Inferno Ground Zero

* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *

To those who have not read (or finish reading) the book Inferno by Dan Brown, or watched the movie of the same name – this post reveals the ending. So stop reading this post now if you don’t want to know.

This COVID-19 Pandemic brings back memories of a novel I finished reading just last year, Dan Brown’s novel, Inferno. I actually bought the book years ago, but hadn’t made time to read it till last July when we flew to Malaysia on an Air Arabia flight. (Air Arabia is a low budget airlines, …meaning no friggin online entertainment, …that’s why the book, hehe).

Anyway, the book is about a mad eccentric billionaire scientist who thinks that overpopulation is killing the world, and created a virus to release to the world in order to bring the world’s population under control. He committed suicide in the beginning of the book, but left a macabre message that set the heroes and the WHO (World Health Organisation) out on a wild goose’s chase to find ground zero, the place where the virus would be released.

In the book, the scientist succeeded. The hero and the WHO found the place but realized that the date given by the scientist was the date the virus infection would reach critical mass, not the date of the virus release. He just wanted all to know where the infections actually started, devious rascal…

In the movie, WHO managed to contain the virus. Nope, I didn’t watch it. I had the book and didn’t want to watch the movie before I finished reading the book. Then, I found out that they friggin changed the ending in the movie, and the critics were scathing in their reviews. And I don’t like movies that change the ending, so sorry, not gonna watch it. Which is too bad actually, since it starred Tom Hanks and Irrfan Khan (who died aged 53 just a couple of weeks ago). Maybe if played on TV… might change my mind.

Guess where Ground Zero is? Istanbul! (By the way, I guessed the exact site inside Istanbul before the book revealed it! And I also started doubting the hero’s partner long before the book revealed that she was bad). Here’re some photos of our trip to Istanbul in err… 2010, exactly 10 years ago! (Time flies huh? Just look at how tiny Justin is!)


Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia), Istanbul, Turkey


Interior of the Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia was first a church, then a mosque, and now a museum. Clues found in Venice, Italy, led the hero of the book to the tomb of Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, in the Hagia Sophia


This is the actual Ground Zero in Inferno, the Basilica Cistern – an underground cistern for storing water for the city since medieval times


One of the sites mentioned in Inferno, the upside down Medusa head in the Cistern

Here’re more miscellaneous photos of Istanbul –


Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey


Papa and little 5-month-old Justin at Topkapi Palace


And here’s Mommy! Topkapi Palace, Istanbul


Sleepy little Justin, with one of the aunties of the hotel we stayed in – I think it’s the Empress Theodora Hotel. It’s the first ever hotel I booked using Booking.com. Before that, I would just pop up and ask for a rate


Family pic, Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Mosque), Istanbul


Inside the Blue Mosque…


Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey


View of the Galata Tower across the creek called the Golden Horn


What’s Istanbul without a cruise on the Bosporus?

Check out this old post for more pictures of our 2010 trip to Istanbul

Where East meets West

Little Girl at Eminonu, Istanbul, with the Galata Tower in the background


Blue Mosque (or Sultanahmet Mosque), Istanbul, Turkey – Don’t ask me why it’s called the Blue Mosque. Coz the only blue thing I could find, was the sky


The Bosporus, with bridges connecting Europe and Asia

Taking a break from Singapore and my current boredom to post something from a trip made exactly 3 years back, in May 2010, when Justin was just a wee 5.5 months old.

Welcome to the city of Istanbul, largest city of Turkey and ancient capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. But the best thing about Istanbul is its location. Half in Europe and another half in Asia, straddling the Bosporus, that tiny strip of sea that separates the two continents.

Wonder when we’ll be able to make another trip like this again, now that Justin is not as ‘easy-going’ as before.


Mosques of this type of architecture are common in Turkey. The one at the back is the Suleymaniye Mosque (I think), and the one in front, the New Mosque. Seen from on board the Bosporus cruise


Hagia Sophia, church turned mosque turned museum. Was once the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church and a rival of Rome


Inside Hagia Sophia (or Ayasofya in Turkish), Istanbul


Father and son in a dungeon-like stairway inside Hagia Sophia


Anu, at the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul


Gardens, Topkapi Palace


How can we not include a picture of a Kebab Shop in a post on Istanbul? Street cafes and restaurants are common in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul, where we stayed


An Ice Cream man of Istanbul. They put on quite a show of tossing their ice cream around, if you show just a little bit of interest in them. Nope, finally did not try any, what a waste…


A Turkish Sweet Shop, Sultanahmet, Istanbul


Family picture at Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey


A picture of the neighbourhood mutt


Papa and little Duntin boarding a bus at Istanbul, bound for Cappadocia, central Turkey. Fathers should give this a try, 12 hours overnight journey on a bus. Try sleeping with the little one in your arms, …good for building endurance, and your arm and back muscles

Floating over Cappadocia

Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey with the Uchisar rock citadel at the back

Nothing beats a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia. It’s just magical, but it’ll set your budget back by about the cost of one friggin cross-country flight! If I’m not mistaken, it cost me ...750 friggin RM! For 1 person!


Firing up the balloon


Taking off


Up, up and away


A view from the top




Cappadocia, by hot air balloon




A view of the natural terrain




High over Cappadocia


Yours truly, in a basket filled with Spanish tourists


Landing in a farm

Pottery in a Cave

More from the caves of Cappadocia – pots and ceramics!


Avanos in Cappadocia is famous for its ceramic trade since ancient times. The tourist guide, ...or rather the pottery owner, explained that the clay from the what’s-its-name river flowing through Avanos is exceptionally good for pottery. The wares are all of high quality, and so are the costs!


Justin’s not too impressed, as you can see


More exhibits of Avanos’s wares


Throwing in a picture of a wine cellar... just for the sake of it, what the heck! The winery’s not even near Avanos, but it is in Cappadocia, ...but near Urgup actually

Land of the Fairy Chimneys

Cappadocia (Kapadokya), Turkey

Fairy Chimneys is the name the local Turkish tourist guides use for the natural minaret-like formations of Cappadocia. I dunno who came up with such a creative name, but simpler people (meaning the men, ...like yours truly) would probably have just called this place Land of the Giant Dicks – see for yourself!


The Goreme Open Air Museum (pronounced ge-ray-may), filled with caves churches, used to be a community of Christian monasteries in Roman times

This is a whole new world with caves – cave churches, cave houses, cave hotels complete with cave bathrooms and cave toilets (how do they fit in the sanitary piping and the shit tanks??), cave shops, cave cafeterias... yeah, just name it! We stayed in a cave hotel during our trip, bloody cold (and it was May). Anu didn’t like it much, but what the heck, have to give everything a try huh? Anyway, it’ll all be fine with a few pegs of raki (the local aniseed flavoured liquor)


Another view at Goreme


Guards at Goreme


Hiding in a cave guardhouse – where else could you find a convenient place for the mom to breastfeed the kid? Really nice of the guards to offer tea. Turkey must be one of the most baby-friendly countries in the world... The people there go nuts when they see tiny toddlers!


Cavusin Village (pronounced cha-vu-shin), an abandoned Greek cave village


A souvenir shops amidst the ruins, Cavusin


Fairy Chimneys ‘R’ Us, Cavusin Village


Anu at the ruins, Cavusin


A family photo (with Justin asleep), above the ruins of Cavusin, and after that our camera ran out of batteries... luckily for us, we could charge it in the semi-cave restaurant we stopped for lunch


Pasabag (pronounced pa-sha-ba), means General’s (pasha) Vineyard (ba), as explained by our trusty tourist guide (as far as I remember... this was 2 years ago, ok?)


A hermit’s church in Pasabag


The Rock Citadel of Uchisar


Fairy Chimneys on the road to Urgup, with a snow-capped peak in the background


A poppy field in Cappadocia