Tuesday, July 17, 2007

And the viewers tune in....

Thanks everybody for visiting. Please leave your comments to let me know you've been here...

Monday, July 16, 2007

The Weekend In Avşa

Birnur and I went to Avşa Island in the Marmara Sea on Friday night to visit her parents. All day Saturday and Sunday we swam, the weather was beautiful but a little windy. We returned to Istanbul on Sunday late afternoon.

Hafta sonu Avşada
Bu hafta sonu, Cuma Akşamı, Birnur ve ben onun ailesiye ziyaret etmek için, Marmara Denizindeki, Avşa'ya gittik. Bütün Cumartesi günü ve Pazar yüzdük, hava çok güzeldi ama biraz rüzgârlıydı. Pazar öğleden sonra Istanbula geri döndük.

Yiğitler Köyü (Yiğitler Village), Avşa
Yiğitlerin Limanı (Yiğitler Port)
Avşa, Yiğitler Köyü, View from balcony
Avşa, Yiğitler Köyü, View from balcony
The return homeThe return home

Monday, July 02, 2007

Return From Asia

Birnur and I returned last night from a ten day trip to Hong Kong & China. We spent a whirlwind two days of intense shopping and tropical heat in Hong Kong before getting on the high speed boat to Shenzhen in the Guandong Province of China.

We were greeted at Shenzhen by my Dad who just happened to have been playing in a golfing tournament in Lan Tao Island with 160 other Aussies. We stayed in Dongguan City for three nights where we caught up with Stuart (a family friend) , Tony and Michael (Dad's golfing piers). After three days of meetings in Dongguan City we departed for Shanghai.

Birnur and I met with Sebastian, a friend from Istanbul, in Shanghai where we had a lot of catching up to cram into an afternoon and an evening. The rest of our time was devoted to prearranged meetings we had in Shanghai.

We flew back to Istanbul with a 10 hour Dubai stop-over which made the journey home a total of 28 hours door-to-door, i.e. from the hotel in Shanghai -> Hong Kong -> Dubai -> Istanbul. Here are some shots taken throughout the trip.

Hong Kong Island by night
(10 year anniversary of English handover to China)

Hong Kong Island by day
(traveling by quick cat from H.K. to Shenzhen)

Dad & I
(Long Island Golf & Country Club Dongguan City, China)

Birnur
(Long Island Golf & Country Club Dongguan City, China)View from Stuart's office
(Dongguan City, Guandong Province, China)
View from Stuart's office
(Dongguan City, Guandong Province, China)
Shanghai, China
Birnur & Sebastian
(Foot massage parlor?? Shanghai China)

Birnur & I
(Ferrari H.Q. - Shanghai, China)

Me saving Sebastian's ass again
(Ferrari H.Q. - Shanghai, China)
Haiyin & Birnur
(Chinese & Turkish 101; Shanghai, China)