Friday, September 14, 2007

in which i enter the former ottoman empire

Istanbul, Turkey

I arrived in Turkey. It was a rather long trip from Prague. First I took the 6:30 bus from Prague to Budapest. If you're in the czech republic I would highly recomend student agency as a bus company. First they give student discounts. Second, they give you free hot beverages from a machine that makes very sweet slightly lemony tea, just the thing if you had to wake up far to early. And third, they show really random czech movies, including one about a guy who pretended to be a waiter during socialism, and everyone was so tired of waiting to pay they gave him their money. Called run waiter run or something like that. Another was called mountains of carpathia. On the bus I met a very nice woman who had been doing a medical rotation in the czech republic. She offered to show me around budaest, but feeling like I really needed to get to Istanbul I had to decline her offer.

After navigating the budapest metro I arrived at the train station. I really think the man behind the ticket counter had never written a ticket to istanbul before, because he had to consult all sorts of booklets and it took a very long time. But I had my ticket. I was too tired to do anything besides go to the grocery store. The 36 hour train ride I was about to take would have no dining car.

The istanbul bound car was half first class and half second class. I don't think I've ever seen a car split in half like that. Most of the rest of the train was going to greece, and other cars were bound for romania and bulgaria. A guy not wearing a uniform helped me onto the train, put me in a first class compartment and took my ticket. I was a bit concerned, until he took the tickets of other people coming onto the train. It turned out that there was one older turkish guy, two austrailian girls, one brittish girl named sam, me, and the conductor on the train. So we each got a compartment to ourselves. I ate some food and then folded down my seat into a bed and passed out. I was woken up at about 11 when we crossed into Romania. There was a passport check and 30 minute stop on each side of the border. Romania didn't take any time changing their passport stamp to the EU format. Places like the czech republic still have their own stamps.

Around 11 the next day we stoped in some little town in Romania. We were there for about 3 hours, so Sam and I got off and wandered around. Our car was the only thing on the tracks, sitting all by itself. It was pretty funny. There wasn't much in the town except for some big power plant. We had some too expensive coffee and then walked around. Later we found the austrailian girls and all had beer. By this point we had gotten better at negotiating with our euros. Fortunatly this time I didn't need any money in Romania, since I still wouldn't have been able to get any.

We left, and I spent the rest of the day sleeping and looking out the window. That afternoon we crossed into Bulgaria, and the scenery immediatly got more beautiful. To cross into bulgaria we went over the longest steel railroad bridge in theworld, or something like that. At 2 in the morning we left bulgaria and entered Turkey. On the turkish side, everyone had to leave the train. Then we bought our visas in one line, stood in another line to have our passports stamped and then I got back on the train and went to sleep, only to be woken up by an official checking passports to make sure that everyone on the train had a stamped visa.

We arrived in Istanbul at about 8:30 in the morning. Not having a hostel, I followed Sam to hers. They told us that check in wasn't until 12, but the guy let us take showers, and then leave our luggage. We went to the place that Efdal teaches, and had menemen for breakfast. Not much had changed. It's nice to be back.

Sam was visiting Istanbul on her way to a wedding in Bodrum, so I kind of showed her around that first day. We visited the baazar, and Hasan and Murat. She found some shoes there. Then we walked down the hill to eminonu to get some balik ekmek. Returning back up the hill we stopped at a cafe, and then she went out to meet some friends of a friend. I called Aylin. She said, why aren't you staying with us? and, Nazende is getting married tomorrow morning.

So after that first night in the hostel, I got up early in the morning, and took my stuff on the tram, boat, and bus to get to Aylin's house. That was the last time I am taking all of it on public transportation! Never again will I travel with so much stuff! Although my arms are stronger now. It was great to see Aylin, Kubi and Ali Kaan again. He's four and a half now! I had missed the religious wedding, so was only going to the civil part of it. It was in a building sort of like a town hall. Nazende's dress was beautiful. Cemalnur had designed it. Aylin hadn't told anyone that I was back, so they were all very supprised when I showed up. After the wedding was a lunch, that in usual turkish fasion was a bit chaotic from trying to include everyone. Then later that night was a zikir, a sufi ritual. While I had been to many sermons (sohbets) I had never been to a zikir. I think I was a bit too tired to properly appreciate it though.

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