars. They looked so cute and tiny. After enjoying the view, we got off the terrace because, some of us are scared of heights.

I liked the terrace, the baklava and the museum a lot. When you comment on my blog in Facebook, if you could, please tell me your favourite place and where is my sister in picture number 5. Be sure to read my next blog about my trip to Mount Nemrut.

<☆*: .｡.Going to a toy museum .｡.:*☆>

 

   On the fourth of June, we went on a cable car in Istanbul. It was going up the Pierre Loti Hill. The cable car was very fun. They only allow 8 people in one cable car. When we were lining up, there was a big tourist group that cut our line. I was so angry at them. Luckily my mother tried to calm me down. After lining up for a long time, we finely rode the cable car. The view from the cable car was very nice. You can see almost the whole of Istanbul.

 

    When we reached up, we went to eat snacks. The view from the shop was quite nice. It was facing a river just like my 2^nd day in Istanbul but, on my 2nd day the view of the river was better because we could see the other side of the European Istanbul but, from this shop I could only see the river. 

    For dinner, we went to a Malaysian Restaurant called Nur Muhammad Lokantasi! The food there was not as nice as the food in Malaysia. I ordered rice with tomyam but, I ate most of my mother's food which was mee goreng. My dad had fried rice with paprik chicken. He gave me some of his chicken because I was staring at his chicken.

      The next day, we went to a toy museum. The museum is called Rahmi M. Koc Museum. It contains different sections like cars, boats, miniature houses and lots more. After buying the tickets, we went inside and saw the first section which contained the miniature houses.

      There was also a display of miniature things like soldiers, strollers, chairs, shoes and beds beside the miniature houses. After the houses we saw some model trains. There was this train which I liked because it is used to live in. That train was miniature but, it was the train that the kings and queens will take to go to a different state. We saw coal trains and electricity trains.  After the trains we saw boats. There were many boats there. Most of them were speed boats the rest…. I don’t know what are they called.

Next, we went to see the car section. There were many cars like the flying car 🚗 in Harry Potter. I also saw some racing cars like the one they use in Fast and Furious. We also saw an old Mercedes car.

    We went to the next section where they had many models of shops like toys, clocks, cups, tools, fishing rods, jewelleries and a few more. Subsequently, we went to the computer section which contained the computers from old times to now. We also saw typewriters like the one my grandmother (Satya Menon) will use in her office. I wanted to press the buttons but, my mom told me not to do it. My parents told me, that if I write using a typewriter and I make a mistake I can't delete it. If I write my blog using a typewriter imagine how many times must I rewrite it.

    After few minutes of looking at the computers and typewriters we went to the energy section. I learned 3 ways how energy was produced like wind energy, sun energy and water energy. We saw wind energy first. When the wind blows the windmill, the windmill will slowly start to spin., After few minutes, it will speed up. Then, the energy that the windmill produces will give us the electricity we need. After the wind energy we saw the solar energy. When the sun is shining brightly and it hits the solar panel, the solar panel will convert it to electricity. The last energy we saw was water energy. When water is collected in a dam, there will be a turbine that will spin. When the turbine spins, it makes the electric energy.

After seeing that section of the toy museum, we went to have lunch. After our lunch, we went to the doll museum which was across the toy museum where there were many dolls.

 First there was a doll that was made out of wood.

                                      
  After seeing that doll we saw some dolls that were made in the olden times but not older than the wooden doll. After seeing those dolls we went to see the Barbie doll section. The Barbie dolls were quite nice and boy did I like them. 

They had dolls from olden times to now and I can surely see the differences between the older one and the newer ones 

  After the Barbie doll section we went to see the 👻💀ghost section💀👻. My sister and my dad were quite happy when they saw the dolls but, I didn’t like it, not because I was scared of the dolls but because they weren’t that nice. I have seen even scarier dolls. (I am actually scared of ghosts, but that day I wasn’t scared because they were just dolls.)

      ☆*: .｡.But, if in real life I see one then I will probably freak .｡.:*☆   

 

  After the ghost dolls we went to see the traditional dolls. We saw Turkey’s traditional dolls and Malaysia’s traditional dolls. I liked the Malaysian dolls but I didn’t like the Turkey’s one because I didn't like  the dress that they were wearing.

   My favourite toys that day was the miniature houses, Barbie dolls and the Malaysian traditional dolls. Thank You very much and please read my other blogs too.

☆*: .｡.Dolmabache Palace .｡.:*☆

We went to a palace which was old but, it isn't the oldest palace in Istanbul. It was built in 1843. It is called Dolmabahce Palace.  Supposedly, the country went bankrupt when they built the palace because the king took everyone’s money to build the palace!

  First we took a tram to the palace. While my dad was buying the tickets my mom took pictures of me and my sister jumping in front of the palace. Once we bought the tickets, we went into the palace. When you are in the palace, you are not allowed to take pictures, so these pictures that I uploaded in my blog are from the internet. First, we saw the antiques that was given as gifts from other countries.

 After walking for ages, ok well not ages but, after walking for some time we reached the big stairs.

Next, we saw the bedroom that the king’s mother will sleep in.

After that, we went into the dining room which had a long table and many chairs.

The ceiling was drawn with beautiful drawings and they look so realistic!

 Not long after that we saw the toilet. Surprisingly the toilet bowl was bigger than the bath tub! Then we went into the hall where they had royal dances and balls.

The throne of the king and queen were placed at the end of hall.

Subsequently, we went to a room where discussions  between the King and his Ministers were held.  It had many sofas.

Once we were done visiting the palace we went to have lunch.  After lunch, we walked from Taksim Square to the Galata Tower which is placed at the end of Istikkal Caddesi. It is 63 m high.

On the way, there we stopped to buy candy. They had many different types of candies like lollipops, cola gummies, jelly beans, sour candy and lots more. They even had candies that were gold and silver. I wanted to try them since they were my favorite colours, but I had  already chosen to take jelly beans. So, I told myself its ok if I don’t get to try it now maybe I can try it next time. 

 After that we walked to the front of the Galata Tower. We took some pictures but, we didn’t want to walk up because we were tired (and lazy). We walked across the Galata Bridge which is 490 m long.  It was built in 1992.  The bridge connects Karakoy and Eminonu which are both European parts of Istanbul. Along the bridge there were many men fishing. They had 1 or 2 big buckets beside them and the buckets were almost full of fishes. After we crossed the bridge, we decided to take the bus back to our hotel.