Hello everyone, I'm not very good at telling stories and I don't speak very well. 55555
This post is a travel post (maybe?). I don't know if it's a travel post, but let's just say it's a post about the things I encountered. :]

I had the opportunity to travel to Turkey with a special trip from The Premier, Kasikornbank, in collaboration with the Somud Kojon program in 2015. My mother was kind enough to sponsor me, so I had the opportunity to go. This post will not include travel expenses.

Let's focus on the pictures then, haha :p

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The cities I visited were Bangkok - Istanbul - Adiyaman - Kahramanmaras - Cappadocia - Istanbul - Bangkok, which are all must-see tourist highlights in Turkey. Some of the places I visited are off the beaten path.
The total travel time was 7 days and 6 nights.

On the first day, I flew from Suvarnabhumi Airport with Turkish Airlines to Istanbul on flight TK69, which departed at 11:30 PM. This is considered the first day of the trip.
I arrived in Istanbul at 5:35 AM Turkish time, which is 4 hours behind Thailand time.
After arriving at Istanbul Airport and going through immigration, I took a domestic flight to Adiyaman.
I arrived in Adiyaman around noon, had something to eat, and then started exploring.

I must say that most people who visit Turkey tend to go to the western side.
However, Adiyaman is located in the east, an area that not many people know about. But I went there anyway. 555+

The first place I visited was just a quick photo stop at a large stone pillar, which is an ancient tomb.

The scenery is amazing, very beautiful. The weather is also perfect.

This photo was taken from a bridge called Cendere. The river you see is said to be the source of the Euphrates River, which is the cradle of the world's first civilization. Wow, doesn't it look magnificent? :]

After taking plenty of photos, we continued our journey.

After a long day of travel, we finally arrived at the highlight of this city, Mount Nemrut.

Mount Nemrut is about 7,000 ft. high. To reach the summit, we have to walk!! The distance is about 1.7km. Doesn't seem far, right?
At first, we were like, easy peasy. We walk around a lot like this, no problem.
But no way, it's a staircase, but it's very high. The air is getting thinner, not much thinner, but it's getting cold (how cold, see the picture below).
It took us about half an hour to walk and rest.
If you can't walk, they have donkeys for you.

And finally, we arrived at the top of Mount Nemrut!

The summit of the mountain is the site of an ancient royal tomb, built by the kings of the Kingdom of Commagene.

We will see a huge ancient god sculpture, about 8-9 meters tall. And what you see white is snow, it's snow that hasn't melted yet (I told you it's really cold).

They say that this is a beautiful sunset viewpoint, but the day we went, the sky was cloudy, so we missed it.

On the morning of the 3rd day, we continued our journey. Our destination for the day was Cappadocia, which would take us a total of 9 hours!!! (We were definitely going to have sore butts from sitting in the car.) But along the way, there were many good things waiting for us.

The first city we passed through was Kahramanmaras. We stopped to shop at the local market, the Copper Bazaar.

The kind merchant smiled brightly.

And when it comes to the market, what you can't miss is the food! And the food I'm talking about is Turkish ice cream, of course!

Turkish people have a unique cultural tradition: drinking tea. Whenever you visit someone, they will offer you tea. For example, at this market,

We stopped by to look at the silver necklace, and they brought it out to show us.

Their country is quite exotic, isn't it? We like it. :]

After shopping and tasting, we continued our journey. Along the way, we were treated to views like this.

And after a 9-hour journey, we finally arrived in Cappadocia!

Cappadocia is a city located in Anatolia, or the Asian side.
It is a city with a landscape that can be described as beautiful and strange. In the past, the city was covered by lava flows from volcanoes.
Over millions of years, the wind, rain, snow, etc. have eroded the area, creating a beautiful and unusual landscape.
It is known as the "Land of Fairy Tales" or the "Land of Fairy Chimneys".
The city has also been designated by UNESCO as the first natural and cultural World Heritage Site in Turkey.

We arrived late in the evening, but the highlight was the next day when we went hot air ballooning!!!

Our fourth day started at 4 am!! We showered, got dressed, and prepared to go up in a hot air balloon.
We left the hotel at 5 am to wait for the balloon to take off.
The cost of the balloon ride was not included in the tour, so we had to pay extra. The price was $200 per person, which is expensive, but we think it was worth it!

While we were waiting for them to fill the balloon with gas, they gave us snacks and coffee to make ourselves at home.

Alright, we're up! Phew!

Our playful balloon pilot crashed into a tree.

We spent about 1 hour on the balloon.
During the ascent, we saw hundreds of balloons floating, plus the view of the Fairy Chimney. I must say it was incredibly beautiful.

Upon landing, they will have a celebration with snacks and champagne. Hooray!

Today's program, we continue to Goreme city to visit the Goreme Open Air Museum.
This place was the center of Christianity during the 9th century AD. It was created by Christians who wanted to spread their religion.
However, they had to hide from other pagan tribes who did not agree with Christianity. So they dug caves to build churches.

Photography is not allowed inside the church, so I only have pictures of the exterior.

If you want to see it, I recommend watching the "Samut Kojon" program, which aired on Sunday, June 21, 2015. The program features a request for permission to film and capture beautiful images.

We actually went to the underground city of Khao Mai Klai as well, but!! Our camera battery died (we pressed the balloon button too many times this morning)

I missed capturing the moment, and this picture is the last one of the 4th day.

This is an evil eye, or Medusa's eye, a Turkish talisman. They are hung all over the city.

On the 5th, we had to travel back to Istanbul.
We had to say goodbye to the city of fairy tales. Bye-bye!

We flew to Istanbul, the city where Europe and Asia meet.

The first place we visited was Dolmabahçe Palace, built by Sultan Abdulmejid.

Very grand, but!! Photography is not allowed inside, so I couldn't take any pictures.

And then we went on a boat trip to see the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

It is also a strait that separates the continents of Asia and Europe.

During the cruise, you will see the architecture of both sides, which is beautiful.

In Istanbul, we can feel the European vibes.

Let's continue, shall we?
The last day is called the "Big Day" because today we will be exploring on foot!
First, we went to the Hagia Sophia.
It was originally a church of the Christian Orthodox faith, later converted into a mosque.
And now it has become a museum.
The Hagia Sophia is also one of the 7 wonders of the medieval world.

Inside, you can see both Arabic and

and a beautiful Christian mosaic

The reason why the mosaic picture is so beautiful is because it has a source.

Because when Sultan Mehmed II conquered the Byzantine Empire,

And then I saw the beauty of the Hagia Sophia, it would be a pity to destroy it.

They changed it from a church to a mosque, so they plastered over the mosaics.

As time passed, the plaster began to peel, revealing a mosaic like this.

Oh, walking around, I met the locals too >.,<

And then we walked across Sultanahmet Square
to the Blue Mosque, or Blue Mosque itself.

As the name suggests, the interior of the mosque is filled with blue tiles.

Currently, it is still open for religious ceremonies. If you are going, please choose a good time.

After visiting the sights above ground, we now head underground.
The next stop is the Basilica Cistern, the largest underground water storage in Istanbul.
Inside, there are 336 marble columns, but the highlight is the
Medusa column, which is placed upside down in the belief that it will imprison Medusa.

After that, we went shopping at the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul's historic covered market.

But I accidentally went shopping and only got one photo, haha.

Okay, here's the translation:
This is the end of our review (?). It might be a bit confusing and overwhelming, but we'll try to provide more details next time. :]