Adiyaman

Sorry for stopping abruptly on my last post...I had to leave for Hong Kong. Anyway, yes we were at the lobby at 2.30am sharp and our guide cum driver, Evren, was already waiting, dressed just in jeans and a white cotton shirt....hmmmm...'Were we over-layered?' we thought. We were in thermal, long sleeved t-shirt, shirt, cashmere sweaters and scarves. In our hands were jackets and one thick hotel blanket....yes, definitely over-layered. So, we started our journey to Kahta www.allaboutturkey.com/kahta.htm , a 45-minute drive away from our hotel. The road got bumpier after that and we were lucky because Evren was doing daily tours to Mount Nemrut www.allaboutturkey.com/adiyaman.htm , so he knew the roads well. We stopped for tea in a small cafe for about 30 minutes before carrying on our drive.

And finally when we reached the place where we were to start our climb, it was 4am and Evren advised us to have a 30 minute snooze as it was still early. He planned for us to reach the summit just a few minutes before the sun rise as he did not want us to wait too long in the harsh wind. He planned it perfectly as we found out later.

When we saw Evren reaching for his jacket and blanket, we knew it was time. We got our final layerings on and off we went. It was a windy morning and it was blowing against us. It was a terrible climb for me, because of both the altitude and strong wind. I had difficulty breathing halfway through and Evren had to literally drag me up all the way to the top. Thank God for him or else I do not think I would have made it. Once we were up, he chose a spot just behind a wall, to protect us from the wind, to wait for the sun to rise. As we were waiting, other groups of tourists started streaming in. We realized we had the best view, as well as, protection. Thanks for everything, Evren.

We just sat there quietly, enjoying every moment of the sun rising. No words came out of my mouth....either due to the beauty of mother nature or just from pure exhaustion hahaha. But it was worth the climb. Simply breathtaking, but due to the coldness, my photos did not really turn out well and i only realized, that I did not have my picture taken up there, upon my return to Singapore......sigh.....