Day three: Şanlıurfa

I've decided I should make a tour of Turkey one day, preferably with a friend. The country is really big and I'm only exploring one tiny corner of it! After three days of being on the road I feel like the journey is just beginning, but of course I want to go back to Damascus by Monday like I promised. It's tempting to know I could hop on a bus and tomorrow be in Istanbul, the Black Sea, or even Iran. But like I said, I'll leave all that for next time!

The breakfast at the hotel was surprisingly good considering it was included in the budget price. I went to look around the ottoman-era bazaar, which was interesting but nothing really amazing. I didn't find anything to buy.. took care of some practical things, like changing more money, but then I had to come back to my air-conditioned room because the heat was so overwhelming.

I went to get a haircut and a shave (necessary after I realised the shaving foam I bought yesterday was actually deodorant) for only 5 lira (at least ten times cheaper than in Helsinki) and walked around the old part of the city, where I was almost assaulted by playing children who were so fascinated in seeing a foreigner. Lunch - I already have something of a regular place to go here, the owner introduced himself to me as "Mister Kebab" - and then another rest at the hotel.

The people here are friendly and obviously don't see many tourists. Locals seem to just hang around the bazaar and the park, meeting friends and chatting. They have very annoying ringing tones - the Nokia tune is everywhere and today at the barber's a mobile burst into "Jingle Bells" - and love taking pictures with their phones. If asked for directions, they take you by the arm and point it out to you, almost shoving you in the right direction in the end. Mostly they are muslims, and very devout - I think many speak Arabic.

I climbed the hill to the castle today for great views on the city, which is really big. On my way back down, I met an American who had just arrived from Mount Nemrut. Something of a hippie, middle-aged, long white hair. He is now sitting in the next booth in this internet cafe because we ended up talking and went to have dinner together. I am the first foreigner he has seen in days (he's on a five-week trip around Turkey - my five days somewhat pale in comparison). On our way back from the sacred fish pools, we were approached by a Kurdish man who wanted to try out his English on us. He spoke English very well because he had spent time in the States before September 11th happened and he was kicked out.

Tomorrow, I'm going to make the tour to Mount Nemrut. I was really in bad luck because the man who runs the agency told me that since there were no other travellers I would have to rent the whole minibus for myself. This sounded ridiculous (and expensive), so I was already planning on packing up and moving to Kahta, the village nearest to the mountain, but then we got into negotiating. I got the price down considerably, but still had to pay much more than I was counting on. The manager told me this was the first time in 18 years business was so bad - there had been no tourists in two weeks. I anyway feel like I got a fair price.

So I'll be driving tomorrow with Yusuf, a man who speaks some English and keeps calling me his nephew (he explained it to me very clearly: my father is his brother) - we'll leave here at 7:30 in the morning. It's going to be a very long day - we'll see many sights on the way and arrive at Nemrut in time for the sunset, by the time we're back at the hotel it will be midnight. A long drive, and Yusuf already made me promise him I'll keep him entertained by singing. I can't wait.