To Write or Not To Write?

Since the rise of social media and micro blogging, it's getting harder and harder for us, blogger, to have the  urge to open our computer and write the long words. People don't read blogs anymore, they open their TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and another social media platform which are easily found in their phone. But, what was the reason I started writing this blog? Is it merely to please the audience, is it to get brand endorsement, is it to get as many viewers as possible? 

No.

I started to write this blog because I wanted to put my scattered thoughts in order, to reflect again the way I think and any possible ideas I have in mind by re-reading my writings to find meanings in it, to have memories forever written as clearly as possible here in this blog so I will be able to cherish them forever, whenever I want to. 

So, no. I do not want to stop writing in this blog. Whether a lot of people read my writings or nobody even know this blog even existed, I will keep writing :) 

And now I want to write things I miss the most, what happens right before Covid-19 happened back then at early 2020. My last solo journey to Istanbul, just because I missed the city so much and lucky me, there was also an endodontic conference there and my paper got accepted. And just like that, I flew to Istanbul!

I stayed at a budget hotel, Taksim Alya Suites and I loveee the place so much. Click here for the hotel page at Trip Advisor. The room was only cost USD 27 or IDR 400.000. 

The room comes with a bright window, overlooking little alleys at Taksim

My face after 14 hours flight journey from Lombok, Indonesia to Istanbul

Me peeking in the mirror

The view from my window

Neighborhood around The Hotel

Although it was a budget hotel, the room is quite comfortable, it has heater (really important because I visited at early Spring and the temperature was around 9 to 13 degree Celsius) and the amenities is quite complete. There was no cafeteria in the hotel but it provides sharing kitchen with free coffee, milk, and egg! The staff was also really helpful. I needed a metro card back then, and the hotel's staff lend his metro card to me so I did not need to buy a new one! :D

And the most important thing, the hotel is located at the heart of Taksim. Five minutes walking to Metro and Istiklal Street! Beside the hotel itself, I miss walking around the neighbourhood as well. Located at the heart of Istanbul, you could just walking aimlessly and will always ended up somewhere interesting, there are a lot of little comfortable cafes and beautiful little shops. A lot of people walking just to buy coffee or fruits, Turkish delights, walking their dogs, or just enjoying Istanbul. Just look at how beautiful the little alleys are, how could you not miss something like that? <3 

People, Minds, Hearts

Time's been talking to me

Whispering in my ear 
Saying “Follow your heart Til it tears you apart” 
But hearts keep changing
Hearts keep changing
Hearts keep changing
Hearts keep changing

John Mayer - Changing

These past two and a half years was not an easy time for me and my family. We have been through some turbulence and the floats of inconvenience events shakes my beliefs, pushed me to shift my point of view, and question my judgements. 

People change. Minds change. Hearts, too, change.

If there is one thing I can be sure of out of these circumstances, it is those three above.

Someday, someone may loves his/her spouse to the point where he/she wants to spend the rest of their life with this other person, but the next day he/she goes into a new place he/she never visited before and in an instance he/she decided to spend the rest of his/her life traveling the world, alone. People change.

I can see someone as a very decent person, and I can hold them dear, but the next moment I saw them doing one thing which is wrong from my point of view, I see them no longer as a protagonist. My mind changes. 

A man/a woman can loves his/her spouse so dearly but the next time they meet another person who beats their hearts a beat faster they can be falling in love with that other person, their hearts change.

We've been given a skill to adapt. So it is normal then, to change, isn't it?

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Haghia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

Topkapi Sarayi, Istanbul, Turkey

A Scenic Cafe at Hippodrome Area, Istanbul, Turkey

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey

Spice Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey

Food Vendors near Galata Bridge, Istanbul, Turkey

Kebab! Some Kebab Outlet at Spice Market, Istanbul, Turkey

Having Dinner at a Restaurant under Galata Bridge Facing Those View!

Get My Self Warmed up at Cafe on Top of Camlica Hill, Camlica Sosyal Tesisleri

Mercimek Corbasi, Bread, and Salad that I Miss The Most!

Downtown Kapadokya, Turkey

The Magical Fairy Chimney at Kapadokya

Kapadokya's Ceramic!

Dining inside a Cave Restaurant at Kapadokya, Turkey

I remember a year and a half ago, I traveled to Turkey. It was new year. The snow was falling the whole time I was in Turkey. I remember how fascinated I was as our plane ready to land and I could see square colorful houses covered in white looking so small from my window. I was feeling warm. Turkey greeted me good. 

It was new year in the snowy winter, the best time of celebration you could ever experience. The street in Turkey is so alive, full with the twinkles of lights and festivity. Turkey alone, without the colours of festivity is already so magical. A combination of european and islamic architecture along downtown Istanbul is really one of a kind. Just see at how seeing Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia is able to send those amazement inside our minds. 

Then, apart from Istanbul. There is Kapadokya. A high plateu, over 1000 meters in altitude, full of volcanic peaks. When it was almost sunset and on a hot air balloon can I see the full view of the mystical Kapadokya, a vast lands below, beautiful hot air balloons around, and a warm twilight sky above. It was dream come true. Even better than dream. If reality was always that good, I don't ever want to dream for it will be such a waste of time.

Back then at a new page of a year, though there were already some inconvenience events here and there in my life, though I was wounded and pushed to see things from different point of view, I still think that someday, someday I will be back to Turkey with ones I love, with whom I will spend the rest of my life with. They have to see its charm with their own eyes. Or moreover, travel to another part of the world, too, together.

But there is this other day, where I think I want to go back to Turkey, alone. Traveling this world selfishly, only with my self. Undisturbed, simple, and free. It will be easier to think only for yourself, no? Besides, they say, we live alone, we die alone, everything else is just an illusion. It is ourselves that matter and that we have full responsibility to take care of, and where we can fully depend on.

People change, my mind change, my heart change. However.

People say that we read a book to be able to read ourselves. I write so I can pour my scattered thoughts in order. So that later I can read my writings in order to understand me. Today, I don't, though.

I hope tomorrow I will, finally be able to understand.