While waiting for our renewed passports in Phuket, we stayed at a couple of different 'condo' places. We rented a motorbike to get around, and visited several of the beautiful beaches. We hiked some trails and also the steep climb up to the Big Buddha, which overlooks Chalong Bay in the south.
We spent a day visiting the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, which rescues elderly elephants from logging and tourist organizations.
Once we received our renewed passports, we traveled via bus then overnight train from Phuket to Bangkok. The sleeping quarters were just barely Randy-sized!
We stayed in Bangkok for a week or so, and had some medical exams and procedures done at one of the state-of-the-art hospitals there. The English-speaking physicians and nurses were very kind, the care was top-notch, and the cost less than one-third the price of US healthcare. They were able to schedule our exams the same day, and we were in and out in no time.
We visited the busy night market in Chinatown - the variety of street food was impressive, even for Thailand! There were lots of bugs and things-with-tentacles-on-a-stick. The brightly-lit streets were packed with Thai people and tourists from all over the world.
The city is full of beautiful and interesting sights to see, and we walked for miles enjoying it all. We enjoyed capturing some cool flowers, and a 'cat on a hot tin roof' - pay no attention to the scary wiring....
On Juneteenth, we flew from Bangkok to Istanbul, Turkey for a couple of weeks. We wanted to spend time in a place we had never been before, and it needed to be a non-Schengen country. As US citizens, we are allowed to stay in the Schengen area for 90 days within any 180-day period. Most of the countries in the EU are Schengen, so we chose to visit Turkey.
We stayed at a hotel called The Golden Tulip, in a Muslim neighborhood in northern Istanbul.
We quickly discovered the Metro trains and the bus routes, and spent many hours exploring this amazing place.
Near our hotel we found the Rami Library, a large complex with a park in the middle, used as military barracks in the 1700's. We think the large bird is a hooded crow.
We visited the site of the Hippodrome, where chariot races were held in Roman times. The German Fountain and the Obelisk of Theodosius can be seen there, as well as the enormous Blue Mosque. The mosaic tile and stained glass is just beautiful.
We spent several hours walking through the Istanbul Archeological Museums, enjoying the hundreds of displays.
We took a tour of the city on a 'hop-on hop-off' bus, enjoyed some Turkish tea (served piping hot in tiny glasses with a sugar cube), and relaxed on a cruise up the Bosphorus Strait. This waterway separates the Asian continent from the European continent, and is lined with beautiful palaces and mosques.
An evening dinner cruise gave us the opportunity to see some of the same sights at night, and we met a very nice couple from Singapore on the ship.
We spent an afternoon exploring the Topkapi Palace, along with the Harem, built in the late 1400's for the Ottoman Sultans. The grand chambers are elaborately decorated with intricate tiles and mosaics.
We also saw the Dolmabahce Palace, which was built in the 1800's as a more modern residence for the Ottoman Sultan. The gardens are spectacular!
We spent our last few days in Istanbul at a small hotel near the airport. We found some nice hiking trails (along with a Turkish turtle and pretty flowers), and were entertained by the only English-language movie at the mall (Inside Out 2), with Turkish subtitles.
We really enjoyed our stay in Istanbul. The bread and fruit was delicious, and we had some tasty spicy meat dishes. We also sampled the local liquor 'Yeni Raki', definitely not for the faint-hearted. They drink it diluted with water, but the black-licorice flavor was still too strong for me!
Cheers from the shores of the Bosphorus! We are now off to Genova, Italy to meet our boat.
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