I mentioned back in January that Emirhan had gone to China for ten days. E doesn’t particularly consider himself a photographer, but he did have a little point-and-shoot camera that he used sparingly whenever he got the opportunity. When he came back to Turkey, I asked if I could choose a few photos to edit, and the result is this set of remixes that has done nothing to quell my desire to see China. Link

Well, it took a while, but I finally finished editing and uploading the Saklıkent photos from Valentine’s Day. There ended up being only 36 in total, but I’m really proud of them as a set, and I think they give an interesting peek into an important aspect of Turkey that most foreigners don’t even know exists: winter. The ski resort and village are only about 20km (12.5 miles) from the Mediterranean coast, and together they’re one of Antalya’s best-kept secrets. The word Saklıkent means “hidden town,” which is a pretty accurate description of this beautiful little village in the mountains. Link

I’m only about halfway through the set, but the Saklıkent photos are slowly being posted. There will probably be about 40 in the set total, but for now you can definitely get an idea of how much snow was involved. Link

A million thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday. It was overwhelming, to say the least, to learn that there are that many people out there who would stop their day for a few seconds to say hello or send a card or text message. In fact, at the risk of sounding like a whining first-worlder, toward the end of the day I had to switch my phone and computer off because I was feeling… er, bombarded is too strong a word. Maybe “snowed under” is more like it. Part of it was like, “aaaack, I’m never going to be able to respond to all of these individually!” Which is true, and I just have to accept that. I think maybe others had already accepted it and weren’t expecting personal thanks, but I come from a time and culture where after a celebration, you sat down and wrote out thank-you cards to everyone who did something nice for you. Nowadays I suppose it’s enough to say thank you a few times in relevant public forums, and assume people will get my message (as they assume I got theirs).

The other part was that a lot of people said some very nice, very specific things to and about me yesterday. Perhaps surprisingly, as narcissistic as I am, I have neither the affinity for mush, nor the talent for handling thick streams of compliments. It occurred to me this morning that it’s a good thing I never got my childhood dream of worldwide fame, because I realise now that I’m not the kind of person who would handle that very well. On the other hand, perhaps if I’d been famous for most of my life, I would have built up the skills to deal with attention more gracefully. Who knows.

In any case, many thanks to everyone who sent cards (both paper and electronic), SMS messages, Facebook comments and PMs, blog comments, e-mails…. what else… oh, Flickr comments and PMs, of course, and… everything. Just everything. Thank you.

I love birthdays. I don’t understand why people hate them so much. As if getting older, gaining experience, and seeing what the future holds were bad things!

I’ve been asking for snow forever, it seems, and over the weekend Emirhan took me to a place where there was more snow than I could shake a stick at. I loved it. In fact, at one point I was literally up to my hips in snow.

There will be plenty more mountain photos soon, but right now I have some relaxing to get started on, because there will be some partying tonight!

Nowadays I’m so used to the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty in the Antalya old town, it was starting to get where I was walking past scenes like this and not even noticing. Time to slow down a little bit. Eventually they’re going to “beautify” Kaleiçi by removing all the old and glossing up the new, so if I want this stuff to be remembered, I’d better document it now.

Emirhan just got back from ten days in China… although I’ll admit to some degree of envy, I still feel like we just barely got back from Thailand, so I was actually more than happy to sit this one out.

He brought back lots of stuff… lots.

Hair sticks! Gorgeous.

I chose the topaz one.

A Chinese tea mug for him…

…and one for me.

Beautiful silk and cashmere pashminas.

I have a whole family of little guys, and this is my latest one.

Apparently it’s pretty cold in Beijing. He was thankful for the opportunity to go, but I think he’s also glad to be back in Turkey.

I know I keep going on about the wild colours of our winter golden hours, but they’re just so ridiculously beautiful that I can’t help sharing again and again.

Those who have been here a while will remember that before I lived in Antalya, I came from a little town about 40km up the road called Kemer.

I hadn’t been there in a couple of years, so I decided to pay a visit.

Much has changed… like this empty lot, which used to be the apartments where I lived.

The bus station is now a clock tower.

New things are popping up everywhere. I hardly recognised the place.

Some things never change, though.

The place still has its charms, even though it’s not really the same as when I lived there.

Still though… nostalgia can be a powerful thing.

VIEW THE FULL SET HERE.

Seriously, it’s the winter sunsets that make Antalya perfect for me. This is straight out of the camera, no enhancements.

I wish I could just have December, January, and February over and over again. That would be perfect for me.