A Vegeterian in Izmir

Turkey is not a best place for vegetarian (or Vejeteryan in Turkish) food, though you will not be disappointed if you explore and get to traditional Turkish food place. I would not have names of dishes I had but got some photos to share.

Vejeteryan Krepe - A Wrap filled with Cheese and Vegetables

Helva - Its' like Halwa in India

Something = Gulabjamun

Vejeteryan Plate

Salad Options

Menu - Veg Krep

In Bazaar, we also get Pida Bread filled with Potato, Cheese and Spinach - Tastes like Paranthas or filled Naan.

And of course...you have Turkish delight to fill you up at end. Really tasteful and available every where.

Izmir and around - second weekend!

Alright, its weekend again and our next excursion is Nature's wonder Pamukkale and ancient cities of Hierapolis and Laodikia.

First stop was ancient city of Hierapolis - again 2000 years old story and amazing sites.

Theater - Me and Reji

Fountain or "something"

Museum of excavated articles

Supposed to be a Roman bath

One thing that I found common in all ancient cities was a Theater and Baths, Romans really had fun that time.

Next Stop - Pamukkale - A nature's wonder

Ponds

Cotton Castle... This looks great...isn't it?

No...this is not snow and I am not on a glacier!!!

These are Pamukkale's terraces that are build over centuries  made of travertine, a sedimentary rock deposited by water from the hot springs. So its not snow but calcium carbonate sedimentation over a hill.

Next Stop - Ancient city of Hierapolis

And this was big very big and were really tired walking through the ruins. This place has one of the most well preserved ruins of Roman Era.

An Ancient Street

"Something - may be a temple"

Believe me - Its a stadium

Stadium - Original (no restoration done)

Another Theater - Myself and Ricky

Our Guide showing water ducts in ancient wall

It was a long day and lots of fun.....and we had best guide on this tour who made sure we know all kings and queens and what happened to them, who attacked whom and when.............

A International Dinner..@ Beyond Hotel

Just believe what would happen if "IBM Chefs" from 9 countries get in to a hotel kitchen to prepare for a international dinner and cook cuisine from their country..

Himanshu - Indian Chef!

Indian Food :)

Happy after food - Sharon, Yuri and Ant

Chefs at work

Our Guests

3 Hours - 13 IBMers and we had Indian, Japanese, Mexican, South African, Australian cuisines in buffet.

Time is moving faster than expected!

We are getting closer to our departure dates and time really moved faster than I expected (at least for work).  It is a interesting project to help Young Entrepreneurs Council (YEC) in Izmir achieve its objectives of promoting entrepreneurship. First time I studied so extensively about entrepreneurship, how organizations and government bodies across the world promotes it and how it can help an economy grow. I was surprised to know that Turkey with such impressive growth trails other competing economies on entrepreneurship indexes.
 
We had workshops and interactions with YEC members, university students, development agency and other stake-holders to assess priorities and execution possibilities. It was great to hear from participants on what they believe can be done and I was impressed by their enthusiasm.

Izmir and around

After spending two week-ends in Izmir and around, I would say it is a tourist paradise and has a lot to offer: Amazing history, sightseeing, beaches, natural wonders, wonderful city and best is welcoming and cheerful people here. I would say we are having great time, thanks to Çağrı (or Charlie!) for being our host, friend and guide in Izmir.

1st weekend - A trip to Ephesus: a date with history

This city was built before and after 0BC and guide claimed it is only unearth by 10% as of now, but whatever we could see was amazing. Its really unimaginable how these huge stones would have been moved and structures were built. Impressive !

House of Virgin Mary: It is believed that she lived and died here

 

Guide said it is best place in Ephesus to take your photo!

Wonders of Stone - Library !

That was a downtown - 2000 years ago

Theater in Roman Time

 We were told that work is going on for more than 100 years here to restore these buildings with international support. I guess it is not easy to put these pieces of stones together, its a puzzle and all guess.

That's our team - IBM CSC Turkey Team 9

Work Begins!

First day at work...

#ibmcsc turkey

Good Morning Izmir

First Day in Izmir

Quiet, calm and beautiful....morning in Izmir.

I walked alongside the bay wondering it's the same place that was well crowded yesterday evening.

 

and the formal work Begins!

Afternoon, 11-Mar-13, Turkey Team 9 of IBMers heads for Aeagen Chamber of Industry office to have first face to face interaction with our host organizations i.e. Izmir Development Agency (IZKA), Izmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH) and Aeagen Chamber of Industry (EBSO).

Welcome note from host organization's executives, presentation on Izmir city (amazing and impressive), IBM's team introduction and presentations followed by cocktail and snacks was actions on day one. Everything went very well, and we were really impressed and overwhelmed by attention we got.

#ibmcsc turkey

Arrived in Izmir

Here we are at our final destination, Izmir. Formal project kick-off planned for tomorrow. Everyone is looking forward for kick-off meeting tomorrow afternoon, hope it goes well and we will get to hear from our clients of their expectations face to face.

#ibmcsc

Mission Istanbul!

Here we are, first time all team members met face to face, at Armada hotel lobby. Moving out to explore the city.

 

As we stepped out, we find ourselves on crossroads of history and modernity. Magnificent historical places from ancient city of Constantinople (or today's Istanbul) like Hagia Sophia with world's fourth largest dome, Basilica Cistern and much more. You just can't believe that these structures are from 6th Century, as our guide briefed us on architectural magnificence of these buildings.

 

Hagia Sophia

Basilica Cistern

Istanbul has been built over centuries and there are mosques, minarets, palaces, ancient walls and structures across city. We visited Blue Mosque built during Ottoman empire in 16th Century and a working mosque today as well.

Blue Mosque

Next stop was Grand Bazaar...and trust me it was really Grand. I was expecting it to be something like Indian Bazaars, but I was amazed and was much more than my expectations. It's a covered market, having numerous lanes with shops selling spices, carpets, cloths, crockery, souvenirs and many more. All you see is never ending lanes of shops, similing and welcoming shop keepers inviting you see the stuff they have to sell, and everyone promising a deal if you want to buy!

We don't know where we exited the Bazaar from and were like lost, a long (but worthy) walk bought us back to Hotel. I must say, everyone we asked directions, was so friendly to help and guide us to our place.

Here we go!

Finally, wait is over and I am on my way to Turkey. My team mates will also reach Istanbul throughout day and we all will catchup for first time F2F on dinner tonight.

#ibmcsc

Pack up

All lists compiled and with many rounds of shopping, seems like everything is ticked and its time to get them in bags.

I have chosen a direct flight by Turkish Airlines to Istanbul, it leaves Delhi early morning and reaches Istanbul in first half of day. Great, I have bonus half a day to see the city.

#ibmcsc

Getting prepared - 6 Days to go

Getting prepared!

Time fly and some time it does very fast, we are done past with 3 months of pre-work for our project and its time to pack the bags. Having spent last two weekends listing and shopping the stuff that I would need for my travel to Turkey, I am almost set for my assignment.

We all will assemble at Istanbul on 08-Mar-13 and travel to Izmir on 10-Mar-13, which is a hour long domestic flight from Istanbul. We have been instructed to pack light so our bags fit to maximum limit of 20kg on domestic flight.

A Survival Challenge !

When it’s about food, turkey is a paradise for meat lovers. Vegetarian like me, may have hard time there, especially in Izmir that did not have any Indian restaurant or only vegetarian restaurants (unfortunately google can't find!). A ray of hope, our host told me of some options, I am going to update this blog for Turkey vegetarian foods as I explore the options and places for vegan in Izmir.

#ibmcsc Turkey

Getting prepared!

My new team mates !

At first, let me introduce my colleagues who will join me from different part of world to form what we call "Turkey Team 9", so there are 8 teams of IBM CSC that have delivered projects in Turkey in last 4 years.

Turkey Team 9 consists of 15 IBMers from 10 countries and would deliver project in 11th country, a place that is not home for any one of us. 3 Sub-teams are formed to work with different client and deliver 3 project during the course of this assignment. I am very excited to meet my colleagues, all of us would meet each other for first time in life, work together for a month and probably may not meet again....interesting!

Here is my team (Sub-team3 of Turkey team-9) ... :)

How are we progressing !

IBM CSC team has been great is getting us through multiple orientation program over last few weeks for cultural adaptability, client environment, about turkey, about CSC, about our client, expectations from projects and so on. With weekly calls and web-based trainings, we all are almost prepared with our scope of work and work plans to get on ground and get this moving !

Seriously, this is as practical of a client engagement as it could be. Client expectations are very high and we are equally excited and confident that we would be able to do a good job and meet client expectations.

Good Luck to Turkey team 9.....



#ibmcsc Turkey