Around Pumakkale and the Kaklik caves

Wednesday October 24th

A mosquito flew in my ear at 4am this morning. I got up and realised I had been bitten twice on the arm also. I tried to kill it but I couldn't find the little git.

I then got woken up by the call to prayer at dawn. I could hear the pitter patter of tiny raindrops.

I finally got up around 8am and twatted the mozzie. It was, of course, engorged with my blood. It cheered me up greatly.

At breakfast we met Fatima and Thorsen and apologised for the night before. We then sat and were pitched a variety of cheesy tours by a guy, looking for a all the world like a Turkish Swedish Tony, who wouldn't tell us the price of his tours. Suffice to say we neglected. We were then further subject to a pitch from the owner at reception. He was a particularly shifty looking man. He was pretty pissed off by the fact we would not go on any of his overpriced tours. We said we'd go to the Saklik caves if he halved his price. He finally lost his temper and said a person with a tattoo on their arm like mine told him they had paid $500 for it, ergo I must be rich and could afford it. What impeccable logic: he can ostentatiously rip me off because I can afford it. Twat.

As it was raining. Fatima, Torsen, Marcus, and I decided to spend the day visiting the Kaklik caves and visit the Travertines the next day. We took a dolmus (a small minibus) to Denizli and then on to Kaklik. From there we got a lift to the caves. They were very beautiful, but the was not much to see. There was however plenty to smell. The caves were rich in deposits of copper, magnesium, iron, calcium, and lots and lots of Sulphur. The whole area smelled like the worst beer fart I have ever sent out into world. Going down into the caves were like descending into Rab C Nesbit's underpants. One cool thing we did see was lots of bats. I had been bat ringing in Wytham woods recently with Merryl. We found quite a large bat - a nocturnal - I believe. These were much bigger. You would have loved them Merryl!

We left the caves and walked the 4K back to Kaklik. On the way we got to know Fatima and Thorsen. They were a lovely couple and we all hit it off really well. We got chased by mad dogs, attacked by exploding plants and we were fed quince by a man on a tractor.

We left Thorsen and Fatima in Denizli and got the Dolmus back to Pumakkule. There were no seats on the bus so a school-kid of about 15 insisted I took his. I tried to stop him but he would not take no for an answer. The consideration and kindness you receive from people in Turkey is amazing but what is even more so is the politeness of the children. If this had been Britain they would have mugged me, slap-happy'd me, then set fire to me whilst filming it on their mobiles; and that would have been the girls. They would then have posted it on U-Tube. I felt homesick all the way back.

When we got to Pummakale town we met the Danish couple once more. [Pumakkule by the way is a tiny town with a population of three or four thousand]. We stopped and had a quick beer with them and agreed to meet them later for dinner. We then had a good old lie down.

All six of us went out for dinner later that night. We had a lovely evening and had some really good food. We ended up back at Brian and Jetta's hotel whereupon we met the psychotic but harmless part-owner who kept on going from being cheerful to miserable to violent from one minute to the next. I opted to ignore him. Even when he was telling me that British people all had ugly earlobes and orange faces. He finally sulked when I would not let him kiss my hand. He then took a shine for Marcus and did the gayest dance I have ever seen; possible for him. Last thing we saw he had his head in Brian's lap.