Originally posted: February 23rd, 2014
Ok I’m gonna keep this one buttoned up. I reread my last post on this thing and got half a paragraph in before I died from boredom. Keep it moving. I went out with a group of hostelmates, and we tore it up.. This was two nights ago, but yesterday/last night was a full post in itself so I’ll do that later. I’ll summarize, bullets so I don’t lose you
-went to Taksim Square
-there are cats literally EVERYWHERE in this city. You can’t walk one city block without seeing at least 4 or 5 cats running around. I just saw one jump out of a something I didn’t think a could could get inside of as I was writing this #CATCITY
Cattown, USA… jk Cattown, Turkey
-got pulled into a sketchy club… almost got scammed out of thousands of dollars. Ain’t nobody got time for that! we left
-went to a couchsurfing party? It was at a small bar with a dance floor upstairs. -Learned the turkish word for water (super handy for the sober life)
-met Beste and her friend on the dance floor, my hostelers left, I stayed with the two bayans and the one’s boyfriend Jesse (an American who moved to Istanbul over a year ago, happens to be the man), and all of their friends. Met another awesome Turkish guy via dance-off who used to live in Miami and Boston for a time.
-Beste, my new dancing partner and the rest of her entourage took me to Kaset, really popular with all the Turkish people I’ve met so far. It plays house music and is a great time. I dropped 5 lyra on a rose for her. Hey man, when in Rome.
Beste
Some odd decor in Kaset… the subtitle it says “premium lifestyle drink”
-left with Beste, her friend, Jesse, they took me to give me a Turkish late night dining experience at a place called Bambi.
Bambi, had a doner kebab and a drink called Ayran (really popular among the turks over there) that was basically a salty yogurt in a f’real cup. not terrible. It grew on me through the duration of the cup
-so many arkadaş!!!!!!!!!!! KANKA!!!! Jesse! Kanka!!!
-it was about 4am when we finished eating and said our goodbyes (Beste had to wake up for a spanish exam at 7am)
-walked home, which included amazing views, a wild street dog (they’re also everywhere, but not nearly as many dogs as cats) chasing me out of his dark alleyway I guess I should not have intruded on, a man with a machine gun scare me away from a building I had gotten too close to while trying to take photos of it, a bridge crossing wher a few hundred people were fishing… causally at 5:30 am…
This bridge was actually packed with people, but it looks empty here cause this was the end of the bridge, that guy on the left was a guy pushing a kart selling goods to all the fishermen
…and the first prayer call of the day from all the mosques that enveloped the city with music before I arrived at my hostel around 6am.
#PASSOUT
Also, can I just say the hostel owner has the best music selection I’ve ever heard. It’s everything. It’s like 30% domestic Turkish music, and then a mix of rock, rap, house, techno, and 90’s. I’m listening to Superman by 3 Doors Down right now as I type, his playlist also includes, Eminem, Celine Dion, Black Eyed Peas, Killing Me Softly by the Fugees, Santana, Aska Yürek Gerek, Hootie, orchestra, Smash Mouth, Klaas, and many many many more.
alright the more I write the less I experience, so I’m gonna go hit the streets y’all. If you got this far, thanks for caring you hooligans. Stay classy