Asians in Asia?

Today we took a quick 15 minute ferry ride across the Bosphorus to...Asia! Okay, so it wasn't quite that dramatic, and I was disappointed that there was no large "Welcome to Asia" sign, but it was nice to take that quick trip on a glorious day. The higher powers were definitely smiling down on us today -- it was warm and sunny, and after our ferry boat rides, we hung out at an outdoor cafe drinking Turkish tea and smoking hookah for the first time. I know it's not really a big deal, but it was the first time Regina and I have smoked *anything* in our lives, so we definitely had a good laugh about it.

Dinner was at a great seafood restaurant called Park Fora. We sampled a bunch of meze, Turkish versions of tapas before having the main course -- grilled local blue fish. It was so fresh that we had it plain with just a quick squeeze of lemon. Delish! Capped off with some Turkish coffee and we really couldn't ask for a more perfect dinner to end our trip.

And with that, our Turkey on Turkey adventures draw to a close. Tomorrow we head home to our opposite coasts and get back to "normal" life as we know it. It's been one amazing adventure, but I suppose I expected nothing less from us -- excellent adventures, indeed.

Crack is whack!

so this vacay has been one of the most chill we've had in terms of rest. as viv might have previously posted, i have been sleeping a lot more than her. this is unheard of from our beijing days, where she threatened to tie me down to the bed if i got up before 8 am to go to the gym. of course, viv has also been waking up for the pre sunrise call to prayer so i think the reversal in our sleep patterns has surprised both of us. anyways, we got up today, grabbed some delicious paninis and headed down the road towards the commuter ferries and headed to asia. the 15 minute ride across continents was a bit anticlimactic - as viv put it, there should be a sign saying 'welcome to asia' however, seeing as how we're definitely not in kansas anymore, dorothy, there were no signs to be seen. well after we heard another call to prayer, we headed back to the europe side. we thought about going up to the galata tower but didn't quite make it.

after debating what our next step should be (i might add i was open to going to the 7th largest mall in the world to ride an indoor rollercoaster but i got shot down), we decided to stay out in the lovely afternoon sunlight and headed under the galata bridge to drink some turkish tea. so i have to say, at first the tea just tastes like regular lipton tea. but after drinking a cup, you find that there's a flowery aftertaste, which is quite appealing and you might end up on your second or third cup before you know it (which happened to us).

so now i get to the main highlight of our day - we noticed some turkish girls sipping tea, playing backgammon, and smoking hookah. so i had mentioned before that i'd be open to trying this but was a bit more hesitant when it actually came time because i wasn't sure how sanitary it would be. however, they give you individual mouthpieces that are like straws and so viv and i had a blast smoking the apple-y flavored hookah. it was the first time for both of us smoking anything (we're actually not that adventurous besides the traveling aspect of our lives) so we were both afraid of inhaling. but after a few 'sniffs' we just succumbed. and seriously, the experience was a bit like inhaling an apple cider smell. it's very fruity and you drink a fruity tea with it. so we were being silly and taking loads of blackmail pictures, viv will be posting the less scandalous ones. so i'm sure the local people thought we were nuts, laughing and being ridiculous while smoking hookah. anyways, that was definitely the ultimate turkish experience - drinking turkish tea, smoking hookah under the galata bridge on a sunny sunday afternoon. anyways we finally finished and now only have a seafood dinner left to our wonderful turkish trip before heading back. see you on the other side~

regina

Where the peeps are easy(-going) and the food comes cheap

That title was a weak reference to the Nickelback song, Rockstar, by the way...

Istanbul is in one word, awesome. I wanted to say that Turkey is awesome, but since I have a data point of one, it's really hard to make such a blanket statement at this point. It's been three full days since we've been here, and even though the weather has been less than great, we're really having an awesome time in Istanbul.

The people -- not quite European, and not quite Asian, the Turkish people we've encountered have ranged from neutral to really nice. The most aggressive and annoying were probably the vendors at the Grand Bazaar, but as soon as you say no, they basically leave you alone. Regina and I have been out after dark and it hasn't been a problem at all (knock on wood). People generally keep to themselves and don't bother you. We have received some pretty strange looks for being two very Asian-looking girls who speak English, and random hawkers have tried to speak to us in every language ranging from Korean to Uzbekistani (ok, so maybe that's not a language? But they asked us if that's where we're from.

The food -- is cheap. And good. Regina and I ate some of the cheapest food we've had together since maybe Beijing, and even still we're still amazed that you can get a fully loaded "pide" (flatbread-ish pizza-ish thing) with meat, potatoes, and cheese for 60 cents. The only downside for me is that there's been a lot of sheep's milk cheeses in the food we order, so every new dish is a new adventure for my stomach so to speak.

We're hanging out at the "Sip" lounge in our hotel now, chilling and drinking Turkish coffees. Tomorrow, we're headed across the Bosphorous to the Asia side! :)

Black Friday

so today was our efficient day of going to all the tourists' attractions in istanbul. we started out the day going to the local cafe - cafe nero, which is like the local version of starbucks. have yet to try out turkish coffee so we'll need to do that sometime in the next two days. anyways after that, we spoke with the concierge and he recommended that we use the tram and go to the aya sofia, which is THE place to see. but then we stepped out into the sunlight and i was wondering if we were really going to walk to the tram station and waste precious non-rainy daylight. fortunately, viv seems to be able to read my mind at times and asked if we should take a cab, to which i readily agreed. because seriously, commuting on local transportation is very overrated (having ridden njtransit and nyc subway, i feel that i do have the right to say this). and luckily after driving by the tram station, i'm glad we didn't walk because it's a bit hilly and the walk would've been at least 20 minutes.
so we took the cab and got to aya sofia, which looked a bit like a run down building with random parts added. seriously the outside is very unimpressive. but once you step inside, it takes your breath away. having once been a cathedral, then mosque and now museum, it's just amazing. the juxtaposition of virgin mary next to mihrab (points to mecca) was kind of surreal. anyways there were mosaics and large circular koran symbols, to be viewed from viv's many pics. unfortunately, they were renovating the large dome in the center, which is completely unsupported and structurally impressive, so we were unable to get any pics without the scaffolding. also we were unable to determine whether ramps to the second floor were implemented after staircases were built or if it was originally like that (cause then they were handicap friendly a lot earlier than any other country).
next we tried to go to the blue mosque, which is right across the street from the aya sofia. but we ended up waiting for a long time for prayer (foreigners and visitors are not allowed during this time, which happens 5x daily) and then giving up (found out later that friday is a holy day, which is why prayer went longer than scheduled) and going to the basilica cistern. this was basically, as viv put it, a bunch of underground columns, which someone had the foresight to put lights underneath, in water to which they charge admission for. regardless, we took some cool photos and headed back to the blue mosque. the thing that struck me the most about the mosque was how the koran was written into the architecture, and looks like part of the art. it was quite impressive as well but not as majestic as the aya sofia, which was my preferred site. but still definitely worth going to see just because it's still in use and just amazing in terms of attention to detail.
so finally we headed off to the grand bazaar and spice bazaar. we even passed by a mcdonalds but decided to pass because it didn't look that appealing. so the turkish men selling rugs, lamps, spices, etc. were a bit aggressive and spoke to us in multiple languages. i don't think people here know what to make of us, especially since asian people are scarce as it is. seriously, i think people tried speaking japanese, russian, chinese, korean, french, english among the languages i could understand. well we didn't buy anything for fear of being mobbed but walked back across the galata bridge and saw the fishermen who apparently stand there all day. viv is unsure as to how they make their money from the few fish that they catch.
after we arrived back at the hotel, we headed back to our bakery for more sweets and ordered in. tomorrow we're heading out for dinner. but i think we were quite impressive hitting all the major spots today. tomorrow's schedule includes a palace and haraam so i'm off to bed-

regina

themes

so during any of our trips, various themes emerge. so for this trip, my theme has been the weather and viv's has been the flat iron. it was raining today and for the first time, viv actually woke up before i did. so i've been saying it's the weather - drizzling rain (which has been driving viv nuts). but i mean even if it was cloudy i wouldn't mind so much but the kind of raining, kind of not weather drives me nuts and back under blankets. anyways that's my rant about the weather so hopefully it'll get better tomorrow forward.
anyways, as per viv, we ate awesome local food for dinner and also grabbed some turkish delights and baklava in the afternoon so our day was filled with good food =) oh and apparently, according to viv, the correct answer to do you want to buy a carpet is 'we've already bought two'. so i will be practicing my response tonight in preparation for our trip to the bazaars so that it becomes second nature-

regina

Kir Pidesi's rock our world...

So after a traditional Turkish breakfast, we went back for a nap. Well, Regina did, and she blames it on the weather, apparently. We set out again late in the afternoon to the Istanbul Modern, an awesome modern art museum set in a warehouse on the water. Turkish modern art was really impressive and some of it pretty edgy, but unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take pictures so you'll have to take our word for it.

After the museum, we strolled to the Galata Bridge where we decided against being ripped off at one of the bridge restaurants, and instead went back to our hotel neighbourhood of Beşiktaş, which was actually pretty happening with lots of locals milling the streets. After stopping for a durum doner (think doner wrapped in flatbread type bread and then slightly pressed like a quesadilla) before finding the ultimate prize -- a kir pidesi (a pide is what's known as Turkish pizza), which is basically another footlong flatbread-type bread stuffed with beef, cheese and potatoes. Sorta like a flat samosa but not fried. And it was only 1 lira -- that's about 65 cents US.

Food prices are one thing that have been obvious to us -- it's super cheap to eat in Istanbul, as long as you don't eat in a nice restaurant or "American". Our hotel, of course, charges US prices, but so do some of the nicer sitdown places. The stores with takeout foods however, are ridiculously affordable. As our supermarkets -- quick benchmarks: a 2L bottle of water costs about 25 cents (USD), a 1L bottle of coke is about 60 cents, and a bottle of local Turkish is about a dollar. Yay!

Tomorrow we are headed to tourist central: Sultanhamet, or "Old City". Wish us luck!

By the way, pictures are being posted here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/leungv/TurkeyOnTurkey2008

Istanbul!!

We're here, we're here! After months of careful planning (okay, maybe not months, nor careful), we're finally here at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, where empires have risen and fallen -- Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul...whatever you want to call it!

The day's been pretty slow since I got in in the early evening. I was greeted by tons of traffic and pouring rain, not to mention a cab driver who didn't know where the hotel was. The W Istanbul is located in the newly restored Akaretler rowhouse district, where they basically restored a bunch of old rowhouses into a new trendy shopping and commercial area, anchored by the W. It's the W Hotel's first branch in Europe, and I have to say, other than the former W Sydney, this is definitely the nicest W we've ever stayed at (most of them are pretty tired by now)-- not that we're jaded or anything.

Dinner was at Spice Market -- yes, I know, we copped out, but with the rain, fatigue and jetlag, we wanted to stick around close and eat some comfort food. In this case it was samosas, tempura john dory and chicken curry. All washed down with some of Turkey's own Efes pilsner.

Off to bed now, but much much more tomorrow as we head to Sultanhamet aka "Old City"...


İyi Günler (that's good night in Turkish) and sweet dreams! (see below)

First W in Europe

now that viv has arrived, we are officially in istanbul!! btw, the turkish language is really smooth and sounds lovely. well, viv is now taking pics of our room, which has an amazing tv and cool touch button elevators. we will be posting pics soon. anyways, we would actually go out and see some of the night market, which i saw some of earlier since i got here first, but it's already drizzling. haha, maybe i should have listened to my mom and brought an umbrella but hey, i was tired from packing and working on 5 hours of sleep. plus i must note that i didn't watch any movies on the flight here, which is a first for me, because they had the two crappiest movies known to man - one with some watermark as the face of God and the other was about being the one deciding vote for presidency...anyways very blah. but besides that, my flight was ok although viv had some issues with her luggage. so i heard conflicting opinions about people speaking english here but i have to say that based on the limited experience i've had so far, very few people speak english above passable.
so we just had dinner at the spice market, which is located in our hotel and it was very delicious. i am looking forward to the turkish pastries and coffee...haha viv just mentioned it so obviously we're on the same wave length - which shouldn't be all that surprising considering we've traveled so many places together. hahaha lol viv just sprayed water over our entire bathroom trying to get a photo of the rainshower. anyways, this looks to be the start of another one of our excellent adventures so stay tuned-

regina

Turkey-bound. Not Turkey, Bound.

Regina and I are off to Istanbul for our latest adventure "Turkey on Turkey 2008". Stay tuned here for more updates on our excellent adventure! :)