Day 1: Istanbul - Ankara - Cappacodia

We reached Istanbul at 6am.. we start the journey from KLIA a little late because the pilot said he doesn't want to reach too early in Istanbul if we depart at 1230am.. therefore, he delayed the plane for 30 mins so that we reached Istanbul by 6am, which is fine with us..

Once we touched down, got our passport stamped, get our bags and wait for our car.. we booked a car with http://www.circularcarhire.com.tr for a total of EURO150 + EURO30 for window insurances for 7 days rental.. it's quite cheap and save us money and time..

Waiting for our car at 7am at Atartuk Airport, Istanbul

While waiting, bought myself a turkish number for 45lira with only 5 lira call.. huh, so expensive.. i soon realized that I can get for 25-30lira in town.. so if you're not in hurry to get a number, get it once you're in Istanbul, not at the airport.. then if you want the internet, get a 1GB data plan for 1 week for 20 lira.. in Malaysia, I can get a number for only RM5 and unlimited 1 week data plan for only RM18 (anyhow, stop comparing appple to orange fyda!!!) .. by the way, I use Turkcell line because I read about it in the internet that it's the most reliable one.. and I do agree with the comments because everywhere I go, I get a good signal using this service provider...

Turkcell Sim Card

Our rental car .. first thing, isi minyak dulu.. 4.80lira per liter. Approximately RM8 per liter.. giler mahai..

The only thing that I don't like about renting a car in Turkey, is because of the petrol. As any other EU countries, their petrol is killing us.. on the first day itself, we spent 190lira for gas.. ko kali laa 1.70 kupang... haaaaa terduduk la jugak.. opsss.. that's about RM323 for full tank.. but anyhow.. that's something that we have been prepared for.. so it's not a surprise.. and for the overall journey, i believe we make a good decision renting this car..

Ok, once we settled down with the car, phone and petrol.. we set our GPS to Sultannahmet Mosque as our first destination.. We found a parking (there's a lot OTOPARK signboard around the city) and it cost 10lira per entry.

In front of Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofya..

Behind Hagia Sofya, walking towards Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace

We walked and took lots of photos from Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia and Topkapi.. we didn't go inside Topkapi though.. this 3 places took us to noon.. around 2pm, after Zohor prayer at the Blue Mosque, we start our journey to Cappadocia via Ankara...

OGS and EDS

Our car came with OGS, like a smarttag only it's a sticker on your screen (Malaysia jek x berjaya lagi buat benda nih) ... and the EDS.. lots of EDS.. OMG.. tak tau laa berapa banyak kami kena, but masa amik kereta, tak de plak si owner tu cakap apa2.. hehehehe .. hopefully tak de la kena charge kat kredit kad nanti..

We had our lunch at 3pm in one of the R&R, a lot of R&R from Istanbul to Ankara.. and you can find toilet everywhere.. just look for the WC sign .. and Bayan means "Women" and Bay means "Man" ..

We didn't stop at Ankara, but straight to the Underground city (Cappadocia) ... it was a long journey and GPS showed us crazy road.. dark and nothing around.. at 3am, it was scary.. hahahaha ... but we managed to find the place at 4am, and we decided to sleep in the car instead of getting a room.. we just sleep for 3 hours before morning...

.. to be continue ..