Turkey - A Spot Of Local Shopping
Labels: out and about
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Midweek during our lazy holiday, we managed to garner enough strength to venture into the local shopping district of Belek. We waived off the option of taxis. Instead, we chose to take the more interesting but kidney shattering mode of transport in the form of a train. I used the term loosely as it was a big open air metal container with attached seats, pulled along by a farm tractor. It was completely surreal, especially when we were chugging along the main highway with various vehicles zooming by. The son thought it was a hoot and wanted to bring the contraption home. He then insisted we were all farm animals and had to pick one. Hubs was a horse, sonny-boy was a pig and mum was a cow. Next he wanted us to sound like our respective animals. That's when I put my foot down. I'm not moo-ing in public! So I told him this cow was busy chewing grass and it's rude to moo with your mouth full.
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The town itself is very small and not very modern. There wasn't much activity going on either. I attribute it to the scorching late morning heat and only mad tourists like us would be out and about. The weather was 40o and I reached camel status by drinking more than 2 litres of water per day.
We covered the town in 20 minutes flat and then retraced our steps to a store that sold scarves and belly dancing apparel. I wanted a coin scarf for my belly-dancing as the extra weight would help in the gyrations. The choice was mind boggling but I finally settled on a black and silver one. 
I also couldn't resist this: 
A beautiful cashmere shawl - perfect as a winter scarf or an indoor wrap. 
It's rather stunning in real life. I love how the red offsets the softly opulent gold threads. There are three panels - gold, red, gold. Too much gold? Just flip it over for panels of red, gold, red then. The jaquard weave is completely reversible. I've since been washed the shawl and as an added bonus, it's retained the softness and shimmer.
The other thing I picked up was Apple Tea, a Turkish teacup set and lokum. Mustn't forget the lokum or Turkish Delight. I bought 2 boxes - in rose and honey flavour. If you don't have a sweet tooth, don't even think of trying one. My tooth is as sweet as they come and I can only manage a small morsel with a strong cup of tea. Even then, I feel the sugar gnawing at the tooth enamel.
So, that was all I bought. Hubs wanted to know if I was ill from the sun because of my lack of spending activity but I really didn't see anything else I wanted. I'm not one to shop for the sake of shopping. You know how it is on holiday - you go quite mad at the stores thinking you'd never get a chance to return again and end up with white elephants.
Toch?
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 6:42 am
