15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 13

06/01/2024

It's t-shirt weather!

Old man and baby sis went out for breakfast while I slept in.  Old man finally gathered his guts to drive outside Singapore, thankful for my sis who gave him a boost.  He is a very skilful and confident driver but turned into a wimp the moment he step out of Singapore.  I have no idea what's bothering or hindering him for the longest time, but finally he gotten over it.  And should be able to drive in Mauritius (I hope).

Had bread from Etihad, made Singapore style soft boiled eggs and Vietnam coffee for myself.

This was my sis's apartment with sea view.

Desert tour with Desert Safari, City Sightseeing Tour in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, RAK (extremetours.ae)   I had forgotten how much we paid but they have different packages with different pricing, depending on what you like.

He came to pick us up around 2pm and we reached the desert around 3pm.

We had them a few times, particularly requested for the same guide cos he was the BEST PHOTOGRAPHER ever!  We requested for gentle and less dune bashing lolxx...

Then spend some time with the camels.

They were like giant doggies, very gentle, enjoyed attention, loved to be pet.

Black abaya and cap bought from Turkiye was very photogenic!

The guide took these photos with handphone.  He was a genius who could use just a handphone to produce photos as if they were taken with big cameras.

Incredible moments captured by him.

My sis had this cute shot.

We had couple shots too.

Drink sand!

Throw bottle with amazing sunset.

You cannot imagine how happy I am when looking at these photos, even up till now...

After sunset was dinner.  Choose to sit in a tent, needed back rest.

Lots of activities like henna painting on hands, photo with falcon, costume photo taking etc.  I sat like a rock lolxx...

I changed to something more comfortable.

Seatings around the stage.

Was too lazy to walk to the buffet section, ate whatever was taken for me.  Food was better than previously, all tasty although looked kinda messy, old man kiap food was like this de.

Belly dance.

Beautiful night with stars.

Took a few puffs of shisha under the stars (included in the package)

Why did I look like a seal?

Next day visited Sea World before flying back.  I really wished I could stay a few more days, my sis wasn't convinced that I could take care of myself, not sure what had I done...

15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 12

 05/01/2024

Booked our airport transport.  The driver came 3 hours earlier.  The hotel staff came knocking on the door while I was still sleeping.  Felt sorry for the driver, we left the hotel early.

Passed by beautiful Constantinople ancient wall.

Last looking at Istanbul, farewell, *sobs*.

Security check at the entrance of Istanbul airport was crazy and annoying.  But I understand it's for extra security.

All bags full to the zip, really didn't expect to buy so much lolxx...

Overall map of the airport.

Still quite a nice airport despite of many negative comments online.

Snake queue at departure gate.

Took about 15 to 20mins to clear, but was still ok.

Lots of shopping, lots of restaurants but very little public seatings.

Walked from left to right, finally found Salt Bae.

Sadly he was not there in person.

Even the coke was printed #saltbae.

Salad.

Lamb chops.

Onion rings.

Chocholate cake.

Burger with fries.

Thick and juicy.

All delicious, just kinda costly.

After this we ran to our flight.

Overall, Turkiye was amazing, more beautiful than we thought.   Enjoyed and love all the places we had been to.  Free & easy highly recommended as metro and ferry were easy in Istanbul.  All the tours agencies in Singapore wasted a lot of time (4 to 10 hours daily) travelling on coach.  We spend about S$3000, all in (including international and domestic flights, accommodations, food, local tours and hot air balloon, excluding one leg business class flight).

On Etihad's economy to Abu Dhabi.

6 hours noon flight.

It was quite comfortable actually.

Had Teriyaki chicken rice, yummy.

Limited selection of movies, bored.

Back to super gorgeous Abu Dhabi new airport.

Baby sis came straight from work to pick us up.

Work has been rough on her, but she's a very tough lady.

Good night Abu Dhabi, next day was super fun in desert!

Thank you for reading this old school blog.