Sometime during the night before last, when I was tossing and turning and being woken by the unfamiliar drumming of rain on the roof, my website went past 100,000 visitors.

Now that’s not much in internet terms but for a non viral, non porny, personal site like mine it’s a huge number, and when I think that 100,000 times some person some where chose to come here I feel a bit overwhelmed.

That’s a lot of people showing an interest in a tiny part of a vibrant country that is so full of fascinating niches that my little village is barely a nook market, never mind a niche.

But that’s the great thing about Turkey; it is all about the niche, finding it and filling it. From ancient sites to modern thrills, from tours for Christians to tours for veterans, from Gallipoli to Troy, selling you a carpet, selling you a smit on the street, giving you a close encounter with a Gucci fake or a close encounter with the wild in a quad safari into the mountains, that’s Turkey, finding ways to develop a minority interest. I think it is one of the things that makes this such an energetic and fizzy feeling country, it has such enthusiasm for niche business, no wonder the economy is growing.

Speaking of niche interests I’m off in the next few days – once I get a decent light day for filming – to explore the nearby ski resort of Bozdag by Ödemis. I’ve been meaning to go for ages having toured the area early one autumn before the snow started a few years ago. It was outstandingly beautiful then, dramatic scenery and narrow twisting roads with each turn serving up another outstanding view, and driving back from Izmir on Christmas Eve I passed the signs to it and it reminded me just how close it is. So I’m going to take my Christmas pressie, a digital camcorder, and see if I can get some decent footage to inflict on you.

Part four of my Expat Christmas in Turkey is coming up after the New Year, but in the mean time thank you for reading and thank you for taking me over the 100k, getting there has been a milestone in my head for a long time and I am absurdly proud that we got there.