HOT Eden: Turkish Delights

Lets try something different this time. A different location in a different region and ... an experience that was oh sooo, sooo very delightfully amazing that I feel the need to include it in this site which I normally dedicate to places of interest found in the Malay Archipelago region only. Yup, as the title suggests, I want to share with you the heavenly experience of immersing in the warm, calm pools... lounging like a seal in the middle of the night... enjoying the mesmerising view of the twinkling lights of a small town below and the sparkling bright stars above... in a place known locally as the 'Cotton Castle'... or famously known as 'Pamukkale' located in Turkey.

I took a bus from Istanbul to a small lovely sea-side town called Izmir. 2 days later I wanted to continue my journey to Antalya, a popular sea-side resort town. That was when I found out about this fantastic and unique hot-spring spot which has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site back in 1998. Almost instantly I made some slight changes to my trip plan - It then became a trip to Antalya via Pamukkale! And I thanked God for that last-minute-change-of-mind:)

The bus trip to the little village of Pamukkale ( located on the western side of Turkey and in the Denizil Province) was itself a very interesting experience for me. I met some 'fast- but-nice-friends' on the bus. I enjoyed the view of beautiful and captivating scenery along the trip. But on top of everything, upon approaching the Denizili village ( a town closest to Pamukkale), my heart beats started to pound so heavily when I saw the glimpse of 'Cotton Castle' from afar. It was truly one of the most AWESOME sight I had ever encountered in my whole life!

First, I saw a rock platform which was about 100m high rising up suddenly, out of nowhere, from the plain. A white, mega, tall 'tower' in the middle of nowhere. It looked like something which was done of snow...or cloud...or cotton(then I understood why they called it such). It was really something which should be seen to be believed! No amount of photos or videos could do justice to the actual sight of the phenomenon.

As the bus approached nearer to Pamukkale,

I soon began to see that it looked or resembled more like frozen waterfall instead.

I was getting so excited already. Couldnt wait to climb up that white-cotton hill and take a closer look at this 'out-of-the-world' phenomenon.

Pamukkale village had many small hotels and 'pensions'. Indeed, at the foot of that 'Cotton in the Air' hill, there were numerous budget hotels, restaurants and such services as shops and bus ticket offices. And, not surprisingly, many of these small hotels had their very own small and warm mineral water pools! After hurriedly checking into one of the pensions (the one I chose was indeed very 'cute' looking, homely, clean and friendly small home which had been turned into a budget residence) , I started 'marching' up onto the 'cotton' hill.

It turned out that the slopes of the hill, which from a far looked like a white speck, were covered with large number of pools and terraces. The hill was a pristine sparkling white! And the pools of water a serene green, or blue, or... what color was that? The water could change color, indeed! How unbelievablely amazing! I was later informed the color of the water change in accordance with changes of the solar light that illuminates them. At times the water looked white, others looked blue or green. Whateverrrr. The only thing I remember was that the effect was SURPRISING!

Later... much, much later that night... I climbed up the hill again. It was almost at the end of a summer season and fall was approaching fast in Turkey at that time, so it was a bit cold but not that kind of 'freezing-cold'. Just nice. And the water in the pools was comfortably warm. So when I finally dipped my whole body into the pool... the feeling was... unspeakably enjoyable!

Sitting quietly in the pool...watching the flickering lights coming from Pamukkale Village down below... feasting my eyes on the thousand twinkling stars in the clear sky above... i thought I had died and went to Heaven!

No wonder then this 'cotton-in-the-air' hill has been a SPA since the Romans era. Indeed, the Romans had built the 'Hierapolis' (somesort like a spa resort of the ancient time) right on this very hill, and the 'Sacred Pool' - one of the spa pools they built - is still very much there, littered with marble colums from the Roman Temple of Apollo. How grand!

I finally continued my journey to Antalya TWO DAYS later (initially I planned to stay only for a night in Pamukkale...but then again... phewwwww...just look at the pictures... it was not easy at all for me to leave that heavenly 'eden'). From Antalya, I continued to Ankara. And on my last leg of the journey, I decided to ride a train from Ankara all the way back toIstanbul.

IZMIR