27.7.24

Breakfast was chicken and rice. I never thought I could be a convert but have really enjoyed meat & rice for breakfast.

We did our packing and left our heavy bags in the room behind reception.

We arrived 4 weeks ago with 2 cases. We’re leaving with 2 cases and 2 holdalls.

Lauren gave me 3 pairs of brand new trainers, a Pip Edwards jacket and a gilet which were otherwise destined for the charity shop, belated birthday Baileys chocolate, Violet crumble choc, and some Bum Bum cream, which I now know isn’t just for your bum bum. It smells delicious.

She also bought me this which I’m thrilled about. My absolute favourite chef.

A quick flick through revealed a shopping list for things I can’t buy here.

Lauren & I sourced them in Oz, in Coles, whilst secretly getting a cake for Johns birthday.

He had been told to go away and look at trainers and told again when he reappeared during our shopping.

Back in Bangkok we found a selection of massuman and other curry pastes.

So, anyway, that explains why I had to buy a holdall to fit everything in for the return journey.

Not quite sure why John ended up with a holdall, he bought a new tablet and stole a few frangipani tree branches to plant at home.

I digress.. We left our bags behind reception and ventured off to Chinatown on the river boat.

On the way to the boat we took a different street and discovered so many lovely eateries almost on our doorstep. So many choices and only a few hours left. I spotted massuman curry on one board and told the lady there that we would be back later.

It was manic in Chinatown. Little choc a bloc alleyways, food everywhere, delicious smells, things to buy that you didn’t know you needed, and every part of various creatures that we definitely didn’t need.

On our riverboat this little fellow was hanging around on a wooden pole.

We made our way back to the little restaurant as promised. I nipped to the loo, came back and John was sitting chatting to a Shane Ward looky likey from Australia.

I was a bit concerned after going through the kitchen to the loo, but Shane has eaten there the last 4 days and looks (very) good on it.

Our food arrived very quickly, no idea how or where it had been stored or made.

John had Penang curry, they were both very good. Suddenly the heavens opened. Just as we thought it couldn’t get worse it rained harder, just as it does in Turkey.

We swapped travel stories with Shane. Unsurprisingly he seemed to have a lot of ex partners across the globe!

We went back to collect our cases during a dry spell and booked a Grab taxi to the airport.

We would be quite a while at the airport but it seemed a good option as it would be dry and air conditioned.

Our journey took forever. The traffic was crazy.

We made it, still with plenty of time to spare and spent our last few pennies on coffee and cola, which were almost the same price as in the town. Dalaman airport take note.

Our 11.35 pm flight to Istanbul was almost 10 hours. We both dozed off, but jumped out of our skins when the selfish guy next to John crushed his water bottle. Cheers for that.

My watch told me I’d slept for 2 hours 20 mintes.

Nothing out of the ordinary onthe flight, apart from the onboard map telling us how long until we would reach Osaka. Oh well, we quite fancy visiting Japan.

Istanbul airport was all good, we bought duty free, after all, we needed to carry more heavy stuff. No one queried the size of our holdalls. Thank goodness we weren’t going with someone like Easyjet.

An hour flight, then onto the Muttaş bus towards home.

Our poor car was smothered in thick dust. We had parked her near a builders yard not far from the bus stop. Lesson learned.

A quick swizz round the Caliş market for fruit and veg, and a much missed tahini and honey pancake. Inflation.. Cost now 150tl. 2 years ago 30tl. Mad, but scrummy.

We collected our gorgeous dogs from the excellent young ladies’ care. Maisy is in the same boat as John and I, a few kilos to lose.

She had been stealing Honeys food because Honey rarely eats it all. John and I haven’t been stealing, just overdosing on things unavailable in Turkey, so many smoothies, iced coffees and frappes. We’ve been very spoilt by the cost of eating out.

So.. The big question… Would we relocate to Thailand?

Pros :

9 hour flight to Johns son and my daughter in Australia.

Cheap eateries

Amazing food and drink choices

Very cheap and plentiful public transport in main towns.

Beautiful beaches

We didn’t witness any two tiered system for tourists and never felt taken advantage of.

Cons

Too far away from the rest of our family and friends.

Smelly drain smells

We hated the bar streets

Got fed up with constantly being asked if we want massage.

Who would our friends be? Without judging, well a bit, most English speaking men are there with younger Thai women. Those that aren’t tell all their tales of woe about ending up penniless due to young Thai women, losing businesses, spending too much in bars drinking and feeling lonely.

No sense of community or things to fill our days.

The language would require more than my best skills to learn. The alphabet looks like you’d need several years to even learn how to draw the letters.

To avoid irritating noise, grime and chaos we would need to live somewhere rural. But as we get older we don’t want to be remote in case of illness, or if one of us dies it would be too lonely.

Honestly.. We didn’t find the Thai people particularly friendly, maybe tourism or immigration have increased their cost of living, in the same way as our lives have been impacted by tourists and people moving to Türkiye because of wars?

Don’t get me wrong, they smiled back if we made the first move, they’re not rude or disrespectful in any way.

Decision

Turkish people are notoriously friendly, generous and show great hospitality. We would never find that anywhere else, we’ve travelled far and wide and nowhere comes close.

There’s a lot of stories online in Türkiye at the moment of rip offs and greed. Inflation is crazy, some people are cashing in on that. We have a small list now of places we won’t go back to on principle.

We knew we were back home, at  Istanbul airport, we watched 2 guys moving luggage in our planes’ hold. They took some bags out and put them on the tarmac. Clearly unable to reach the ones at the back, one guy gave the other a leg up right into the baggage hold!

Home sweet home. Wonderful Türkiye, it’s not perfect, we grumble and groan about things we have no power over, but the good outweighs the bad.

What do we want from life?

1. Beautiful mountains

2. Beautiful coastline

3. A lovely group of friends.

4. Plenty of activities to keep us busy

5. Excellent health care, no waiting lists.

6. Choice of fresh food & supermarkets

7. Rich history and culture

8. A huge country with so many places to visit and explore

9. Affordability

10. To live in a culture that embraces and joins in with our customs such as Christmas and Easter and welcomes us to enjoy their special days and customs.

I’m sure there’s so many others.

Fethiye currently gives us all of those things.

Inflation is over 60% at the moment, from official sources. Others say its over 100%.

Where will it end, and will affordability be the thing that make us leave?

A lot of our friends have gone or are planning to leave due to new residency rules. We’re lucky they don’t affect us, but that’s not to say it will always be that way.

Oh to have a crystal ball!

Sometimes you have to leave a place to appreciate what you have.

Sometimes you might bump into a place along the way that makes you realise it’s the place for you.

Sometimes it’s just time to go, maybe back to the UK because of circumstances, the pull of family, or illness, needing to care for relatives or friends etc

That was all very deep, apologies to all that have glazed over or fallen asleep.

Summary for anyone bored and scrolling down…would we move to Thailand? No.