Thanksgiving Turkey

From Selcuk we hitched to Balikesir, a convenient stopover on the way to Istanbul. The most interesting hitch hiking experience we had was with yet another Turkish trucker. This guy picked us up randomly...we weren't even signaling for a ride. We struggled to converse with him in Turkish, telling of our favorite places and foods in Turkey. He got excited when we mentioned menemen (scrambled eggs with veggies). A bit later he pulled over, went into a grocery store, and emerged with a bag of vegetables. " Menemen!" he exclaimed, holding the bag up for us to see. It was confusing.

About an hour later he pulled over again, this time ushering us out of the vehicle. He pulled down a flap on the side of the truck, revealing a fully-stocked mini kitchen. Working quickly, he started chopping vegetables and frying eggs. He made us menemen on the side of the road! Complete with çay and ekmek (bread). And it was damn good.

I arranged for a Couchsurfing host in Balikesir and his friend Yusuf picked us up from the city center. Yusuf is a schoolteacher. He took us to a restaurant, bought us a meal, and introduced us to his coworker Eyüp. Eyüp teaches math to high school students. We enjoyed listening to traditional Turkish music with him, watching a bad movie, and chatting about our travels. He found it rather amusing that I'd picked up a Turkish license plate on the side of the road while hitching. So we took some pictures with it.

Thanksgiving day: our last day of hitch hiking. In the morning Eyüp drove us to the highway where we were picked up after a few minutes. At this point we have ridden in so many random cars and trucks that I don't remember them all. One that stands out from Balikesir to Istanbul is the truck driver blasting Michael Jackson. I really never envisioned myself hitching in a semi to Istanbul on Thanksgiving, listening to the king of pop. For free. I may never ride a bus again!

In the end we hitch hiked approximately 1150km (more than 700 miles). I saved a few hundred Lira on bus tickets :) And we met some incredible people.

I celebrated Thanksgiving in Turkey (punny, I know) by Skyping my family. No Turkey dinner for this vegetarian. We checked into a hostel called Stray Cat. The name says it all: there were stray cats everywhere. The staff just let them in off the street, no big deal. We met some Germans, some Americans, and probably a bunch of other nationalities that I don't recall. After some much-needed R&R we went out the next evening to discover Istanbul's nightlife.

If Istanbul can be summed up in a word, I think the best candidate is "overwhelming". The city is massive. Population estimates vary, but I've heard everything from 12 to 32 million. Whatever, it's a lot. We ventured out to Taksim on Friday night, dodging cars, mopeds, and pedestrians on all sides. Taksim is the heart of Istanbul's  New City on the European side and it never sleeps. Think Times Square. Or a newborn baby. Either way, it's stressful, dirty, and fun all at once.

Walking down Istikal is an experience in itself. You might get hit by a tram. You might buy some roasted chestnuts. You most definitely will be among hundreds of swarming bodies whether it's day or night, Monday or Friday. We managed to find the bar I was looking for after accidentally walking into a gay bar. The entire bar full of men turned to look at me entering with two women. I walked out immediately.

Two more levels up the stairs we discovered Papillon. Hands down my favorite bar in Istanbul. They play good music (generally American...I heard everything from Sublime to Fleet Foxes). The atmosphere is super relaxed, with low chairs and beanbags, candlelight, and fish tanks. The beer is pretty cheap, too. AND they have WiFi! Doesn't get much better than Papillon.

A group of Turkish students sitting nearby invited us to join them. Their English was good and I enjoyed their company, particularly Arda and Hilal. They are studying design at Istanbul Technical University. Someone later described Arda to me as "little and gay". Precisely. They led us to another club, Peyote, and eventually we all turned in for the night.

On Saturday we joined a walking tour of Istanbul organized by Couchsurfers. Istanbul is the most active Couchsurfing city in the world, with weekly meetings and tons of events. I love it. We walked around for 5 or 6 hours in a group of 35 people, meeting foreigners and Turkish folk. We also tried Boza, traditional drink. It's weird. Made from fermented grain, it has a sweet, thick consistency that's hard to choke down. But you've gotta try it once, and try it we did.

Devrim, our wonderful host from Antalya, was in town for a couple days. She joined us partway though the walking tour and showed us some of her favorite places. Seeing Devrim again was really refreshing - she is always glowing and optimistic. We enjoyed some Sahlep together, then parted ways and met with our new CS host, Maggie.

In Istanbul with Devrim

I've heard several people refer to Maggie as the party queen of Istanbul. Originally from America, she has lived in Istanbul for three years working as a lawyer. Her schedule is as follows: work all day, party all night, sleep a few hours, repeat. No one knows how she does it. Her roommate Ryan says she is not human, and I am inclined to agree. We had a difficult time finding a CS host in Istanbul as three people traveling together, so when Maggie said yes we were there.

She first took us to a bar called Darkness. It's nothing special, just a dark underground hole full of smoke. Not my favorite. We moved on to Peyote again and danced a bit. Around 3am I was ready to call it a night. The bars back home close at 1:30am. But this is Istanbul! Maggie told us about her favorite club, Machine. Apparently it doesn't "get going" until after 3am. Seriously?

Seriously. The descent into Machine was electrifying. I found myself surrounded by a sea of people, music, smoke, and strobe lights. Once again, sensory overload. It was essentially a rave. I think you have to be on X to appreciated it, and I most certainly was not. The only thing I could think to do was whip out my camera and take a video.  Maybe I'll upload it when I have a chance. After being processed by the Machine we stumbled home at 4am and I fell asleep on an ugly red couch, using something reminiscent of a tablecloth as a blanket. It did the job.