Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 19:05:33 -0800
Subject: Istanbull, Singapore, Home
From: "Anthony Butler" 

Hey all,

Last bulk email. We are now back in NZ trying to cope with NZ prices
and find somewhere to live.

After I last wrote we left Canakale we headed to Istanbull where we found
a great hotel with a roof top with a view of the blue mosque and the
bosphorus. Great for breakfast and drinks in the evening. We meet Martin
Bexon at the airport on the second day. Almost missed him, the 1hr trip
to the airport took 3hrs after some bad directions and missing a bus.
We then spent the next week partying with him and John. 

Istanbull is a big city but has heaps of character. It was called Constaninople
and was the capital of the Ottoman empire. It sits on a narrow bit (1-2km)
of the Bosphorus. One side is Asia and the other Europe. We did the standard
Istanbull stuff. Visited the blue mosque (huge beutiful mosque), Aya
Sophia (huge 1500yr old church, then converted to a mosque), a Bosphorus
cruise, Topkapi Palace (Lush sultans residence with harem, crown jewels,
armory, bits of mohammad, mosses walking stick...) and the bazzars.

It was great to catch up with martin and pleanty of time was spent in
restraunts, pubs, tea shops, and thanks to jen a brothel... ask her to
explain. Istanbull had a nice mix of tourist attractions and restraunts/bars.
Highly recommend the place.

After a week martin left and we did some last minute shopping, then said
goodbye to John and hopped on a plane to Singapore where we spent 2 days.

Singapore is a clean organised city with great food halls. For a big
modern city a lot of work has been put into making it beutiful. It has
nice gardens, restraunts on river banks, and amazing shopping. We had
a lovely time there, and it gave a chance to prepare for home.

Arriving home in New Zealand was a shock to the system. We are yet to
recover. We need to find somewhere to live and get going with the drudgery
of normal life.

We are planning to set a web site with some of our photos. I'll email
you when thats done. The CDs with the photos don't come back till next
week then we need to set up the site. Otherwise thats the end of the
mass produced junk emails.

If you are in chch you can phone us at my parents 03-3485719.

Ants