I’ve put the Indian nightmare behind me and finally
completed my 16-month tour with the last stop was in Istanbul. The past 4 weeks
have varied in experience from one extreme to the other, but the food has been
exceptional throughout. Most recently I’ve traded in Chinese and Indian food
for liberal helpings of Turkish kebabs. I need to invest in a workout DVD,
maybe I’ll get Jade Goody’s as we both dislike Indians.
I really enjoyed my time in Istanbul. It’s a beautiful,
clean city that has a lot of history. I was very sceptical of the people, but
they have turned out to be very kind and welcoming*.
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| The Hagia Sophia Museum (formerly a mosque) |
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| The Grand Bazaar |
A highlight was taking a cruise down the Bosphorus, the body
of water that separates the Istanbul and the continents of Europe and Asia, a
must do if you’re ever here. About halfway into the cruise we moored and
explored The Fortress of Rumeli, learning about some of the history of the
Ottoman Empire.
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| The Fortress of Rumeli |
An experience that I was persuaded into was going to a
Turkish bathhouse. I was expecting something similar to the jjimjjilbang of
Korea (a nude spa). I went with my dad; we stripped down, donned a towel and
made our way to the sauna. It was very quiet in there and we enjoyed the
freedom of the sauna before being summoned for our body scrubs. I walked
through to a separate room, removed my towel only to see that the other men
getting scrubbed were wearing swimming shorts. I exposed myself to many Turkish
men. The towel went back on and the scrubbing commenced. Much like the
jjimjjilbang experience they take the dead skin off you with a Brillo pad. After the scrub they give you a "massage". I think I got the massager who was racist toward
English people because this was less of a massage and more of a battering. He
kicked the shit out of me and I paid for the ordeal. He twisted me like a
pretzel, and pressed me into the stone bed that I was lying on. The Turkish
bath is a painful experience.
Combined with the Korean spa, I’ve been rubbed down by more
men in the past month than I was hoping to in my entire life.
Turkey has left me with two regrets, the first is not being
able to take in a football match. Unfortunately I have been here during the
international break, and even Turkey was playing their 2 games away from home.
The second is that I didn’t get a chance to head to the Syrian border and check
out what those IS lads are up to. I suppose I have a couple of reasons to come
back.
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| The view of Europe from the Bosphorus |
* I must disclose that despite my pleasant encounters with Turkish people, they still have a poor human rights record, hence why they are not in the EU, and that they invaded and occupy Cyprus. I must apologise to the Greek Cypriots that might be reading this; I’m sorry for enjoying Turkey and for “pumping money into their economy”.
