Boy, do I miss the gym! Push-ups and walking can help to keep you fit but they are no replacement for a solid weight-resistance training gym work-out. In only five weeks I have noticed considerable negative changes to my muscle-tone and shape. Shock, horror! It’s now nearly seven weeks since I left Australia and I’m desperate to get back to my regular gym work-outs.
But I had a stroke of luck about 1 & 1/2 weeks ago. I found a gym in Rhodes and I was able to work out for two days and after only two days of solid working out I noticed positive changes to my body. Thank goodness for muscle-memory.
The gym was old but very friendly and the machines were effective and the view, overlooking the sea and beach, was spectacular.
As far as eating a healthy diet is concerned, that wasn’t a problem while traveling in Greece. We simply visited supermarkets and ate in our room using plastic plates and bowls and our own cutlery.
Turkey however, was, and is, a completely different story. Right this minute it is after midday and I am lying sick in bed. I have been sick for three days now with food poisoning. I hardly ever get sick but I was hit with an upset stomach, nausea, frequent trips to the toilet, pains around the eyes, limited control of my legs, and extreme exhaustion.
Do take care if you visit Turkey. We were on a seven-day tour and all was well until our tour-guide took us to a family-run rural restaurant for a buffet lunch and the next day took us to a remote rural village where we were put into groups of six and allocated to a Turkish family to experience a traditional Turkish lunch.
I strongly recommend that if either of these things are offerred to you that you graciously decline the offer. However, this might be challenging because of political and cultutal niceties and emotional and psychological pressure.
Turkey however, has some very impressive Roman archeological sites but alas, the toilets in Turkey can be less than impressive. Yesterday I had to pay one Turkish Lira to go into an enormous service-station toilet, along with hundreds of other tourists, which I wouln’t mind if the toilents were clean, and they flushed. But neither was the case and the greedy little man taking the money would not let a woman go into the toilet when she had only half a Turkish Lira. Someone gave her the money but given the stench, the putrid state of the toilets, the absence of soap, and the fact that most of the wash-basins did not work, I wonder whether she might have been better off holding-on rather than entering.
Two days to go before we board the plane for home and head for home.
