Opinions...

So I went to the Aya Sophia. It started life as a church, and was then converted into a mosque. Now, it's a museum. And museums are full of school groups.

I'm standing there reading my book, describing all of the mosaics. The kids encircle me, encroaching on my private space. So I look up and say, "Hello."

I look around and get no response, and go back to my book.

Then, one boy says, "English?"

I reply, "Yes."

One girl asks me where I'm from, and given the reply, gives me a thumbs up. "America is very good."

I tell them my name, and they have me repeat theirs. They are herded off to the next point of interest...

Contrast this to the opinion of most of the Europeans I meet. They see Americans as loud, insecure, and bad dressers.

I feel maligned.

More photos...

I finished the India photos. I added more to the Jaiselmer pics. I had deleted some from the card (accidentally) but had them backed up on the MP3 player.

I also added the first two days of Eqypt. At this rate, I should be caught up by the end of the week...

MH

Out of Africa...

Cheesy title, but what did you expect?

So I'm in Istanbul. It actually reminds me of Chicago. It's cold. There's snow on the ground. It's a nice modern city with all kinds of shops and a great tram and metro. It looks very Westernized to me.

The keyboard is a bit different, but only for the punctuation.

Anyway. The mobile works again. It was having some issues in Egypt. I will be here for a week or so, and then figure out what to do. I need to be in Athens by 3 March, and I want a couple of days in Athens itself. I was planning on going down the coast of Turkey, and taking a ferry to the Greek islands. Being winter, the ferrys run twice a week, and only if the weather is good. So I may end up exploring mainland Turkey, and going to Greece overland. I've heard it's warmer in Greece, so that my win out over the coast...

Hope all is well...

More photos...

I spend a few hours behind the computer, and I'm most of the way through the India pics. Take note of the Streets folder. There are a few shots in there that look a bit odd. I put the camera on the "sports sequence" mode. It takes an image every few seconds. So you get to see, sort of, what I saw on my bus rides across India. Let me know what you think of it...

Sit down for this one...

So I went diving yesterday. It was an Adventure Dive, which means that I'm with an actual instructor. There's a course part, a dive briefing, and you do the dive. It's a step to get an Advanced Open Water certification.

You must carefully monitor air consumption when diving, especially the deeper you go. Since you're under greater pressure, a lung full of air at 30 meters requires about four times the number of air molecules needed at the surface. So your air goes quickly.

I look at the guage at nine meters. We haven't been down very long, and I've used five bar out of 200. I look again once we're down to 27 meters. It hasn't moved. I hit it. Still nothing. It's not that I can't get air, it's that I don't know how much I've used. I show the gauge to the instructor, and we abort the dive.

This is the best instructor I've ever had. So I wasn't really freaked out. I knew that I would be ok. And we made it out just fine. The company gave me my money back, and gave me a free dive to give me some confidence back.

So my lessons learned... Get into diving at home, and buy my own equipment. I can then maintain it in my usual exacting manner.

And the other is a "trust you gut thing. The certifiying agency, PADI, encourages new divers to take these courses. I think of it as a way to practice skills with an instructor. But I thought that I should get more dives under my belt. It was almost as if I didn't know what to do with all of the book info that I get. Indeed, I can answer all of the instructor's questions, but don't can't instinctually apply the knowledge. So I'm taking Harry's advice, and just going to dive a lot before I think about worrying about the advanced stuff...

Lots of stuff...

I'm currently in Dahab. I'm going diving tomorrow. They'll be a couple of deep dives, but I'll be with an instructor.

I'm heading back to Cairo a day early, on Friday. I need all of Saturday to get a guide book for Turkey, ship some stuff, etc.

I posted some photos from Thailand. I know I'm well behind. I just didn' find spots in India that I could easily upload from. I'll spend some more time in Dahab uploading. It's fairly fast, and about $1 (USD) for an hour...

Hope all is well...