Jul 05

Okay peeps (read: JAMES!) I'm alive!!!

There were bombıngs ın Sharm-al-sheık
(a popular resort town ın egypt) a few days ago! I'm scared!! Serıously!
I told CTV when I left that I wasn't afraıd to travel to the Mıddle
East, and that there weren't goıng to be anymore bombs! Hındsıght ıs
20/20 huh? My brother ıs treatıng me really well, and we've been
meetıng very awsome people (despıte adverse lıvıng condıtıons and
fınancıal lımıtatıons) at our hostels and have done awsome stuff wıth
them. We went to Cappadocıa and saw thıs huge underground cıty, and
churches cut ınto caves! Then we cruısed the medıteranean on thıs
awsome boat, we slept under the stars every nıght and swam and swam
and swam! w007! We went to Istanbul, then to Cairo and saw the pyramids and the egyptian museum today!

More details as events unfold!

Your's
John

HELLO!

Alright! So a few things have happended in the last few days that I suppose you, the loyal readers, deserve to hear about. We got into town on monday and proceeded to take the shuttle to our hostel. A quaint little affair a few blocks from the Blue Mosque (which we can see from the terace), and full of vibrant individuals whose love of cultures is palpable. We then went to the Blue Mosque, and got some (crappy) dinner. We also got some insane Turkish ice cream that was chewy like marshmallow fluff... mmmmmmmm. We went to see belly dancers, and smoke a nargileh, and have a generally pleasent time, afterwards we went to bed. We woke up very late and went for a walk along the major road, and then to the Bazzar. Thom's Oxfordian chum, Mahden, arrived that night, and we celebrated by heading over to the Hammam (bath-house... NOT *that* kind of bath house!!!) And then we followed some vague instructions, courtesy of Lonley Planet, which led us 20 minutes from, and about 200m below our destination: The PARTY DISTRICT! Yes, so we partied, and listened to traditional Turkish music, until 3 in the morning. We got home at and woke up at 11:50. We went for a long walk through many museums, the mosaic museum, the Haiga Sofya, and the Hippodrome (which, it turns out, was just a bunch of statues on a boulevard between two lanes of a big road.) We took the ferry out to a nice restaurant, and saw the Blue Mosque and Haiga Sofya with the sun setting behind them... and nowwwww I'm home!

I've bored you enough, but I'm happy and alive and that all that should matter to you (whoever you are.)

xoxoxoxo
JOHN

Hello!
Hi just a quick dash in, to tel you that I havce arrived in Turkey, and love it!

I'll bring you more details as I get more time!
xoxoxoxo
John

Greetings!
My name is John Ringer, I'm 15 and from Toronto, Canada. I've started this blog to document my trip to the Middle East, which I'll be leaving for tomorrow. I'll be travelling to Gatwick Airport via Zoom Airlines, then taking a bus to Oxford (both in the UK) where I'll be meeting my 24 year-old Rhodes Scholar brother, Thom.

Thom
I'll then get over my jetlag (fingers crossed) and depart for Istanbul via Milan, on Alitalia. From there we'll go to Egypt, then Jordan, and back to Istanbul to meet our Mom. We have no itinerary, no experience, just a lot of gusto! So stay tuned, my next entry will be from Oxford!

Your's Faithfully,
John

and this is me above