Perhaps the grass just seems greener?

12th June 2006 - Trabzone
We are still only several hundred miles east of Istanbul. In the high mountainous Trabzon region bordering Georgia and the Black Sea but already it seems a million miles from the Bush/Blair media circus, the instant celebrity culture and the endless parade of awards ceremonies we had become all but immune to. Boundries that until a few short weeks ago seemed to define and mark our own daily lives. People here are poor by western standards, subsistance farmers and punctuated by the five daily calls to prayer, the tides and seasonal demands of the harvest rather than the hourly BBC or CNN news broadcast. Under privliged by our measure, but seemingly relaxed and content with what we might call the simple life. Completely unlike us except for their worries: providing for their daily needs, raising their children and finding their own inner peace and happiness. Somehow it seems easier to see the reality of life beneeth the smoke and mirors of our own existance - or is it just a case of the grass is greener?
Next stop – Georgia.