Excuse me Kat
But what, pray tell, do you call this? Personally I call it an update.
Stupid blog has suddenly decided that it want's to a) be all in Turkish and b) not let me into the stupid site half the time.
So depressing being back at work after having 5 days off last week.
Got to Istanbul on the Monday and went for a wander to the Grand Bazaar then we left for Gallipoli on Tuesday morning. Had a bus tour round Istanbul first - saw the Hagia Sophia and went into the Blue Mosque where one of the Aussie guys on the bus had the suggestiong that since it's called the Blue Mosque they really should paint it blue so people could recognise it.
Got to Channakle and then went to drive to Anzac Cove but the bus broke down. There was a leak or something in the air tanks or brakes or something so they fixed it with sellotape. Yes, sellotape. No fancy stuff here in Turkey.
Managed to get to Anzac Cove though and got there pretty early at about 7-8pm. A group of us got some grass rather than have to sit in the stands. So settle down in our sleeping bags for the different videos they had on about the campaign and what sleep we could get. Actually managed to get to sleep and then at 2.45 the MC dude informs us that we should all wake up because the service was going o start soon - yeah, in 2 1/2 hrs! and we should move up to fit more people in. So we move up and make space for about 25 or so people and then a bunch of older Aussies come to sit tehre. All good except that they had the great idea that they'd sit on stools. Right in front of us. Their reasoning for it was that it was all on TV anyway so it didn't matter if we couldn't see anything. Needless to say that didn't go down too well and after everyone round us started yelling at them they finally sat on the ground like the rest of us who'd been there for 7+ hours.
Service was all good and then after the Dawn Service we went to tne Aussie one at Lone Pine Cemetary then the Kiwi one at the top of Chunuk Bair. Gotta love the organisers logic. They give us 4 hrs to walk 2.5km to Lone Pine but only 90 minutes to walk 3.3km from there to Chunuk Bair. ALL uphill carrying sleeping bags, gear etc. Have to say that was not the most fun part of the day.
Proof that Kiwis and Aussies are easily amused came on the bus there. Everyone got a t-shirt, a crappy CD that was meant to be about Gallipoli but was really a promotional video for Turkey and a torch. It was the torch that provided the amusement and probably pissed the guide and driver off no end. To get it to work you have to wind it up. This makes rather a loud noise. 46 people all doing it at once? Fun for us but probably not so much for the guide.
Stupid blog has suddenly decided that it want's to a) be all in Turkish and b) not let me into the stupid site half the time.
So depressing being back at work after having 5 days off last week.
Got to Istanbul on the Monday and went for a wander to the Grand Bazaar then we left for Gallipoli on Tuesday morning. Had a bus tour round Istanbul first - saw the Hagia Sophia and went into the Blue Mosque where one of the Aussie guys on the bus had the suggestiong that since it's called the Blue Mosque they really should paint it blue so people could recognise it.
Got to Channakle and then went to drive to Anzac Cove but the bus broke down. There was a leak or something in the air tanks or brakes or something so they fixed it with sellotape. Yes, sellotape. No fancy stuff here in Turkey.
Managed to get to Anzac Cove though and got there pretty early at about 7-8pm. A group of us got some grass rather than have to sit in the stands. So settle down in our sleeping bags for the different videos they had on about the campaign and what sleep we could get. Actually managed to get to sleep and then at 2.45 the MC dude informs us that we should all wake up because the service was going o start soon - yeah, in 2 1/2 hrs! and we should move up to fit more people in. So we move up and make space for about 25 or so people and then a bunch of older Aussies come to sit tehre. All good except that they had the great idea that they'd sit on stools. Right in front of us. Their reasoning for it was that it was all on TV anyway so it didn't matter if we couldn't see anything. Needless to say that didn't go down too well and after everyone round us started yelling at them they finally sat on the ground like the rest of us who'd been there for 7+ hours.
Service was all good and then after the Dawn Service we went to tne Aussie one at Lone Pine Cemetary then the Kiwi one at the top of Chunuk Bair. Gotta love the organisers logic. They give us 4 hrs to walk 2.5km to Lone Pine but only 90 minutes to walk 3.3km from there to Chunuk Bair. ALL uphill carrying sleeping bags, gear etc. Have to say that was not the most fun part of the day.
Proof that Kiwis and Aussies are easily amused came on the bus there. Everyone got a t-shirt, a crappy CD that was meant to be about Gallipoli but was really a promotional video for Turkey and a torch. It was the torch that provided the amusement and probably pissed the guide and driver off no end. To get it to work you have to wind it up. This makes rather a loud noise. 46 people all doing it at once? Fun for us but probably not so much for the guide.
posted by sarah at 3:40 PM
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