Click HERE to read DAY 1 entry
Click HERE to read DAY 2 entry


"Following breakfast, we drive to the 'Old City' where we will visit the Hippodrome, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, the Blue Mosque, famous for its delicate blue ceramic tiles and Saint Sophia. This church - turned mosque - turned museum takes the breath away with the sheer architectural size of its interior and magnificent dome and next we will visit the spectacular Topkapi  Palace. Built on one of the seven hills of Istanbul, this huge complex commands views of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. It was the seat of government for the Ottoman Empire for many centuries (1453-1852) and we will see the extravagant Treasury, the priceless Chinese porcelain. Following our return to the hotel for a quick rest and a change, we will proceed to welcome the evening with dinner at an Istanbul night spot with live music and Belly Dancing."

Well - itu yang tertera dalam program / itinerary yang mek buat utk clients mek la kan. So dalam entry nih, biar lah lebih mesra jika saya membahaskan (membahaskan ker masalahnye? Hehehe) hujah² day 3 nih dalam bahasa saya sendiri, NAH!? Hiks! (MATI LA NIH ENTRY KEDUA KALI KATANYA - 1st entry tadik HILANG, GONE, KAPUT bile PC jammed katanya - hanjeng!)

The day was glorious sangat - sunny, breezy (eh, macam nama agency mek pulak. hiks!) dan walaupun sedikit sejuk, tapi memang it was a very nice day to start the tour. And since the tour pada hari ini memang banyak require me and my clients to JALAN gunakan kaki, elok dan molek sangat lah kan cuaca cam nih... Bak kata Dato' tu, "It's a very fine day. Elok lah, senang berjalan. A good form of exercise in a way, with a very fine weather..." Yang part exercise tu, Dato' perli I EK!? Hehehehe...

So ok - mek punye pick up from my hotel was at 8.45am. So sempat la mek pi breakfast dulu kat coffee house hotel tu. Not bad la - normal lah, standard lah... ABF (American Breakfast katanye biarpun di Istanbul... hiks!). And then si Ibrahim ngan si driver Hassan tu picked me up - terus ke Conrad. Haiyoh! Jam dijalanraya, USAH DIKAU TANYA! Elok dan sesuai sangat lah dia picked me up at 8.45am sebab janji dengan Dato' nak pick them up at Conrad at 9.30am. Sampainya at Conrad, just nice at 9.20am... Jam giler jalan. Nak lepas area Taksim (area) hotel mek tu pong, masyaAllah!!! Dasyat! Always tau Istanbul, NEVER DER CHANGE nahh!

So after picking up my clients itiew, kiteorang proceed to the Old City area bak kata itinerary itiew. 1st stop, The Islamic and Turkish Museum. Or is it The Turkish and Islamic Art Museum tatau? Sat nak scroll up. Owh yes - the later one. Hiks! This museum used to be tempat tinggalnya pasha pasha Turkey. Pasha nih macam, NO Bukan Pasha Drag Queen tu lah! Ish. Pasha nih bahasa lain bagi, pemimpin? Ha, ala ala PM la kot. So this museum used to be kediaman rasmi Pasha terakhir Turkey, sapa tah nama dia, mek tak concentrate pun penerangan si Ibrahim tu sebab sebok nak amik gambar... ALASAN sangat kan? LOL!

Apo ado dalam tu? Ala - artifak² sejarah purba kala bagai la, carpet² mega lah, pinggan mangkuk periuk belangan marble lah itu ini - ala, normal lah museum² itiew. Clients mek macam very facinated - but mek lebih sebok nak snappy² dan asik keluar masuk keluar masuk keluar masuk museum tu. Apa kes? SMOKING lor! LOL!

Dan kat dalam museum itiew pulak, cameras are allowed, cuma no flash pls. Sebab itiew la ala ala bergegar shaky maky dan dinch jelas dan sharp katanya resultsnya. Sorry nah!






Lepas itiew pulak, kiteorang melangkah setapak dua (actually setapak dua lebih lah jugak... hiks!) ke Blue Mosque. Kaedahnye why is it called Blue Mosque? Sebab interior dia u ols. Exterior dia, nan ado pong kaitan dengan namanye. And exterior dia, ala ala sama macam Suleyman's Mosque yang tak jauh dari sitiew (jauh la jugak... kalau jalan, NANGIS!). Cuma the perbezaan paling nyata antara these two mosques would be Blue Mosque ade 6 pillar/ tower yang dok azan tu, apa tah org panggei? Pastu Suleyman's mosque hanya ade 4. So ppl yang confused yang mana satu Blue Mosque, mana satu Suleyman's Mosque, tgk menara tu sajork. And also, Blue Mosque lebih dekat dengan Topkapi Palace and St. Sophia Church turned Mosque turned Museum itiew (which mek will eleborate later nah!)

The mosque still berfungsi as a mosque - cuma diaorang open it up for visitors to view the entire place. Melihat architecturenye dan designnye, mek sujud ok architect dedulu kala bagai! Memang grand, classic sangat! DALAM nye, jgn ditanya. No wonder it is called the Blue Mosque - sungguh BLUE dalamnye itiew. Every wall, every marble, every little detail semuanya ade unsur² blue, and of course, white. Even to the glass windows semua - ade ukiran and lukisan and what not in blue. The mosque as I said still berfungsi as a masjid - serves daily prayers and also Friday prayers. Katanya si Ibrahim, sampai ke luar sana ha penuh dengan umat manusia di hari Jumaat. Dan when it is not praying time, some sections di tutup utk lawatan. Kire macam ade sections yang boleh pi tgk, ade some, hanye utk performing solat sajork...




Lepas tu - kiteorang jalan around 300 meters from The Blue Mosque, melalui kawasan taman yang meriah dengan wild and colorful tulips, melintas jalan batu bata, menuju ke St. Sophia. This originally church turned mosque then turned museum nih, memang interesting. Asyik mendengar kisah history by si Ibrahim tu, mek leh simpulkan dalam one perenggan sajork...

First built as a church, St. Sophia punye interior jauh lebih besar dari Blue Mosque, and ketinggiannye, mak aih! VERY DER! It served as a church before they decided to turn it into a mosque. So bile they turned it into a mosque, dapat masalah siket. The wall, ceilings, and interior deco banyak gambar Jesus and salibs and segala bagai. So for Muslims time tu, susah la nak perform diaorangnye prayers, kan? So what they did, they covered the whole paintings, ukirans, and what not semua tu la, dengan GOLD! Sebab dulu kan depa kaya dengan saudagar² GOLD, kan!? So okla  - they managed to cover the place. Tapi lepas tu, St. Sophia diserang penyamun pulak dah (DAMN U PENYAMUK PEROMPAK PENCURIK CPU OFFICE AKU! - e eh? Ade kaitan ke ni? LOL!) dan as a result from the serangan, St. Sophia rosak / damanged teruk. How? Dinding² dan ceiling yang meng-kover all the ukirans and paintings and what not, dikopek katanya. Yer lah - dah sah sah, GOLD! Depa kopek dan rosakkan the whole place. Lepas tu depa baik pulihkan, tapi part² missing golds tu semua, depa biarkan. Takkan nak tempek golds lagi kot, KAN!? So bile the mosque dijadikan museum, kerje² baik pulih di lakukan, even up till now. So u can imagine how teruk the damage was and how huge St. Sophia is. They gantikan the kesan bekas kopekkan gold tu semua dengan plaster gold - ala ala tak ori la kirenye. Tu pun, mek tetap terpegun tgk interior dia... sangat vast!

And then lepas dah habis ternganga terpelohong tgk kecantikkan St. Sophia - time for LUNCH! Makan lagik! Hehehe...


Lunch was like 5 minutes walk away dari St. Sophia itiew (JALAN LAGGGII! Mana pi private Merce Van tu tatau!? Hassan?!?! Ooooo Hassan yang candiew!? Dimanakah!?!?! Hehehe...). The place was nice, small - yet stylo. Mek sker concept open kitchen diaorang buat - tunjuk to guests diaorang how they prepare the meals. Bagus sangat concept terbuka cam tu. And as usual, tempat kecik - PACKED giler. Kena pulak time lunch hour. Haiyoh! Tapi my guests macam tak kisah jer... "So long the food is good..." katanya Datin kat Dato' nye. Mek jeling jer kat Ibrahim, like "THIS BETTER BE GOOD!". And nak tahu apa jadi? Bukan GOOD pun - it's BETTER THAN GOOD! Hehehe... Nampak cam simple jer serving dia - salad fresh, with baked beans in tomato sauce, some bread, and main dish - BEEF KOFTE katanya. Betul ke idak mek eja tu, tapi yang penting - BEEF lagik! Mati la mati diet mek!





Ok - lepas lunch, kiteorang proceed ke Topkapi Palace, which is like another 5 minutes walk from the restaurant. It's just sebelah, or was it behind St. Sophia. Tarkik la, janji dekat. Dan yer, JALAN lagi... "Ok lah tu - good way to burn those fat..." Haiii Dato', perli lagi ke itiew!? *sambil tgk lemak². MATI la berat badan dosi turun tapi lemak TETAP ADO!

Topkapi Palace nih, memang GRAND u ols! SANGAT grand. 3 courtyards, 5 kitchens, 2 guest palaces, 1 main palace with few seperate grand rooms, 3 huge gardens, HAIYOH! Memang sangat grand. It took us nearly 2 hours plus to complete the tour melalui semua tempat dalam palace tu. And ditambah pulak dengan padat dengan manusia - haiyoh! Ha, cakap, apa nak? Korean? Chinese? Japanese? LOCALS? Penuhhhhh mampats palace tu tau. Tu pun si Ibrahim cakap... "This is ok. You should see during the weekend..." Haiyoh!? Mrasak terus ke apo!?!?!

Pemandangan - jgn ditanya. Overlooking the Marmara sea and The Bosphorus sea... pemandangan dari Topkapi palace memang breath-taking! SANGAT cantik! And with a clear sky and great weather macam hari tu, the tour couldn't have been better! Worth it sangat berposing snap² kat sitiew... (hahahah mati la mek dok berlawan sapa snap lagi banyak, dengan si Datin. Over tawww Datin tu, very funny person. Mek sker dia! Baik lak tu... - e eh? Motif ala ala ayat TRIBUTE to my Datin? Mati la Tribute to KB mek katanya di blog sebelah *jeling Ginger*)



So lepas itiew pulak, kitaorang kalau ikut plan, balik terus ke hotel, rehat² before ke dinner. Tapi kaedahnye, si Ibrahim bawak pi satu kedai yang GRAND katanya for its carpets and pinggan mangkuk periuk belanga and jewelleries. Mesti dapat commission tu, mek tawww sangat! Heheh...Tapi, sebenarnye, walaupun barang² dalam tu harganya mampu buatkan mata terbeliak, tapi for those yang mampu like my clients, yang snggup spend nearly RM15K utk 3 bowls and 2 carpets, it was worth it la kot. Macam, tah lah - elok² sangat semuanya dalam tu. Tapi yang lebih istimewa, adelah, the kedai. You know why? Bawah kedai tu, ade this special and exclusive painting gallery. And the gallery, used to be tempat simpanan air dizaman dahulu kala. Ape tah, sistem ape tah... where diaorang (Turkish peeps) simpankan bekalan air dalam tu. Apa kesahnye pun mek tak brapa paham sangat si salesman tu cakap... dan mek tak bothered nak tanya si Ibrahim tu pun for further explaination. Sebab again, mek lebih tertumpu nak snappy²... hiks!



Balik dari berbelanja GRAND, seGRAND RM15K di kedai serba GRAND dengan ade GRAND gallery yang used to simpan seGRAND amount of air, hehehe (whats with the GRAND nih ek? Hiks!) kiteorang pun pulang ke Conrad (aiyoh! SKEMA NYE BAHASA!) Lepas hantar Dato' and his family, mek dihantar balik ke hotel mek kat Taksim utk menyegarbugarkan diri. Hehehe. By 6.45pm, Hassan and Ibrahim datang amik mek and pi terus amik Dato' and family, and kiteorang proceed ke Galata Tower, near Old City also, for dinner, with live entertainment / show and belly dancing katanya...

Galata tower nih, stands at 25m above the ground, somewhere 35m above sea level, used to be a prison. Ala ala Ruppunzel la kot? Hehehe. Tapi sebelum jadi prison, ade satu kes. Sorang mamat nih, dia discovered a way to FLY from that tower, to Topkapi Palace tower. And kejayaannye 'TERBANG' itu dianggap GILA oleh Pasha time tu, dan terus dia di hantar balik ke Galata Tower nih, tapi as a prisoner, sebab diaorang kata dia GILA. Ngong kan? Kalau ikutkan fakta sejarah, according to Ibrahim, kalau diaorang acknowledge his achievment terbang tu, DIA LEBIH AWAL dari the Wright Brothers, TAU! Sia sia jer - kalau tidak, Turkish man - 1st to build an airplane, KAN?

So anyways, sampai je ke Galata Towers, proceed naik ke tinggat 7. Pastu naik tangga lagik 2 level, baru sampai restaurant area (level 9). Cosy, quiet, very romantic atmosphere kaedahnye... Galata tower serves local and international cuisine. Tapi memandangkan mek tak sedap perut (rasanya perut masuk angin kot) mek asik keluar masuk keluar masuk toilet jer. Dan tak lalu nak makan. (Tu yang sempat snappy² gambar toilet tu. Hiks! Mek suke la toilet dia, batu bata itiew - GRAND!!! *grand lagikkkkk)

During the meal - ade show katanya. Mrasalah BELLY DANCING - tapi yang menari Belly Dancing tu NAN ADO BELLY katanya. APA KES!? Baik mek jer naik pi menari. Hiks! Aside from belly dancing, traditiional Turkish dance pun ade diaorang perform. Kire, tak der la boring sangat dinner malam tu... :)





After habis dinner and show, it was somewhere aroun 11.30pm dah and by the time mek sampai hotel, dah dekat nak 1am... Masuk jer bilik, mek noticed, mek hilang lighter. Ceh, mesti tertinggal dalam van ke ape ke. Cam ne nak smoke nih!? Owh well - guess I just had to turun and beli lighter dari kedai depan hotel tu (accross the road actually... tapi kire depan jer la kan...)

Nih ape kes beli lighter pun nak citer nih? Well - kena la citer, sebab kerana nak turun beli lighter tu la, MEK DIROMPAK! Kalau tgk muka perompak tu, haram! Tak der langsung muka penyangak! CANDO OK! Body mampanz (mesti taste Leez)... haiyoh! SENTAP! Memula dia tarik mek sewaktu mek keluar dari kedai tu. Dia tarik masuk satu lorong gelap nih. Mek dah feeling nak kena rogol dah nih. Hiks! Pastu dia cakap "MONEY MONEY"... dan mek pun cakap lah, mek have no money... NAH! Di talanya PISAU sundal! Terpadam niat nak jerit feeling² "HEEEELLLPPP!!!" kannn... cuak sial! Mujur tak terkencing aku dalam seluar! Dah la sejuk. Cipap tul! Pastu mek cakap... "OK OK SIR... I can do anything u wanttt... anything..." Dengan harapan dia cair dan boleh la bukak api, KAN? Tapi alih² dia kasik me this face with the expression.. "WHAT, YOU THINK I'M GAY!?" haaa cam tu... He didn't say it tapi from the expression mek tau. Terus mek cakap "OK OK I GOT MONEY... 50USD...that's all.." Pastu time mek nak keluarkan dari wallet mek tu (Hanjeng la wallet besau sangat - so pecah lobang!) dia nampak mek had MORE than USD50. NAH dia terus grabbed my wallet and checked it. Mek dah MAKIN cuak. WHY!? KALAU DIA AMIK WALLET TU, mrasalah aku tak balik langsung dari ISTANBUL sebab my PASSPORT ade dalam tu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uwaargghhh!!!!!!! Tapi dia in the end dalam kelam kabut, just amik USD200, and TYL (Turkish Lira) 120... and campakkan the wallet back at me and lari 100m pecut... and terus lesap. Mek masih menggigil kat situ, amik wallet, terus lari persis Erra Fazira sentap dengan Norman Hakim main dengan Wilma dalam PASRAH tu... (NO LAH - not slow motion lah - ko gila!?) dan terus balik hotel - and yes, bak kata Ginger ... "KNOWING YOU LA GAL..." kan... and knowing me, terus balik bilik, NANGIS. Lepas tu baru msg Volks and also Ibrahim. Ibrahim, who was concerned, and duduk tak jauh dari Taksim, terus bergegas datang ke bilik mek and berbincang nak buat cam mana. Mujur for Credit cards and Diners Club and also some extra cash yang ade celah² wallet tu yang masih ado. Tapi Ibrahim cam sentap la this thing can happened to his guests kan. Dia siap nak suruh buat police report. Ceh - buat hapo. Buat payah lagi ado lah... so malam tu dia spend the night kat bilik mek. AND NO, nothing happened nah! La la la la la la...

Owh well - a great day in Day 3 to have it ended in a tragis way. Tragis kah masalahnye!? Lain la mek kena bunuh ke ape ke, KAN!? Heheh tapi tak semena²... hari ke 4 tu, it started raining just after the incident, sampai la ke lewat tgh hari esok tu... for more stories about Day 4, tunggu next update, NAH!? Dah! MEK PENAT! Mek nak tidur... hehehe...

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