Day 2: Bazaar District

Home to 2 world famous bazaars - the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, we started off our 2nd day at the Grand Bazaar, which reminded me very much of Saigon's (Cho) Ben Thanh Market. It was bustling with people, and aisle after aisle contained the same knick knacks - ceramics, handicrafts, glassware, rugs, jewelery, silk, leather, etc. They say that you're not to buy anything at the Bazaar without bargaining first! After awhile, I got pretty tired of haggling though, especially since I knew no matter how clever I thought I was, I was still going to end up paying more than what the item was worth! On top of that, every stand we walked by would try to grab our attention by saying, "Ni Hao Ma!!!" or "Konnichiwa!!!" It was amusing at first, then annoying, and soon after, we had no choice but to humor them. I think I now know the Turkish word for "Chinese" and "Japanese" since I heard so many of them whispering it to each other. They weren't being rude by any means - more intrigued than anything, but you would think that they saw enough Japanese / Chinese tourists to know the difference! Or maybe that was the reason why they were so mystified with us since we didn't look like the others? I should have written on Michael's forehead, "we're neither." But as we pretended not to hear most of the bored vendors who tried strike a conversation with us by speaking "Asian" :) we did let some of the them take a gander as to where we were originally from - and boy did they love to guess!... every east Asian country under the sun, except Vietnam! They ended up spending more time guessing our ethnicity, then bargaining. One guy even guessed as far as Holland and another guy actually said Madagascar.

MADAGASCAR!!! Has any of you even met anyone from Madagascar??? What do they even look like?



I was really on the lookout for a cool Turkish charm bracelet (with an evil eye - muahaha), since Istanbul is supposedly a great place to buy jewelery, but after just 2 shops, I couldn't be bothered to haggle anymore.




Now the Spice Bazaar (below) is great for spices, tea, herbs and sweets with huge displays of turkish delights and large color pyramids of spices!




I saw a super long line of people queuing for fresh ground Turkish coffee. It turned out to be Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi Maddumlari (say that 3 times fast), Istanbul's most famous coffee supplier. Of course I had to get my hands on some!

I use to buy so many knick knacks when I travel, but over the years, I just decided to refrain from accumulating useless... well, knick knacks! But being in Istanbul, I kinda' wish we bought a magic carpet and lamp so we could come back anytime we wanted :)

Kebaps, kebaps, and more kebaps!

Turkish cusine is largely know for kebaps which is actually the national dish. As such, Yen and I certainly had our share of kebaps. Me, more so than her, since prior to Turkey, I already had a long lasting love affair for kebaps. Yes... the kebap, my mistress of meat. ::drool:: My favorite restuarant in London is actually an Iranian place and I always get the minced lamb kebap there. Yen and I have also had some great kebaps in Eastern Europe.

On our first night in Istanbul, guess what we had?? You guessed it! 

Yen had 'Delicious Chicken Kebap'. Yes, the menu actually called it 'delicious chicken kebap'. 

I had my usual, Minced Lamb Kebap.

This is Alexander Kebap. Not sure why its called that though. Grilled steak sliced thinly with some type of tomato like sauce on top and a couple fries. That white thing on the side is yogurt.

Ah. The infamous Doner Kebap. The one everyone gets when its late night and there's nothing open. Good ol reliable Doner Kebap. For those of you who have never had one, Doner kebap is meat cooked on a revolving upright skewer and then is thinly sliced. This is usually served in a pita/bread with onions, tomatoes, and lettuce. Most countries put on a white yogurty like sauce and some hot sauce. This is not the case in Istanbul. No hot sauce. Weak. Also, the Kebap vendors in Istanbul are really stingy with their meat. It's mostly bread or pita. 

More minced lamb kebap. I wasn't joking when I said it was my favorite. On the bottom you can see some of the pedici. What's pedici you say? 

Turkish Pizza!!! Yes, I'm totally eyeing it. 

This is a chicken 'sis' kebap. Those sausage looking things are actually called kofte which is basically a meatball of some type of meat. Very tasty!

You'll notice that in a lot of the pictures there's grilled green peppers. Its very standard to have it accompany your kebap meal. Yen and I always made sure to ask for extra! 

Wow. Thats alot of kebaps you say. Yeah it is. Hey Michael, how you do manage to eat so much you ask. Well, first off... I'm a fat ass. But secondly, you do like the Turkish and you wash it down with a nice cool glass of Ayran. 

Ayran is extremely popular drink in Turkey, it's yogurt that is mixed with water and salt. Sounds a bit digusting to drink but it actually goes great with heavy meat dishes such as kebaps. Just make sure you're close to your hotel room in case you stomach isn't happy with this combination.

Now go get yourself a kebap!

P.S. It may not seem possible with all the kebap meals, but we actually managed to fit other non-kebap meals into our vacation also. Will blog on those later.

Day 1: Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

When Michael and I decided 6 weeks ago to take a vacation in Istanbul, Turkey for Easter Weekend, some of our friends asked "why?" since to many, it seemed so far away, so foreign, and so under-developed. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that at one point, I imagined Istanbul to be a desert where camels were the main form of transport... after all, didn't we all hear the song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" for the 1st time as kids in an episode of Tiny Toons where Plucky Duck and Hamton J. Pig recover a precious statue for the Ottoman emperor??? Click here for the clip :)

Istanbul, once known as Constantinople was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history and even way before that, was the capital of the Roman Empire. Does anyone actually remember learning that in Social Studies back in 7th grade?! But Istanbul today, is the 4th most populous city in the world and is the only metropolitan city that lies on 2 continents: Europe and Asia. It's the point where "East Meets West" (I love Wikipedia)!

Since neither Michael or I had been to the Middle East, we weren't sure what to expect, but as an Islamic country, the Turks are extremely friendly, open, and welcoming. The second we arrived in the city, before we even reached our hotel, 3 different people offered to help us find our way without us having to ask at all. I was a bit weary at first since I wasn't use to people just voluntarily asking to help us - I was certain it was a conspiracy against Asian-American tourists and they definitely wanted something. At one point, while Michael happily chatted away with some kid who acted as if we were long lost family, I stood 50 feet away to make sure another kid wasn't about to jump out behind an alley and mug us! Turns out, that kid (who seemed to work at the barber shop next door) was simply friendly to all tourists who stayed in our hotel. Every morning as we would leave for the day, he'd run out just to shake our hands... and no, he wasn't asking for money (or that's what Michael managed to convince me, anyway). It got to the point where Michael and I would try to walk by quickly so the poor kid wouldn't see us (drop everything he was doing to run and greet us) or just take a different route entirely! He was about 12 or 13 years old and the only English he knew was "Yes!!?? Yes!!??" I wish I got a picture with him - he was always smiling and really darling. While most everyone else we encountered could speak English fairly well, I did chat it up one day with an old lady while waiting for the bus, who spoke 100% Turkish to me and I communicated through sign language to her. We established that while the weather was sunny, I should be wearing a jacket and that she needed reading glasses to see my guidebook (see, isn't it cool what you realize you can "speak" when traveling?). Oh, we also confirmed that I was not Japanese or Chinese :) More on that topic later (that's a blog entry all on its own).

Our hotel room was actually a modern loft, with stairs leading to a beautiful glass-covered terrace overlooking parts of Istanbul.

Situated in Taksim, literally down the road from Istiklal Street, a buzzing area with the city's best shopping and restaurants, we couldn't have been in a more convenient spot. Below is a picture of the fruit stands at the end of our block.

Around the corner is Istaklal (main) Street, where Michael and I walked through daily, either to get to the bus stop in Taksim or grab dinner. The side streets here were filled with outdoor bars, cafes, shisha bars, tea houses, patisseries - it was absolutely perfect.

We spent our 1st afternoon in Istanbul at an outside bar, snacking on food and pastries from carts passing by and winding down from our flight. You can be certain that Michael will talk about the food here in later entries.

Istanbul is a remarkable city, mixing so much of the old with the new - and despite what most think, it's extremely cosmopolitan. Below are a few pictures which can only begin to depict this world-class city.

HOT WINGS

DANG. I AM CRAVING SOME HOT WINGS. I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT BUT HOT WINGS ARE AN AMERICAN THING AND THIS WAS ONLY MADE OBVIOUS BY THE LACK OF HOT WINGS IN LONDON. YEN AND I WENT TO A PUB THE OTHER NIGHT AND GOT SOME WINGS. BUT THAT WAS SOME CRAZY SHIT. IT WAS LIKE MIDDLE EASTERN WEIRD ASS CHICKEN. THE MEAT JUST FELL OFF THE BONE... YOU WOULD THINK THAT WAS A GOOD THING NORMALLY BUT TRUST ME, IT WASN'T. THINK ABOUT AN OLD ASS LADY WITH HER SKIN SAGGING OFF .HER BODY. YAH. COMPARABLE.

SO TO MAKE UP FOR THIS. I THINK TOMORROW WE'RE GOING TO GO TO AN AMERICAN BBQ JOINT CALLED BODEANS. WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES.

OKAY. YEN IS CENSORING ME FOR ALL MY SWEARING. PFFTT. FREE SPEECH! OKAY. I'M GOING TO GO PROTEST HER.... PROTEST HER REAL GOOD.. OHHHHH YEAH

VACATION!

I SOOO DESPERATELY NEED ONE ASAP. HOW ABOUT YOU? THIS WHOLE GLOBAL ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS JUST DAMN DEPRESSING. YEN IS CURRENTLY BLOGGING ABOUT THE G20 MEETING RIGHT NOW AND THE PROTESTS ALONGSIDE IT. PEOPLE ARE JUST ANGRY. ANGRY. ANGRY. EVERYONE SHOULD JUST TAKE A VACATION. BUT I GUESS THATS THE WHOLE POINT. NOT EVERYONE CAN IN THIS ECONOMIC CLIMATE.

FORTUNATELY YEN AND I ARE LUCKILY ENOUGH TO DO SO. WE'RE GOING TO ISTANBUL NEXT WEDNESDAY! I CAN'T WAIT. WE WILL SURELY HAVE PICTURES UP SOON AFTER WE GET BACK. ANYONE WANT ANYTHING? I'LL TRY TO EAT A KEBAB FOR YOU.

THEN WE HAVE FRIENDS AND FAMILY VISITING US SOON THEREAFTER TOO. CHARLIE WILL BE IN TOWN IN A FEW WEEKS. SO FAR, WE'RE PLANNING ON AMSTERDAM, PARIS, AND MADRID.

AHHH. VACATIONS... ARE YOU GOING ANYWHERE SOON??? IF NOT, GO TO EUROPE AND WE'LL MEET YOU SOMEWHERE!