Dubai in itself was a dramatic change from what I had been living in Asia for the past year or so. But I only stayed 5 days in Dubai, so the cultural changes didn't really register.
Turkey, is quite the opposite. Even though I am only staying two weeks here, the changes are registering as if I were staying a whole year. It is quite fascinating.
Turkey, the country where full veils cohabit with mini skirts, and Mosques cohabit with night clubs...
In many ways it reminds me of Morocco. Yet at the same time, Turkey is part of Europe, and it shows, at least regarding Istanbul. This city is definitely like a western city. Just as urbanized, electricized, organized...
But one of the elements thus far, to my personal opinion, that keeps this city from fully being a western city is that its citizens have the same litering behavior than Asians. They just throw paper, plastic and whatever else in the street assuming that someone else will clean after them or not. (And you know how that bothers me so much) Which is what actually happens at night, but it still doesn't show for the most educated and hygienic behavior.
Anyhow...as I was walking through the old Istanbul, I noticed that a lot of people were staring at my feet. At first I didn't really catch on it. But the more people kept on doing it the more conscious I became. So after a while I started looking at people's feet as well, and quickly understood why people were looking at mine. Perhaps this realization is just the fruit of my creativity, but I observed that Istanbul locals all wear shoes. Not a single one wears sandals, even though the temperature is above 30 degrees Celsius! Turks are very stylish and just like in European big cities, fashion victims are all around. So talk about a dramatic change from places like Bangladesh or Nepal. It actually made me laugh because the one thing that I have stopped caring about during this trip is fashion. I definitely gave up fashion over comfort...at least for the duration of my trip. So it is funny to roam around the streets of fashionable Istanbul where everyone is so concerned about their fancy haircut, their new shoes, or their branded harmonious outfits, while me, walking around with very much used sandals, trekking pants, and weather stained T-shirt while carrying fruits and bread in a plastic bag and eating bananas as if it were the most succulent of foods. And yet, the smiles on their faces are not any bigger than the one oh my face.
I was also surprised to see that it was much easier to find English speakers in Dhaka than in Istanbul. Perhaps the more developed a p!ace is the less it needs to integrate an international language. Yet being part of the international/global game is a major contributing factor to one's development. I don't know... But this afternoon a funny occurrence happened. I walked into a photo store to try and figure out how to retrieve some of my Nepal photos that have disappeared. And so I asked the lady about it. She doesn't speak English, so she asks her only other customer in the shop. This one doesn't speak English either but she asks her brother who is outside to come in. The shop keeper is Turkish, the lady customer is Ukrainian but living in turkey, and so speaks both Turkish and Ukrainian. Her brother lives in Sweden and so speaks Ukrainian, Swedish and English. And so my inquiry goes this way: I ask the brother, he translates into Ukrainian for his sister, and she translates into Turkish for the shop keeper. The shop keeper answers, talks to the sister in Turkish. She translates to her brother in Ukrainian, and he translates to me in English. I swear, the whole time I couldn't stop laughing. I had never been in such comical situation before. Anyhow, still not able to retrieve my photos. :-(
On a different topic, today I had my most expensive meal (at low altitude) of my trip so far. I spent $5 on one dish! For whatever reason I had been dreaming of eating a white beans stew for months. So when I saw, as I was walking the streets, someone being served a clay pot white bean stew with onions, chunks of meat and a yummy tomatoes sauce, I couldn't resist. The one food folly of my trip. Hahaha! But I do need to gain weight, and that dish was as healthy as can get. So what the hell!? It was so delicious and wort every penny. :-)
Turkey, don't trick me that way with your food anymore. You better give me some cheaper healthy and filling options, because I am hungry!
(((I didn't once get a single blister, sore, or cut on my feet during my whole time trekking in Nepal, and yet, I found the way to cut open my big toe in an escalator of a mall in Dubai. How ridiculous?! I just hope it heals fast enough for the Camino in two weeks...)))
Oh, and turkey is so much more expensive than Asia, and cheap places being so hard to come by (I walked around last night at midnight for about an hour to find the cheapest hostel dorm bed of the whole area, and yet it was $12.50/night!), so for the very first time in 14 months I actually made a booking in advance in a hostel for a bed, assuring !e a bed for $8.50/night, which is not necessarily that expensive, but compared to Nepal it is the equivalent of three nights for a single room with hot shower and free WiFi! Oh well, that's what happens when you travel west I suppose...
Anyway, so far, Turkey is beautiful, and its food is so yummmmy!
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