Candy Floss stand

Somehow I always thought candy floss was for the summer, but it seems I am wrong :)

School's out

When I took this photo I wondered why the walls were covered in scorch marks. Yesterday I found out. Some of the boys were tending the fire, the others were enjoying a game of football.

What does it all mean?

"it means :no to high speed, yes to live our life:....i don't know why they wrote it here on this ,    i think they should have wrote this onto a road sign...maybe they think that it is less expensive to write here ...i mean i can find a reason...if you have any ideas write us a comment...hihihi "

Yes Man

No that's not a man hanging off the side of the shopping mall, it is an advert for Jim Carey's latest film Yes Man. The cinema is up there on the top floor.

Kat 3

A local band called Retro performing at Kat 3 bar. The name means 'third floor'

Abandoned

They made an area for sitting inside the cinema at the Korupark shopping centre, but I have never seen anyone sitting in it. The empty chairs look a bit lonely.

it doesn't seem that after the movies someone is sitting there and discussing about them....

Silk Road International Film Festival

This weekend is the 'International silk road film' festival in Bursa. There will be screenings of films from different countries including Japan, Mexico, Bosnia, and even the USA :-)

I don't know if we will be able to go to any screenings because apparently it is difficult to get tickets, but we will be hanging around in the town to see if we can snap any celebrities!

British style phone boxes

The famous red post box has made an appearance in Bursa as well. These are inside the Carrefour shopping centre on the Izmir road.

Watermelon Slim

Another photo from last night's blues concert, this time of the imaginatively named Watermelon Slim.

Blues festival

John Lee Hooker Jr playing at the Efes Pilsen Blues festival in Bursa Suare (pronounced soirée!). Bursa is near enough to Istanbul to benefit sometimes from musicians who play in Istanbul and tag an extra night onto their tour. It means they usually play on schoool nights though, because Istanbul gets them at the weekend.

Devlet Tiyatrosu

"this is Bursa's main government theatre..they have given one of the famous turkish poet's name..the season has just opened.... "

Flying Saucer?

here's another shot of the spaceage Korupark, this time from above.

Korupark

Korupark is one of two large shopping malls to open in Bursa over the last year, and has become a favourite weekend activity for a lot of people. Inside are international chains as well as Turkish shops. It's not bad as shopping centres go, but the town centre is more atmospheric.

Popcorn

I had never seen a popcorn machine like this before, although I'm sure they are common in other places. The metal pan is making the popcorn and when it is ready the lids at the top open and the popcorn jumps out.

Rally Driver

Maybe there was some kind of rally event yesterday, we went to a local shopping centre and there were a lot of cars and trucks for transporting them. This one had been testing its turns in the car park.

Fun and Games

During Ramadan people often meet to eat the iftar (sunset) meal together. This year it is around 7.30pm in Bursa. Afterwards they gather in tea gardens to drink tea, chat and play games like this one. The tea garden was full and very lively, some people apparently would stay there until the early hours before going home to eat breakfast before the morning prayer call.

Water

Many apologies for our poor record over the last few weeks. We have been travelling around and it wasn't always easy to get on the computer. Anyway, from now on things will be back to normal, inshallah.

This photo is of the large fountain in front of Ulu Cami, the same one where the boys were having fun in an earlier photo.

Picnic

A snack and a chat in front of the sea.

Campers on Uludag

"uludag is the famous mountain 45 minutes from Bursa center...and now it is the camping season for who has the courage like the campers in the photo....they are saying that there are some bearssssssss..."

Folk Dance Competition

These banners are advertising the international folk dance competition which is taking place at the moment.