The Sea Life

It seems that every time I sit back at my laptop ready to bang out another one of these, I think "Wow...11 days since the last post - I should really do this more often as I have WAY to much to catch up on." Nevertheless, here goes...

After Jordan, I headed back to Tel-Aviv for what was definitely one of the best nights of the trip. I was partying on the rooftop of Hayarkon 48 where this sweet girl Erin asked what I do back in the States. I gave her my usual response:

"Well, the day job is business consulting...but my real passion is music."
"Oh really? What do you play?"
"Actually, I'm a beatboxer."

This prompted her to ask for a quick sample for she and her friends. Over the course of my "Come Together" cover, a couple more people surrounded us. Then, I was asked for another. I decided to debut my newest creation, a simultaneous verse/beat cover of "Under the Bridge" which then expanded the crowd to about 30 people. So, there I was, rockin' out on the rooftop overlooking Tel-Aviv for travelers from the US, Canada, Australia, and I realized what I love most about beatboxing: it's not about impressing people, or feeding any ego - for me, it's all about exposing people to something they've never been exposed to before (which is also, coincidentally, why I constantly drop my pants in public )...

Moving on...new friends moved the fun over to Namal (Israeli's port filled with restaurants, clubs, nightlife, etc.) where we partied the night away. Truthfully, I could not have asked for a better last night in Tel-Aviv before taking off for Turkey (much props to Erin for asking me what I do)...

TURKEY.
WAS.
EXCEPTIONAL.

I took off from Ben Gurion airport last Wednesday, 7/2 for Istanbul. I arrived, checked into my hotel, and then met Ayse and Maia, two friends from SF for dinner in Istanbul. The next day, we went out to breakfast on the Bosphorus and then checked out the Istanbul Modern, a very cool museum showcasing Turkish modern art. John, the fourth member of "Team Voltran" (to be explained later) arrived from Boston just in time for dinner. One of the best amenities of the hotel we were staying at, Hotel Sumahan, was that it offered a boat service across the service to the Sultanhamet and other vibrant nightspots. Here's me riding on the Bosphorus on one such occasion:


We spent the next three days touring around Istanbul, checking out everything from:

The Spice Bazaar...

to The Grand Bazaar to...

The just plain BIZARRE.

Other fun spots (though places we were surrounded by hundreds of other tourists) included the Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace (where this pic was taken).


I must hand it to Ayse, our native Turk, who played tour guide for us and really showed us a phenomenal time in her stomping grounds. It's nice to go somewhere without a Lonely Planet guide as you have a human guide able to tell you everything you need. Then, after four days around Istanbul, it was time for our much anticipated boat trip on the Aegean.

Now, I will try to put into words just how therapeutic, cathartic, and overall cleansing this boat trip was but I'm afraid it will do it no justice. We chartered the Southern Cross Timer for a 3-night expedition along the Aegean where, in all honesty, we just plain veged out. Our 2-person crew of Engin and Ahmed cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us every day offering us a fine sampling of some amazing Turkish specialties, from Cacik to Sojuk. We went swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, and rowboating. We read books, drank great wine, visited Cleopatra island (where Julius Ceaser imported sand from Egypt for her and Cleopatra); mostly, however, we marveled at how fortunate we were to be taking such an extraordinary adventure with company we were all enjoying so much. Yesterday, our faithful boat pulled back into the harbor at Bodrum, where we said goodbye to our amazing crew and I caught my flight back to Istanbul and then back to Tel-Aviv. (Reader's note: I let the much more photographically-ambitious Maia take most shots on the boat while I laid back and relaxed; hence, boat photos will be coming in a few weeks. However, if you're so inclined, Maia's already posted most on her Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maiacybelle)

And now, I find myself at a coffeeshop in Jerusalem gearing up for the two-week adventure around Nepal that begins on Saturday. I was able to hook up with Coolooloosh, a band that I met when they played in San Francisco last winter. Turns out they would like me to open up with a 1/2 hour beatbox set for their concert tomorrow! So, if anyone who happens to be reading this is in Israel at present, come on out to Bezalel in Jerusalem tomorrow at 1:00pm and get ready to rock your socks off!

L'Chaim!