Up so high, the abundant snow reinforced my diminishing fascination for the white stuff- snow is nothing but a nuisance. When it does nothing but sit there in huge piles it does nothing but ruin your photos by gobbling up the horizon line. When it falls you worry about it messing up your electronics. When it melts your shoes and socks get soaked. Snow, in brief, is as annoying as it is temporary.
After a short wait in town, we took a taxi up the mountain- in itself a harrowing journey. Six of us squeezed into a medium sized hatchback (minus the driver)- one of us sitting in the boot. We actually had to take on another passenger, who joined the boot rider. No clue if the arrangement was legal.
The journey itself was quite harrowing- a long winding road up the mountain for what seemed like ages. The road, of course, was barely visible under all the snow, was narrow and had no barriers. The first sight that greeted us as we neared the top was the accident pictured above- just kidding, it's nothing but odd advertising from Toyota.
We took the sky lift up to the summit after renting some proper winter-wear- though I still went up without gloves on. Managed to take some photos- but it was rather dangerous- my hands hurt from the cold. Managed to get a photo of myself, but looked rather ridiculous with all that padding on.
The ride didn't last long- but I'll be honest- my hands felt like they were going to fall off, despite them being stuck deep in my pockets. There was a cafe right next to the jump-off point, which I ran into immediately, to order a cup of saleb at a greatly inflated price.
Back down, here's a picture of me looking far bulkier than I could ever be.That's two jackets and a shirt on. The boots looked ridiculous enough, though not as ridiculous as the furry diva-ghillie boots that looked like they'd be skinned from a Sasquatch.
Pretending to drive a snowmobile. It's larger that I thought it would be, and I had no idea they needed license plates. You learn something new and utterly unimportant every day.
And that's pretty much it. We took the same taxi again, and this time I volunteered to take the boot. Dinner, a stroll in the snow, and back to the hotel. I had to leave early, due to my flight being a day earlier than theirs. Taxi to the bus station, and a bus back to Istanbul.
Spent what little time I had wandering around the city, before leaving for the airport. On the flight back I instantly regretted leaving my camera with them- my kindness bore no fruit- and I could only stare out the window, mesmerized by the what looked like a wall of fire on the edge of darkness.
Previously:
That Toyota looks ready for launch ;)
ReplyDeleteNot sure where they plan on launching it, being upside down and all, heh.
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