This place is magical.  I never expected it to be so beautiful but it really is.  There are a few places I could see myself living after traveling there.  Argentina, China maybe, and now Turkey.  It would be unjust to try and describe it to you so I won't even bother.  This was also my first volunteer experience.  The work was hard, the hours were long, and the heat was on.  I didn't particularly enjoy what I was doing but I did really like the people I was working with.  The food was filling, delicious and plentiful so that helped recharge my batteries.  The owner was demanding but also a very standup guy and one I have a lot of respect for.  Overall I found the experience to be very enjoyable and would love to do it again.  The food in Turkey is phenomenal and the culture and history is amazing.  You could spend months in Istanbul alone and not see everything.  I would love to come back to this place one day.  I did get really sick on my very last day from the food, and that's not an easy thing to do (I have eaten in some seriously dodgy places in my time.).  I also have absolutely zero interest in learning the Turkish language as opposed to Spanish or Mandarin, so given the choices between the places I'd choose Argentina or China over Turkey.  Its hard to pick a favourite spot but if I had to I would say Goreme in the Cappadocia region.  I can only really describe it as a real life Flintstones, with people living in the rocks and caves just like in Bedrock.  The rock formations are unlike any you will find anywhere on the planet, and it feels very surreal to be there.  It is hard to believe that mother Earth managed to carve this place up the way she did, but sure enough it is very real.  I met a lot of cool people here in Turkey and thank God, Mark Zuckerberg and Al Gore we can keep in touch through the internet and Facebook.  I didn't find the people particularly hospitable, but most of them were very helpful.  For a muslim state, you would have no idea if you didn't hear the prayers blasting out of the mosque speakers throughout the day. The people smoke, drink, and party just like the rest of the world.

I did some more couchsurfing here and had an excellent host.  He was also hosting a cute American girl at the same time.  She got a LOT of attention in Istanbul. I have never seen a girl get so much attention before.  People were actually stopping her on the streets asking for her photo.  It made her so uncomfortable.  I enjoyed the awkwardness.  Our host had 3 engineering exams back to back to back the week that we arrived.  He still went out and took us around and had some drinks with us until 3 AM.  On our final night he even woke up at 5 AM to drive us to the bus station so that we would be able to catch the bus that takes us to the airport in time for our flight.  How awesome is that?  I have been so impressed by the couchsurfing experience that I will be hosting surfers here in Toronto.  I have already had requests from people in Italy, Japan, and USA.  The internet is so amazing.  Out of nowhere this massive community comes to fruition and fills a valuable need for budget travelers looking for accommodation, learning new cultures and getting the inside scoop from the locals.

I gained some new insights and ideas on how I would like to travel in the future.  You meet all sorts of interesting travelers, such as a couple who are going around the world to break a world record for the number of times and places they renew their wedding vows (not sure if that's the exact world record) and possibly turning that into a reality tv show.  Or the traveling artist who goes into underwater caves, or volcanoes, or atop huge mountains and creates his art from the inspiration of his surroundings. Or one of the coaches for the Cleveland Browns who picks a place and does the same thing he would do everywhere else and just parties like an animal wherever he goes. And the list goes on.  I still believe traveling is the mecca of enlightenment and inspiration, and nothing comes even close.  But there are reasons why I would never travel full time that I realized during this past trip which I would not have realized had I not done this.  I miss out or minimize on 3 very important aspects of my life; health and fitness, friends and family, and skill acquisition.  Discussing future goals with one of my best buds we came to the agreement that a good balance would be 6 months at home base and 6 months away (perhaps on a skill acquisition trip such a learning Spanish, or rock climbing).  Anyway, I am getting far too ahead of myself as I am nowhere near that stage and have just locked myself down for 20 months as I put my game face on for school. 

Some people have stated that I do not post enough pictures. Its my own bias because I get frustrated looking through the massive quantity of pictures that I gather from travels and they sit on my hard drive for months on end without as much as a single peak.  The good news is all of my pictures are backed up into the cloud through the magic of the internet.  All I have to do is flip the switch to make them public and bam everybody can see them.  The bad news is I am too lazy to flip that switch.  I think I would like to organize the pictures a little better and then I could probably share them.  I am sure I will get to it eventually.  I still have yet to figure out this picture thing.  I got so frustrated with my camera on my travels that it stayed buried in my backpack as dead weight.  I won't be taking it anymore.  Instead I will be carrying my swiss army super phone known as the Nexus One and I think that will suffice for now.