Thoughts today: Cappadocia and cave hotels.

via 4feet2mouths

Last minute, and right before we purchased tickets to La Paz, Bolivia, my obsession with a Turkey honeymoon returned--in full force.  Thoughts of strolling through Istanbul, of wasting hours at a cafe, of rummaging through bazaars began to crowd out thoughts of the Uyuni Desert and Bolivian mountains.  It took some convincing, but Ethan agreed.  We booked tickets for July.

For once, we are going to take it slow on this trip.  And despite our tendencies, what we are not going to do are crazy marathon train rides, rushed itineraries, and border crossings (which unfortunately crosses out a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria or, for that matter, my daydreams about finally visiting Georgia).  Instead, we'll visit only two places on this trip: Istanbul and another yet-to-be-determined locale.

Cappadocia, in Central Turkey, is a contender.  It looks incredible.  We would stay in a cave hotel!

via Elkep Evi; and Esbelli Evi

Another contender is the Black Sea region, in northeastern Turkey, close to Georgia and Armenia. 

via the Guardian

Final weeks in Bangkok

Debbie Downer

A market in Kashgar, China

To be honest, I've been in a little funk since I moved Stateside.  Why?  I mean, everyone keeps talking about how great life is - wedding, new job, new city.  Shouldn't I be beyond thrilled?

I'm grateful for so many things.  I feel lucky to have found a partner in life, who shares many of my dreams and who happens to be one of the most loving, patient, ego-free people I know.  I've also managed to find a more sustainable, not dysfunctional way to practice human rights law, with a group of supportive, fairly laidback lawyers. (Who knew such people/lawyers existed?)  While many young lawyers are burning out from law, I feel as if I've found my niche.  And, though I continue to learn the contours of this work, as I did in Cambodia and in Thailand, I do enjoy this type of practice, this weird mix of international policy and human rights law, which will require international travel  - some complain it can require too much international travel. 

Still, I just miss living abroad. And more specifically, I miss Asia. 

I'm looking forward to our honeymoon in Turkey.

The weekend.

It was one of those lazy weekends.  Now that the sun is out, Ethan and I have made a weekend habit of walking through our neighborhood, past the row of embassies, down to Dupont Circle.  (We're not yet sure if we'll stay in this neighborhood. While the architecture is charming and there are numerous shops/cafes and an awesome public library within short walking distance, the lack of diversity is startling.   But, for now, it is home.)

This Saturday, the EU embassies opened their doors to the public. Crowds lined up. We did too. We scored chocolates, waffles, Framboise and other beer at the Embassy of Belgium.  That embassy was even raffling off tickets to Belgium. Well done, Belgium.

We visited a few other embassies, seeking cover from the spotty afternoon showers in ornately decorated dining rooms and eventually made it to Kramerbooks, where I thumbed through a few guides to Istanbul and stumbled upon a Xinjiang province (China) guidebook, which brought back all sorts of memories of crossing the Kazakhstan-China border by bus.

It's funny how my memory glosses over certain things, like that bus ride. But that memory came in  so clearly yesterday, leaving me with images of the desert.  There was the bus emptied of seats, brightly-colored tapestries covering the back wall and floor. The group - there were maybe 12, all, but us, local--sat on the floor as the bus bumped along the desert highway.  A young Kazakh woman with jet black hair and a slender face asked where we were from. We shared a sequence of broken phrases and, from what I gathered between her laughter, she advised me to have children.  Later, as we crossed out of Kazakhstan and then into Xinjiang province in China, I would catch her checking in on us, buzzing around the lines, making sure we made it through.

That was nearly two summers ago.

I continued to thumb through the book and its stunning views of Xinjiang, the images leaving me a little melancholy.  

Eloping

via Duncan Wolfe

I'm not going to elope. It would break Ethan's heart a little if we didn't share the day with our family and closest friends- and over the months since our engagement, he has convinced me and I'm looking forward to our simple ceremony. Plus, his dad has been practicing his bagpipes since I asked him to play a tune during/after the ceremony.  And his mom has been so sweet to coordinate so much of the day. And his sister-in-law is baking all sorts of summer pies...

And when was the last time I saw several of my close friends in one venue?  Ages ago.

It is decided.

But, this elopement-- a couple ran off to Paris to elope--tugs at my heartstrings in a different way.