Comforts

I am currently stuck in the comforts of Olympos and having a hard time getting on with my vacation. But I was able to find a camera chord so here is a photo update

Antalya


Lighting eternal flame rocks


Kadir's Tree Houses

One of the stales at the local market

Fishing at the beach

Climb on

Arriving at the bus station in Antalya I was submerged into the craziness of transportation. There were about 100 different company signs with about 20 different city names spread out over a massive terminal. Once getting myself to the right terminal building the bus catching part was easy. There are many men standing around all saying the name of a city under there breath. I listened for Olympos and was then suffled onto a bus that promptly drove out of the station. I hoped that it was actually the right one..

At Kadirs Treehouses (my hostel) I was greeted by "Hello, you must be Emily". What?? How do you know who I am... ah, my email. Then, "For you special price, 15 TL for single room with en-suit". That works out to about 10 CAD with breakfast and dinner included. Breakfast has been the traditional Turkish breakfast of tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, olives, boiled eggs, bread and honey along with omlettes. Dinner consists of soup, a grain, a main dish of beans, lentils, or a meat, a yogurt, and sometimes salad. Overall, amazing value!

Besides eating, I have been spending the last few days exploring the ruins, swimming,and bouldering on the beach. I have met a few climbers staying in the same hostel and am off to do some real climbing today. Climbing is quite new to Turkey but I believe it will soon become an internationally well known climbing destination.

Turkey?

I woke up a week ago and decided I needed to get out of Norway. With no longer working, the dark, cold, and rainy days were taking hold of me. I looked for flights to warmer, sunnier places and Antalya seemed to be the best deal. But what did I really know about Turkey? Besides the copious amounts of tea, coffee and turkish delight I was pretty knew nothing. But all of that is changing!

Yesterday I left a country of 4 million to arrive in a city of 2 million! I was expecting the worst (like Delhi) and was happy to not be greeted by too many pushy salesmen, taxi drivers, or hotel owners. I found my pension situated in the old town (Kaleiçi) and found myself a kebab. I think my waiter was most happy about the fact I went to his resturant. He told me he knew of a nice quiet club were we could have a drink and talk. Then went on to say I did not have to go back to Canada but could instead get a house with him, hahaha. The offer of the quiet club has come up with more waiters along with many sit downs over tea and coffee. But not taking anything they say seriously, all is good.

Today I was woken by Islamic prayer calls and went for a long run to the beach. It was already warm out (when wearing long sleeves and long shorts) and a dip in the Mediterranean was lovely. I spent the rest of the day exploring the bazaars, ruins, museums and soaking in the sun. I have many pictures to go along with this but I have seem to have taking the wrong cord... Hopefully off to Olympus tomorrow to live in a tree house, visit eternal flaming rocks and do some climbing.

Voss Extreme Week

My sister was right, I would start this blog and for the first month it would be great and then I would stop posting... So now I must catch up on the missed weeks (and weeks)

Voss Extreme Sports festival (VEKO) was from june 25-july 5 with Ahsley coming to visit me from France and take part in the festivities. It should really be called voss endurance week... Every night there was some sort of event that included the video of all of the extreme sport competitions from the day and then a band. Each night was an "unmissable" party, so after 9 days it took its toll... The rafting center was in charge of the 2 days worth of rafting races. The first day was the European cup there was a slalom, sprint, and head to head race. There were points giving for placing in each race and then the top 3 mens and womens teams won awards. At the last minute my housemates and Ashley decided to enter a team. We had never been in a boat together and on the first slalom run went into a big hole in the first rapid, dumptrucked the boat and ended up finishing the race with only 2 paddles, it was a bit of a disaster. The second slalom run we finished with everyone in the boat and all the paddles. We made a tremendous come back and ended up winning the sprint and the head to head races. The Norwegian national team was less then impressed... The combination of all our races earn us 6500 NOK with a tied first place finish.

The second day was the Amazing raft race which was not only having to get down the river but having to complete some tasks along the way. These tasks included one person drinking 1.5 L of milk, guiding blindfolded and backwards down a rapids and undressing to your underwear and singing the YMCA song on the side of the road. I was guiding a team made up of high school girls and we ended up in 5th place out of 10 teams! There was also a few kayak races but I was unable to arrange time off work to race. Maybe a good thing because the course ended up being on a very difficult section of the Raundal. Out of the 75 entered competitors, only 35 competed and 17 swam. Only 1 female completed the course and Ashley was the only other one to try (but sadly didnt complete it).

After working on the Sunday I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for days. But I was off to France the next morning and had to catch a 5:30am train. The night was instead filled with cleaning, packing, doing laundry and few needed hours of sleep.


Photos:

Norwegian Sadie

kayaking course

kayaking course

Voss local dish: smoked sheep head

A video of the European cup race can be found here: http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/220621/
Because our raft dumptruck the first time the TV channel focused the cameras on us hoping for more action...

Big Water!

Finally made the trip south to Dagali. Drove up after work on thurs evening and was back in Voss for friday afternoon's trip. It was short but sweet. The river there is known as the Zambezi of Norway but more technical. It was also in spring run-off so it was a little intimidating... Here are some pics, not sure f they due it justice.

1.Rosy Junior (the car) in Flom

2/3. The amazing scenery on the drive


4/5. Big water



Other than that there has been lots of work! Still having school groups which provides much entertainment taking them down the river. I have also started trip leading here, so moving up in the world... All of the guides for the season are here now and one of my housemates is super keen/skilled kayaker aka my motivation. Only a few weeks till extreme week, one of the biggest outdoor sports festivals in the world.

How to hold on to your raft

There is a few different sections that we run on the Strandal river. With the current water level we run an section with a 2 m drop and then a 1.5 m drop with a nice hole in the bottom. This second rapid is called Marthe. There is about a 50/50 chance of being surfed in hole. This surf is a real rodeo ride: the raft spins round and round with customers and guides get thrown out. If you do not get surfed there is still a big probability of being thrown out. Once out of the raft you get sucked deep down and pop up 5 m down stream with wide eyes and glupping air... So really you want to stay in the boat. Today I demonstrated how to stay in your boat!

Somethings are oh so odd...

Here are a few of the "different" things noway
- lamb head is a traditional and locally enjoyed dish (that I have not yet been made to try)
- last monday was the last public holiday till Christmas!
- you can't buy molasses or baking soda
- Almost no wild animals... most wild thus far is hedgehogs
- Odd road rules: no motorcycles jumping over cars, no cars jumping over motorcycles,
yield to road on the right

Despite all these oddities, everything is going well. Lots of works, a bit of play. Did a high water paddle of the raundal play section with the crew offering much entertainment. Guiding work is picking up and next week there are trips everyday. Also some waterfall rappelling and high ropes work.

Spring has definitely arrived with the trees finally leafed out, the flowers starting to bloomed and extremely variable weather (from snow/hail to hot and sunny). Having received my chacos it is time to begin the sandal tan. Strawberries (from who knows where) are arriving in the grocery stores which is helps with the previous lack of fruit; they are even better than the California variety. Made some marmalade today, yet again more than I shall ever eat. I will give it away to unsuspecting guides...

I will soon get some pics up to go with this post.

Constitutional Day

7 am, my windows are shaking to canon blasts, hit the deck? Or it's just part of the 17th of may constitutional day, from separation with Sweden, celebration. A national holiday were the whole town was dressed in their best bunad (traditional costume. In Voss, everyone gathered downtown to participate in or watch the parade. The day was filled with folk music and the consumption of many hot dogs and ice cream cones. Hot dogs should be the national food, I have never seen so many consumed in one day.

Never made it south to go paddling because it is still frozen there...but not here! A few days of rain brought on the high water, with the warm sun only furthering it. My first day guiding at high water was a bit of an experience; I got spanked! But a few bumps and bruises later (big bruises), I am back at it. Guiding again tomorrow but the water may be too high to run some rapids safely...

After getting the necessary kitchen items my baking has continued. Made some apple cinnamon buns that were "comparable to what could be bought in a Norwegian bakery". Cinnamon buns are my weakness, love them! Going to make everyones favorite blueberry cheesecake bars soon. Good thing I ride my bike to work everyday with a few too many hills involved.

The First Week

I made it: boat, paddle, gear and got picked up from the airport! It helps to be the only female guide here... Spent a few hours in Amsterdam with Els. It was great to get out of the airport and see the tulips.

The first day here in Voss I guided the Stranda and went kayaking on the Randaul. I can't believe I have only been in Norway for a week! It is already starting to feel like home. Settled into the new guide house but it seems to be short a few necessary items: a toaster, cookie sheets and pots with lids. But I am sure I can find an op shop somewhere, otherwise Ikea...Despite the missing cookwear I have been able to fulfill my baking needs!

The house is just up the hill from town and about a 15 min bike ride from work. And my bum sure feels the bike riding, I am sure I will get use to it soon. Been working everyday, both guiding and helping with early season maintenance. The company (aka the guides) are also building a new high ropes that will hopefully be complete by the end of the summer. The snow is finally melting and the river is rising, today will be my first high water trip, kind of excited.

Just a few pics
1. Holland, tulip gardens
2. view from other guide house
3&4 paddling...





Maybe off to the south tonight to find some boating. Monday is independence day from seperation from Sweden, a well needed day off!

OFF!

I am off! Well mostly, through security with my "wind surf" checked! Hard to say goodbye but really this is only the beginning. And it keeps on going!