College gets $5.6 million boost

Funds part of $200-million pie for campus safety, green initiatives, building upgrades

Humber will receive $5.6 million in funds to invest in campus security, energy efficiency and building upgrades.

“We’re striving to maintain excellence in this field to make sure we do produce one of the most highly educated and highly skilled workforces,” said John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities at a press conference at George Brown College on Tuesday.

“Investments like these are true investments in the future of Ontario’s economy.”

The funding is part of $200-million plan announced a day after The Toronto Star reported Ontario’s universities are in dire need of infrastructure repairs.

Humber College President John Davies was pleased by the news.

“This is quite a reasonable share of the money which I’m very satisfied with. I’m not surprised with what we were given by the government,” said Davies.

Humber’s cut of the funding is based on the percentage of college students who attend the college. Currently, 9.1 per cent of Ontario’s college students are enrolled here.

“This money is no way factored into our current budget, so for us it’s additional funds,” said Davies, explaining Humber is not in a deficit. “So we now have $5.6 million to put into projects that we didn’t have before today.

“From a safety point of view, we will build new fire systems accompanied with PA systems,” said Davies.

The college is looking at whether or not to install a wireless PA system or to integrate it with a new fire system. Davies said because of the college’s size, a PA system would be beneficial in an emergency situation.

Davies said he would like to spend the money on new weight room facilities, changes in the labs, a new crime scene lab for the Justice Studies program at Lakeshore Campus, a new moot court for the para-legal program and a new bio science lab.

“It doesn’t end the list. In a college this big you can always put money into all of those facilities, so having another $5.6 million to do that is great,” said Davies.

Davies’ thoughts on new facilities and campus safety were echoed by Milloy at the press conference.

“For faculty and students to have an excellent learning experience they need to work in facilities that are up to date, that are energy efficient, and that are safe and secure,” said Milloy.

http://www.humberetc.com/displayArticle.php?id=575&sid=36

Worker shortage in IT industry means good news for grads

Graduates in the information technology sector have more job opportunities available today than five years ago, said Karen Fast, manager of the career centre.

“We really saw a flattening of that industry for a good five years,” she said. “It was really discouraging for a lot of people, so a lot of students didn’t go into the programs because they were afraid that the jobs weren’t there at the end. We’re certainly seeing a huge number of jobs coming through now.”

A report issued by the Conference Board of Canada last week said as many as 58,000 new jobs will open in the next year, while new graduates are down about 50 per cent from 2002.

Canada’s IT sector is facing a shortage of workers that will cost the economy $120,000 per year for each vacant position, says the report.

Nancy Rodrigues, associate dean of school of media studies and information technology, said the number of new students in IT programs has increased over the past two years.

“The publicity is changing from jobs going off-shore to there being jobs available,” she said.

“As parents and students are seeing more jobs available, more people are interested.”

Joe Tomona, associate dean of the school of applied technology, said the burst of the tech bubble and the fall of Nortel scared people away from IT fields.

“Coupled with that we have a booming economy where skilled trades and the government’s efforts to increase the skilled work force kind of gave people an idea and the government was great at marketing it,” he said. “So I’ve seen a decline in high tech and an increase in skilled trades in terms of enrolment.”

Despite the shortage of graduates, Tomona said they have not been pushing the school’s technology programs more.

“We have not been aggressively marketing. It hasn’t traditionally been in our style. But maybe a little bit wouldn’t hurt.”

Patrick O’Gorman, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, said the government has not focused on one area at the expense of any others.

“The ministry has had increased funding over the last year,” he said. “We are not taking away from one area to give to another.”

http://www.humberetc.com/displayArticle.php?id=573&sid=36

Vendor hopes for peace in homeland

Many students grab a quick bite to eat at the hotdog vendor’s stand outside Humber’s lecture hall without a thought about the man serving them lunch.

Jabbar Raufi, 36, left his home in Kabul in 1989 after growing up there during the Soviet occupation.

“I didn’t want to be enlisted as a soldier, war is not a happy time, so I left my home to come to Canada.”

He hopes to visit his native Afghanistan some day.

“I pray for Afghanistan to be peaceful,” he said at his stand outside the E-wing on North Campus. “For over 24 years I have never seen it like that.”

He appreciates the tolerance and friendliness of Canadian society.

“You do your job, that’s it,” he said. “Where you’re from, what culture you are, what village you’re from – it doesn’t matter here.”

Raufi dropped out of school at the age of nine to work as a tailor.

He started working as a hotdog vendor five years ago so he could earn more money to support his wife Farida and three children.

He sells up to 200 hotdogs a day.

“I like it a lot. People are really friendly and they don’t bother me.”

Every day he travels daily from his home in Toronto.

In all types of weather he works at his hotdog stand to serve hungry students.

“The only bad part of my job is when it is really cold outside and the students don’t come.”

He enjoys summer most, when there aren’t as many students around and he works shorter days.

“I just come in for lunch, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. I make money then I go home, relax, and play volleyball.”

He likes to spend free time with his family and dreams of owning a restaurant at Humber one day.

With hotdogs for $2.50 and sausages for $3.50, taxes included, students keep coming back for the food and the service.

“I like the hotdog guy,” said accounting Amarbir Bal. “His prices fit my pocket and he is a nice, friendly guy.”

“The food is quality street meat,” said Brian Cole, a 3D model and visual effects student who eats there once a week. “He’s a friendly dude.”

To help draw people outside Raufi offers a money-back guarantee.

“I make delicious hot dogs and delicious sausages,” he said. “If they don’t like it, they get their money back.”

http://www.humberetc.com/displayArticle.php?id=510&sid=41

Winter salt harms campus nature plan

Every winter, North Campus uses more than 500 tonnes of road salt to keep its parking lots and walkways safe. But this comes at a heavy cost to the Arboretum, says Sid Baller, Arboretum superintendent.

“The hot button for all of us right now, and it’s kind of a conundrum for everybody – the college and the Arboretum – is the use of de-icers,” he said.

The effect of all of this salt on the Arboretum is far-reaching. Baller said a stand of evergreens in the river valley died and it is harmful to aquatic life in the Humber River.

Gary Wilkins, Humber River specialist at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, said he has seen more chloride in the river recently, most of which comes from road salt.

The authority is responsible for managing rivers in the GTA. A report it released on the Humber River last November said chloride is the only conventional pollutant to see an increase in its levels over the past decade.

Road salts have been designated a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

Wayne Falls, co-ordinator of site maintenance, said the college has looked into alternatives but the cost of more environmentally friendly products is prohibitive.

“The major concern that we have is providing safety for the students and the staff that use the facilities,” he said.

Baller said part of the problem is that students and staff expect the parking lots to be clear down to the pavement. “There is a whole casket of consequences that flow from that environmentally. It’s a city-wide problem, it’s a region-wide problem, and I don’t think it’s been addressed beyond that.”

Bob Nicholson, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, said the goal is to minimize the amount of salt needed during the winter and still keep roads safe. “We do realize it has an impact on the environment,” he said.

The province has taken numerous steps to reduce the amount of salt used each winter by inserting electronic controls on spreaders, pre-wetting salt to make it stick to roads better, and pre-treating some roads prior to storms.

http://www.humberetc.com/displayArticle.php?id=499&sid=36

Students going ahead with Kenya

Despite recent crisis, Humber plans to join Free the Children in May

For Revlon Stoddart, the recent violence in Kenya has not deterred her from going to build a school there this May.

Stoddart, fourth year early childhood education student, is one of 16 Guelph-Humber and Humber students going on the trip with Free the Children, a non-profit organization helping youth around the world. The organization was founded in Toronto by Craig Kielburger when he was 12 years old.

“I’m not scared,” said Stoddart, the co-founder of the Humber chapter of Free the Children. “I’m driven by my passion and love for children. I know what I want and I made up my mind at the end of August that for sure, this is what I want to do, to travel to Kenya.”

The violence is the result of the hotly contested Dec. 27 election that was won by President Mwai Kibaki by only 232,000 votes over opposition leader Raila Odinga. Both sides have exchanged accusations of electoral fraud and the turmoil has left about 500 people dead and approximately 250,000 displaced.

Kielburger’s brother Marc, chief executive director of Free the Children, said he doesn’t expect there to be any problems.

“I personally would be shocked if the situation weren’t fully resolved or extremely close to being resolved by May,” he said.

Internet management student Kendi Muchungi is concerned about developments and has been keeping in close touch with her friends and family in Kenya.

“I miss home. Especially now because I feel like I should be in Nairobi.”

However, she said she believes the violence will subside in her home country as most Kenyans focus their attention on the struggles of daily life.

Despite the optimism, Humber is still monitoring the situation carefully and will not put any students at risk.

“Humber will always err on the side of caution and if need be we will cancel the trip,” said Michael Kopinak, manager of residence life and international student services. “The hope right now is that we don’t have to do that.”

http://www.humberetc.com/displayArticle.php?id=438&sid=36

Part 7: Berlin, London, and home

This will be the last bulk e-mail I send since I'm back in Toronto now and returning to work on Monday. It sucks, but it was a good time.

What can I say about Berlin? I spent a week there, and loved pretty much every minute of it. I'm not going to give a day-by-day account because that would be boring. And, besides, at this point its all blurred together. Berlin is one of the great cities of the world (possibly THE). It's one of those places that just exudes energy and life at all times of the day. Theres tonnes of cultural offerings, the nightlife is amazing, but mostly, just walking around is enjoyable Not to mention the beautiful women with excellent style, riding around on their bikes - all big plusses.

The average day would begin with me waking up, possibly a little hungover, enjoying a cup of tea, and then going out to see the city. I was staying at a very relaxing hostel in Prenzlauer-Berg, which is a real hipster neighbourhood filled with millions of cafes, bars, restaurants, and cool little shops. Generally I would walk down Kastianenallee before deciding what to do.

Sightseeing wasn't really a priority, and several times I would make way to one museum only to decide that I wasn't really up for it. Last time I was in Berlin I spent every day jumping around from museum to museum and this time I wanted to do it differently. Thats not to say I didn't go to any. I visited the Pergamon Museum one evening when it was free to admire the ancient Greek altar that they had so carefully dismantled from its original location in Turkey. I also popped into the German History museum to satisfy the history nerd in me. The Berlinische Gallery was also quite impressive with some very good modern art and photography exhibits. And, how could I miss the worlds only Ramones Museum, with its 300 bits of Ramones memorabilia? Mostly though I spent my time wandering between Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Kreuzberg, with one foray to the East Side Gallery in Fredrichsain. I never did head west of the Brandenburg Gate - hopefully I didn't miss much.

Nights were always busy. After spending a month in Turkey and only spending two nights out in my whole time there I wanted to enjoy the Berlin nightlife. Sometimes I would hang out with people from the hostel, others I would make my own fun. My first night I went out on my own to Kreuzberg to catch the Mojomatics at Wild at Heart. The show was pretty good and I met Alberto, a Spanish guy who was about to open up his own record store. It was good timing because I was about to leave when I started chatting to him and his friends. Three hours later I was finally on my way back to the hostel, and I dozed off on the tram but fortunately woke up only two stops too late.

That was Wednesday night. Thursday I found out that a friend of a friend was DJing at this place near the hostel called Dr Pong. I gathered up a few people, telling them I had no idea what to expect and off we went. And it was great. The bar had a ping pong table in the front room and a communal game was being played. People walked around the table in a circle and took turns taking shots. If you missed, you were out until a winner was decided, and then a new game was begun. David played music "that was good for walking around a table to," as he put it. I made the final once, but really, there was one girl who dominated the table and would flash you an evil grin every time she'd knock you out.

I also spent another night hanging out with Alberto, and his two, beautiful, Spanish lady friends. We went to White Trash Fast Food Bar where he seemed to know everybody, included the wait staff and free drinks were common. It all culminated Saturday night as a group of people from the hostel were going out on a pub crawl and I agreed to join them. We were two Aussies, a Quebecois couple, and two Danish girls. I can't go into details because my parents are reading this, but it was a good night that lead to a lazy Sunday and a delicious, all-you-can-eat brunch.

I'm sure there are things I'm missing here. I bought a pile of books at a really good English bookstore, and Alberto let me into his record store to spend some more money there, though not as much as I could have. One thing that kept going through my mind while there was, "I wonder if they hire non-German speakers?" It is a place I would like to move to for a bit. I guess its time to sign up for German courses and send out some resumes.

That was my week in Berlin. Before flying home I had to go back to London for two days. I stayed with my friend Guy and we started a band called Les Bagles. We got drunk, played music, went to see the Borat Movie and that was about it. The flight home was delayed by three hours, which was no fun at all. Yesterday it was cold and rainy, and I had to walk to the post office to pick up the package I had sent home. There was Turkish apple tea in the parcel, and drinking it brings me back. But seven weeks is a good amount of time and hopefully going back to work won't completely drain out my soul.

Turkey - part 6

Life is pretty good these days. I've
made it to Berlin, at last, and have already realized
why I wanted to come back here so badly. Meanwhile...

I got out of Turkey just fine. I made the ferry to Kos
just fine and was able to get a ticket to Athens for
that night. That just meant I had a mere 10 hours to
occupy myself before heading off on the boat. And what
a long 10 hours it was. Kos Town was dead. There was
nothing to do at all. I wandered around for a bit but
mostly just felt like an inconvenience as the only
tourist in a place where everyone just wanted to close
up until April. I figured the best thing to would take
a walk along the coast, find a stretch of beach and
read but my attempt was ruined by a string of ugly,
closer up hotels and restaurants that went on for
miles. The day was a total writeoff.

The night was as well. I had a snorer in my cabin and
ended up having to sleep on a bench in the restaurant.
It really was mindboggling how loud he was - even on
his side. But I did make it Athens and had a great
time there. I checked it at a very overpriced, yet
clean and comfy hostel right in the centre and went
straight out to check out the Acropolis and other
ruins. Despite the hostel being 5 minutes away, I
managed to take a wrong turn and it took me an hour to
get there. But it was nice, as I made my through the
twisting streets beneath the Acropolis. It was
definitely worth the effort. I thought I may have been
ruined-out after Turkey, but the Parthenon and
surrounding temples were the most impressive yet,
despite the ongoing restoration blotting the site.

I got back to the hostel, and, for the first time in a
week, there was actually people where I was staying.
Too many Americans doing the European pub-crawl
circuit for my liking, but still a good time. The beer
was cheap and Pass the Pigs was played. Then I made
the mistake of going on a night-walk of Athens, which
was more of a "here's a shitty bar, good luck" type
thing. So I dranked an over-priced beer and headed
off.

The next day worked out pretty well. It was warm and
sunny, so I spent the day wandering around with a few
people I had met. We climbed up to the highest hill in
Athens and admired the smog, then sat at an expensive
cafe on a nice side street. We were entertained by a
very funny street performer, who felt it necessary to
pull me out of my seat and dress me up in balloons.
All in good fun. That night involved more drinking
with too many Americans studying abroad and spending
the weekend in Athens to drink and be hungover. But I
did meet some good, fund people and we wound up at a
house party at one of the hostel staff's place.

Saturday I woke up hungover and without tylenol, so it
was pretty much a write off until I caught my flight
to Berlin. My plan was to head straight to Leipzig
(where I was going to see Dead Moon) but the hostel
said they were booked up so I decided to spend the
night in Berlin. Berlin hit me in about two seconds. I
got off the S-Bahn at Warschauerstrasse stop and right
away broke into a big grin. The walk up to my hostel
was only ten minutes but that was enough. There was a
group of skater punks drinking beer on the sidewalk,
some 80's styled rockers walking about, and the women
were oh so stylish and good looking. It was nice to
see signs of alternative culture after spending a
month in Turkey where everyone seems pretty much the
same. I didn't do anything crazy that night though, as
I was still recovering from the night before. Just a
beer, some reading and bed.

Sunday morning I woke up early to get to Leipzig.
Alas, it took far too long to get there and
essentially my day was wasted. I did go to the Stasi
Museum, but it was all in German, aside from a few
very brief English descriptions. But it was free, and
besides I was going to see Dead Moon. I was a little
hesitant about going on my own, but I thought there
wouldn't be too many people there and maybe I would
meet someone. Turns out I was wrong - the show was
packed with all sorts of people, and was much livelier
than a comparable show in Toronto. People went nuts
and the band was great.

I spent yesterday in Leipzig, which was nice enough
but there wasn't all that much to do. I was pretty
much the only tourist around, which was a little
awkward. I did my usual walk around, ate some chinese
food for the first time in over a month and then spent
the evening doing laundry in a bar near the hostel.
The machines must of been from Communist times, but it
took almost four hours to do one load. But they had
good food and Weissebeer on tap.

And that was Leipzig. I was up bright and early to
catch a train back to Berlin. I got off the train at
Potsdamer Platz. Last time I was here it was still a
big construction zone but now it appeared mostly
finished. After checking into the hostel I went for a
walk (how surprising). Strolled through very cool
Prenzlauer Berg, down to Museum Insel and on the
Brandenburg Gate. I don't know what it is about this
city, but it has a vibe unlike anywhere else I've
been. It was rainy and cold though, so I decided to
call it a day. But on my way to the U-Bahn station I
passed by the Holocaust Memorial and decided to check
it out. It was very moving and well done, but I have
to say that its not exactly the first thing one should
when arriving in Germany. The museum is underground
and the exit leads you into a grid of large blocks of
varying sizes, with the biggest ones right in the
middle. The ground is very uneven and the effect is
very awkward and disorienting.

Right now I'm back at the hostel. Its a very comfy,
homely place where I can sit back in the common room,
cook dinner and basically pretend I'm home. Except for
the fact that there's 5 people sleeping in my room and
I'm in Berlin, which, so far, is about as good it
gets. 

Turkey - part 5

This will be my last e-mail from Turkey as tomorrow morning I am hopping a ferry to the Greek Island of Kos, en route to Athens and then Berlin. I can't say I'm sad to be leaving. The past week has been quite lonely as low-season is in full force and I've had several nights in a row with a hostel or pension all to myself.

Last time I wrote I had just arrived in Fethiye. I thought I was the only person in my pension there, but at breakfast the next morning I found out there was also a British couple staying there - Ally and Alex. Alex was there to Paraglide and Ally was there to be the good girlfriend and sit on the beach while he flew around in the sky. So I'm pretty sure she was quite happy when I said I was going to be heading out to the nearby ghost town of Kayakoy and then hiking over the hill to Oludeniz, better known as the Blue Lagoon.

We head off on the Dolmus to Kayakoy at about 11. The town was abandoned when all Ottoman Greeks were transferred to Greece some 80 years ago. Nobody took their place so the stone houses have been crumbling since then. There were some dogs running about and some sheep grazing, but thats about it. Finding the path to Oludeniz was quite tricky, so we spent a good amount of time wandering about the ruins until we got to the top of the hill and found the first marker. The walk through the pine forest was easy enough, and presented some stunning views of the surrounding coastline. It took about two hours and we stopped in Oludeniz for lunch, and to wait for Ally's boyfriend to show up. It was quite cold when we left but the
afternoon sun warmed things up quite nicely. Unfortunately I had neglected to bring my bathing suit so I didn't go swimming. We did however meet a Polish couple on the beach and agreed to rent a boat together to head out to Butterfly Valley the next day.

The trip to Butterfly Valley was pretty nice. Our group of four swelled to six as an American showed up at the pension and asked if he could join us. Lastly, just as we were about to leave, an Argentian woman joined us because she had nothing else to do. Once at the Valley we decided to hike up to the nearby waterfall. The valley got consistently narrowed and the path trickier as we went along, but it was worth it. Everyone seemed to enjoy the trip until we were just about back at the boat driver decided to rip us off. We had agreed to a price of 80 Lira but he decided he wanted 100, so he stopped offshore and demanded his money. We weren't in a position to argue
because one of our group had to catch a bus, but we were able to settle on 90 lira for the 6 of us.
Unfortunately the haggling over price soured the entire day. But I did go for a swim in the Blue Lagoon and the water was lovely, if a little chilly.

The next morning I woke up early and took off up to Pamukkale to see Hierapolis and the Travertines. The bus ride took forever, as it wound its way through the mountains, but the views were amazing so I put up with it. I arrived in Pamukkale and checked into a hotel that had been recommended. I got a private room with ensuite for $15, and then went to look for food.

And there was nothing. All the restaurants were closed so I was forced to eat a mediocre, over-priced meal at the hotel. I was the only guest, the bright side being the young man that worked there. He was eager to practice his English and he talked about his time in
the army, football, life in Turkey. He said he had been posted along the Iraq border during his two years with the army. He wouldn't elaborate beyond that, saying he saw things he didn't want to talk about. He also soundly beat me at backgammon, a game I have played many times here but still can't keep up with the locals at.

Pamukkale as a whole was somewhat dissapointing. The travertines, which are pictured as milk white pools of water on postcards, were more of a drab grey. Hierapolis was nowhere near as splendid as my Lonely Planet had made it seem. The one bright side was the thermal pool at the site, which had old Roman columns in it and was quite relaxing. I struggled to occupy myself for the day. There were no other backpackers around and the only other people visiting the site were elderly German tourists. I read for a while, did a crossword, and went to bed early.

Then it was off to Selcuk, which was much of the same. Once again I was the only guest at the pension. But, it was my last stop in Turkey and I was going to make the most of it. The next morning I would be hopping a ferry to Samos, so I wanted to leave Turkey in style. I visited the very impressive ruins of Ephesus, went for a nice walk around the country side, and treated myself to a good meal. Then I went to the local hamam. I knew I was in for a good scrub-down and massage when I saw a bunch of old men sitting around in their towels, drinking tea, and watching football. And it was great. Much better than the hamam in Antalya and I came out of it feeling very clean and very relaxed.

The next morning I woke up bright and early, hopped a mini-bus to Kusadasi and strolled down to the ferry dock - only to be laughed at by the port police and told to come back in April. There were no more ferries until then. At first I thought they were joking but then they pointed me to a travel agent across the street, where they confirmed that ferries to Samos stopped a
week ago. Nuts.

I spent the rest of the morning figuring out what to do. Eventually I found out that I could get a ferry out of Bodrum, going to Kos, and, hopefuly, from Kos to Athens. So I arrived yesterday in Bodrum and am once-again the only backpacker around and would really some fellow travellers to talk to. In hindsight I should have returned to Istanbul and taken the train from there to Athens. Oh well. In Bodrum I went to the underwater archeology museum, which, sadly, is not underwater, but has displays on finds from ancient shipwrecks. Its located in an old crusader castle and was quite interesting. Alas, Bodrum is a package holiday destination and I'm almost out of Lira, so I've spent most of the day trying to simply keep myself busy, which meant lots of walking around, and trying to find a comfortable spot to read and do my crosswords.

Tomorrow I will officially be done with Turkey. I have the ferry ticket in my pocket. I'm hoping Athens will be more exciting.

Turkey - Part 4

How do you do? Tonight I'm in Fethiye. Normally its a busy meca for package-tourists and backpackers, but this being November, there's only two people staying at the Pension I'm out and the centre of town is absolutely dead.It's kind of eery. Tomorrow I'll be taking a walk from the ghost-twon of Karakoy to Oludeniz, home of the Blue Lagoon beach of postcard fame. Meanwhile, the past week:

When I last e-mailed it was morning in Goreme and I had a full day ahead of me before taking an overnight bus down to the coast. And what a day it was. Not knowing what to do, I decided to go for a walk in one of the valleys I had yet to check out. While strolling around, an old man appeared seemingly out of nowhere holding a bunch of grapes. He offered me some, and then beckoned me to follow him. He brought me to his cave home. I followed his lead and took off my shoes when I sat down, which lead to him seeing my holey socks. No problem - he produces a needle and thread and proceeds to sew them up for me. We continued to sit there, him talking in Turkish, me in English, neither of us having a clue what the other was saying.

After about 15 minutes of that I continued on my walk. I got back to town, but it was only 1pm, so I decided to hitch-hike up to the nearest town to explore the rock castle that dominates the countryside. A local offered to show me around, so I followed, but was very disappointed when he asked for 5 lira for his services. I thought he was just demonstrating that famous Turkish hospitality. I gave him a bit of change I had in my pocket and took off down the hillside. And thats when the dogs started chasing me. First there were two that started barking from up on high. Then a third that was tied to a rope. Finally, two more appeared and that started running towards me. I nearly shit myself, then, as calmly as possibly, picked up a big rock and tried to look meaner than them. It must have worked, because they didn't come too near and I made it to the road and back to Goreme where I caught my bus to Olympos.

I got to Olympos and it was raining. Fortunately the Pension I was in had some good couches, and Napoleon Dynamite was on TV, in English! I sat back and took it easy. It was like being at a friends cottage. That is, if your friends cottage was set amongst an orange grove, in a valley surrounded by mountains, amidst the ruins of an ancient Greek city. And there was a beach about 5 minutes away. Eventually the sun came out and I went for a walk. A big, stupid grin spread out on my face. Its the grin of pure bliss and it was the third time this trip I had it. I explored the scattered ruins and slowly walked down to the Mediterranean where I watched the waves splash up on the beach. That night we walked up the Chimaera - an eternal flame high up in the mountains above the sea.It was very, very cool.

The next morning I woke up and it was warm and sunny. Needless to say I grabbed my towel and my bathing suit and head straight for the beach. I went for a swim, lazed about in the sun, and remained fairly immobile for several hours on end. It was November 2, but I was on the beach and loving it.

The next day it rained. I was going to leave, but the night before some friendly Aussies showed up so I decided to stick around despite of the weather. We spent the day indoors, playing backgammon, cards, and just generally being lazy. We were joined later on by a Kiwi girl and that night I treated myself to a glass of scotch as we puffed on a Nargileh. It's a good life.

One member of our group was an Aussie who ran a pension in Antalya, so the next day I backtracked there with my new friends. Antalya is a really cool city that is shamefully overlooked by the backpacker fraternity (including myself, who skipped it originally). The old city has a great mix of Ottoman houses and Roman ruins and the view from the harbour of the surrounding mountains is amazing.

The real reason I went there was to try to get to Termessos, an ancient warrior city that managed to fend off both Alexander the Great and the Romans. Its way up in the mountains north of Antalya and is nothing short of spectacular. We (that would be Kat, Chris and Debs, my friend from Olympos) rented a car and made our way up there. We got off to a poor start. Or, rather, I got off to a poor start and forgot to take off the hand-brake at first. The car started smoking and we all freaked out. But a moment later everything was fine and we made it there fairly quickly.

The ruins were all quite splendid and the theatre was particularly impressive, with views down several valleys all the way out to the sea. The only downside was a chilling wind coming down from the north. I was basking in the sun a few days before, but now I was wishing I had brought my hat and gloves with me. We also visited a nearby cave that had been inhabited almost continuously for 25,000 years and got a delicious pide lunch at an unassuming little restaurant in the small town close by. Upon our return we went a Turkish Bath where I let an old man scrub me down, clean me off, and massage me.

And that brings me to today. I did some X-mas shopping in the morning and hopped a bus to Fethiye in the afternoon. The road cut inland and there was a smattering of snow about, despite the clear blue sky. But considering there has been massive flooding elsewhere in Turkey, and the news showed people building snowmen in Istanbul, I'm not complaining. I just don't think I'll be doing any more swimming.

Turkey - part 3

Welcome to part 3 of my travels. When I left off last I was in Cappadocia and was about to head off on a three day tour to eastern Turkey. Well, now I'm still in Cappadocia, but have had some good adventures since.

The tour started off well. I was picked up from my hostel (where I slept in a cave room) and we hit the road almost immediately. Our destination was the town of Kahta at the foot of Mount Nemrut, some 600km to the east. Back home this would take about 6 hours, but on Turkish roads in took about 10, including several stops along the way.

The first was at a Caravansarai - an ancient trading post set up along the silk road. It was in a dusty town and the locals were clearly as curious to see us - a mixture of Asians and Caucasians - as we were to see the Caravansarai. It was a dusty little town and I wasn't all that impressed with the trading post, but I can say that accomodations for travellers have improved immensely in the past 500+ years, and I'm
ever-so greatful for that.

The rest of the drive to Kahta was spent driving through the impressive Taurus mountains. We stopped once at a scenic viewpoint, and another time to try
"world famous" Mado ice cream. It tasted like regular ice cream but had to be eaten with a knife and fork because it was so thick.

We arrived in Kahta at about 7pm, checked into the hotel, had dinner, and were told we'd be woken up 4:15am in order to catch the sunrise from the top of Mount Nemrut. Unfortunately I was awake even earlier with a massive stomach ache and dizziness. None the less, I was in the mini-bus at 4:30, ready to be driven up the mountain. It was cold and rainy and the road up the mountain was clouded in fog. At times you couldn't see more than 10 feet ahead. The road twisted its way up and up, almost all the way to the top. We jumped out into the cold rain, and ran right into a nearby tea shack, hoping things would improve. Clearly there would be no sunrise on this morning.

Mt. Nemrut is the site of King Aniochus I burial tomb. Its the highest mountain in south-eastern Turkey and about 2000 years ago, at the top he had giant statues erected to the Gods, with one of himself alongside, probably with the assumption he would be joining them upon his death. Over the years the heads of the statues fell off and they now lie on the ground next to them. The site is quite impressive. Unfortunately, the thunder storm raging around us slightly dampened the
experience (pun intended). We explored the top of the mountain and then retreated back to the tea shack to warm up. We later found out that a Japanese tourist
had been struck by lightning shortly after we left the top.

By the time we left to drive back down things had cleared up and we were treated to splendid views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. We stopped for breakfast then drove off to Sanliurfa, near the Syrian border. Sanliurfa's claim to fame is that its the birthplace of the prophet Abraham and where monotheism was born over 4,000 years ago. Its an important pilgrimage sight and people come from all over to pay their respects. The old part of the city was very nice and the bazaar was fascinating because it is actually used by the locals, as opposed to the one in Istanbul, which is pretty much tourists only.

The next day was spent driving back to Cappadocia, with a few uneventful stops along the way. We got back Saturday evening, I checked in to the hostel and pretty much went straight to bed. Sunday was spent lazing around and yesterday I took a tour to the more remote parts of Cappadocia. We visited an underground city where Christians would hide out to avoid attacking Arabs and Persians. It went seven levels underground and people were clearly all very short back then because I spent most of my time doing the duck walk. After the underground city we went for a very pleasant hike in the Ihlara Valley - a very deep Gorge with a river running through it.

I also met a few people on the tour and last night we went out for a very faux-Turkish evening. After a meal of Lamb kebab (about my 20th kebab of the trip), we went to a local bar and ordered glasses of raki (like Sambuca, but better), and a water pipe. I got a nice little buzz going and at about 11 I went back to my room to sleep. And that I did, not waking up until 9:30 this morning.

Tonight I'm heading off down to the coast where I'm hoping to catch a late-year beach holiday. I'll be staying in a treehouse hostel in Olympos.