Hi folks, hope all of you had a great President’s Day weekend. My five-day getaway to Istanbul was definitely worth every penny that I had paid. The city was such a mix of Eastern and Western Civilization. It was not as inexpensive as I had thought however. For example, a can of Pepsi would cost about a dollar at the grocery store but would go up to about $2.50 at a restaurant and $4.00 at the cafeteria of a tourist trap, like the Topkapi Palace.
After going on a number of trips by myself in recent years, I think I am getting the hang of traveling by myself which frankly worries me a little. As those of you who have visited Istanbul would agree, this is such a picturesque city, rich with history and culture. There is nothing like being able to travel from Europe to Asia in ten minutes, or find a historic mosque with the dilapidated mural of Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ with his compatriots. During my brief stay in Istanbul, I visited all the must-see sites (Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia and Topkapi Palace), cruised up the Bosphorus (the throat shaped river separating Europe and Asia, hence the name in Turkish), shopped at The Grand Bazaar, ate at great century old restaurants serving Ottoman dishes and paid a visit to the main city on the Asian shore, Uskudar (which I find a tad more conservative than its European counterpart). I also did a fair amount of nightlife activities in the Taksim Square area (it’s expensive to club in Istanbul by the way!). Of course, an Istanbul experience would not be complete without visiting one of its century-old Hamams (bathhouses). However it is important to note that the messages and scrubs I got from these places were not equivalent to those offered at a full service spa. The strength applied by these big sized Turks (most of them exhibiting great sumo wrestling potentials) would make you scream for help (the trick is, never resist, always give in).
Like any major cities, Istanbul has its fair share of recent immigrants whose sole mission in life is to annoy and harass the tourists. Since I stayed at the tourist-heavy Sultanahmet area, I was approached by these persistent plebians every five minutes on the street, offering me anything from escort services to knock-off colognes. I swear if I had a dime for everytime when these people asked if I came from Japan or Korea (they are common Asian tourists there), this trip would be entirely paid for! Fortunately being the savvy solo traveler, I quickly came up with a few effective ways to fend off these people:
1. Wear your headphone and pretend not to hear them calling you (thank you, I-pod)
2. Pretend you speak no English. Answer them in one of your native languages or simply make one up.
3. Pretend you are mute and just smile at them
Believe me, all these tricks worked for me so you should give it a try if you happen to be in this situation next time.
Besides these aggravating street traders, Istanbul has its fair share of robbers and thieves as well. This Belgium guy that stayed at my hotel was robbed after he followed some young Turks home. Not a smart move, if you ask me (What was he thinking!?).
I find the Turks to be warm and generous people but given a choice, they would not want to have our current President at their dinner tables (who would blame them honestly?). I was pretty cautious with my safety when I was there so I decided to tell everybody I was from Malaysia (which was not a lie really). That was undoubtedly well received. I did tell this Australian that I met on the cruise that I was from New York. We got into this disagreement about which city was the most international of all. While I highly proclaimed it to be the Big Apple, she said it was Geneva, to which I promptly asked, "why, do they hold fashion weeks there?". I did not argue further in order not to perpetuate the negative stereotypes they already have on Americans.
Aside from the expensive soda/alcohol and the pesky people who harassed me on the streets, I had a really great time at this wonderful city which is a crossroad between Europe and Asia. I spent my last night in Istanbul at a local bar near my hotel. As I conversed with the locals and smoked my hookah, I thought to myself, "this is life, I have got to do this more often!"
