Mistakes i've made.

I'm a little embarrased because i made a fuss in a situation. Some things were said. But i'm happy things sorted out. Hopefully i'll never overreact again.

Today we have a long journey ahead of us. A very long and tiring one. We did visit Efes today. With little money, reporting mobile on the route kusadasi-canakkale.

Untitled. The Kusadasi stories.

The blonde has left but nicole is still here. He is gay. He has substitued the blonde in being our object of laughter. We are leaving tomorrow. All my clothes are ready to be packed and i was kind of expecting this moment but now that it's here, i feel kind of sad because we are leaving. We had such a great time in kusadasi, the best we could have had giving the circumstances. We will surely miss the pool. It's the place we spent most of our time at. And the bazar. The thing i imagine is going shopping in cluj and fighting with yourself with the temptation to bargain over the price. That would be awkward to say the least. Today was the last bath in the sea. I must confess that the sea, i will not miss. I did not like it very much either. Too salty and with a lot of nature's impurities. Luckily not human.

I feel disappoited and content at the same time. Tomorrow we will visit Efes.

Something that changed my opinion about turks happened tonight. Andra forgot her phone on a bench near a jewelery. Before we left, we spoke a bit with the owner and then we left without realising her phone was missing. Some time after this we learned about the disappearance of the phone. Would you belive of when i tell you that the phone was at that jewelery owner. He gave it back. Wanna bet this wouldn't have happened in romania?

the kusadasi sun

Today were 37^C with a UV index of 7, which is considered very high. But i did spend the entire day just laying in the sun. My skin now is very sun-tanned... I'm very proud of it.

I've made up my mind about those adidas shoes. I think that they are worth buying because they are cheaper than romania. but i hope that i'll find a narghila also.

The adidas are mine now. And the narghila tambien. Estoi broke. I mean almost broke. I still have enough money to survive. At least i hope so. Luckily i still have friends in case i need a loan... I feel kinda embarrassed because of this. This shows of the way life is. Yesterday i was rich. Today my budget is very tight. You can reach these two extreme states very quick, by making crucial decisions, and sometimes bad ones. Mine was a good one since i fulfilled every desire i had in my holiday in turkey. And i have to thank my parents for this. Without them, none of this would've been possible.

Broke but happy. From kusadasi, reporting from a bar, yours truly.

Shallow lands.

We spent today in a aqua-park. It was nice, but was not worth 20 euro. The park, they say, has 5 stars. Maybe 5 turkish stars, if you know what i mean.

The air conditioning works. I have cold air flowing through the room. It feels so good considering that outside there are about 37^C.

I'm thinking of buying some adidas original shoes. Adicolor to be more specific. The thing is that i'm not very sure if they are worth it... I could become broke if i buy them. And i still did not find a narghila since they are awfuly expensive. I'm thinking of ditching the idea to buy one although it is sad to admit it.

Did buy a pair of sun glasses. Ray-Ban. They're nice, but of course "original genuine fake".

The blonde. Hystery.

Today was supposed to be a great day for shopping as we visited Izmir, the third major city (by population) in Turkey. But it was a major disaster. With capital M from. The bazar was worst than the one we have here in kusadasi. A lot of stressing people begging you to buy original clothes made by Harmany, Dihor or Dolce&Capcana. These were very bad replicas. Unlike mx LV. I ended up buying two very nice t-shirts, but not designer labeled.

Two persons were very annoying for the second time. I managed to remain calm though through their series of hysterical laughs and stupid, "innocent" they say, jokes... Hopefully this will be the last of them, but i am sure it won't be. Especially since now they're teamed up.

We do share a great deal of laughs in the evening though. There is a blonde in the hotel, from Serbia or Russia, something like that. She does all these faces and movements as she eats. It's very hard to imitate her, but we manage to do it anyway. People around us don't undertand our "intern joke". Also it's very important to consider that the blonde does not speak english. Very convenient for us. :-)

There is also a new hot thing we found out about. If you want to buy a quelque chose but have only euros or dollars (at least that's what you tell to the shop employee) to pay, there are many chances to get it for free. Because they cannot automatically change your money, they prefer giving for free. It does not work at all the shops but if you ever find one like this, stick to it. But whatever you do, don't let them change your money because it is not in your advantage at all.

Well this is it for today. Cheers.

Free.

It was yet another superb night in kusadasi. Besides the shops filled with expensive replicas there is also a lot of music. Traditional or international, it's amazing how they cope. There are also a lot of disco's. Last night we entered one of them because the man at the entry convinced us he had romanian music. And he really did! In a few moments we were dancing on the exotic rithms of nicolae guta, o-zone and other international-known romanian artists! Interesting, huh?

We also visited a burger king restaurant. A god send i have to say. It was high time we did, since the kebab is unsatisfing. Much better than it.

For 16 euros we went on a boat trip which included visiting three beaches, bathing in the middle of the sea, lunch and free refreshing drinks. Again, we invested wisely since it was marvellous. The sun and the water were just great. And the lunch was delicious. The free drinks as well. :))

Bought a new cigarette lighter. Some say it looks kinda gay because, they say, it rather suits a girl. Which is bull! I really like it, and don't care if others don't. They're just envious.

Again i express my complaints about the conditions in the room. It's harder and harder to take a shower or to brush your teeth with the salted water provided by the hotel. But there is a plus in here: i discovered that salt does well for my skin. :))

received a mail the other day. On my mobile yahoo e-Mail client. It was from something claiming that i won a laptop. It seemed kinda strange. They just asked me to send them the confirmation code provided and my complete address. Did i or did i not win? For me at least it's kinda hard (actually impossible) to believe that you can get something for free these days. But you can never know :-). Will keep you posted about this.

This concludes my todays' entry. Have fun in cluj. I sure the hell am going to have fun in here. Cheers.

Kusadasi

Had no time since we arrived at hotel west in kusadasi. The hotel is nice, but dirty. We had to call maintenance, to make the bathroom a little more pleasant. Hard job since it looks like it has never been cleaned in the past two months (to say the least). The air conditioning in my room system is antique. It's almost unbelievable that a hotel that operates in a climate with temperatures, to not have a good air conditioning system. And it's ignorance when you complain about it and they do nothing at all for you. They just say "ok we'll fix", but they never really do anything about it.

As for the food, on complaints whatsoever. Maybe for what we have in the morning but hey, we can always buy a kepab. With chicken. Like the one i just ate. But the thing is... The romanian ones are better. Actually it's surprising that the originals are worst than our very own replicas.

Speaking of originals and replicas, here in turkey you can find a lot of high-quality products that look...... Really nice! From jewelery and leather to sportswear or denim. You can find a lot of items. I've been looking for a some time now for a Louis Vuitton Men's Wallet, and the Turkish market was the place for me. My personal LV wallet is now filled with all my stuff. It seems big for a wallet but at least now i have it. Anything you want, you can find. And again, the quality for some of the merchandise is very high. The first thing that came into my mind were the independent sellers in cluj that sell, they say, original products. My ass! You too can become one of them. Come to Turkey! Buy them and sell them overpriced.

But the one thing that makes the Turkish "bazar" so special, is the opportunity to hassle for a better price. Nothing has a price tag, so you can adjust the price so that it suits you needs and budget. It's amazing how much you can talk and obtain your desired price. Even when you think you made a killer deal, you might be surprised when another seller gives you a better one. Now that is what i call frustration! Am i right? But you'll live. Just think that either way they win, and you win. It's a win-win situation! :)

That's about it for today. We're thinking of making yet another complaint about the AC system. In hope that the sun does not burn me to death (by the way, my face is on fire!), i hope i will write soon.

And do try not to forget. I miss you all.

PS: since i am mobile, which means posting from my mobile i cannot attach any pictures. When i return i will edit all my entries and add pictures.

Troy...

The next day we woke up early. It seemed then we had a long way to go. It was longer than i expected. A lot longer.

On the way to pamukkale we visited troy. Or at least what's left of it. Is was... Dissapointing. It was nothing like the troy i imagined. My imaginary troy was like the one in the movie. But with no brad pitt. Unfortunately, it was very dull. They had a trojan horse look-a-like, which btw was ugly. Even the one in Canakkale was better looking. It was kinda funny because we made a lot of "photo shoots". Also, it was again funny because we followed "the steps of brad pitt".

Anyway, we finaly arrived at the 2nd hotel which was nice enough. Especially since it had a pool! Won't insist on this one. We began drinking some martini, sang some songs and ended up going to bed at about 3am. Other incidents happened, but are not worth reminding.

That's about it for today.

First days

So we arrived at the first hotel in cannakale after a long tiring trip. I kinda slept all the way through, which made people happy. Meaning that it was delightful for them to a have a subject to make a video about. It's nice to be in the center of attention on even when sleeping. Maybe one of these days you will see a movie about this on youtube. So funny. NOT! What is so funny in seeing an honest person resting his eyes? Seriously!

The hotel was great. Nice rooms, kind of small tough. But we had air conditioning, which by the way was a god gift, because it was hot. Literaly!

I won't give details about departures and things like this. God forbid i become Nastase.

The hotel did have wireless internet. But i had no time to write. We were in a hurry.... Ate the first Turkish Kebab and is was awful. In hope that the Pammukale hotel has wireless internet, i will post an entry later this day.

Unidos para la musica...

Unidos para la musica... asta va fi ideea in urmatoarele 2 saptamani cat eu voi fi plecat in "concediu" in Turcia. I hope it will be nice because we will visit Troy and other archeological sites, on the way to the hotel. After that, just lay in the sun with no worries. :D

Hopefully, I will be able to write on this blog as much as I can. I do not if the hotel has Internet connection, but I hope I'll be able to keep you informed.

Goodbye, dear Cluj,
Im leaving you today.
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
Goodbye all you people,
Theres nothing you can say,
To make me change my mind.
Goodbye.

This being said, I'm off to Turkey. See you on September 2nd.

Something... din actualitate

Din fericire pentru unii acesta va fi un entry in romana. Oricum nu renunt la some Enlgish words. Si nici nu inseamna ca nu voi mai scrie in English deloc. Am chef de romana.

Anyway, I'd like to write today about something stupid. De fapt de mai multe. Uitati-va pe realitatea.net si o sa vedeti mare stire: "Adrian Nastase isi pune vacanta pe blog". Oau, ce interesant. In pana de electorat si fani, fostul prim-mistru al Romaniei, chiar numai asa mai poate sa primeasca putina atentie? Dupa cate scandaluri de coruptie, luare de mita, si toate procesele de la DNA, numai asa mai poate intra si el in vreo stire. Cititi-i blogu sa vedeti ce jurnal de bord.... pardon itinerar. Jurnal de bord are Basescu. Cu lux de amandunte, Adi ne descrie fiecare aspect a calatoriei sale, de parca ai zice ca sta toata ziua cu laptopu in mana, scriind ce vede. Whatever.

Nu stiu daca ati auzit stirea... Mais Basescu, le grand Basescu, nu a fost recunoscut de curand de ceva portari de la ceva parc national din Harghita (sau Covasna era? N-are importanta, undeva in nou semnalizatul prin panouri publicitare la intrare in el: " Tinutul Secuiesc"). Cica Base trebuia sa se intalneasca cu cineva acolo, intalnire publica. Da se pare ca ala il astepta inauntru. Si portarii nu au vrut sa-l lase pe presedintele Romaniei sa intre in parc pana cand nu a platit un bilet de 10RON. Pare-se ca portarii NU STIAU cu cine stau de vorba....

Cat despre Tinutul Secuiesc, mare scandal mare. La intrare in judetul Covasna... (sau Harghita era?), s-a instalat cu mare pam pam un panou publicitar (de alea ca de reclama) care te anunta cum ca ai intrat in "Tinutul Secuiesc". Toata ungurimea politica din zone era acolo, + Marko Bella. Si mai erau si Olguta Vasilescu, de la PRM (o femeie cu gura mare :)) ) si inca un nime, ca sa zic asa, de la PC. Mare scandal mare acolo, ca cica la romani nu prea le place ce a facut ungurimea. Insa cel mai tare aspect e ca nici macar nu e nevoie de aprobare ca sa pune afisele. Sunt considerate afise publicitare, pe care oricine poate sa isi faca reclama (in limita bunului simt). Tocmai de asta, cica cei doi senatori vor sa-si puna (sau au pus deja) si ei un panou, Vizitati Harghita si Covasta, TINUT ROMANESC.

Cam atat pentru azi. Maybe these are old news, but I tought they are worth discussing.
Cheers. :D

Something smart

I'd like to write about something funny. But I have nothing to laugh about. Okay maybe todays' Brainiac show. I always loved that show. Intelligent. "I can do science me!". So damn funny.

Been reading some forums lately. Us romanains are so good at giving advice. We always state our opinion even if it's none of our business, and no one asked for it. We like to help people... if you can call that help. Whatever...

But the thing I like most about our citizens is their love towards German products. Even if we're talking about cars, electronic devices, and so on, "german" quality cannot be equaled. You know I'm a Toyota fan (for the obvious reasons), but what I cannot understand is why people try to make JD Power'd survey look untrue. One of the latest survery conducted by JD Power concluded that Lexus owners are the most satisfied amierican drivers. Nothing untrue here, since Lexus is very well-regarded overseas. It's one of the best selling brands of luxury cars, and is considered the most reliable brand, in the US. Although it has succes in the North-American countries, in Europe the brand is still fighting for a spot in the luxury segment. What I cannot understand is why it's position is claimed to be false? These are some of the arguments. The surveys are said to be unconcludent. Even if the designs are original, they seem to resemble those of famous German brands.

I won't insist with this. I just think it's stupid for German cars to be regarded as the best cars in the world. Look for a second hand car on http://www.mobile.de/, the famous used cars site. Look for a German car 5 years old, and a Japanese car 5 years old. Compare the prices they had when they were launched and the prices they have now. Wanna bet the Japanese kept more of its' value and is expensive even now after 5 years. Many people in Western Europe go for Japanese cars. They must have a reason, right?

What is it?

It's very very hard without it. You use it all the time. You think about most of the time. Well maybe not all the time, but some of the time. Okay, oftenly. Actually, rarely... But the truth is you just can't do without it.

Once you know about it, you can't give it up. And when you can't have it, you are so damn frustrated. You could go with candles, but it's not the same.When you lose it, you'd do just about anything to get it back, even though you know it's out of your league. If this happens friday night, it means Disaster. With capital D.

It's even more frustrating when others have it and you don't. But you know it was not easy to get it back. You have to fight for it. And other people are on your side fighting for you. You are not alone in this. You have support. You just call somebody, and they will try to help you.

When you get it back it feels like you reached heaven. Like you reached the light at the end of the tunnel. Literary. And once again you're happy you got it back before it was to late.

It's ELECTRICITY! Provided in Cluj-Napoca by our dear-old company Electrica, you often don't have the service when you need it the most. And they can say they'll fix it ASAP, but it'll be a couple of hours before everything is back on track.....

Good thing I didn't have that party tonight, it would've been a disaster. Sorry, Disaster. With capital D.

It does not move me, it's not the kind of thing that I like.

Since writing entries in English is the new trend these days, I decided to write one on my own. Maybe more if the feedback is satisfying.

You might wonder what the title is all about. It's actually simple. I think you've seen the new Coca Cola commercial, so you must've heard the song that comes with it. It's a nice single from the Kaiser Chiefs, first used in 'The O.C." series. "Na Na Na Na Na" is the title. Quite funny, don't you think?

But this isn't the reason for this entry, although I am thinking of making my blog a little more... flexible. You probably don't understand what I mean, but I am going to explain myself. Instead of focusing on me, I am thinking of discussing different subjects that come from time to time. Of course, only the ones that are worth discussing.

See, I've reached a conclusion. It's not worth it. Everyday problems do not need to be discussed on a public board like a blog. People must not hear what's inside your soul. All your inner thoughts... because it can be dangerous. To much exposure is never good. In life, in ideas, and even in photography. Instead of focusing on problems and frustrations, I plan on focusing on more day-to-day stuff. Add some pictures, an ironic language, and 'voila' the recipe for a more flexile blog, as I like to call it.

From time to time, I will let that part of me who wants pour my heart to this blog. It's impossible not to do so. In the beggining that was the idea of the blog. But as I said before, not anymore. It's not the kind of thing that I like.

I think it's enough for today.