Broadcasting from Turkey!

Hey guys!

I'm in Turkey at the moment - sorry there hasn't been any new posts in a while, but I hate the miniscule laptop so I'm blogging from the only computer in the lobby of my hotel.

We left Perth at four in the morning to get on a six o clock plane to Dubai, which took like TEN FRIGGIN HOURS MAN - we flew Emirates and it had like loads of movies and stuff, it was awesome - I watched Twilight (twice), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Chronicles of Narnia (again) and Friends. Then we went on another Emirates flight from Dubai to London, and I watched Friends and Frasier, Changeling and possibly Twilight again, I can't remember.

We stayed overnight in London in a hotel called 'Premier Inn' in Heathrow, which was really quite good - the food was AWESOME MAN. Then we went on a British Airlines flight from London to Istanbul, where I am now. The British Airlines plane was really old - There wasn't individual screens, so they played this Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman movie, this American comedy soapie with Kelsey Grammar and the Simpsons. Then we got to Istanbul.

We're in Istanbul for mum's work, so we got picked up and driven to our hotel in a shuttle, which was cool - I'm not used to getting picked up at the hotel by people who hold signs up with your name on them. We're staying at this place called the Germir Palas Hotel, which is awesome - the deco is like burlesque England - think Atonement, The Edge of Love, that kind of thing.

The food is - interesting, I suppose. We have buffet for breakfast in the hotel, which has the best fruit - every day we eat ourselves sick on strawberries, cherries and kiwi fruits. Turkish coffee is nice and Turkish chai tea is even nicer, although they're very strong - stronger than the stuff we get in Australia. We eat at local diners near our hotel, although not all of the food agrees with us - actually, now I'm blogging and trying very hard not to think about what we had for dinner last night, because it's not sitting too well in my stomach. The food here is very nice, but a little greasy - okay, very greasy. Fresh fruit is plentiful, although vegetables are practically unheard of - we asked if we could have some veggies last night and we were served french fries. Everything is cooked in ghee - which is like melted butter, I think.

The shopping here is amazing - we're going on massive shopping sprees because the lira is weaker than the Australian dollar so everything is cheaper. I've gotten a Turkish scarf - cashmere, I think, or it could be visicose or something like that - with a Turkish carpet design on it. It's pink with green and cream, and I love it to bits. I got a glass bead necklace as well, and some totally awesome red flats decorated with flowers - I'm wearing them now, and I love them. I've always wanted bright red shiny flats (like Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz) but they're kind of expensive in Australia and the red is like orangey and I like deep reds. These shoes are totally awesome, they look the best when they don't match with your outfit - I'm wearing a white shirt with blue, silver and yellow floral decorations and grey cargo pants and the shoes stand out like bright red lipstick.

One thing that is absolutely huge here are Evil Eyes - it's like a glass bead which is painted to look like a bright blue eye, to keep away bad demons. They're everywhere, and I mean everywhere - no street jewellery seller worth his salt would not have some kind of Evil Eye for sale. They come in dark blue, red, green and turquoise, and are sold in key rings, tassels, home decorations, necklaces, bracelets, amulets, anklets, rings and tiny ones are on safety pins - they're pinned to every pillow in the hotel, it's bizarre.

We haven't done an awful lot of sight seeing, because we've just gotten here - and we're not going anywhere today because I feel sick. But we're going to the Blue Mosque, on a river cruise, to the Basilisk Resevoir and other places, and we've already been shopping in Taksim Square.

There are street vendors everywhere - selling jewellery, Evil Eyes, bread, fish, ice cream and corn, boiled or char grilled. The traffic is completely mad - taxis and cars honk their horn for anything at anytime - even just for fun, I suspect. Street signs are few and far between, and mostly ignored, and there are probably more taxis (spelt TAKSi) then normal cars. There are millions of hotels in Taksim Square, and tons of restaurants - maitre'ds stand outside them and try to lure us in with broken English. Most shop owners, restauranteers and hotel staff speak some degree of English - some better than others. It's actually not that hard to make yourself understood here. To attract our attention, they call out in Turkish, then Arabic, and then English - some have also tried Japanese because we are Asian. When we say we're from Australia we get some funny looks, because we don't really look Australian - some have asked us whether we're Aboriginal (lol) and one guy slanted his eyes questioningly, it was so funny.

Men are everywhere - in women's clothing stores, in lingerie and swimsuit stores, in makeup stores and in hairdressing salons - hardly any women work in these kind of places, it's bizarre. Even the person who cleans our hotel room is a guy, which was actually quite weird.

Everyone smokes here, especially the men - the saying is 'Who smokes more than a Turk? Two Turks', and that is so totally true. In Australia, not that many people smoke at all, and they're either down in the dumps or trying to quit, and are generally frowned upon. In Australia, there are anti-smoking campaigns and cancer awareness posters everywhere, but here in Turkey they are non-existant.

I'll blog again about the Mosques and Bazaars we're going to go to in the next couple of days, and hopefully I'll be able to blog whilst I'm in England.

One message to all the Perth Mod Gods: any important information, like gossip and stuff about the Tim Winton competition, EMAIL ME - I check my inbox whenever I can. Or you can post a comment here.

I luv yaz all, and I wish you were all here with me.