Turkey Part 2 - Istanbul

Rainy day cruise around the Bosphorus Strait

Lunch spot on an Asian side inlet river 

Wish you were here

Istanbul market 

Istanbul's Basilica Cistern 

Hagia Sophia

The Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque after prayer-time 

Cappadocia, Turkey 2015

First light on a bluff above our cave hotel.

Our last stop on the way home was the Cappadocia region of central Turkey, famous for it's early Christian settlement and ballon tours over the dramatic carved earth. We spent five nights in Goreme where slept in a cave carved from limestone and hike every day.

Sunset tour of the fairy chimneys, a water carved series of limestone pillars where early Christian monks road out a few plagues and persecution.

Above the open air museum of churches which showcase frescos depicting early Christianity.

Our future villa.

Fresh pomegranate juice on every corner.

Climbing up to the top of a carved stone castle.

View of a neighboring village from the castle.

Cave church with original paintings.

Every morning hundreds of balloons take flight giving tourist a birds-eye view of this beautiful place.

Turkish Nights dinner show. Four hour program filled with traditional dancing, a delicious meal, and free flowing wine.

Dubai & Qatar

Lauren and I spent three night in Dubai visiting with friends and seeing this glitzy and surreal city. The company was so worth the visit and the heat really didn't bother us at all. Plus there we tons of Filipinos, so we enjoyed hearing people speak Tagalog again.

We stopped in Qatar to change planes and got a great view of the beautiful marina.

Qatar airport art

All the play areas for kids were unique giant brass sculptures like this one. They were everywhere, just like the free Apple workstations. Hands down, the nicest airport I have ever seen.

The Zagros mountains as we flew along the Iraq/Iran border

Kuala Lumpur

View of the Petronas Towers from our hotel. No need for the Sky Bar.

Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. The world's largest free flight aviary.     

Banksy

Time for bird portraits.

Lauren nursing the parrots back to health.

Who are you? Who who, who who?

Petronas Sky Bridge

KLCC park

Marcia relaxing next to the fountain garden.

In front of the Batu cave temple in KL.

Good thing I have absolutely no intention of doing these, especially after the 

climb to get up here.

This looks like a great place to contemplate my dietary lifestyle.