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Istanbul Cats

January 27, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

Surely, you knew there would eventually be an “all cat” post. We are those crazy people who stop to photograph and pet stray cats wherever we go.

long haired calico with large orange and black spots

This little calico was behind chain link fence, so no petting, but she was definitely in the mood to play. She gets my vote for most beautiful, so far.

tortoise shell calico cat hiding behind a potted plant

Peek-a-boo. This one was a bit cagy. A picture was all we were going to get from her.

long haired grey tabby

We hit the jackpot outside the Hagia Sophia.

black cat

DaddyBird, cat photographer.

long haired black and white cat

a yellow and white cat curled up on a yellow cab

The longer I stood here taking pictures of this the more cats joined. There was one behind the tree I discovered later.

grey tabby

This tabby has a benefactor somewhere.

grey tabby inside the Hagia Sophia

Even the Hagia Sophia has its own cat. She was happy to get attention and pose.

orange tabby

This orange tabby hangs out in the Hagia Sophia gift shop. He holds his head to the side due to an injury. The shop staff look out for him.

grey tabby peeking through a fence

Another park and another crowd of cats who have someone feeding them.

grey and orange calico

This calico was hanging out inside the tram station to get out of the cold.

That’s not all the cats we’ve encountered, but you get the idea.

Posted in cats, Istanbul | 4 Comments »

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First Stroll in Istanbul

January 22, 2011

Posted by DaddyBird

I don’t usually get around to posting on this blog. Unfortunately I’m usually too busy writing, editing, proofreading, tweeting and configuring things elsewhere. Hopefully, I can get a few posts in while we’re here in Istanbul.

After getting settled in to our cozy room, grabbing a few things from a local market and having a bit of dinner, Kanga was wiped out. I was tired too, but just had to go out for a walk anyway. We’re only a couple of blocks away from the Blue Mosque! Why wait ’til tomorrow to see it? When I’m in a new place, I like to walk around and get the lay of the land as soon as possible anyway, so out I went.

I took some pictures while I was out. Of course some of them were of the local cats. They’re plenty of them around, which is the sign of a great city. 😀 (Lara and Terrence over at The GranTourismo Travel Blog have a cool post about the cats in Istanbul.)

An Istanbul street kitty

Took a few night-time pictures of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. They certainly don’t do to the structures justice, but then, I’m not sure that any pictures can.

Aya Sofia
The Blue Mosque

Walking distances are much shorter than I expected, which is great; we’re even closer to more of the sights that I knew. So far the city is just stunning. Can’t wait to see more of it in daylight. The weather is great! Nice and cool. While I was out walking around in 10 degree Celsius weather, wearing a t-shirt and no jacket, I was asked by several if I wasn’t cold. I told them I enjoy the cold, which I certainly do. This is my kind of weather. (Well, a bit cooler and rainier would be great too!)

Firuz Aga Camii

Our friend Rupert, who has lived in Istanbul, made a number of recommendations on places to go and things to do. One suggestion was to check out the pudding shops. I found one just a few steps away from Aya Sophia. The pudding is tasty, and the food looked good too, may go back for dinner.

A Pudding Shop!

I uploaded a few of the pictures that I took this evening to a Picasa album. Here’s the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/pauliancastle/Istanbul

Go down to the end of this street and turn left and you’re at our place.
This seems to be how they say, “Don’t park in front of this building” in our neighborhood.
Kitty in the window
On a sidewalk near the Blue Mosque; I think I’ve seen these exact items on sale in Naif! 😉

More soon!

Posted in cats, Istanbul | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

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Camel Races

November 27, 2010

Posted by Kanga.
ten camels kneeling
We were invited to go out to the camel races.

The camels are fitted with remote controlled robotic jockeys, so the owners follow the camels in their SUVs on both sides of the race track. There are two tracks, 5 kilometers and 10 kilometers.

Posted in animals, camels, Dubai | 2 Comments »

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Falcon

November 20, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

You never know what you will encounter in the mall. Yesterday, it was a falcon. DaddyBird was pleased as punch to get to hold it for a few minutes.

man holding a falcon

Here’s the video. You might want to turn down the volume since the sound is mostly children screaming in the amplifying mall acoustics.

Posted in animals, birds | 3 Comments »

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Street Sights

November 16, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

truck load of goats

This is not an uncommon site on the streets of Dubai and probably anywhere else in the Emirates. These poor fellows are on their way to someone’s dinner table and not as guests.

tractor

This, however, is not something I see regularly. I doubt any of those three guys had a seat belt (maybe the driver, but it’s not a given) or any other safety equipment that would protect them in case of collision. It looked like a pretty rough ride.

Posted in animals, Dubai traffic | 1 Comment »

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The Joys of Styrofoam

November 15, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

It has been a while and I am certain you have begun to wonder what my crazy cat has been up to lately.

This continues until the tray is torn up into little bits. When we are putting away groceries after shopping, we have to watch anything that is in a styrofoam package because he will snitch it and run off to play with it no matter what the contents are.

Posted in cats | 1 Comment »

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Oliver’s new bag

October 20, 2010

Posted in cats, video | 2 Comments »

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Camel Crossing

October 17, 2010

Posted by Kanga.

Here it is! I hit the jackpot and got a video of 22 camels crossing the highway. The recording gets all jumbly and out of control near the beginning because I was standing by the side of the road next to my car and decided that I should at least move to the side of the car farthest from the road, just in case of crazy drivers.

This was taken just north of the Oman-U.A.E. border south of Fujairah.

Made my day.

Posted in animals | 1 Comment »

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Dubai Aquarium

September 9, 2010

We stopped by the Dubai Aquarium to purchase annual passes and took a quick walk through.

It was Otter nap time.
otters sleeping in a hollow log

At first we thought these were beavers, but they lacked the appropriate tails. They are nutria.
large furry animals

This crab was quite large and tasty looking.
large long legged crab

Posted in animals, aquarium, Dubai Aquarium, video | 1 Comment »

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The Other Oliver

August 19, 2010

Posted by Kanga

tabby cat

This is the “other Oliver.” He lives with my best friend, with his Mom, his brother, an older male tabby named Angelo and a big dog named Jenny. He is nothing like my Oliver. He is mostly quiet, although he does talk occasionally, but he is actually saying something when he does. He likes laying in peoples laps and he likes running around with his brother. This is his brother (sorry the picture is blurry, but he was in constant motion.)

grey and white kitten

This is Mouse. He is a foot cat – he likes to lay on your feet or shoes. He likes to chew on shoes, too. It was quite nice to discover there was a warm fuzzy thing laying on my toes, keeping them warm. He also loves to chase and play with Angelo. Angelo was the only cat in the house for a long time and he used to just eat and sleep most of the time. Now, he runs around quite a lot with Mouse and it is very fun to see and very good exercise for a middle aged cat.

I still miss my Oliver and Bert while traveling in the U.S., but I had a lot of fun with these guys.

Posted in cats, USA | Leave a Comment »

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