Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

So the swing song goes...

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul

AND HERE I AM!

Constantinople is the only thing I remember from 7th Grade Social Studies with Sprague (ugh, remember Sprague?!) So I've always wanted to go to Istanbul and see what it's all about. The exact history has gotten fuzzy over the years. I really wanted to drag Isis with me so that I'd have my own personal history buff, but she couldn't make it, so I had to make do.

So how was Istanbul? Let's start with the moment I stepped out through the arrivals gate into the airport. I'm trying to get some Turkish lira out of the ATM and this guy comes up to me and asks, "Where are you from?" MY LEAST FAVORITE QUESTION by the way! (It's too complicated for me to answer...I came from London, but I'm American, and ethnically Korean. Way too much conversation for a simple question.) So he finds out I'm Korean, and he automatically goes into "DAE-HAN-MIN-GOOK!" WTF? Then I remembered that in the 2002 World Cup, Korea played against Turkey in the semifinals. (Remember when the Turkish guy gave out free tickets to the Staple Center?) So the guy tells me not to take a taxi because taxis will rip me off and takes me to some shuttle bus service place and bargains the price down for me. Not bad so far, but I'm sure they still ripped me off. So then I sit around and wait for the shuttle bus to come and one of the guys who works there says it's here so come with him. So I go into the parking lot and he pulls up in his own car and says the shuttle bus is running late so he'll just drive me into the city himself! He drives me into the city, HITTING ON ME the whole way and then asks me if I have any friends in America who want to marry his brother for $15,000. (BTW, I got offered $40,000 in China, so WTF?)

So after making up a fake boyfriend and the guy giving me like 5 business cards with his cellphone number and promising to call him the next day, I arrive at Orient Hostel where I thought I'd stay. I've stayed at private rooms in hostels before and usually, they aren't bad and it's a good way to meet people when traveling alone, but this one was not good. Drop off my stuff and try to make my way to the Blue Mosque.



The whole way there, men are following you around asking "Where are you from?," "What is your name?," and "How are you?" Most of them are carpet sellers. I accidentally made a wrong turn onto a bazaar street, and got hassled all along the road, and when I realized I had gone the wrong way, I didn't want to turn around and go back down the block of shops, so I just kind of stood in a corner for awhile about to cry. Finally, I pulled myself together and more or less ran down the row of shops trying to avoid the sellers. Finally, I find the Blue Mosque only now some guy has started following me and proceeds to give me directions. I keep telling him "Go away!" but he just keeps following so I run up to a group of Portuguese guys and just start talking to them so the guy would go away. Once in the mosque, I realized people don't bother you in here. So I sat there for about an hour or two just so I wouldn't have to go outside. After no sleep and night bus to Paddington station and Heathrow Express and 4 hour flight and being hit on by Mr. Turkish Shuttle Bus driver, Turkish carpet sellers were the last thing I needed.


Me in the Blue Mosque. Women have to cover their heads in the mosques and I used my black sweater. I love that sweater. Thanks Julie!

So another thing I learned while sitting in the mosque hiding from the outside is that Istanbul is a popular Korean tourist destination. There were lots of Korean tourists around, and I even saw three Korean restaurants on my way to the mosque. So I'm sitting in the back of the mosque, and this big group of Korean tourists just settle around me. Perhaps they thought I was one of them? And the tour guide starts giving his tour in Korean, so I listened in. During this trip, I learned to differentiate Korean and Japanese tourists. Koreans always wear wide-brim visors and Japanese wear the floppy hats.

Finally, I left the Mosque and went to the Hagia Sophia. It's amazing being in a structure that old.




Then I walked around and while eating a kebap wrapped like a burrito (I MISS BURRITOS!), I met a Dutch couple, Laura and Martin. They turned out to be great so we went to have a couple beers and smoke water-pipe or hooka at a little Turkish bar.


Me and my Dutch friends. (Friends reference: Dutch people come from the Netherlands.)


Martin with the hooka pipe. I hate hooka, but it's unavoidable here. Turks are big on apple tea and hooka. It's their healthy, non-mind-altering, Islam-friendly version of alcohol and cigarettes.

Then Laura and Martin had to catch their flight home, and I went back to the hostel, which had one saving grace despite the fact that my room was filthy. They have the most amazing rooftop terrace bar with an amazing view of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Bosphorous. And that's where I met Aija, a fellow single female traveller from Canada.


Me and Aija!

I stayed at the hostel for two nights because I'd already booked it, but on the third day, I went out to look for somewhere else to stay. After some Tripadvisor research, I checked into a proper 3 or 4 star hotel. Yeah, I paid a lot more, but it was WORTH IT! While checking in, I met another Korean-American girl traveling alone in Istanbul! What are the odds?! Rang Hee works for an NGO who provides aid in former Soviet countries and she had a stop-over in Istanbul so figured she'd make it a little longer and see the city. She'd been followed around all day by Turkish carpet sellers, too, so she was as delighted to meet me as I was.



Rang Hee unni on the boat tour of the Bosphorous.


Me on the boat.


I forgot what bridge this is, but it reminds me of San Francisco. :)


Me, Rang Hee, and a random security guard who jumped into our picture at the Grand Bazaar.

SOO...Grand Bazaar. So I was an idiot and bought 4 boxes of Turkish tobacco for 75 lira. Afterwards, I realized I'd been ripped off. I asked around at shops outside the bazaar and found out I should have only paid 20 lira. So I was ripped off 55 lira (approximately $40). I was about to just write it off since I couldn't do anything about it, but then I also found out that ripping off tourists is illegal here! They have these things called the "Tourism Police." It does make sense really, since when you rip off tourists, you discourage tourism, and tourism is a huge industry. So I went back to the bazaar the next day, found the guy who ripped me off and after threatening to turn them in to the police, they gave me back th 75 lira AND let me keep the merchandise! :)


DO NOT BUY FROM THIS MAN!


Rang Hee and I got rings from this guy. And they didn't turn our fingers green!

Tuesday night was the 544th anniversary of the Fall of Constantinople so Rang Hee and I headed down to the coast to see the celebrations. It was PACKED, but the show was amazing. First there were the speeches and whatever that we couldn't understand. And then they started singing...and they sang many, many songs we didn't understand. But then they went into this amazing waterworks/lazer/fireworks show to orchestrated music. It was just so well done! I grew up with a Disneyland fireworks view, so I've never really been one to be impressed by fireworks, but the Turks did a great job on this one. Here are some pictures, but they really don't do it justice. You just had to be there.











Rang Hee and I were saying how this totally kicks Indepedence Day's ass. She's from DC and even there, the fireworks they don't go this full out. The show made up for the carpet sellers.

Rang Hee left early the next morning or more like the middle of the night, but she gave me her little "eye" pin. That was really sweet!

The next day, after getting justice with the bazaar guys, I rode around on the sightseeing bus. It really didn't offer much, but I got to see what's left of the walls surrounding the city from the Byzantine Empire. Also stopped by at Taksim Square.


Horses waiting for the bus next to ancient walls. Just a funny picture, I thought.

At night, I met up with Aija again and we went to dinner at 360, which is recommended by all the guidebooks. It's a nice, rooftop restaurant in Taksim. I overheard the conversation at the table next to us and found out that he works at KPMG and he was on a business dinner with his client. We ended up talking about Big Four and all that good stuff. It was so weird talking "accounting" after taking such a long absence from it, but at the same time, it all comes very naturally to me after bitching and whining through 2 years at KPMG. I know it might sound strange to you that are still there, but it feels nostalgic now, and part of me misses it. The camraderie you develop with fellow accountants because it's you against the Man and of course, the expense accounts. :) Then I think about the bureaucracy and the long hours and I'm back to appreciating my current lifestyle.

The next day, my last, Aija and I met up to go to Asia. Istanbul is on two continents. Most of it, including where I was up until then, is on Europe, but another part of it, which is largely residential, is in Asia. We took the ferry boat across to the Asian side, just so we could say we were in Asia. We had some trouble proving we were in Asia, though, since it looks pretty much the same and unforunately, there was no sign saying "YOU'RE IN ASIA!" Here's what we came up with:


A sign for a bank that has "Asya" in the name. (That's how Asia's spelled in Turkish.)


Me pointing to the Asian part of Istanbul on a map of Istanbul next to the bus stop.

So overall, Istanbul was pretty cool. I don't think I ever will go back there. Once was enough, unless I ever get a house and want to decorate it with Turkish carpets. But I did enjoy traveling alone again. I made lots of great friends who I hope to keep in touch with.

I think the thing that I'll always think of first when I think about my trip to Istanbul is that damn question "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" I hate that question!!! Where am I from? It's such a stupid question because if you can answer that question without hesitation, I'm sorry but you're boring. Where am I from? I'm from London, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Orange County, Disneyland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Korea, Seoul, Fullerton, the O.C., etc. And a few days ago, I just got back from Istanbul. So "sik-tur-git!" (means "fuck off" in Turkish)