Istanbul- Day Three

Day 3 - 2nd November 2014.


"Did you know there's an average of 3 million visitors at Istikal Cadessi on a weekend day?"

"WHATTTTTT AND WE WALKED THROUGH THAT?!"

The morning started with us cooking some sausages that we bought from the Turkish grandmother. Along with some bread and cheese. It was a way of cost efficiency for us.

We decided to go towards Galata Tower, on the other end of Istikal.

It was about 9am when we left, and Istikal was still all empty apart from people like us, and the shopkeepers.

Note: The amount of cats that distracted us everyday is a lot. Mainly cause Eli is a cat lady and Turkish cats are so fluffy and friendly. Stray Turkish cats like me more than my own.

As we walked further from Taksim Square, the shops became more traditional and there were fresh juice shops, where they press it in front of you.

Eli: I want promegranate.

Hanis: APPLE.

The apple juice was very yummy, but .. the promegranate was very acidic to me that I coughed and my eyes teared up. But Eli really enjoyed it.

We then got to a crossroad, and had no idea which one to take. Help came in the form of a man sitting at a table in front of this Cultural Museum.

He spoke English.

And was selling tickets for a Whirling Dervish show later that day.  


Imagine the look on our faces when we saw the note stating "Sunday only". We glanced at each other, made some comments on how it must be our luck to walk by here today and BAM bought two tickets.

"Where is Galata tower?"

"You go straight and it would be on your right. You will not miss it."

The sun was bright, the air was cool and thankfully we did not miss the tower. Nor the long line to go into it. We took pictures and decided to skip paying the entrance fee and climbing up the stairs.

We walked down another alley, more quiet and peaceful. I stopped by a grocery store and bought a drink I keep seeing people drink over there.

It was a .. salty yogurt drink. An acquired taste. Well liked by the locals. (Apparently this is one of the drinks to try if you're daring enough.)

I managed 2/3 before declaring defeat. I did not acquire the taste for the drink.

Eli spotted a place overlooking the sea between the two continents, so we walked over there, crossed a main street and basked in the sun. But then, we wanted to get even closer, so we walked down a pavement beside the busy road. It was about 10 mins downhill before we had to cross two busy roads and found ourself at a park/small pier area.

There were people waiting to get on a boat, and we bought some nuts and sat on a bench while watching an old man feed the pigeons.

THEN IT HAPPENED.

Remember how in Istikal you can walk any alley, as long as it is in the right direction, you can just cut through anywhere and arrive where you want?

Well, never ever use that logic away from the Istikal Cadessi.

We got lost, because we decided to use another way.

"We can just go uphill here, then cut to the right and go up and voila."

Voila my foot.

It was okay until we found ourself in a part of town we have never seen before. But there were shops, I remember looking into a kitchen appliance store and ogling the big mixer.

We then decided to climb uphill between some residential flats to cut through.

It felt ghetto. Old women looked at us from their windows while we huffed and puffed up the cobblestone path.

Youths stared.

We got to the top, take a left and it was a dead end.

Cue: mortified laughter.

I was ready to roll and die before going back down when we looked the other direction and saw that the road led out.

Cue: relieved laughter.

It took us another 30 mins of walking before we got to a cafe 10 mins from the apartment.

The cafe was recommended by the apartment owner, for being cheap and it was. What I had was, two grilled boneless chicken thighs, salad, rice and grilled vegetables. Add on a bottle of Coke and it was around .. 12 Lira.

I promptly fell asleep in the apartment before Eli woke me up to go to the show. It was a scramble of getting ready, and we both power walked to the place, dodging the crowd of Istikal and basically, just being badass.

The show was .. amazing. It was moving. It left me breathless as I listened and watched. As they whirled around. It went on for 45 minutes and it was 40 minutes of ... I felt like I was part of something great.

We then decided to make it an early night because the next day would involve a trip to the Asia part of Istanbul.

Power walked again and then we saw it.

We saw something that made us cross from one side to the other, risking our limbs through the Sunday night crowd.

It was a window display, full of chocolate bars.

Let me describe the scene in detail.

White, dark and milk chocolate bars. With assorted kind of nuts; almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios.

And it did not look like chocolate bars with nuts. It looked like nuts with chocolate binding them together.

And we stared, wondering if the display is a lie because surely ... no one will sell that much nuts in a bar of chocolate.

I peeked in to look at the price and squealed:

"The big bar is 14 TL"

Note: Funnily enough, both of us was quite restrained from buying sweet stuffs over there for some reasons. We kinda regretted that the moment we got home.

We got dinner from the same place we had lunch, but I decided to get pilaf rice from a cart outside.

Pilaf Rice Cart:

A cart found on the sidewalks, filled with pilaf rice, chickpeas and pieces of grilled chicken. A serving of rice is 2TL, and they will sprinkle pepper and offer mustard. Add on chicken and it will cost around 5TL. Its a simple, plain but fulfilling meal.

While waiting for the man to wrap up my rice, two little kids stared at the food hungrily. They looked like the beggar kids we see at the Cadessi. 

My heart was tugged. I asked the man to wrap up another serving for them. He raised his brows, nodded and did it right away. I waited, just in case.

The little boy got demanding, asking for tons of pepper and mustard.

Dinner was enjoyed at home, in a heated up apartment while we made plans for the next day.

A Letter to Someone.

Dear You,

It was an amazing 3 months of being friends with you.

I want that to be the first thing you read cause I know you know this blog exists. In fact, you had snooped through it and commented on the idiot I once dated.

How are you?

Its been a month, half a month since I have given up. Logic and some persuasion from worldly friends told me that you're doing the right thing.

Its either that, or you're just being a first class asshole. (I prefer this one because it lets me be angry and pissed off at you, hence tons of evil wishes are sent to you via my thoughts).

Today I realised why I was so intent in believing the worst of you until another friend made me see the other possibilities. 

When I am angry at you, I don't have to admit that I miss you.

I don't have to admit that I miss the conversations we had in the mornings, and the way you can get serious within a moment from being funny. The way you would ask me my opinion because it interests you to know how a Gen Y might think.

That career advice you gave me? What if I needed more advice in a year or so? Who should I turn to and ask, knowing the answer will be made of honesty, experience and no bullshit at all.

That love/life advice you sternly word out to me. I was wide eyed, showing my age when you told me that someone's refusal might not have to do with me, but its just them not looking for anything at that time. And then you added on; "Why bother with people who are not interested in you? Move on, to the next."

Oh how ironic that one is now.

I miss you because you made me realise the kind of person I want to be. The kind of person I want to be with.

I read somewhere that some people are meant to be in your life for a short time, but would affect you greatly. I think you're one of those people.

I might have given away the hand painted note book I chose for you in Istanbul. I still have the postcards though. I considered sending it to your office, but that just screams "Stalker Chick" so if you want it, just inform me.

And oh, those jokes I always make? I never meant it. I'm too selfish for that.

Before I fully let myself feel sad, remember that song you got me hooked on?

I have to admit, I listen to it and think of you. Every time. 

Sincerely,

Hanis.

12th January 2015.

I owe you guys Istanbul Day 3 until Day 8 but I have been really busy lately, with finishing up my accounts at work and transferring to a new department.

I promise I will try to get Day 3 and Day 4 typed up and posted before I go off for my Hong Kong trip.

Yes, you read that right.

Hong Kong trip, end of this month with the family. It would be our first trip abroad as a family since we came back from Saudi (umra' trip) in Jan 2012.

Of course, my objective is Hong Kong Disneyland followed by shopping for bags and shoes (does not need to be branded, all I want is pretty).

I haven't really looked up where else to go, or made any plans because I have been tired and lazy (Dad is doing research) so if any of you have been there before do give some suggestions.

And if any of you know Halal places over there, that would be really helpful because I do not want to resort to eating Fillet O Fish burgers, bread, canned tuna spread and instant noodles all the time over there.

Anyway, I have realised that the travelbug has bitten me because it seems that I wanna go everywhere. My initial plan was:

Hong Kong in Jan with family.

Krabi in May with friend.

Seoul in November with a group of backpackers.

Greece in October 2016 with friend (Mama keeps going "Nope nope nopee").

But then, I can afford it but it will be killing any leftover savings because my travel fund = savings.

Mama even said "Imagine you fall in love and want to get married after buying your tickets." because its kinda the ... norm here for people who want to get married to completely devote their savings for the wedding.

I was like:

Nope nope nopee.

Ain't gonna happen. Ain't gonnna sacrifice my travel dreams.

Haha.

Korea seems .. not do-able this year but maybe someday or with the family one day.

Here's to a year of savings and travelling and planning.

Istanbul-Day Two

Day 2- 1st November 2014


It is must be said that we made all our daily plans while having our breakfast/lazing around/getting ready.

We decided to not go to the Sultanahmet area (all the main attractions are there- Grand Bazaar, Haga Sophia and so on) during the weekend so we would just stay in Taksim for the weekend and explore slowly.

Eli was the map reader, route decider because I could not read a map unless it was Google Maps.

SO YUMMY. I WANT SOME.

We both declared that the biscuits we bought last night was perhaps Hera's gift to us. It was the moonpie kind, where there is some biscuit covered in marshmallow covered in dark chocolate. But this one had coconut flakes on it.

AMAYZING. (Any Malaysians reading this and planning to go to Istanbul, please email me so I can give money and ask you to buy a box of the biscuits)

We decided to look for Istikal Cadessi, a hip and happening avenue 1.4km long. How can we miss that place, right?

So, armed with a zipped up brown hoodie, gloves in my bag, money slipped into various pockets, digital camera, bottled water, wet wipes and everything us girls might need, we left the house at 8 am ish.

Note: Sport shoes/Converse would be appropriate. I used my gym shoes and I think have walked more in those 8 days  as compare to total usage before this.

We decided to walk, and just take lanes that looked nice. We enjoyed the architecture of these buildings and think we found the British Embassy .. but the lower floor was a tattoo parlour.

So maybe not. 

We came upon the Istikal Cadessi, without knowing that was the place, and walked down towards what will later be revealed as Taksim Square.

We saw 3 Starbucks.

Headbands. Eli bought 4.

"We should buy for the apartmenttt"

There were flower stalls near the Square selling fresh flowers and also headbands. A man stood with thermos of hot water and packets of tea/coffee for sale. A group  of policemen (very very attractive ones) were in the area and Eli pulled me back from gawking and taking their pictures.

Yes, by this time I had my camera out and was taking pictures of the pigeons. People were feeding them and I was trying to not get too close.

Taksim Square. People feeding pigeons.

A group of local kids asked for me to take a picture of them, and said "Internet" when I showed them.

A view from the monument in the picture below.

We walked a bit more, doubled back and took pictures at the monument before Eli chose to buy some of the headbands.

We then decided to "See if the coffee is the same here as back in Malaysia" and risked our lives to cross a busy street to go to the nearest Starbucks.

I can't even describe that cake we had. It has a banana taste, with some cream and walnut I think.

It was the most beautiful Starbucks I've been in. All wooden floors and amazing deco and furniture. 

And the pastry selection? I even drooled at the cake with chocolate covered raspberries on top when I did not even like raspberries.

Verdict: Coffee was better, and the heater in the Starbucks was good enough that I unzipped my sweater.

After an hour of people watching while sipping on my latte, we decided to continue "just walk down any lanes we want to." before grabbing lunch and resting for a while.

You should know that the next hour had no planned route at all. We merely stood at an intersection and go:

"Which one looks more interesting?"

Random hidden alley. Look at how pretty the building is.

And that has led to us coming across many interesting stores:

1. A store that sells pickled vegetables, all pretty in bottles. We went in out of curiosity and came out with a bottle of olive oil (me) and cranberry oil (Eli).

2. A small bookstore that sells Turkish books or English books translated into Turkish.

Eli, in her element. Its a pretty small store.

"I wish I can read Turkish."

"Buy a book you have the English version of then."

That was how I convinced Eli.

3. A small art gallery with a fat black and white cat resting on a cushion. The owner called it a physco. 

4.Gawked in front of the dairy sections of a supermarket and was tempted to buy something with eggplant and cheese.

5. A cafe with cushions outside for dogs and cats.

We then realised that in order to get back to the general area of the apartment, we had to do an uphill climb.

So we did, and came across another Mango and Zara. 

Lunch was decided to be bought from the cafe beside the kind Turkish grandmother's store because the night before, we had our noses pressed up against the display window.

The guy spoke English. Enough to explain every single dish there is and to ask if we wanted to eat there or to pack it up. With a hand motion of wrapping up.

What we had:

Food: Two rice, 9 stuffed mussels, eggplants, chicken, two sodas.
Total: 34 Turkish Lira if I am not mistaken.

Rice, chicken cooked in some kind of tomato sauce, eggplant cooked with beef.

We also before that bought stuffed mussels sold on the street side.

Note: Although our parents told us to not eat street food ... come on. We want to taste Istanbul, so we did.

The mussels, were stuffed with a kind of sticky rice cooked with herbs and they provided lemon wedges as well. AMAYZING.

While eating and moaning in delight, we decided to rest before going out around 4pm to get dinner.

Rest = Me napping while Eli smoked and looked up the fish market in her guidebook. I helped a bit by asking Google what should we eat in Istanbul.

"It says Balik Pazari is the place to go. Fish market that is in one of the lanes perpendicular to Istikal Cadessi."

We both looked up Google Maps and somehow, read it differently. Like, totally differently.

We also at that point of time did not know that the Cadessi is:

1. 1.4 km long
2. Has about 3,000,000 visitors on a weekend day.
3. Has about 4 Starbucks, 4 McDonald's, 3 KFC, 2 Burger King.

I am sure you can guess what happened.

Guess.

Yeap, we got lost and walked around a lot. Before we decided to walk the opposite direction, and further on. Before finally stumbling into it.

Let me tell you that while we were searching, we had to power walk because if you didn't, you might just get trampled by the crowd. The number of people left us breathless and we had to stop at the sides to catch our breath.

Note: Amount of hot guys were astounding too.

We walked down the sloping lane, surrounded by seafood restaurants and fishmongers. There were few other lanes from those, and one was mostly for bars.

Common tourist gifts. But, I was worried on how to fit these in my luggage.

We stopped at a store that sell teas, bowls and spices, and Eli, using her charms and language skills, asked one of the attendants where are the shisha bars.

Note: The guy was interested in her coloured contact lenses.

"Are you hungry yet, Hanis?"

"Nope. Shisha time?"

"Yeah. The guy said from the Balik Pazari arch, go left for 250 metres, and it is on the right."

Seeing as we are not professional walkers, we were stumbling blind guessing the distance. 

We were giving up and decided to stop at a corner into a lane for a breather when, as the theme of our trip, we found the place by accident.

There were very comfortable sette chairs for us to sit on. Eli ordered apple shisha, and I decided not to break my shisha cherry.

1. Mama will kill me.
2. The cold was already giving me pre-asthma attack symptoms.

But man, the smell of the shisha was so good that I was closing my eyes and inhaling the scent.

While Eli was trying to choose the shisha she want, I had my phone unlocked in my hand, and what the waiter did and this is pretty normal there apparently, took my phone and logged into the cafe's wifi and typed in the password.

Imagine the look on our faces when he took my phone.

Most cafes and restaurants has Wifi and if the waiter does not grab your phone from your hand, just ask them if they have wifi and they will be happy to type in the password.

I had apple tea. AND IT REALLY WAS SOOTHING ON THE SOUL.

It was warm and juicy, and really hit the spot. Eli had cinnamon tea, really strong. We enjoyed sitting outdoor, at 5pm (dark already), enjoying the cold and warmth of tea.

Then, we got hungry.

We went back to the seafood lane and went into a cafe, all warm and bright and decided to order:

Fried Mussels and Calimari Rings.

They came with a garlic creamy sauce, and of course there was free bread on the table and a bowl of pickled small peppers.

"Surely not cili padi (spicy small peppers us Malaysians love)." - Famous words said by Hanis before she bit into one.

It was really really spicy.

The food was really filling and we stumbled back home, proud of ourselves.

I was still jetlagged so by 8pm I was snoring in bed, and wide awake at 3 am (9 am in Malaysia). This was the pattern for half of the trip there.

Confession No.69

And oh how the stars

 had all fallen out

Broken and glistening

with the promises

He had whispered

Into her ear.

Istanbul - Day One

Day 1- 31st October 2014


Our flight was at 2.15am, and we arrived at the airport (KLIA) around 10.30pm ish with parents, brothers and a concerned boyfriend in tow.

I remember my parents acting as if they are sending me off to go study in Istanbul for 6 years, instead of 9 days. Both of our parents (Eli and I) expressed their worries, but as I have thought out loud so many times since March:

"WE HAVE BOUGHT THE TICKETS SO NO CANCELLING."

We boarded the plane around 30 minutes before take off and I told Eli to "wake me up when its food time" but my body knew that already and I woke up 5 minutes before snack time (A chicken curry pastry thingie .. yucks) and breakfast (Omelette,sausage and mushroom. The bun with the butter and cheese spread was to die for.).

The plane landed at Abu Dhabi airport about 8 hours later, and we had a 3 hours transit at Terminal 3.

Verdict: Tons of people. And if you're wearing a jacket be prepared to take it off during the scanning process. If you're like me, hijab and jacket wearing, make sure to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath.

Once we got passed that, we were in the tax free zone but with no UAE dirhams. There's 2 restaurants (Burger King and an American theme one) with a small foodcourt.

Note: We hung out in the women surau (praying room), and since it was early early morning, there were not many people praying then. 

The lines to boarding could be quite confusing because the gates were nearby to each other and there is not much space for a long queue. We had to ask several people if we are in the right line.

4 hours flight and we landed in a rainy Istanbul. 

An interesting note on the landing: If I am not mistaken, the runway starts/ends right at the cliff edge.

We were greeted by rain, coldness and wind that blew my scarf over my face. By the time I walked down the stairs and scuttled into the small bus that will take us to the terminal, my fingers were numb.

"No one said anything about the wind."

By the time we got into the airport, so grateful for the heated air ... we got lost and walked right past the Passport Controls because we were 

1. Amused by the advertisment for "The Sabah Post", a local paper in Turkey (I assume) while Sabah is a state in Malaysia.

2. Trying to kill the unfounded fear that Malaysians actually need a visa after all. (This is after each of us had checked multiple times on the Malaysia Embassy side and Turkey Tourism Board side.)

Once we were lining up (not so long because we were among the last to get off the plane + a lot of counters + gotten lost for 10 minutes gave the crowd time to disperse), another fear popped up in our minds.

"What if they think we are mail order brides for ISIS?"

I looked at Eli from the corner of my eyes and decided her various piercings and colourful hair would make her look less likely as a candidate than ... me.

But of course, less than a minute at the counter and I was skipping away to the Arrivals Hall.

There was an information counter, and he told us we could take a shuttle (train), bus or taxi to go to the Taksim Beyoglu area. We decided on taxi aka most expensive but easiest.

And this led to one of the two freaky/bad moments we had in Istanbul.

The place was hard to find, and eventually the taxi dropped us near the Euro Plaza hotel, which is on the map we printed from Dogan Studios. He waved his hand in the general area and said the place is nearby.

And went off.

It was drizzling and cold. 

We texted the manager (Who only spoke turkish) and texted the owners about being lost, but the messages did not go through.

We were in front of a kebab store (Doner is the name for kebabs) and I went in to buy some for us. 

Ever watched Taken 2? Yeah, I kinda felt I was gonna be taken because the men in the store looked like in the movie.

Hot + bad guy vibe.

Or maybe cause they were dark, broody and said nothing.

I pointed to the menu, having no idea what I am ordering and just said "Two".

A man took out two skewers of beef, put it on the old fashioned grill and started to chop up tomatoes and cabbages. He took out soft flatbreads and toasted those before wrapping it around the beef and veges.

7 Turkish Lira for each.

Eli said my face looked really worried while in the store, but she herself was worried about being lost that she could not laugh at that moment.

Across the street was a grocer, and the owner was kind to get one of his helper to take us to the apartment.

The boy, late teens perhaps spoke a bit of English and I found out he is Sulaiman and was from Syria. The route he took us through .. was through back alleys and there was the fattest furriest cat on a car (Eli and I both exclaimed in delight but it was more of a way to distract ourself from thinking we are being kidnapped.).

While waiting awkwardly in front of the apartment, a man appeared who is a friend of the manager, and he spoke English and said Soner was shy to meet us.

Aww.

He helped us carried our heavy bags up 2 flights of tight round staircase and gave us our keys.

Note: He was definitely a Turkish Delight.

The moment the door closed and locked, we both collapsed on the floor and laughed in relief.

Apparently I was not the only one who was thinking of just staying at the Euro hotel if we got conned.

For the next half hour, we got stuck to our phones and the Wifi to inform worried parents/boyfriend that we are safe.

One view from the kitchen window of the apartment. See the middle high building? At night it has fairy lights.

View from our bedroom window.

By that time, it was 3pm ish and we both decided that we should start exploring the next day. Before it got dark, we bundled up and walked 4 minutes to buy some grocery necessities.

From the cutest Turkish grandmother ever.

Note: My only experience of the Turkish grandmothers are during umra' and well .. they can be pretty mean especially in shoving themself into narrow spaces in the saf.

She spoke no English. And found us amusing as we bought a carton of mineral water, bread, sodas and biscuits. A guy in the store helped with the prices by writing on a piece of paper.

It got really dark at 5pm, and both of us pressed our faces against the windows and wonder if we are playing it too safe (By few days later, we were going out at 7pm and coming back few hours later).

So what did we do? Enjoyed our kebabs (Mystery meat we first labelled it until we found out it was Spicy Beef) and was amazed by how full of beef it was. Made some hot Milo (3 in 1 packets brought from home) and we patted ourselves on the back for arriving safely.