The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Our cottage stay has been good, but not great...

We didn't do very much on Monday. We're trying to take a day off every now and then! But that doesn't mean we don't have things to talk to you about. Besides, it took forever to get yesterday's blog post online for you. Our internet connection is overall not bad, but the upload speed is a little slow. So with all of the pictures we had to show you, it was a time consuming process.

But we did some reading, and got some exercise and went out for our 5 km (3 mile) power walk. And of course there is a never ending supply of onward travel research to do on the internet.

I came across something online that was a local car rental company (in Fethiye) advertising rentals for £50 ($85 CAD, $65 USD) per week during the current slow season. I sent them an email, and sure enough we could get a car for 2,000 lira ($313 CAD, $237 USD) per month! We are currently paying 3,000 a month. I contacted the guy we got this car from, and he will match the 2,000 lira per month rate for the car we have. 

So our Turkish trip is getting a little cheaper.

But, we will have to make our way back to Fethiye before the 21st in order to pay for our second month. It's not really out of our way, since we want to head down the other side of that coast anyhow. Unfortunately, the ruins of Ephesus are kind of in the opposite direction, so we're still trying to figure out how we will do that without doing an excessive amount of driving. And I hate backtracking.

We love our Tilley hats!

What else. Oh, we are really pleased with our new Tilley Travel Clothing.

We didn't bring much in the way of clothing on this trip other than the Tilley items. And the place we are currently staying where we have been for two weeks doesn't have a washing machine, so we have been doing our laundry by hand.

But it's really not that difficult, and the Tilley stuff dries so quickly. We wash it in a bucket, typically let it soak for some time, and then rinse a couple of times. Wring it out as best as possible, then roll things up in a dry towel and squeeze the towel as best as possible. Hang them to dry overnight, and they are ready to wear the next morning.

We move on tomorrow to the city of Denizli (pop 600,000) and while we have been trying to avoid the cities, we really don't think we will have any more contact with people there than we do in these smaller areas. But the price of our one week accommodation gives us the incentive, plus it's a good base for a week's worth of day trips to explore the area.

Our cottage accommodation here in the village of Gökçe has been okay, but not great. On the bright side, the bed is comfortable, the internet has been stable, we've enjoyed the outdoor seating area, and our hosts and the neighbors have been really friendly and welcoming.

On the down side, the living room seating area is not very comfortable, the oven shown in the photos doesn't work and hasn't for a long time, it's cold in the mornings without an easy source of heat to warm things up for half an hour. There's a not pleasant smell coming from the drain pipes in the bathroom, and the toilet is the most inefficient design we have ever seen. No, I'm not going into details on that. And the noise from the barking dogs has been worse than anything we've experienced in Mexico. We have roosters too, but they don't start until 4am or so and we can deal with that. It does seem that you get used to the noise somewhat, and maybe that's why the locals don't seem to mind it, and maybe they just don't notice it anymore.

We've decided it's not worth saying anything to our hosts. There's nothing they can do about much of it, although I might bring up the non working oven and I will certainly mention that and the dog noise in our Airbnb review.

On part of our 5 km (3 mile) power walk route.

Covid here in Turkey doesn't seem much different than many other moderately affected places in the world. After all, you have to be somewhere! Here in Turkey it is law to wear a mask while outside your home. Most people are pretty good about it, and certainly if you are indoors, everyone is wearing a mask. The only time you're supposed to have it off is if you are actively eating or drinking. Yes, all restaurant staff have to wear a mask at all times. Of course if there is nobody around where we are out exploring outdoors, we take ours off and put it back on if we see someone. There are hand sanitizing stations at the entrances to almost all stores, including many of the smaller ones. 

Life overall seems pretty normal here other than the fact that there are not as many tourists around as there usually are. We're really glad we made the choice to come here. 

It's another beautiful day. I think we're headed out to walk down to the kite surfing beach to see them do their thing a little more up close.

We posted our October expenses this morning as well. You can check them out here... October Expense Report.

And we've posted some new deals at www.campingandrvgeardeals.com for you to check out, including one *HOT* deal.


10 comments:

  1. Looks like you are continuing to explore while not blowing the budget.
    Waiting for your next adventure.
    Be Safe and Enjoy your outings.

    It's about time.

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    1. That is the idea! If we blow the budget too often then there will be no more money for traveling!

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  2. Nice to see your new Tilley hat Ruth!

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    1. Thanks Susan, I really missed my old one when it wore out in Mexico last winter. I am now really enjoying my new one. :-)

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  3. That's too bad about the cottage. We have stayed in so many Airbnbs in our travels, and sometimes it's the little things that detract from a stay. Noise, which the host usually has no control over, is the worst. They should at least mention it in their listing, but I bet they don't. I would definitely mention the oven to them, in case they aren't aware. That's an important thing to know before booking a place! Hope the next place is better.

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    1. Despite the few issues with our cottage stay we really have enjoyed our stay here but it is now time to move on.

      No, the host can't do anything about the noisy dogs, and really during the day they were good it was in the early evening and into the night that they were noisy, one in particular that just wouldn't shut up but we have no idea where it lived because it wasn't next door or anything but down the road somewhere.

      It was funny with the oven because it was electric and looked like it had hardly been used. There was no electrical outlet nearby to plug it in. The cooktop on top of the oven was a totally separate unit and it was gas and it worked great. Our hosts were lovely people though and that is what made the stay very nice, as well as the setting. :-)

      We are pretty sure the next place will indeed be better.

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  4. One of our favorite towns in Turkey was Selcuk. That is the town closest to the Ephesus ruins, and where the archeological museum is located. The town was so pleasant and low key. Lots of backpackers. You could return to Fethiya via an inland route so you can visit Pamukkale (ruins of Hierapolis and terrace pools) and Aphrodisias for more ruins.

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    1. If we end up getting to the Ephesus ruins that is most likely the town that we will be staying in.

      We are actually headed inland today to Denizli where we will be staying for a week and from there we will do a day trip to Pamukkale. We could then go from Denizli to Ephesus/Selcuk and then head back to Fethiye. We will sit down and figure out our route over the next few days. We are pretty flexible, we just don't want to rush ourselves along or do too much driving in one day.

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  5. We ran into unpleasant smells in bathrooms in Turkey as well. We found that a wet washcloth placed over the shower drain usually helped. Seems they don't always use a trap in their plumbing and that sewer smell can get nasty.

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    1. Yes, we have also had this issue before and you are right, I think it is because they don't use a trap in the plumbing. Some places in Mexico actually have a flat piece of rubber to put over the drain hole.

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