MY LIFE IN ANTALYA - TURKEY
This city is still a secret for Indians... This was my house for two months. [SPEAKING TURKISH] you must have thought that this can't be a Muslim country...
I'll probably meet Ruveyda whom I met yesterday. After this opportunity, my traveling journey started. Hello everyone. Welcome to a new video. Right now I'm having Gajak (Mix of Peanut and Jaggery).
No matter where I am, you'll find Milk, Peanut Butter, or Gajak in my room. Right now where I am? I am in the most beautiful place in the world. I know you're not believing me. But if you watch this video completely then you'll fully believe that currently I'm in the most beautiful place in the world. As you can see my room is tiny. Light is hitting my head and the bathroom is also a bit small. Have to sit keeping the door open because my knees don't fit in. There are many such things that I had to bear in my amazing Travel Life Journey and other travelers won't. I am not complaining.
Let's quickly go downstairs have a lot to talk with you guys. Not gonna record much in the room, let's go downstairs and talk. First, let me show you the view from this room. It's not too good. Don't expect to see Switzerland like views.
But works for me. After watching others shots of this country you'll believe that it's better than Switzerland. Firstly, let's talk about exactly where I am in Turkey. I am in Antalya.
Antalya is a very beautiful city in the South of Turkey in the Mediterranean region. [Greeting in Arabic] This city is still a secret for Indians because most of the them don't know about this city. And I decided not to make videos for a week. I'll only rest and meet my old friends.
Those who say that I don't upload videos very frequently you can check my 2017 Turkey Trip videos on highlights on my Instagram profile. And what I did last week, I'll upload that too in highlights. Those who are not much interested in my personal life, you can skip doing that.
I make those videos for myself so that I can watch it later. Let's go back to 2017. Before my first solo international trip, I went to the US with my sister.
There is my sister's house so I didn't feel like I'm in another country. Didn't get any cultural shock. My first trip in which I felt cultural shock or traveled alone out of India was Turkey, Antalya in 2017. I came here with an Organization for an internship. I stayed here for two months and after this opportunity my journey of traveling and making videos started. From here all my memories of meeting new people from different cultures started.
Traveling independently, doing everything on my own. Everything I learned from that trip. So this place is very close to my heart. I believe whatever videos that I make that you guys like, that 2017 Turkey Antalya trip is the reason behind all this. This is the reason I was feeling emotional and nostalgic for the past 5-6 days. That's why I didn't make any videos.
I was just meeting my old friends and posting stories on Instagram. Right now I am going to the gym. It's 12 in the noon. You all will laugh at me whether I have come here to travel or to do exercise. You're absolutely correct.
For me, it's very important to exercise twice or thrice a week. Cause all day we walk a lot do cardio. while traveling you don't get healthy food. So the body breaks down fat and muscle if we don't exercise. It causes a lot of muscle loss. To tackle that I do exercise while traveling.
Do a little, not much. Even tough, I can't grow muscles while traveling but I don't want to lose any. Although maintaining is also tough. I've taken gym membership for a month. For one day it was costing ₺50 around $5.25 and $18.45 for a month. All I have to do here was basically visit this speaking club in the evening. There were awesome people, some dentists, doctors, engineers... had to sit with them and talk in English. It was next to this road I'll show you.
There in the evening, I had to sit with them from 6-8 pm and talk with them in English that's all I had to do. After that, I used to party with them in this area. It's called Kalichi. I decided to stay in this area because this was our area to party. Mostly Russians and Europeans come to Antalya to party.
Many Indians don't come here. If you see anyone speaking Hindi or Urdu they must be from Pakistan. I stayed for two months in Antalya and this is my third time and I have not seen any Indian here. Indians don't know about this place. For us, Turkey has a bad image due to bad political relations. But local people are good everywhere like you meet any Pakistani, he will treat you so well. Same for these people.
So ignoring politics, if you want to visit this place, it is awesome. Here on every corner of the street you'll find pubs, bars, cafes, restaurants. Everyone has their own preferences and choices. If I am asked, obviously I think my hometown Hisar is the best place in the world. For staying long term. If we talk for a short period of time I don't think there's any better place than Antalya. It's prettier than Switzerland and the prices are the same as in India.
Trams run between the roads. Right now I'm going to the gym after returning, I'll show you the view of that side. During the time I stayed here at the same time I made friends from all over the world. Out of which one was Mustafa. I went to Egypt to meet him. I came back in August, 2017 to meet these friends. And now it's my third time.
1 Turkish Lira is equal to 0.068 USD. So according to that, you can guess the prices. When I came in 2017 then 1 Turkish Lira was equal to 20 INR. But now due to weak currency 1 Turkish Lira is equal to 8 Indian Rupees. So for us, things are cheaper. This is my gym. I have lost 10kg weight.
Used to have 100+. Just finished all my sets... That's the tram. Now, I'll go to my room. I'll take a shower and get ready. And I have a friend Ruveyda, she'll come to pick me up. I'm meeting some old friends everyday.
Today, I will probably meet Ruveyda whom I met yesterday and Duygu and Perno. Ruveyda selected me for that internship I told you about. She took my interview for that internship. And Duygu owns some travel company business here.
And Pirnu is a dentist in Antalya. They were the members of that English Speaking Club that I used to visit. I'll show you the cafe where we used to sit and talk.
After taking this turn, you can see the Octopus Book Cafe in the front. We used to sit in this cafe. It's a book café in which we used to sit and talk for ~2 hours. Maybe from 7-9pm.
I won't go inside the cafe. Because it will be too nostalgic for me. I didn't even go to see my old apartment where I stayed for two months.
Because I know if I go there I'll get too emotional. On this book store here used to be the biography of Shah Rukh Khan earlier but now I can't see that. Many cafes... We used to come here in the evening.
To have some fun. This chicken dish is for almost $5.27 Here street dogs are so big. This is nothing few are double the size of these. We had our farewell party in this café.
'The Soul'. Now the view in front is where we used to come and sit during sunset. It's sunny right now so will not see clearly. You won't be able to enjoy the beauty of the view but still, I'll show you. One good thing about this place is that you can see Mountain and Beach at the same time.
The other side you can the mountains and this side beach. It is not visible from here but tomorrow when I'll go to the beach then you will be able to see it properly. What a beautiful view...
The place in front here, me and my three friends came to drink tea yesterday. You guys must have seen my Instagram stories the view was amazing in the evening. This is an Irish pub. Mostly people from Ireland and Britain come here to drink. I'm pretty sure you guys are shocked that there are so many pubs, bars, clubs are here and girls are wearing short dresses.
You must be thinking that this can't be a Muslim country Although, the government is secular. But 90% of the population is Muslim in Turkey. I was also amazed to see this during my first visit. You can't compare Antalya to rest of the Turkey. Mostly tourists come here so people here also are very open-minded. Even if you are drinking while walking on the street, Police or anyone will not say anything to you.
It's very safe also. Even if girls are walking alone at midnight. This is Kokorec that I showed you in Istanbul. They serve Lamb's grilled Intestines with bread here.
Here you will see cats everywhere as you can see in most of the Muslim countries. Just like the people here cats and dogs are also polite and friendly. You can feed anyone. No one will say anything to you. There's a very happy and friendly environment here.
Turkish carpets are very famous all around the world. You can see shops of Turkish carpets and Souvenirs. Different types of carpets. Even most of the beautiful carpets available in India are imported from here.
Just like India, people use this to be safe from evil eye. Back in January 2017 when I came here, it was a little expensive for me. But, now their currency is weak so it's not that expensive.
And if you don't want to spend much, go to any good café and drink tea. Which will cost around 7-8 Turkish Lira. Less than a dollar in best cafes. And in $0.25 in cheaper cafes. According to Per Capita of the world, Turkish people consume the most Tea. Even if you visit Istanbul, which is the most popular City in Turkey [Speaking Turkish] there also you'll find some conservative people. Here, I'm recording and no one interrupted me.
Do anything, eat anything, no one will say anything. This is the best thing about this place. Returning back to my room now. It's 6 o'clock in the evening and it's dark now. Ruveyda is waiting outside for me. After exiting these streets I'll reach her. The streets of Kalechi look more beautiful at night.
This old town is called Kalechi. These are the clubs here. As you can see this street is empty right now.
it will have no place to even walk at 11 o'clock in the night. Crowd of young boys and girls. Parting here, drinking, sitting on the road. Duygu called me just now. She is near the beach. I don't want to go to the beach right now because it's very cold there and can't swim right now. And yesterday I already went to the beach.
Tomorrow Duygu will go to Cappadocia and return on Saturday. So, I'll meet her on Saturday. These streets are narrow so if cars come here it causes a little bit problem. If it's managed well then it's not much of a problem. Most of the people here are vaccinated. So it's not that strict to wear a mask.
All tourists hold their masks in hand and when enter bus or visit crowded are then they wear. I didn't come from the main pubs and clubs area cause it's very noisy and I would not have been able to talk to you. In 2017 I used to come here every evening to eat mısır (sweet corn).
After 5 Years, I came back here to eat mısır. [Speaking in Turkish] We all used to meet a lot in this café, 'Luna Garden'. in Kalechi. It's very beautiful.
I have ordered grilled chicken for myself. The Octopus Book Cafe that I showed you in the daytime. We are going there to drink tea. This side of the road is Luna Garden and the other side is Octopus Book Cafe. From this side, it seems closed. Let's go inside and check. This is the place we used to come for our sessions.
I'm recalling the memories. I'm feeling nostalgic after coming here. We've ordered 2 tea and 1 Cheese Cake which cost around 25 Turkish Lira around $3.
It's believed that when cats are stressed they press/scratch things with their paws. And this cat is doing it for a long time now. It's been 4-5 minutes now. Finally she stopped. Ruveyda parked her car here.
Around $3 for 3 hours. Which is a bit expensive. We stood here for a long time and were confused about which one is Kerem house. I felt that none of these house is Kerem house. Ruveyda said one of these was the one.
Finally, I called Kerem and asked for the location. The House number is 21. We found 16...17. When I first came to Turkey I stayed in this house. And we all used to meet here. Finally found the house. This is where I stayed when I came to Antalya. All the memories started from this house.
I stayed here for 3-4 days and then I shifted to another host's house. Where I stayed for 2 months. But during the weekends for parties, we all used to meet here. There's are lots of memories of this place. Remembering the old days. Finally, we found it.
On the right is Kuldu Street and Akdeniz Üniversitesi behind us. On the left is where my house was. There's a grocery store A-101 and a cheaper one which we just crossed. I used to buy from both stores.
This was my house for 2 months. I used to go inside from here. And that balcony was mine. There used to be a flag of Turkey. It's removed definitely. This is the bus stop from where I used to take the bus every day. The good thing about this house is it's near the bus stop. So, I can see the bus from the balcony.
Here you can check in the mobile app how far is the bus. I used to run to catch the bus. I'm living the old memories now after coming here. I'll stop the video and talk to you later.
This is the cafe where I used to come and sit till 11 o'clock at the night. Here's a bus stop from where I used to take a direct bus to my house. Less than 10 minutes route.
They've changed it a bit. Earlier entry was from this side. It's 10 o'clock at night and the crowd has started to come. What's in the menu? [IN HINDI] Ridged Gourd... [IN HINDI] Okay, leave. [IN HINDI] Leave hahaha. [IN HINDI] How are you? [IN HINDI] Very happy. [IN HINDI]
[Indian-Punjabi Song]
2022-03-21 20:46
