Pledges

At the moment I'm feeling extremely incensed at the way promises over tuition fees have been broken, with my faith in the whole democratic system (which I have to admit wasn't the strongest to begin with) left in ruins. One of the main reasons I voted for Lib Dems was because of the policies they made to protect student rights, and apparently all of that is forgotten now. The motion to increase the upper limit of university tuition fees has been passed by a small majority, with scenes outside the Houses of Parliament tense; clashes between police officers and student protestors leaving casualties on both sides. The police have really become a symbol of the ruthlessness the country has towards those who speak out against what they don't agree with. The same way the hypocrisy of the term 'freedom of speech' results in the arrest of the Wikileaks founder, people who so passionately protest against the 'elected' government do so at their own peril, being met by heavy-handed police tactics that only exacerbate the situation.

Youths do not respond to police intimidation and violence by just obeying and following their 'designated protest route'; I find that the whole concept of a protest that follows a timetable set by the people you're protesting against defeats the object in a way. Protests should be there to make as many voices heard as possible, making an impact on their target audience, and unfortunately it seems this can only be achieved through the use of vandalism and the symbolic bonfires that the TV cameras can all catch and broadcast. The level at which the protests have gotten out of hand should've been noted by the politicians, who can't just get this vote over with and continue with their career-driven lives; this is going to be hanging over their heads for a while. This is going to affect so many people down the line, and the society-damaging effect it's having is seemingly unapparent to the blind politicians who believe this is the only way forward.

It was quite weird seeing images of Prince Charles' car getting vandalised by protestors (with him in it, on the way to a theatre performance); in a way it's symbolic of the blatant disregard the ruling elite have for the people, and how even when their personal property (probably paid for by the taxpayer) is wrecked, they can continue as if nothing happened, with the Prime Minister more 'shocked and regretful' about their 'attack' than the destruction of the whole of society.

It has still yet to sink in, but we have been directly lied to by the politicians we voted for, and even though they are fitting the stereotype of what it is to be a politician, this has affected me deep down. If you're reading this Mr Clegg and Ms Teather, I hope you find the courtesy not to run for parliament next time, as any pre-election pledges you make hold no credibility in my eyes. Poor children's chances of pursuing their dreams at university have all but been ended by you.

August and September

Right, I plan to finish this bi-monthly post in one sitting, and judging by the amount of texts I've sifted through to jog my memory of what happened the last two months, this may be a little long...

The way August began seemed like it would be completely different to the way July went; the turn of the month brought completely different weather, and seemingly less fun stuff to get up to. But a couple of days in, and my hectic schedule was in full flow once more. This is what happened:

I went to the cinema with all my siblings and watched Karate Kid, which was quite good (albeit predictable), but I was particularly impressed by the acting of Jaden Smith (Will Smith's son). Another oft-memorable family event was when my Grandma came to visit. It's not that we don't see her often, but she doesn't usually come down to London, and since her Parkinson's disease has stopped her from driving, she takes the train from Hampshire to see us. Picking her up from her platform and travelling with her on the Jubilee line, I felt a strange connection that I hadn't really felt before; she is the mother of my mother, and I realised that the amount of love a grandmother feels for her grandchild is almost unmatchable. For as long as I've known, I can remember her bringing presents every time she visited, and although I've grown out of material need from her (well, almost; she brings me a chocolate orange whenever she visits), there's a certain excitement still felt when she comes round.

What did take up a chunk of summer was Charity Week, and although it takes place at the end of October, alot of planning and work has to be put in from the start, especially when it comes to finding a team. Our mode of contact was through online forums, and because people (including myself) forget to check them from time to time, I found myself almost feeling alone with the task of organising Charity Week, whilst everyone else did their own thing, and especially as the job description of CW rep was to 'basically organise timetables for tube collections' (which it wasn't), I wasn't 100% sure what I was really supposed to do. But slowly but surely, people came together, and one of our preliminary meetings (with a few guys in my year) was held in Edgware Road, talking about what needed to get sorted for Charity Week, and then up came the topic of entertainment. We decided to make a film, and started brainstorming some cool and wacky ideas that would hopefully make its mark on the CW scene. More on that in next month's post.

What wasn't in short supply this summer was the number of meet-ups I had with friends, especially with the friend I went to Scotland with (the one who's into cars); going karting a few times, eating at swanky restaurants (and I mean very swanky), as well as paying for but missing several other events, like a Le Mans-style race around Silverstone (a 6 hour race we managed to arrive late for). One event was called Red Bull X-fighters, which admittedly I thought involved planes, but was actually a cool motorbike stunt competition. On the day it was raining quite heavily, and because qualifying was cancelled the day before, we presumed the proper event would too be cancelled, and that there would be no point trekking to Battersea power station only to find that nothing was on. Unfortunately, it did go ahead, and instead of sitting in our platinum-ticketed seats (with backstage access), I watched it online. Boy did we miss out!

I visited Covent Garden for the first time, when a friend invited me to a tea shop in Temple, called Bou Tea (now unfortunately closed down). There I sampled some crazy teas, and afterwards walked around the tourist-filled square, entertained by all the random street performers exhibiting their 'skills'. I can't believe I only just discovered this place, and even though it was full of tourists, it felt somewhat magical, like another little scene from a Zelda game.

The pre-season was underway for Cricklewood United (my Sunday league football team if you didn't already know). And this was when my summer took a turn for the worst; during one of the friendly games I was a substitute, and I came on as my team was losing (quite a common occurrence). Just as I get my first touch of the ball, barely thirty seconds in, two players from the opposing team came at me from different directions and tackle me badly, leaving me writhing on the grass in agony. One of them caught my leg in between his, and somehow twisted sideways, and that was when I heard the cracks. I was sure that I had broken it, with me clutching at the tufts of grass in excruciating pain. Needless to say, I couldn't play the rest of the match, and I got my mum to take me to A&E, where they said it was just a ligament tear, and they didn't even give me crutches! I'm tempted to put a picture up showing the horrific bruising I sustained. So I spent the rest of my summer hobbling and hopping everywhere, which obviously slowed me down alot (meaning I had to leave places way in advance if I had to get somewhere else in time). But it gave me a chance to take in my surroundings more, and actually appreciate the small details in what I'd usually just walk straight past.

Ok, so when I promised to get this blog-post done in one sitting... either it's been a month-long sitting, or more likely I've been extremely sidetracked by life. I know this post is going to appear in the October section, but now it's the end of November, and with exams in five days, I really need to knuckle down with revision. So I'm going to finish up this post by listing the rest of the things I've done and call it a day (or two months more like). You're probably bored by this point anyway. So please show your appreciation for the list!

List:
The start of Ramadan (and long days fasting).
A football reunion with college mates whom I haven't seen in donkeys' years (and yes, during Ramadan).
Regular fast-breaking meet ups with friends at various restaurants, and at a primary school friend's house.
CUFC season starts, with the injured me watching from the sidelines (first match a respectable draw).
TEDDYBEAR HOSPITAL meeting! (I'm the publicity officer)
Eid, and the usual Fatine party games and presents :)
Helping loads of people with personal statements (somehow they think I'm the right person to come to :S).
MESS training! Basically I now teach first years Medicine revision lectures :)
FRESHERS FAYRE! (with me donning a teddy bear costume and handing out flyers I made).
More Charity Week prep.
Imperial Potmed, and I find myself helping loads more prospective medics with their personal statements.

And riddled in the middle of all these events are various trips to see friends and watch films et cetera.

So that's about it! Finally. And now I leave you with the compulsory list (yes, another list) of my status updates; I hope things will be more organised from now on.
 

*That karting adrenaline should keep me going for a few days :)

*can't believe I'd never been to Covent Garden before today! Jokes! And check out Bou Tea for a menu of awesomeness!

*And there I was planning what to have for lunch...

*got mistaken for an Italian drug dealer today. And the funny thing is I've taken a month off drugs and the sort :P

just tried out the Xbox Kinect. Allow, I've got a wii at home!

Less than 30 seconds on the pitch, and I need to go to hospital because of over-aggressive opponents :/

*My Greg House limp has progressed into a Jason Bourne limp. Aww yeah!

*50 stars in, I can safely say Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best game I've ever played :)

*A vending machine in the whitechapel library. That's what I'm talking about!! :D

*Transport against London.

*Good start to the season Cricklewood United FC !!

*Don't mess with Fatine family party games... we are so competitive!!

*When an Indian waiter says that a curry isn't spicy, he basically means they've only put half of the world's chilli reserves in the recipe. The tears are still flowing xP

*needs to get Halo Reach out of his system before uni starts...

*Didn't know that wearing a teddybear costume for two hours could make me unbear-ably sweaty! >_>

*is dicing with death at Rye House racetrack. Mr Hamilton wouldn't be too proud of my performances so far :/

*Forget last year's material, I just hope I can remember how to write! :s

*It's true; discovering I still had the ECG stickers on my body did leave me quite amused. How sad! :D

*Tried caviar for the first time ever; tastes a bit like fish. Give me fish fingers any day!         

 Oh and how could I forget, MBBS Year Two has begun!!

Farhaan and Farhan exhibiting the new green handbook.

Trainers

Since the half marathon I've entered is fast approaching, I thought I should get some running shoes that won't actually destroy my body after I've run 13 miles in them. Naturally I thought there should be some hint of orange on them, so I let my consumerist guard down and went shopping. And here are some of the trainers I had to choose from...

These were too orange (I know, could there be such a thing?!)... something I probably would've bought when I was 10. The camera doesn't quite catch it, but they were eye-stingingly fluorescent! Next...

These were alright, but they looked like more casual trainers than running shoes, and I'm sure my knees would suffer after running a while in them. They are a bit bland-looking too. Next...

These were just perfect. Just about the right amount of colour, they seemed comfortable, and I had my eyes on a similar pair for a while, until these 'updated ones' came out. They have space in the sole for a special ipod-connecting running chip I have, and according to my mum, they could double as 'smart trainers'. I went running around Regent's Park with them today, and my do they feel bouncy! Just like the 'lunarglide' name suggests!

Private Joke

This video, I think, illustrates that how funny a joke can be depends on the audience; how they've been brought up, what career paths they've chosen, and what they're 'into'. Before I discovered the video below, I found it difficult trying to explain to my friends what I meant by an 'in-joke'; that some people will never understand the hilarity of some situations simply because their frame of reference is so far removed. So who better to show how this works than Fry and Laurie? :D

July: Penguins and Porsches

As you can tell from the lateness of this post, yet again have I found myself getting up to loads of things and trying to pack as many activities in a single day as possible. As soon as the sun makes an appearance, seemingly so do many friends I thought had forgotten about me, and I find myself accepting various invitations, from football to tea drinking. The World Cup began quite slowly, but from the quarter finals onwards, the matches started getting more exciting. And who better to share such a spectacle with than your football-loving buddies at a friend's flat?

So Spain won it all in the end, and with me being an avid Holland supporter, I did feel some disappointment at them having lost the final. I have to admit the tactics they used were a bit dirty, wanting to disrupt the Spanish passing game, but I didn't really like everyone's response afterwards, saying that Spain 'deserved' to win the tournament; they lost their opening game to Switzerland for crying out loud, while Holland were unbeaten in both the run-up to the final and their qualifying games! There was a long debate between friends of mine on my facebook status, with friends sharing my sympathies and accusing others of not being true football fans for not feeling some sadness at Holland losing. Holland remains the best team never to have won the World Cup, and they deserve much better judging by the number of high quality players they've fielded throughout history.

One of the more bizarre stories emerging from the World Cup has been of a match-predicting octopus. I can't believe how stupid people can get, believing that just because a hungry octopus chooses food from a box with a country's flag on it, that it knows that the team will win. What I find more absurd is how long news agencies allowed the story to go on for.

 The field near my grandma's

I went paintballing with a bunch of Imperial guys, first and second year medics. When it came to sorting the teams out, I found myself with all the inexperienced people doing it for their first time. But it didn't matter; by the end the other team were sulking because we'd beaten them badly, them claiming we were 'camping'. And for those who don't who don't know, camping means to sit somewhere and wait for people to come so you can easily get the kill. What we did was think tactically and use the advantage we'd gained by winning the round before to employ more defensive tactics and let them bring the flag to us (it was a capture-the-flag-and-take-it-to-the-opposition's-base setup). Just for one round did we employ these tactics, but they carried on moaning about it. Still, it was a fun day, and after initially thinking we'd get battered by the ruthless paintball veterans, I left with a pleasant feeling of victory: real, hard-earnt victory that relied on teamwork.

One definite highlight of this month was going to Wales for a few days, staying at my friend Annas' house. Although the weather a lot of the time was terrible (what did we expect, it was Wales!), we still managed to see all the places my friend hung out at, as well as watch a very forgettable Predators film. But most of the time we stayed at his house and played Pro Evo (I'd much rather have preferred Fifa, a preference I'd made as audibly as possible after my every match loss). One of the more memorable cinema experiences I had was watching Inception (not in Wales... I've changed the subject now), and I'm sure I don't need to go on saying how great a film it is. Truly a masterpiece!

I've been to the park a few times, taking advantage of the weather as much as possible. A few of us from uni met and soaked up the Regent's Park sun, playing with the various balls and frisbees we'd all brought, before deciding to make a funny film with the cameras we had. All was going well with filming multiple takes of one scene (we knew this could be a comedy masterpiece), until memory cards started filling up and batteries run out, causing us to cut filming short and promise to return more prepared with more props and better script ideas. Another park trip involved meeting up with friends to train for the half marathon we signed up for in October, but since we hadn't seen each other for a while, the lap we did of hyde park involved more conversational strolling than jogging. Still, a half marathon hardly needs training for, does it? And what's summer without the obligatory trip to the zoo with my mum and little brother? We saw all the usual animals, taking into account the feeding times advertised, and I could comfortably say that otters are by far the most interesting/adorable, feeding time or not! (which is why they were the subject of my AS level psychology observation). There were so many spectators watching the penguins get fed it was almost impossible to see anything, and the area where the monkeys were free to roam amongst visitors was much more lively than when we last visited.

I've been on a few outings with my friend who I went to Scotland with, and calling him a car enthusiast is definitely an understatement. Cars and motorsport are practically his only hobby, but I was flabbergasted by what I saw when we stopped outside his home: a Porsche 968 parked outside his garage door, seemingly unused and looking absolutely stunning mashaallah! We took it out to our bowling trip in central London, and the roar of the engine was too phenomenal, like it was a caged tiger wanting to be unleashed. Driving past prompted looks from passers by, and I can almost understand why some socially-depraved individuals resort to buying expensive cars to compensate for their lack of personality. It was an old Porsche which certainly had character; the white leather seats fashioned to give maximum comfort to your body. All in all it was a very cool experience indeed!

From what I could not imagine to be a more unique experience that riding in my first Porsche came the next unique experience: riding in a Porsche around a racetrack! And not a normal run-of-the-mill racetrack at that; this was Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix! After arriving quite late (as is the theme with my friend and his outings, which is how we completely missed the Farnborough air show), we were briefed, I was given a tyre-smelling 'passenger' bracelet with the Porsche name on it (this was a track day specifically for Porsche club members by the way), and before we got onto the track, I had a chance to see some other cars speed along the start line straight. Most of the cars were flashy customised 911s, but there were a couple of lotuses and an amazing Ford GT40, and I even I know that that was one classic car! We got talking with the co-owners of the Ford, people who run a classic car refurbishment company, and they said it was worth a million pounds! Such a beauty, and for a person who's not really 'into' cars, this whole day was turning out to be a once-in-a-lifetime moment, with me getting my video camera out every few minutes to record something new.

 As you could probably guess, all the Porsche owners looked as if they had a bit of spare change, and I tried to blend in at lunchtime, flashing my wristband at the Porsche centre (which apparently wasn't the one that said you were a member, but I let my swift walking and air of indifference grant me entry past the steward). Inside they had a few old cars, and upstairs was where the food was being served, with me being surprised at how free everything was, feeling quite guilty when I asked for a posh bottle of orange juice without paying for it. Whilst sitting down at a table, I scanned the room to look for the most likely candidate who earlier made us skid off the track and onto the gravel; the rules were that there was to be no overtaking on corners, but there a few road-raged impatient Porsche drivers who didn't listen, and because of the wet conditions, we lost control of the car after we made way for the aggressive drivers, taking the corner all wrong and ending up with gravel in our brakes (which we subsequently had to get removed by driving really fast around the Silverstone outer-track place). Overall it was an exhilarating experience, and after sitting in the car for some intense laps of the circuit, I decided to just be a spectator and watch the rich men play with their fast toys; I think I prefer it that way.

So with the month drawing to a close and loads of friends going on holiday, leaving me here, I decided to cheer myself up by finally buying a new laptop, and leave the expensive touch-screened former love of mine to be fixed another day. This month will also be remembered for my brother when he 'bus case' (as my friend colloquially puts it); found not guilty for carrying an offensive weapon during that protest at the end of 2008, with our martial arts expert a tad bit more experienced than the prosecution's (holding the world record for the number of black belts: more than 40!). And oh yes, a new season with Cricklewood United was approaching fast; could we improve on last season's display, and more importantly, could we afford to play another season with the student budgets we all had?

[This blog post has taken absolutely ages to slowly write out, and I set it to the 16th of August just to make me feel better. It was probably the day I decided to start :P]

My month in status updates:

is almost as interested in grandma's ornaments as much as in grandma herself!

Giving tours of my uni has only made me love it more

Holland were robbed... (or robbened)

Inception; what a film!! :O

has only just learnt that turning up to an asian wedding on time isn't normal >_>

has decided that getting dropped home in a vintage porsche is better than a replacement bus service

maybe should look out of the window before putting sun-cream on next time

is on his new laptop; no fancy unfixable touchscreens this time!

We've been muscled off the silverstone racetrack, and now have to fix the car if there's any hope of getting home. Otherwise a great day to have a friend with a porsche :)

The Gratitude Attitude

Since the turn of the month, as swiftly as the weather has changed, I've sensed a nationwide shift in mood, and especially in myself with university routine looming near, I find that there's a strong feeling of lethargy in the air. As if I've been overwhelmed by the amount of 'free time' I've had, I feel I need a structured timetable back to take control of my life.

Coincidentally (or not), there's this book I'm reading called '59 seconds', a sort of self-help book, written by a professor and containing some interesting psychology-related stuff, and it's one I'd recommend reading. It's not that I've particularly reached a phase in my life where I've turned to such books, but the front cover was catchy (it's how I judge books; and yes, I know the proverb warning me precisely against doing such a thing), and I had vouchers to spend. It's actually a very interesting book, and you may see further blog-posts based on its content. The first chapter is on happiness, and contains studies on how happy people can become by doing certain simple things.

Part of this chapter talks about the 'gratitude attitude', something you experience especially when you've lost something, adding credence to the saying, 'you don't appreciate something until it's gone'. The comparison they give in the book is when you walk into a room that smells of freshly-baked bread; you notice the smell. But when you stay in the room you notice the smell less and less, until it's part of the 'background'. But when you leave and re-enter the room, you notice it again.

Some researchers asked two groups of people to write lists; one group had to list things they appreciated, and the other group things that annoyed them. After following both groups up, they found that the 'grateful' group were significantly more happy, living healthier lives and were more optimistic about the future. So actually just taking a step back and thinking of all the wonderful friends and assets we have at our disposal will ultimately make us 'happier' people. (I'm sure there's a debate as to what being happy is, as is discussed in the book, but you get the idea).

I know it's easy saying this sitting on my perch, relatively unscathed from what life has thrown at me, but really when we do reach that stage where we feel that nothing could get worse, as if everything in life that could go wrong is going wrong, think of people whose situations are worse. You haven't got a penny to your name? Well, there's someone somewhere in exactly the same situation as yourself but without any legs, or in the middle of a war zone or famine. We don't really have to be doing much to be taking advantage of how lucky we actually are; for example the gift of our lungs, organs built specifically to take air in and provide as much surface area for blood to carry oxygen and release carbon dioxide with. In the time you've read this blog-post so far, you've breathed at least twenty times, and probably without noticing much. There are people out there who can't breathe by themselves anymore, and have to depend on machines to stay alive; just to put things into perspective.

Having the 'gratitude attitude' not only would make us happier people, but it would be a step towards us using our physical and mental faculties for doing good. Charity is one of those things, and as it happens is also on the list of what can bring you genuine 'long-term' happiness. With Ramadan around the corner, now would be a better time than ever to list down all of the little things, the people, the opportunities that we take for granted and should be appreciating more.

You can stop focusing so much on your breathing now, unless you want to carry on...

Turkey

Since I've left blogging about Turkey quite late; re-adjusting to London life, I've put the memories of what I thought and felt in Turkey to the back of my mind, so it's slightly difficult to recall those memories exactly, but this is what stood out for me:

Important issues out the way first: Food.  We weren't disappointed when we thought Turkey would have a kebab shop around every corner, but with vendors competing against each other for prices, we found that quality was lacking sometimes (but then again, that's what you get when you economise!). There was this one place that serves koftas (near the tram stop in Sultanahmet); it was absolutely delicious! We did have to spend slightly over what we'd usually pay, but it was worth every lira. I have a video of us trying to describe the experience of eating there (which might not see the light of day since there are so many to go through). There were fish places next to the Bosphorous that served cheap but nice food, and we steered clear of the proper restaurants that tourists would visit, but overall I think we did get a well-rounded food experience. And being the budget-savvy travellers we were, we stocked up on breakfast food and snacks from supermarkets we passed.  Turkish ice-cream is certainly unique with its consistency (which I can't quite remember because it's been so long), and every so often we'd bump into roasted sweetcorn stalls, which we did intend to eat at but couldn't find the opportunity to. Still, I'm sure I know what sweetcorn tastes like. I remember the first tram we took from the airport; once the doors opened at one stop, we knew we had to eat there sometime, with the smell of scrumptious food wafting in; we called it the kebab stop. What was slightly disturbing was when we heard that not all the meat served is halal (especially in tourist parts), and even more disturbing was that they used pig or donkey meat as a cheaper substitute for lamb! After that news we did take our precautions, but it is slightly difficult trying to believe people say the meat is halal when they're serving every different alcoholic beverage you could imagine.

The people were extremely friendly and welcoming; I've found that with other places I've visited, when a person starts a conversation with you, they either expect you to buy something from them, or to become your tour guide (a generously-paid tour guide that is), but not here. The people would go out of their way to help you, not expecting anything in return (the way it should normally be if you ask me!), taking their time out to direct hapless travellers who can't read a map. Now would be an opportunity to talk about our guide who was recommended to us by a friend; an extremely nice guy, who didn't have the best grasp of English, but any language barriers were overcome by simple hand movements. He took us on a cruise of the Bosphorous (not in his own boat, just using his citizen discount thing), then we went to various mosques with companions of the Prophet (pbuh) buried in them, as well as a cable car ride up to a place where we could see the whole of Istanbul. Oh yeah, I'm talking about Istanbul here; maybe I should've mentioned that at the start. We had our guide for the whole day, and I would recommend getting one if you wanted to see places not really frequented by tourists. He was even kind enough to introduce me to seven Turkish girls (yes, seven, all at once) whilst waiting in the queue for a cable car, saying that I was available for marriage. Let's just say that I've had less awkward cable car journeys in my life.

The places we visited were awesome, and I mean really awesome. There are the standard tourist haunts in Istanbul (the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace), which are breathtaking in themselves, but then there are the places almost hidden away that you have to trek through suburbs to get to. I felt somewhat special walking through the crowds of mosque tourists kept at bay by the wooden barrier, as if I had a VIP pass to go and pray. And what was especially magical was praying early every morning in the Blue Mosque, joining the single line in prayer before going back to bed in the hostel, avoiding the stray dogs on the way back. What I love about Istanbul is that there's a story behind every piece of architecture, with every Ottoman sultan wanting to leave their mark on the landscape. And it's also sad in a way, to see all of these beautiful buildings and wonder what could have been. But more on that later. One outstanding experience was when we were taken to an old mosque; the oldest mosque in Istanbul in fact, built in 717 with a companion of the Prophet (pbuh) buried there, and seemingly run by young students who memorised the Quran. We noticed that on the ceiling you could see a faint image of Mary painted, from when it temporarily became a church. The same with Hagia Sophia, the monstrosity of a building dominating the landscape, where inside it was adorned with both Islamic calligraphy and murals of angels and Jesus (pbuh); too much to take in if you ask me.

Istanbul wasn't the only place we had the pleasure of visiting; after some meticulous planning and haggling for coach tickets, we decided that we wanted to go to Fethiye (on the partial advice of our guide, who kept changing his mind over how beautiful/expensive/pointless certain places were). Fethiye is a seaside town on the south-western coast of Turkey, a journey taking 14 hours by coach, and due to our intentional timing, it meant that we'd be travelling by night so we wouldn't have to fork out for a hostel. After we'd barely left Istanbul, the girl behind me in the coach threw up (and predictably the same happened on the journey back- but not the same girl), so with the smell of vomit wafting through the coach, I flicked through the Turkish-language TV channels on the screen in front of me and tried to get some shut-eye before we arrived.

Fethiye is an amazing place. Once we arrived we dropped our things off at the hostel we booked (which had a scenic view, friendly staff and guests, and where we caught some of the World Cup), and went for a lovely walk before taking a minibus down (through a village covered in England flags and full of what you'd call 'chavs') to Olu deniz, a beach renowned for its beauty. And we weren't disappointed; as if taken from a postcard, everything looked perfect. With the mountains towering over us, the sun shining and the water as clear as crystal, we hired a pedal boat in the Blue Lagoon and just took the whole atmosphere in. We had the option of paragliding off the highest mountain peak into the sea, but instead went the safer route and booked a cruise for the next day.

The boat cruise of the twelve islands around Fethiye was probably the highlight of the whole trip, where completely chilling was the idea. The weather couldn't have been better and although the boat was full of sun-searching tourists, that didn't stop us from having our fun. Every so often the boat would stop at an island, and we could dive off it into the lagoon, which I have to admit was a little unnerving once you got to the diving platform, but enjoyable when you'd done it. My swimming for the day was cut short when I decided to paddle my way over to a cliff and climb on a rock, and get pricked by a sea urchin, leaving me with some very painful and deep splinters on my foot, which would have to get looked at once we got home. The rest of the trip involved us getting off at a couple of the islands and having a walk around, having lunch on the boat, and towards the end, ride some cool waves whilst standing at the front; the boat swaying and rocking, rising and falling like we were in a storm. I would definitely recommend visiting Fethiye, as it's a place that could definitely get away with the title 'paradise'.

So with all of the great places, food and friendly locals Turkey offers, what are the downsides? Especially after visiting Topkapi Palace which housed jewel-encrusted hairbrushes belonging to the sultans and whatnot (as well as items belonging to various Prophets- some of which looked dubiously well-kept); extravagance to the extreme, you wouldn't need to read a history book to figure out what caused the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. Looking at an exhibition of all of the robes various sultans wore, you could see that through the ages they went from very simple in design and look, to ridiculously over-decorated, reflecting the indulgent lifestyles they must've led. And then there came secularism after the fall of the Caliphate, in the form of complete separation between religion and life, and unfortunately the legacy Ataturk (the 'founder' of modern Turkey) left behind is seemingly still being upheld. I've heard that life in the countryside is different, but from what I saw, they almost worship Ataturk, building statues and naming architecture after him. I felt alot of the people out there were trying too hard to be Western, brushing aside their rich history, and thinking that being Muslim by name is enough (as demonstrated by the Turkish bath guy who said it was 'tradition' to go in practically naked).  The modern shopping street (the Turkish equivalent of Oxford Street) is called 'Istiklaal' street, which means 'freedom'; hardly a name for a place full of overpriced brand-name shops.  But the winds of change are slowly but surely blowing; just recently there was a fear-mongering news article on how Turkey is slowly becoming less militant against religion secular, so there's hope yet.

So there it is, Turkey in a nutshell, which has taken me ages to write out and then re-write as my posts don't like being saved.  I feel bad for ending this review on the negatives of Turkey; really it is a wonderful and magical place, admittedly having many people who do their own random thing and call it 'Islam', as well as those kebab vendors who racially profile you (just because I was with two Asians, they assumed we were vegetarian!) but nevertheless definitely a place worth a visit (although it did rain four times when we were there, which doesn't usually happen). And if you have the time and the patience, you could go all the way to Fethiye and absorb as much of the breathtaking scenery as possible. I've probably forgotten a load of stuff that will come back to me once I've seen all my videos, but yeah, go Turkey! One of the better holiday destinations.