Day 25 (1 July): So I am technically still in Europe
Flew from London to Istambul thıs morning missed by alarm. Fortunately I made it to the airport with time to spare. (By the way, I do realize that part of Istambul and the part I am staying is still technically Europe, but it is certainly feels more Middle Eastern or Asian than European.)
Arriving in Istambul, I easily took public transportation to the hostel I stayed in. Once I got off at the last tram stop, I was greeted by a number of touts who I entertained for a while, while I looked at a map to figure out how to walk where I was going. They thought it was funny to tell me they were Kurdish and moved to Turkey from Iraq, and that they knew I worked for the FBI, and that they would get 5,000,000,000 Lira if they killed me and 10,000,000,000 Lira if they killed me on camera. Obviously they were joking, so it was kindof funny. They eventually were friendly enough to actually walk me to the place I was staying, while stopping me by a carpet shop along the way, of course.
Before going to bed at night, I could hear the Islamic call to prayer, which is far more striking in person than it could ever seem on TV. It even made me want to go to a mosque just to see what was happening, but I figured that was not the best idea.
Observations:
1) Heathrow is by far the best London airport. Only 15 minutes from the Circle Line on the Tube. The other airports take nearly an hour and trains leave from further out locations.
2) Easiest visa ever. To gain entry into Turkey all I had to do was go to one counter tell them I was an American citizen and hand them a 20 USD bill. They handed me a stamp for the visa which I pasted into my passport. I then walked to another line with my passport open to the visa page where it was promptly stamped with out even looking at my picture or name. I do not think it as easy to get in anywhere else. Every country so far I have at least been asked how long I plan on staying.
3)Crafty touts. The touts here are really good. They are very good at picking out what countries people are from and changing their language based on it. They will say something in Japanese, Spanish, French, Austrailan English, British English, or American English depending upon who walks by. One guy even pegged me as being from DC and claimed he had just moved back to Istambul and had seen me at Kramer Books in Dupont Circle one month earlier. Another guy tired to claim he lived in LA, but when I pressed him further, he could not back up his story with any details on LA.
4) Japan is changing. I met at 35 year old Japanese guy at the hostel who recently quit his job at a large bank in Japan. He was travelling around the Middle East for 4 months before going back to Japan to start his own company. This seems completely unheard of for Japan, several years back.
Arriving in Istambul, I easily took public transportation to the hostel I stayed in. Once I got off at the last tram stop, I was greeted by a number of touts who I entertained for a while, while I looked at a map to figure out how to walk where I was going. They thought it was funny to tell me they were Kurdish and moved to Turkey from Iraq, and that they knew I worked for the FBI, and that they would get 5,000,000,000 Lira if they killed me and 10,000,000,000 Lira if they killed me on camera. Obviously they were joking, so it was kindof funny. They eventually were friendly enough to actually walk me to the place I was staying, while stopping me by a carpet shop along the way, of course.
Before going to bed at night, I could hear the Islamic call to prayer, which is far more striking in person than it could ever seem on TV. It even made me want to go to a mosque just to see what was happening, but I figured that was not the best idea.
Observations:
1) Heathrow is by far the best London airport. Only 15 minutes from the Circle Line on the Tube. The other airports take nearly an hour and trains leave from further out locations.
2) Easiest visa ever. To gain entry into Turkey all I had to do was go to one counter tell them I was an American citizen and hand them a 20 USD bill. They handed me a stamp for the visa which I pasted into my passport. I then walked to another line with my passport open to the visa page where it was promptly stamped with out even looking at my picture or name. I do not think it as easy to get in anywhere else. Every country so far I have at least been asked how long I plan on staying.
3)Crafty touts. The touts here are really good. They are very good at picking out what countries people are from and changing their language based on it. They will say something in Japanese, Spanish, French, Austrailan English, British English, or American English depending upon who walks by. One guy even pegged me as being from DC and claimed he had just moved back to Istambul and had seen me at Kramer Books in Dupont Circle one month earlier. Another guy tired to claim he lived in LA, but when I pressed him further, he could not back up his story with any details on LA.
4) Japan is changing. I met at 35 year old Japanese guy at the hostel who recently quit his job at a large bank in Japan. He was travelling around the Middle East for 4 months before going back to Japan to start his own company. This seems completely unheard of for Japan, several years back.
posted by Traveling Brian at 8:47 AM
2 Comments:
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