It took some time to finally escape the clutches of Oludeniz or little england. But eventually the frump factor outweighed the flying factor and a decision was made.... to leave.

This idea was considerably delayed by tequila.

So a little autobus to Olympos. Some six hours later with the local bus stopping every hundred metres of so for a chat, to pick up some chickens etc etc I arrived. Its cool, very very laid back, staying in a place called Kadirs which is a huge hostel made entirely of tree houses.

It takes you back to being a kid. But one wonders how this entire place made out of sun parched wood, with the turkish passion for smoking has survived so long. Its got a cool vibe. Time slows and beer flows.

Highlights in this area are the chimera and the ruins. The chimera is an area where natural flames have been burning from the rocks for recorded history. Very cool. Many cigarettes were lit from these flames, reminding me somewhat of my attempt during the torch run of the Sydney Olympics to try and light my cigarette from it. It wasnt received well. There are some big flames here and a few ones I dubbed the secret shoe scorchers. Tiny ones, suddenly the smell of rubber burning, a hot foot and fucked boot. Little bastards.

The ruins are from the Lycian time, with tombs, buildings and temples scattered over the hills and bay. Its great to wander around checking them out. The novelty of Roman ruins I still have. Soon no doubt they will fall into the ABR tour of Turkey...Another Bloody Ruin.

Afternoons start with well beers. Food is really healthy vegetarian fare, a welcome respite from the traditional bread meat cheese diet. The new food down here though everywhere is the gozleme, a flat pancake made by little old ladies sitting down, roleld out, whack in some... cheese and cook on these low rider ovens. Very turkish, flour, oil and cheese.

And afternoons drift into evenings and volumes raise. Some fun people here though, its a nice melting pot of outrageous hedonism and travelling chill.

I emailed a lovely young italian lass, with an Italian friend beside me. I asked him for some assistance in creating an email in Italian filled with charm poise and a little Italian romance. He helped, I wrote and with a satisfied feeling sent it off. Maximum charm applied. Some hours later I pondered on the issue of trust, and he joked amongst us that for all I knew Id just sent off a message along the lines of 'you have sagging lop sided breasts of unequal size'. Im awaiting a response on that one.

So an escape plan is in operation to escape the lobster pot of Olympos, easy in, very hard to get out. As it says on their Tshirts 'I came, I stayed and stayed and stayed and stayed.....' The marvel of Cappadocia to be soon appreciated.