Turkey

I took a hot shower, changed to my comfortable night clothes, grabbed a cab and arrived at the airport. I know I'll have a really deep sleep tonight after all the last minute bookings, callings and confirmation, till 2 am late into the night. Tomorrow morning when I open my eyes, I'll see Istanbul ... :-)

Istanbul ... It’s another name fascinates me. The moonlight shining over the dome of the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar market, Bosphorus,  Golden Horn…a place connects the east and west, links the ancient and the modern and mingles Muslims and Christians.

Finally, I'm here. My imagination is half evaporated and half fulfilled.

Three and a half months of relentless busyness, one week of leisurely wandering — life moves forward like this, taut then slack. Where is tomorrow? Today is tomorrow.

Istanbul

Sleep, wake up and eat, sleep wake up and eat, nine and half hours later, I landed at Istanbul. The weather was so pleasant, but I was too excited because what I saw on my way to the hotel was just another big city. As we drove into the old town, I completely woke up. Another dreamy place: narrow streets full of turns and up and downs, little old houses with bright color. Climb up a little bit, through the narrow space between the houses, I can peak the ocean and the white boat and red cargo. This is a  perfect fit to my imagination about Istanbul.

The street was very crowded. Ice cream vendors, meat stand, restaurants, as an Asian girl walking by myself, I immediately got lots of attention. A little bit nevous, I walked along the street.

In old town Istanbul, the buildings are crowded at both sides of the narrow, pebbled streets. The houses are so close to each other that opeing window  you can chat with your neighbors sitting at the terrace of their house. Metropolis Hostel, across the street where I stayed, has spacacular sea view.

In Turkey, the ancient setting sun spills across this Byzantine-era column. Thousands of years of storms, wars, divisions and reunions — all of it dissolves into history in this moment. Pigeons search for food; travelers rest in the shade below.

The streets are thronged with crowds; the shops overflow with goods. Istanbul never rests. New York's Times Square is the sleepless night of the modern city; Istanbul is a cross-section of history.

The second day I took the city bus to have a feeling of the entire Istanbul. When the bus drove out of the crowded old town, the view totally changed. On the two sides of Golden Horn, roof layers on top of each other, a few monster mosques stood out, round dome surrounded by sharp columns. This is the Istanbul in my imagination. Cruise, fishing boat, cargos etc. the golden horn is quite busy. The bus crossed the bridge and we left Europe to entered Asia. Istanbul is not only about Mosques but churches as well, although mosques are the present and churches are the past. Istanbul is such a mixing bowl, different ages, emperors, dynasties, religions etc. mingled together.  The Istanbul University was built on a Byzantine foundation. You can see the thousand year's old Roman city wall, five hundred years old Bazzar Market and two hundred years old mosque. Istanbul is a history book.

On the busiest street in the old city, a small Kofta (Turkish meatball) shop over ninety years old. Menu is very simple: two meat choices — Kofta or kebab; two salad choices — salad or bean salad; rice and two desserts. That's it. What else do you need if the Kofta is delicious?

Hamas - Turkey Bath

It was a big “wow” when I entered Cagaloglu Hamami. Light grey marble floor, high ceiling and big columns, it felt like a palace. A Turkish lady with black swimming suit was scratching another woman lying at the marble table. It was really a treat to give your body to someone having her take care of it, scratching, washing and massaging , especially after ten hours long flight with jet lag. Turkish bath is actually quite scientific. Steam ten or fifteen minutes first to soak the skin and open the pores, then with a piece of hard cloth, scratch off the dirt and dead skin, afterwards jump into a cold pool to cool down, followed by an oil message. After the whole process was done, I felt I’m as clean as a new baby! Now I finished “one of the one thousand things you have to do before you die”!

Walking back to my hotel, I finished my first day in Turkey. Life is good.

I booked another Hamas from the hotel where I stayed. It was different. Quite rough. The setting of the bath house was simple or primitive. The services were rough. The tough lady scratched red dots out of my skin with a harsh cloth. The big blue plastic slippers were similar to those my brother wears in Beijing. The woman rushed through everything. When the lady poured the oil from a plastic water bottle, I was very suspicious what exactly she rubbed into my skin. After going back hotel I took another shower washed myself completely. :-)  Such a rough service can be advertised so elegantly on paper. Lessons learned: never take anything recommended by hotel :-)

Eminonu

Eminonu, the busiest place in Istanbul! Old town's busy is tourism's busy, the busy at the surface of life. People are busy seeing things or selling things. Eminonu’s busy is the busy in the heart of the daily life. Local people were fishing at the bridge. At the ferry stations, small vendors carrying big bags of goods were in a hurry to catch the ferry, pushing other people around. Ferries shuttled underneath the bridge. Giant cruise ships parked at the port. These were just the things at the surface. If you walked down the bridge, there were many local restaurants lined up! You can pick up one and sit down, order a fish sandwich, have a beer or even smoke the pipe. People, ship and time are passing by, but my life paused at that moment.

I stood at the bridge, raised my camera, and kept shooting the passing crowds of every kind — then suddenly, with a click, I turned to find a large telephoto lens pointing right at me. I had come here to watch the scenery, and without realizing it, had become part of it.

A girl in a spaghetti-strap dress and another in a full robe and veil walked by arm in arm. This is Istanbul. Here, nothing is strange.

Without having done any research, on a whim I stepped into a mosque at the foot of the bridge. A four-hundred-year-old mosque in Istanbul is called the 'New Mosque'! In Morocco, most of the mosques are forbidden to non-Muslims, but in Istanbul, you can enter no matter who you are.

National Palace was ok except the grand ceremony hall.  The scene of blue sea through window was painted at the dome rather than the traditional Islam geometric and floral pattern. Greek influence was obviously.

Grand Bazar Market and Egyptian Spice Market

Getting lost in the Grand Bazaar market in Istanbul was one of my hopeless fantasies for Turkey. Experiences taught me that whenever there is a dream, there will be the happiness of fulfillment, accompanied by the disappointment of not getting exactly you dreamed of. While Istanbul didn’t show up in front of me as the same city on the post card, it surprised me in different ways. Actually, I liked the Egyptian spice market better than the Grand Bazaar Market. The goods in the Grand Bazaar Market were are too familiar, ceramic pots and plates, gold and silver jewelry, cheap clothes, leather jackets, carpets, antique etc. Nothing special. On contrary, the Egyptian Spice Market had all the exotic spices, food, tea set etc. It’s more authentic.

I changed to another hotel on the second day. It’s much better than the hostel. The nice and cozy room felt like home. I was thinking of mom.

I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes, the blue ocean, the white cruise ship, the tower, the ferries, the sharp columns surrounded the blue mosque etc. They all appeared in front of my eyes again.

Bosporus Ferry  and the Dancing Blue Bridge

The city is beautiful looking from the ferry. The blue bridge was the highlight. Neo lights on and off, the bridge was dancing on the water. If you cross the bridge, you crossed the continents: from Europe to Asia. It was breathtaking when the ferry passing under the bridge.

Istanbul disappointed me a little at my first look. From all the books I read and all the pictures I saw, I was expecting a spectacular view: the golden moon light shining on the dome of the mosque. From the moment when I arrived in Istanbul, I started the search of “my” Istanbul. I tried taking a ferry at night, walking on the beach early in the morning, standing at the bridge in Eminonu. I felt something but not exactly what I was looking for. Tonight I think I finally found my Istanbul, but still not a big "wow!".

On my way back hotel, I took the TRAM (light real)! I feel I'm a local now.

The early morning walk on the coast

The real life of Istanbul peeled off in front of me. The ancient city wall in the early morning sunshine; the palace high  on top of the hill; the little open air living room the homeless built for himself, even with flowers on the stone table; the early morning swimmers in September; the cruise slowly pulling to the port or heading towards the next destination; the cargo with huge containers; the runner; the countless homeless cats and the dogs barking at me; the local men scared the dogs away for me; the high rise office buildings in the distance; white collar workers starting a new day in the cubicles; fish man etc. The sun broke the mist. Someone lives in the past; someone lives in the present; someone lives in reality; someone lives in dreams; someone lives for themselves; someone lives under other's influence.

What is life? How to live a life? The wave still kissing the coast and the sun travelling from the east to the west, in a short hour I've seen so many forms of lives. Powerful people always want more and more; they build city walls to protect themselves and to prevent others from taking away from them what they possess. So wars were initiated, weapons were casted and people were killed. Millions of ordinary people they don't need city walls, palace, rubies and they settled with their own lives. Ambitions drive the world.

Seven Hill and Terrace

After a hot day jostling through crowds of tourists of every kind, I finally sat down here — Seven Hill, a restaurant at the highest point of the neighborhood. I needed to relax and cool down a little. The white ship on the blue sea, the dome and columns of the Blue Mosque, the Bosphorus shimmering in the late afternoon light.

Terrace is the outlet of Istanbul. After walking through the narrow, curved and crowded streets in the old town, feeling the stiff legs and empty stomach, you can always walk into a restaurant or a hotel and climb all the way up to the terrace. In a sudden the view opens: the ocean, the coast, the island, the roof layer by layer and all the back street dirt and hidden secrets are in front of you. You feel relaxed and released from the tension built up through navigating through the narrow streets in the old town.

Sofia

I did the classic Istanbul daily tour today. :-) The Blue Mosque, Sofia and the Grand Bazaar.

Blue mosque was great, but Sofia was absolutely spectacular and unique. A church with dome and Arabic characters, a mosque with the mosaic of St. Marry and Jesus . Things don't have to be black and white. I saw the calligraphy on the tilted board, very Chinese. Everything is relative and everything can be changed or adapted.

Cistern

Cistern is amazing. The entire underground city built during Byzantine time was supported by columns and was used as water storage. Cistern was the biggest one. There are lot of smaller ones under the normal houses in Istanbul. What kind of imagination and engineering needed to create it!

Cappadocia

Cappadocia… the place on Lonely Planet’s cover. How many places on Lonely Planet’s covers have I been to?

Cappadocia is another perfect example how geographic environment shapes people's lives. Underground city, cave dwelling, pigeon house, all because of the soft soil from volcano eruption.

The life of Christian during that time period was so dark and seclusive. Why do people want to dig a cave living in the high mountains, far away from the society? What do they do every day?

The soup and salad were wonderful. Another example of simple is great.

I sat here, alone with a mountain and the caves within it. Music from a foreign land drifted in. A plate of salad, a bowl of hot soup, a glass of red wine. The exhaustion melted away — refreshed. I love Cappadocia. This dreamlike, slightly otherworldly little town.

The monk's hilltop — one simple cave dwelling after another, with a spectacular view and boundless solitude.

I absolutely love this kind of life: wake up early, go exploring, and when tired and hungry and unable to walk another step, sit down, eat and drink, write in my journal, and let my thoughts wander.

The hiking in rose valley was really nice. Caves, tunnels, pigeon houses, churches etc. So many to see.

The little Greek village was very cute.

The sun was coming down when I left Cappadocia. A very nice sunset. The chimneys, the caves, the mushroom rocks had very clear outlines under the rosy sunset. I'll miss this place for sure. Everything is so pleasant here.

Why would monks dig caves high up in the mountains to live in? Chinese Buddhist monks do the same — always building temples beside great mountains and rivers. Is religion just about finding a place to hide away and contemplate empty logic? Even if they can figure it out, what are they going to do? Come back to the mundane world? Then what? Living as normal people, bothered by all the noise and trouble of ordinary life.

It's so beautiful, dozens of colorful balloons rose together above the chimney rocks. Life was so pleasant and peaceful at that moment. It was a dream coming to true. A rising dream. Flying, flying, flying in the air, as free as a bird, as weightless as a piece of cloud. Yes. Without weight I can fly so high. If I don't take life so serious, I can be happier. The beautiful picture is still in my mind. So free. So happy. The rising balloon around the chimney rocks in the early morning sunrise. Life IS good.

Underground City

How much fear you need to drive you to build such an amazing underground city. Eight levels, with church, winery, kitchen, living room, storage for food and live stake. Twenty five thousand people lived there. How fury Romans were!

This underground city, complete with everything and interconnected in every direction. And I don't know how they can live in there — no sunshine, no fresh air, just a dead cave.

Cappadocia, the ash from the eruption of the volcano formed soft soil, providing  ideal condition for digging, so everyone wants to dig a hole. Pigeon houses, local people, seclusive monks.

Life is good...

A travel book with history and stories.

9/23

I’m sitting in the airplane back to Istanbul... Happily exhausted :-)))

SOS

Cappadocia is such a cool place. Very neat and cute. SOS Hotel was really nice. Early in the morning when I opened the window, I can see the mountains and the caves. Muse, the owner of the hotel, was an interesting guy. We can easily connect to each other.

The SOS in Cappadocia can't be better. I had the mountains and the caves for myself. :-) What a feeling when early in the morning you open your window you can see the mountains and the cave village and at night you can sit at the cafe to drink a glass of local wine and watch the sparking stars in the dark sky! And people. I sat with the two Japanese girls at the same breakfast table, chatting and laughing. The cute girl gave me a bowl of udo noodle as the souvenir. :-) I had it last night when I came back hotel late at 11pm, hungry and tired. It was the best food in the world.  Muse was really interesting. He disliked all the comments ranked his hotel below 8. :-) When on road, I can always meet people with the free spirit and interesting story. That's the fun part of travel.

 The Archeology Museum was huge. I was so tired. Now I'm so used to sitting in a corner of a busy restaurant typing my journal no matter how crowded the surroundings are. I guess I found my inner peace in the noisy street now :-)

Today was my last day in Turkey. I still had a long list. I decided to go to the Taksim Square to do some shopping in the afternoon. I was tired of walking through the crowd in the tourism center.

Walking in a modern mall with all the brands I’m familiar, Nike, Zara, Nine West etc. was very depressing. I flew all the way to Turkey and I still couldn’t escape from the massive commercial chain of the industrial countries.

9/25

Finally I sat at my seat in the airplane back to Washington dc. I can use my iPhone again. :-) It's really a lucky trip. I got an empty seat next to me. I lift the arm support and made a little bed for myself.

It's almost a perfect trip except the hotel issue in Istanbul. While the first night stay in orient hostel wasn’t pleasant, but it was expected. The next three nights at Dasssion were perfect. Although the hotel doesn’t have a terrace, but the homy decoration of the room, the buffet breakfast and especially Alisuni, who packed breakfast for me when I had to leave at 5am to catch an early morning flight. I was lucky that I found the feeling of home in a country far, far away from where I live. I don't know why I didn't sit down to have tea or coffee with him....  I regretted right away.