Posts
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Konak Hotel dan Konak Taksi
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Firin Kebab Haji Sukru (Konya, Turkey)
One of Konya's traditional food is said to be the Firin Kebab. This type of Kebab is not like the one you usually taste in Europe.
Firin Kebabi is made of a young sheep. The meat is therefore very tender and succulent. You can eat Firin Kebab in almost every restaurant in Konya but according to the local, Haji Sukru's Kebab has been speacialzing in making Firin Kebab since quite a long time. I did saw some newspaper articles featuring the restaurant on display in the shops' 'Salonu'.
The location is not too far from Alaaddin mosque. You will have to walk through past the nice looking park and fountains, straight to the direction of the mosque. The cost is 14 lira. They gave a free cay, ask them to do the same to you, perhaps by showing them this article :p
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Travel: Review of OTEL TUR, Konya, Turkey
The hotel (otel in Turkish) is situated on a small road exactly accross mevlana museum (the mosque), after OTEL CINAR. The hotel is clean, the breakfast is good, the room is equipped with real hotel facilities (bathroom inside, toilet with seat, hair dryer, tv, air cond, heater, towels, etc). These facilities are rather old and not shiny/new like in real hotels. But they are clean.
The hotel staff are really nice. Not all of them speak English, but you can always borrow their computer to type on google translator what you want to say. (I wish I had given the room cleaner a tip since he was very helpful, but I was running out of lira back then).
The hotel rate is perfect if two or three people are traveling together. The shared cost will be like 20-35 Turkish Lira per person per night. If you travel alone, you may have to pay for 40-50 Turkish Lira per night.
I really enjoyed staying there. And would definetely recomend couples or triples who need a clean well equipped place to stay without paying more than 12-15 euro per person per night.
However, we heard places outside Mevlana museum may offer cheaper price. And since there are not many more places to visit in Konya, staying outside Mevlana area can be a good idea to save money. You can easily move around using mini busses for 1-3 Turkish Lira (depending on the distance).
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Some tips (and theories) in buying souvenirs when travelling
I have learnt that tourism business is mostly about information asymmetry. Travel agents can charge you more since you don't have enough information on the actual costs. Sellers are no less different. Had you have similar information base, your losses can be mitigated. In Europe, they sell everything with a fix price. But not in many other countried. So, here is some tips:
1. Buying souvenirs when travelling are most likely to be a one-time game. That is to say, the relationship between the sellers and the buyers is not a repetitive one. Once you buy the souvenir, there is a minimal probability for you to return to the seller and complain for product defects or that he charge you too much. The itinerary is just too tight. Especially if you are travelling with a tour, the seller knows that within minutes, the tour leader will drag you back to the bus. Hence, you are a perfect target.
2. Never show that you are eager to purchase the goods. For you, its about the goods and your loved one. For the seller, its about the money. Different values are at stake. To get it on par, play with the game. Care not the stuff that you are buying, but about winning the negotiation. If you look too eager, you are on the hook.
3. If you look confuse, they will ask, "how much do you want to pay"? This means that their initial offer is absolutely still a high price. Don't immediately answer this question. See the next tip.
4. Always bargain at least half price or less. They will frown at you, but it is price discovery that you are doing. If they frown, its a good sign. It means you are getting closer to the actual production cost and the reasonable profit margin. If they still talk much, praising you, trying to speak using your language, saying you look fancy and handsome when wearing the stuff, that's a bad sign. The price is still too high. If they look a bit upset that is a good sign.
5. Pretending too leave is a good tactic. But always leave the impression that you are serious of buying and willing to negotiate.
6. When you are absolutely sure you are near the reasonable price, "show him the money". Say that if you sell Y for X, you will pay now. But if not, you will browse around, think a bit more and return. A good seller knows that once you leave their stall, you are off the hook. Thus, when you are that serious (already showing the money looking ready to pay) you are giving them a good blow. However, do this only when you are certain, preferably after making some comparison with other stall.
7. Sellers which sell similar types of items (same type of bags, different colors, likely originated from the same producer) with large quantity will likely to sell cheaper with those selling similar type of goods with lower quantity. This is because there are economies of scales in their purchasings and that they can cross subsidize the goods they are selling (sell 1 bag cheap to me, sell 1 similar bag to you with higher price).
8. The best times for buying: first thing in the morning when the shop has just opened, in the afternoon or night near the end of the business hour and when the rain will come. Study the market behavior. In some traditional market, when the rain pours, lesser people will come to the market because the street will get muddy, or simply because people won't have the mood to shop. The seller tactics sometimes is no longer in making profit but in mitigating losses.
9. If you are travelling with style: wearing gucci, LV bags, posh T shirt, sellers might have higher expectations. If you have a backpacker style, they might lowe their expectations.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Nevsehir, Goreme and Kaymakli (Cappadocia, Turkey)
However, upon our return we had a chat with someone working at a tour agent in the Nevsehir terminal, who said that his company offers a one day tour (from 10 am to 5 pm) for 60 lira, with 7 point attraction, museum tickets, guides and lunch included. We can't confirm if this is true, but if it is, it is indeed a very good price, because if you have to go on your own, you will spend at least 15 lira for a museum (so that's 30 lira if you visit two), 20 liras for the guide, at least 10 lira for lunch, including otobus fares (around 2 to 3 liras). Check www.rocktowntravel.com
If you decide to go on your own (which we did) from the Nevsehir Otobus Gar, you can take a free ride to the town centre of Nevsehir. Nevsehir appears to be the hub of Cappadocia ('Kappadokya') which connects it to the neighboring village. There is a minibus that will take you to the town centre for free. Just tell the driver you are going to Goreme and he will drop you off at the right bus stop.
The minibus to Goreme costs 2 liras per person. It will take you to the Goreme bus station. If you are going to the open air museum, get out from the station and follow the path upward, until you see a bridge and then turn right. You will see plenty of cafes, motorcycle rent and air balloon hires along the way. Turn right and go uphil until you find sign of entrance to the open air museum. The ticket cost is 15 liras per person.
From there, we went to the underground city at Kaymakli. You have to go to Nevsehir to catch a van to go there. On the way to Nevsehir you will pass Uchisar, which according to some reviews worth a visit, but unfortunately we do not stop there. Just ask the bus driver to drop you off at the van bus stop that goes to Kaymakli. The trip there takes around 30 minutes, don't forget to ask the driver to drop you off at the underground city. There are 3 underground city but the one in Kaymakli is the one adviced. It is worth hiring a tourguide there (we paid 20 liras) because the labyrinth is quite complicated and there is no audiotour.
Back to Nevsehir, I found a good restaurant that only charge 10 lira for a complete Adana Kebab (large portion, with the salad). The place is Kebabci Mustafa at Aksaray Cd, they seemed to have 2 branches at Nevsehir. This is quite a good deal and one of the value for money food I have found so far. You can go to donner shop for 8 liras which is cheaper, but the portion is small.
One last tip: if you go to a restaurant without price menu on display, ask for the price first and ask what the menu looklike. Once we ordered for a shish kebab, but were given a small cut pieces of fried meat which they called 'Shish Kebab'.
Below is the pic for Kebabci Mustafa's address, the typical van used for transport from Nevsehir to Kaymakli and the tariff for such transport.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Restaurant menu at the TCDD train (Istanbul to Konya)
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone