Tim’s Nomad Diaries

A magical place, filled with ‘Fairy Chimneys’, ‘Cones’, and ‘Pigeon houses’. As the sun sets behind one of the many hiking trails at the Rose Valley, its name becomes so elegantly clear and descriptive. Cappadocia, located in central Turkey, is often referred to as the ‘cradle of civilization’: In addition to being in the heart of ancient Mesopotamia, one of the first human civilizations, it’s also home to one of the first Christian settlements from around the 2nd century (and as such some of the oldest churches in the world), rock formations unique to the world created from millions of years of volcanic eruptions spewing its ‘tuff stuff’ everywhere, and the first landscape painting–to name a few of its many claims to fame.

The sites and sounds of Cappadocia where definitely quite awe striking, but the real surreal part of my stay there was the the wild characters that I met. As I think about some of these people, that famous Jack Keroak line is sketched in the back of my mind: “The people for me are the mad ones, the ones that are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, the ones that never yawn or say a common place thing but burn burn burn like the fabulous roman candles exploding across the sky like spiders, and in the middle you see a blue center light pop and everything goes awwww…”

These fellow travelers that I crossed paths with at the wonderful Kose Pension in Goreme, Cappadocia really were crazed enlightened souls! Take Daniel, currently a Masters in Oriental healing student, but beforehand he had been traveling around the world for seven years, studying everything from various massage techniques, whale watching, sculpture, meditation, martial arts, acupuncture…and life more generally.

Daniel and I hung out for two nights. The first night he introduced me to Thai yoga massage, with the help of the staff as willing participants to practice on. needless to say, the staff were quite endeared to us afterwards, and snuck us food from the kitchen and bought us drinks. The second night, Daniel taught me the basics to Tai Chi, a martial art which focuses on harnessing ones inner strength (think Shalin Warriors). What a site it must have been, the two of us drifting from side to side like leaves in the wind, over the Persian rug in the main lobby of the pension!

Quite possibly one of my favorite characters that I have ever had the pleasure to meet was Jefferey, an Uzbekistan language major at the University of Chicago. Jeff, a musician happy to play any instrument that you hand him with a soft calm voice and a fragile frame, just came back from a ‘tour’ of the ‘Stans’–the former Soviet satellite states in Central Asia.

Jeff strolled into the lobby with his striking silk robe from Uzbekistan, where a group of us where talking, and entertained us all for hours on end with absolutely insane stories from his recent travels. It is impossible to reconstruct his stories with anywhere close to the vividness that he described them, but one in particular is too good not to attempt to do so!

The story starts with Jeff and friend Michael (who was also at the table with us, confirming all the details) just minding their own business in the capital of Turkmenistan, arguably the ‘worst’ of the Stans (economically, politically etc.). A couple of corrupt, bored cops accost them out of nowhere, bring them into the police station, and scream at them (in Turkmen of course, but as it is very similar to Uzbek, Jeff can understand it fine): “You are thieves, we saw you two stealing. Give us money.” Jeff, tells the cops that they did no such thing, their innocent etc., but hands them over $10 anyway in hopes that it is enough to release them.

“Liars! yells one of the cops, while pocketing the bill. You both are heroine addicts, give us $250 now or we will lock you up!”

Jeff, normally super-mild mannered, is fuming away as the officer continues his tirade, “You are both criminals, low-life drug addicts and pimps…”

Suddenly, Jeff justs loses it, and while pointing his finger directly at the cops face, lets out his own rant session in perfect Uzbek, screaming at the top of his voice: “No, You are a thieve. You are a criminal. I am not a drug dealer…You are! How dare you accuse me? You are the pimp and the low life!”

The cops at this point are so amazed by this one scrawny and at first seemingly easy target of a tourist’s display of gusto, that they both look at each other with a show of disbelief, apologize for their mistake to Michael and Jeff. Then the officer returns their original $10, all the meanwhile kindly showing them to the door and asking them if they need any help with anything at all or if there is anything that they can do to make their stay in Turkmenistan more enjoyable! And just think, throughout all his college days, everyone around Jeff was probably questioning the value that his Uzbekistan major would have in his future!

Since my gentler reader is probably screaming “enough already” as this entry has become quite long, I will skip over the details of my stay in Pamukkale and return to Istanbul. Make sure to check out the photos of the Travine in Pamukkale, though, it is quite an extraordinary site. Next stop: Japan!