"from all over July 2003 - Aug 2005" by Alikatt

Tall and tan...so the song goes about the girl from Ipanema. I felt I was that girl after having been on a 2-week holiday both in the Ege and Akdeniz. Of course Firat thought so too. Now it's time to go...we boarded a flight back to Istanbul that afternoon.

Aggeliki)from Greece took this photo in Istanbul. In the center is Mehmet (Mehbos) from Istanbul and to my right is Dan (Man from la Mantra) who lives in New York. We had a fun time riding the tram in Tunel and having dinner in Sultanahmet. It's always a pleasure to meet with fellow VTers. I hope to cross paths with you again guys!

A Turkish party was happening in San Francisco at the Ramp so I gladly dressed up in my authentic robe and put on this awesome tribal necklace from Anatolia. I surely danced when they played the buka. Taximnights.com is the party's website run by dedicated Turkish born SF residents. We miss Kaan Afacan who spearheaded this movement. He is back in Istanbul cooking up another gig no doubt. It was great catching up with him in Istanbul over drinks at Leila in Jan.05.

One of my favorite places for lunch in Turkbuku is Divan. That is, if I want to get up from the sun bed .Here I was with my English friend Emma in July 2003.

These pools were once amazingly white. It is no longer the case but it is still magificent in terms of its cascasing waters on one side of the mountain having formed the "cotton castle" shape, aply named pamuk (cotton) kale (castle). Don't forget to see Heriapolis next to it.

I painted my nails red for Ferarri (molto bene) and wore my blue jeans for Renault. I can't remember what I did for the other teams...maybe nothing. It all started with the Turkish jetfighters' salute in the sky in red and white then the noise didn't really stop until the final lap. It was fun hanging out with tons of people who came from all over the world to see Schumi lose. Oops. He didn't fare better in Shanghai either. It's Alonso's year. Bravo!

Can you see them flying over up in the sky?