You don't win friends with salad

Because nothing says "success" more effectively than extra beef.

Kick-off

It looks like I may have won my first project this week. Hold your breath and don't jinx me.

Face facts

I just had to buy a new pair of football boots. My old boots were like me - used to be in good condition, would run around a field slower and slower every passing year and were stretched and torn to only loosely resemble their original and optimum shape. My previous boots lasted about 7 years of rugby, training and touch football and so my new ones are bound to last as long with their 1 hour of touch football a week. Could this be my last ever pair of football boots after having my first (soccer) boots at age 4?

Only last week I dreamt that I made the Wallabies squad (see? no unrealistic ambitions of making the starting team for me!! Keeping it achievable).

Size 38 pants, a busted neck, 33 years old in a month, unable to walk two blocks without sweating and a complete lack of talent - could it be too late?

Freddie

A whisky for Grandma.

Christmas Turkey

Amanda and I spent our Christmas and NYE in Turkey. We flew into Istanbul and spent several days staying in Sultanahmet (the "old city"), a day in Gaillipoli, then flew out to Central Anatolia (Cappadocia) before returning to Istanbul to stay in Pera, "new Istanbul" which is the gentrifying European Quarter. True to form, we ate a little.

The sites in Sultanahmet are incredible. The Blue Mosque is up there with the Duomo in my Top 5 Built Symbols of Religious Excess and is a magical place. The harem in Topkapi Palace is a ceramics wonderland and with its four levels, is remarkably similar to Singapore's own Four Floors.

Aya Sophia swallows up the noise of all those annoying tourists with its size and somehow remains peaceful and sacred - the mosaics are even more stunning considering that they date from around 500 A.D. The government should replace the noise of the tourists with a soundtrack of the symphony that is my wife.

Just 150m away from Aya Sophia is the Basilica Cistern. A mind-bogglingly sophisticated water reservoir at again, 1500 years old. Out visit was just like the corresponding scene in "From Russia with Love" except for a bunch of people in shorts, bright jackets and sensible shoes that thought the place was OMG.

I think that I must be spoilt as the Grand Bazaar just did not blow me away. As far as markets go, the Sunday Market in Kashgar still holds top spot. I found the Grand Bazaar a tourist trap selling the same 10 items in 100- shops, however if you are keen on carpets then I see the appeal. There were zero liquidation or closing down sales.

Our cruise on the Bosphorous with lunch in an old fishing village on the Asian side was one of my favourite moments of our visit. We sat in a small waterside plaza drinking tea watching over a tiny little boat harbour protecting about half a dozen one-man fishing boats. It was the kind of village you expect to find on a remote Italian coast yet is on one of the busiest stretches of water in Europe. The slow pace and quite nature was in direct contrast to the tourism industry of Sultanahmet and the air-kisses of Pera.

We had gone a meal or two without drinking any raki, so after the cruise and at an amazing restaurant (Hamdi in Eminou overlooking the Golden Horn) we ordered a glass only to be half way through when we were told it's not the done thing during the day. It would be like drinking tequila shots with your brunch at Ripples. We did not repeat the mistake as Raki is disgusting and we didn't have it again.

Gallipoli was moving. Ataturk initiated an amazing relationship between Australians and Turks however I am sure that drunken ANZAC day tourists will ruin that within the next 5 years. The terrain is incredible and yet it is still hard to believe how many lives were lost in such a small area. The ANZAC memorial sites are simple and beautiful. There is nothing like a buffalo grass lawn to mark a place as Australian.

In Cappadocia we were lucky enough to have the first snow of the season and so it looked like something from the The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. From around the 3rd century through to the 13 century, monks, nuns, hermits and religious communities carved out cities and churches from the rock while Anglo Saxons were scratching around in the dirt.

In Cappadocia we took a Turkish Bath (that had no bath), went ballooning with a Flemish pilot, went hiking (don't laugh), stayed in a cave room with an open fire and struggled to overcome jet lag before NYE by trying to stay awake into double digits. We were pretty wild.

On my life's ambition to eat all street food, I bought something golden and fried and soaked through with honey. As it exploded over me like biting into a xiao long bao, our Turkish guide starting laughing at me, I assumed due to the honey mess. He took me by the arm and guided me away from Amanda explaining that these snacks are nicknamed "brothel sweets"and are sold outside brothels so that men can regain their energy. By walking around eating one, all the Turks were chuckling at me and joking with each other that I only bought 1.

Street Food worth trying - simit, fried fish sandwiches on the Bosphorous or Golden Horn, pomegranate juice, borek, baklava (pistachio), lokum (Turkish delight), nougat, sun dried apricots (dirt brown in colour), tea, kebabs (eaten when sober during daylight hours - crazy Turks!!!), Turkish ice cream, brothel sweets, stuffed mussels.

Bread - Turkish bread is called pide, bread is called ekmek, simit is a delcious ring of sesame seed covered crunchy bread, kebabs are served in rolls, Turkish pizza is called pide, they don't call anything Turkish bread, ekmet is served before the meal, pide is served with the meal, simit is often for breakfast. The Turks like bread. Amanda likes bread. Amanda likes Turkey. I like chicken.

Best Eats - Baklava at Eceabat (adjacent to Gallipoli), the meyhanes on Nevizade (Istanbul).

Best Sites - Dark Church (Goreme Open Air Museum), Blue Mosque, walking around the old European Quarter for a day.

Dont - think that you will eat any pork, eat at Changa or take Singapore dollars to exchange in Turkey.

I found surprising similarities between Turkey and China and as we discussed this, Amanda and I realised that we actually know a few Turkish-Chinese couples.

• Neither Turks nor Chinese line up in queues.
• Both Turks & Chinese choose not to walk in straight lines or faster than the pace of an unemployed drunk.
• Historically, they are both extremely sophisticated and advanced civilisations however have been down on their luck in the last 100 years.
• China and Turkey are both generally agricultural societies with significant poor, rural populations.
• They both have incredibly popular and internationally renowned major cities as tourist meccas.
• Chinese and Turkish cuisine play a major part in their respective lives and cultures.
• Neither nationalities wait until the plane comes to a complete stop.