Bucket List *Istanbul, Turkey*

"Oh, the places I could travel and the countries I could see..."

My love to arrive at new destinations keeps itching at me more day by day. The fact that I sit in a small cubicle with no windows lets my mind wander to these destinations only possible for now with a computer or a phone that is connected to the internet. 

Today my wanderlust grew more towards an old Byzantium or Constantinople country known to modern day as Turkey. Known to be a transition of Asia into Europe and vice versa, Turkey holds very strong cultural relevance rich in history which makes the country one of my top places to visit.

For nearly a thousand years, this country stood as the last remaining outpost for the Roman Empire before it was finally conquered by Ottomon Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 expanding the Ottomon empire even further thus giving birth to the Republic of Turkey in 1923. This is sometimes also marked as the end of the middle ages. Today Turkey has its population almost 14 million and increases at an estimate of 400,000 immigrants per year.

Turkey is divided into seven geographical regions separated according to their climate, location, agricultural diversities, human habitat, topography, etc. Located on the Mediterranean, separated by the Turkish Straits, with the Black Sea to the north and the Aegean Sea in the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south west.

Istanbul is one of the largest cities in Turkey, also ranked as the world's most populous cities and the world's 5th largest city proper. A former capital of Ottomon and Byzantine Empires situated between the two continents of Asia and Europe. Its commercial and Historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side.

The name Istanbul colloquially is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase meaning "to the city" and this is also how Constantinople was referred to by the local Greeks.

Some beautifully captured images of Istanbul from Google images :

and then the market images of colorful porcelains, spices, dried fruits and the local cuisine especially the donair and hummus which is my favourite:

Final Call

Guided by a beating heart
Unknown of where this road may take me
I'm not growing any younger
Didn't know I was lost
Until I found myself at the crossroads

This wanderlust takes me further south
Another day of wasted wishful thinking
Places to conquer, this darkness to beat
Where else can I go?
All these roads lead me to nowhere

Love consumes me
It drains me of energy and thoughts
It aches my bones and digs through the veins
It rips me apart of all I've held together
It finally numbs my senses as cold as ice

Vivid dreams continue to haunt
Confuses and turns over this reality
Familiar faces stopping this beating heart
Sweaty palms and heavy breathing
For once I knew I was dreaming alright

Bhutan Women’s First Basketball Team: A Trip to the Philippines

On 19^th of July, 10 of us boarded flight PH173 to Manila as the first ever Women’s Basketball Team from Bhutan. Our team consisted of 10 players: Sangay Choden (22), Zimbiri (23), Yeshey Om (21), Sonam Choden Tshering (22), Sonam Yangzom Yonten (24), Tshering Pem (23), Sonam Pelden (19), Tshering Lhaden (22), Ongzin Lhamo Dorji (27) and Namzay Kumutha (26). Our coaches Sonam Tashi, Taylor Belmont, Allison Drennan and Kirk Sheplay also joined us on this trip.

During our 2 weeks stay there in Manila we played a total of 12 games. Our first international game was played on the 21^st of July against Rizal Technological University where we lost by 3 baskets with a score of 56-62 at the end of the 4^th quarter. That evening we had another game scheduled with St. Paul’s University where it ended in a close win for us by half a basket with a score of 64-65 points. As excited as we were about this first win we had to brace our excitement for the many games that we were yet to play in the next few days. Our third game was played against Don Bosco Technological College which was rather an interesting game as we ended up in a draw of 66-66 points with no overtime.

Playing these few games we realized that we had to not only play smarter but toughen up physically as well since the teams in Manila were a lot more aggressive compared to here in Bhutan. In our fourth game we lost to San Beda College Alabang with the final score of 57-67 points, this defeat made us realize that we needed to play as a team and strengthen our defence as they were continuously cutting along the baseline. So the next day on 24^th July, we played against Rizal Technological University again and this time instead of another loss we surprised them with  our good defence, executed our offensive plays, and most importantly talking on defence which gave us a win by 54-50 points.

Our main challenge for the entire trip was getting use to the humidity there especially while playing even though almost all the basketball courts were located indoors with huge fans (we were literally sweating buckets). In our sixth game we was played against Adamson University, the University league champions and we lost by 17 points with a final score of 46-63 points. 

However, that weekend we saw more than just basketball courts. We travelled 4hrs south of Manila to the neighbouring city of Batangas and played a local team called Lady Pirates in their local sports coliseum for an exciting game opener before the NCAA Division-I game and won with 64-69 points. We spent the weekend there in Batangas conducting a coaching camp for children who were 16 years and below and the turnout was more than 100 boys and few girls. We led them into a group stretch and the children were divided accordingly based to their age. They practiced right and left hand layups, defence positions, form shooting, baseline jumpers and ball handling skills.

We had a 7am game the next day upon our return to Manila against a University court on 6^th floor which ended up in a miserable loss as we were thrashed in the first 2 quarters. The following day we were invited by the Philippines Women’s University to their pep rally for an exhibition game against their team and we won that game. In the evening we played against ChangKai Sheg Univeristy in Chinatown and it was yet another victory for us even though it was a low score of 34-39 points. With only 2 more games left, we moved to a close by city of Cavite where we were hosted by Josh Manthey from Kids International. We went to Tent City and took part in their regular feeding program.     

                   

We also held another coaching clinic and had only girls from a local foundation home. In the end we also had shooting competition where we gave away t-shirts as prizes.

Our second last game we played against Our Lady Faith University and lost to them by 46-51 points even though we had a great lead in the beginning, their swiftness beat us to a loss. And finally our last game in Manila was up against La Salle University and with a close score of 53-56 points. 

Since day one of practice in Bhutan until our first game in Manila, we saw vast improvement in our players, from the way they played on the court, to the way the strategic defence and the plays were executed. We not only played cohesively as a team but also managed to keep calm under pressure. Being the First women’s Basketball team to be trained in such a short duration by the American/Australian coaches and perform as well as we did, we are very proud of how far we have come. We now have many goals to achieve for the future of Women’s Basketball here in Bhutan. Not only with the development of the sport but by giving young women the equal opportunity to learn and play basketball alongside the men in our country.

One of my teammates Sangay Choden summarized her trip as: “It was a great experience and a good exposure which we wouldn't have got from here in Bhutan. We got to learn a lot of new things and played like a team. We met a lot of people and it was fun learning and teaching at the same time. It was the best thing and we should encourage the younger generations to play basketball. Go team Bhutan.”

Trip to Ubud - Bali

The whole ride from Nusa Dua To Ubud the driver spoke of what Bali had to offer. The Governor, Politics, recent Bombings, the geographical features such as the volcanoes, the flooding in Jakarta, etc. He did seem to know a lot but I guess that came with what he did for a living.

I was very surprised to find that gas (petrol) was very expensive here. For 20 liters the driver paid 13,00,000 Rupiah (divided by 20 = 65,000 divided by 12,000 which comes to 5.41 dollars per liter so that multiply by 20 =108.3 dollars for 20 liters), so that in Ngultrum comes to Nu. 6,825.00 (Yep! Pretty expensive if I got my Math right) 

The first stop we made was at a Batik workshop where we saw a few ladies showcasing to tourists like us their artistic skills and explaining how the process of batik, how they are printed, weaved and just like those Jim Thompson stores, they had a huge one inside.

Woman weaving Batik Cloth

Batik Cloth being woven

Batik Design in process

A Silver Pendant in the process of making

Still on the way to Ubuud, we stopped by a silver workshop since that area was famous and well known for gold and silver works. Apparently, most of the silver and gold are controlled by foreign investors but with Indonesian owners (clearly fronting and this is an inside scoup...haha)

A Woman at one of the Silvershop

Then we moved towards to a temple in ubud which lies below the presidential house which looked very green and modern architecture. They had bath places where people came to either purify, for their health and the last stone bath place was meant only for the Royals. Everything seemed rather different than normal to us but the stone carvings they had looked very similar to the wood carvings we have in Bhutan. Gede told us that here in Bali 90 percent of the religion is Hindu while the other islands of Indonesia are mostly inhabited with Muslim population and apparently they are constantly at war between the two religions.

Hindu Temple

Purification Ritual

Second Bath Pool

Visiting the Temple in the most Local style

Presidential House on top of the Hill

Prayer and Posing

Feeding the Hungry fishes

As we were driving up to see the volcano in Kitimani, we passed by many coffee plantations and orange orchards. It started to rain but it was very cool never the less in the car which was very comfortable and our driver Gede never failed to entertain us. I also learnt that Gede is a common name just like Karma or Sonam but here the name Gede belongsto the lowest farmer caste in the Hindu caste system.

We drove up to Kintamani village to See the volcano as luck had it on our side we saw the glimpse of the volcano mountain before it started to fog up. Apparently the village remains very foggy throughout the day day and seldom they see sunshine. As we were there it reminded me of the place in Kodai or even Ooty. 

One interesting thing to note is that as we entered the village we had to pay 25,000 for the both of us as tax to the village tax collectors and I appreciated this effort because the money goes back to the village and for their prosperity.  

Volcano Mountain

  

One funny thing I learnt is that one day "Silent Day" in a year people do not come out of the house,  stay indoors, not allowed lights,  no airplane movement, no movement. It is suppose to be a silent dead day. Purpose: not too sure but I think it is darn good idea by the government to promote family time together as I am sure one or two family members are always working to earn for their livelihood. This only happens in Bali. 

Driving back we stopped by a coffee plantation to taste and buy some luwak coffee which is the world's most expensive coffee. Expensive because they domesticate the civit * in a cage and feed them with coffee beans which they eat and poop it out. Before they poop it out, the coffee beans  are eaten and due to their digestive enzyme it takes away the biter taste and does something miraculous inside their stomach. When they poop they collect the beans in the morning and wash them with hot water before it is dried. Then the bean is peeled and roasted. That's how luwak coffee is made :)  the animal looks like a cat with long tail  and hangs upside down and crawls etc but not friendly. The fur is not so thick but they were all kept in single cells and there was about 12 of them. As the taxi driver told us the other day "Luwak in jail" and he just couldn't stop laughing.

Bali Pulina : Coffee Plantation

Coffee Arabica

Luwak

Different coffee types

After this we had lunch at this cool resturant in Ubuud where Tshe Namgay had the most yummiest Pork Ribs and then drove back down to Nusa Dua to end the trip.

Price of the trip: 650,000 Rupiah...