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June 04, 2005
Day 6: Ortihisay to Malatya
Ahh, another day in the same clothes. Despite my fears, we were perfectly warm—with two blankets and a sleeping bag each. We were up at 7:30 a.m. for a fantastic breakfast. I’ve decided that my favorite thing is yogurt with raw honey, of which I eat copious amounts.
HEADLINE NEWS:
Jess Woofter Masters Squat Toilet, Turkish People Amazed
“It all just came together,” she says.
After breakfast, we drove back to Urgüp, where we had a bit of time to explore the Saturday market—which was amazing. Standing in the middle of the mayhem, surrounded by the lush fruit and vegetables, with barrels of spices and cheeses, I finally felt like I was in a foreign country.
From there we took a 6-hour bus ride to Malatya, the first Kurdish town (going east) in Turkey. I was shocked at what a city it was, with western stores (particularly for clothes), car dealerships (Ford has quite a presence here), and fast food joints. We had dinner at a local place and got to watch a major soccer game between Turkey and Greece (disappointingly, they tied 0-0). Our hotel room was a horrific mix of communist style concrete and shocking pink décor—rather like a snuff film. But it was warm and we got to sleep in, so we overlooked the bugs crawling out of the faucet, the glaring fluorescent lights, and the guy out the window yelling something like “Japanese, Japanese, Japanese, Japanese, Japanese, Jap!” every 10 seconds.
