26 Nov 1985, Posted by Scott An Chora in Travelogue, No Comments.

11/26 Ephesus, Turkey

When I woke I could not shake that dirty feeling.  I had felt cleaner waking up on the floor of train stations.  It was early.  The sun hadn’t come up yet and Jenni was planning on sleeping in, so I headed off to the ruins of Ephesus.  That trek started out as a long dark walk.  Luckily I eventually hitched a ride.  When I reached the front gate the sun began casting long shadows but it was still very cold.  There didn’t seem to be anybody about and I managed to find an opening in one of the fences.  It looked like the kind of trail young kids must have made so I crossed through and proceeded down what turned out to be a long ancient road.  I followed the tracks made by chariots long ago to an amphitheater and sat up at the top, but being out in the open eventually made me feel uncomfortable.  Thoughts of what might happen if I got caught danced through my head.  I reminded myself that Jenni had probably been up for hours and would be about ready to get moving.  I roamed the countryside and managed to thumb down a ride back.  Jenni had been hanging around and was ready to leave.  Before we checked out of our room we headed back towards Ephesus.  We roamed among the outer stones but when we had no luck thumbing a ride Jenni lost interest.  She wasn’t interested in seeing any ruins, didn’t like the fact that they weren’t within walking distance and wasn’t interested in chartering a taxi.  There was no convincing her.  I don’t think she had gotten much sleep either and just had her mind set on leaving.  We passed a military outpost on the walk back to the bus depot.  Out in front were healthy orange trees full of fruit.  Jenni gestured to the two officers sporting machine guns if it was okay to pick a few of the oranges and got the thumbs up.

While Jenni went back to the room to pack, I headed up to the ruins that overlooked the city.  When I reached the gate there was an old man with his hand out for an admission.  There didn’t seem to be anything I couldn’t see from outside the gate so I walked along the outer wall and ended in the local dump.  There was no wall on its northern side and nothing much to see inside.  The old man that originally requested admission just smiled when he noticed me as if he was acknowledging that he had tried to pull one over on me.  On my way back I passed a small family living in what looked to be a one room home built of weathered mud brick.  Plastic protected them from the elements and they didn’t have much in the way of convenience.  All seemed dirty and cold but the minute the children saw me their faces lit up like Christmas trees and they gathered round me as if I were some kind of prophet or was giving away candy.  I affectionately rubbed each of them on their heads but inside my unconscious mind was telling me to wash my hands.  I couldn’t help it.

There’s always a place, I find in the day, where I turn my eyes, to keep it away
another just wishin, for a little less pain …..  Just like the others, I’ll never complain

I pass by so many, who know not my smile, who look once, then away, with all their own style
I don’t want to understand and what’s to explain …..  I’ll never be, the one to complain

I see they’re down, why do they let me know, if they’re not interested to take my hand
why don’t they all just go, I can always use a smile but no use for the pain, Even though …..  I’ll never complain

Your eyes are your windows, your words fall beside, how could you believe, you had a chance to hide
what is it you’re protecting, or what can you gain …..  Just like the others, I’ll never complain

There’s always a place, I find in the day, where I turn my eyes, to keep it away
another just wishin’, for a little less pain …..  I’ll never be, the one to complain

Jenni and I had a brief argument on which way we should head.  Jenni wanted to travel straight through until we reached Athens.  I on the other hand didn’t see the rush.  I felt that I had scarified not spending and entire day in Ephesus wasn’t going to repeat that mistake.  I had decided to travel into Turkey’s interior as I had read about some places over the last few days that seemed very interesting.  Places I never knew existed.  “If you would like to come with me I really would enjoy your company but it’s up to you”.  She didn’t want to be alone so she reluctantly decided to follow and we took another luxurious Mercedes into Denizli.  I watched as the countryside danced past my window and listened to Cat Stevens on Jenni’s walkman.  We had about three hours to burn in Denizli while we waited for our transfer to Pamukkale and so we wandered in and out of numerous cafes looking for one whose cleanliness equaled Jenni’s standard.  It must have been the belly-dancing hour because every one of those establishments had a group of guys surrounding each television.  I’m sure they all had seen belly-dancing thousands of times before but they were still captivated.  When the belly-dancing was over they began serving food.