We arrived in the town just after midday. We put all our stuff on the boat which we were to call home for the next week. I couldnt have traded my big shoes for thongs any quicker. The boardies were on and i was ready for the weather! I really wanted to have a look around the town, so while the others were talking on the boat, i escaped by myself to have a poke around (as i love so much to do on my own). The town was awesome! Very very touristy, but that was ok, you only really needed to stray a little and there was already evidence of normal living. I went to the local fruit and vegetable market and struck up a conversation with the owner of one of the stalls. After having tea with him i said i will surely come back, he was a really nice guy. Whether it was a ploy to get me to buy heaps of stuff from him i dunno, but all the same, the conversation was worth it, and the figs and peaches i bought were the best ive ever tasted, so i suppose we both won. But i was in turkey. What have we all had once, most of us during study break, while we are studying in the lane cove library? Just pop down the street to Ronalis Kebabs, of course! Yes i was in the homeland, the birthplace, the mecca (pun intended, not a good one i know) of the delight, the treat, the heart attack in a roll, that we call Kebab. So naturally i went and found the biggest, ugliest one i could. It was nothing like home. The meat (or should i say half cow - well i think it was cow, then again, you hear the stories...), came out on a tray with a jogurt sauce and pieces of bread with a tomato sauce all over, with went over the meat too. I was like: 'wheres the hommus, the roll, tabouli, what is this?', haha. I managed (only just) to make my way through this montrosity. It was incredible. It tasted so good, i loved it! I looked around the rest of the markets and shops and along the waterfront and so, before returning to the boat. The others wanted to go for a walk so we set off together, Hannes tasted the fruit and we went straight there and bought thousands, we even stopped off to visit my friend again, and have yet another tea! I had to stop myself from buying fake shirts and sunnies and stuff, i have already picked up too much of all that in Thailand and Vietnam! Still, the guys calling out 'cheap price for you my friend' made me feel at home, all those holidays in Asia, haha, its funny what triggers memories. Speaking of that though, that was the first really interesting things that i noticed, at all the stalls and shops, there were only men. Everywhere you look you see only men. It was a really interesting thing to notice and you only saw it if you looked, but everywhere. After talking to the crew back on the boat for a couple of minutes, one of them invited me for a night out. It was a party for a friend of his, who was going into the Army. So me and Asim headed out that night. We had the best night out. I have never met people who take you in and are friendlier. That really went for the whole town, sure it was a touristy place, and everyone is out to make a buck, but at the same time, these were seriously nice people. Some of the nicest folk i have ever met. Considerably different from the picture the papers in Austria paint of the Turks. But Asim and I had a wicked night out, managed to get back on the boat somehow, and looked forward to setting off the next day.