I did it! I bought a costume

OK, after thinking about it for a couple of days, I decided to buy a costume. I love it, I really do. I didn't get as good of a price as I would've the first day, but all in all it ended up costing me $240. I forgot to get a skirt with it...It was supposed to be included, but I completely forgot. Luckily, there are places that sell really cheap skirts here...about $15.

Tonight was the night of bad luck. So Adam and I went to town ; we got dropped off at Sultanhamet and it was prayer time so we couldn't go into the Blue Mosque. Then, we tried to go to Hagia Sophia, a church turned mosque turned museum. We couldn't find the entrance so we walked all the way around it only to find it closed!

Est puis (Adam is watching French TV), we walked to the Grand Bazaar to show Adam and get the belly dance costume. It was much better with him, people don't bug me as much. Then we walked to the restaurant Hamdi, which is near the New Mosque. We wanted to eat up at the third floor where the terrace is, but it was full. So we went to the 2nd floor and it was so smoky, we couldn't stand it. Finally we ended up at the 1st floor. That was better, but still a little smoky. The restaurant was packed. Dinner was ok, but of course, the only thing I could eat was appetizer or a pizza.

Then we walked around the square and got TOTALLY ripped off. I am so irritated. So this shoe shiner drops his brush in front of us, so I pick it up for him...then he makes this big deal about giving me a shoe shine at no charge for being so nice. Adam gives him a five because he's nice and then the guy goes on and on about his children at home that he needs to feed. Then he says it's not 5 lira, but 8. I said that he told me no charge and he was like, no but I have kids. I fished around in my purse and gave him some change. Ugh! He had the whole thing planned. I mean every tourist gets the ripped off at least once on their trip, but its just so frustrating that people try to rip you off at every turn. I really hope he has a family to feed.

So Adam is not a fan of the city and I am not that into it. I mean parts of it are great...when you are not being hassled. The architecture is great and there are some fun things to do. My day yesterday on Istiklal Cadessi and the Hamam were great because I got left alone for the most part. But how can you enjoy yourself when you are being hounded and the pollution and cigarette smells are so bad? I know Adam is not a fan...

Anyway there is still much to be done...Topkai Palace, the Suleyman mosque and a Bosphorous cruise, hopefully we'll like it better after all that.

Today

First, let me say that I just had the best stuffed grape leaf that I have ever had! OMG! And it was at the hotel restaurant. Their food is really good. Breakfast is scrumptious.

So this morning, I went to Taksim Square and walked down the urban, pedestrian street called Istiklal Cadessi. It has a very European feel to it. Actually, other than the Ottoman architecture and music, the whole place has a European feel to it.

Istiklal is a part of the new district and the street is lined with clothing shops and such. There are no pushy sales people here! More my kind of place. I went to one of the outlet-type markets, which was ok. I had lunch at Barcelona cafe, which was good. They put dill pickles on my vegetarian pizza. It was really weird, but really good.

This is also where a lot of the famous belly dance costume designers are...It crossed my mind to just go and look, but I decided that would be too hard.

I got lost too, trying to find the funicular. It's this tram that goes up and down a big hill. It was so frustrating to be lost. And when I finally found the stop, I realized I had passed by it a couple of times without even realizing it!

Then I went to the Turkish Bath, called the Cemberlitas Hamam. I got lost looking for that one too. But, Audra was right, it is a place not to be missed. I didn't get the full massage because I thought I wouldn't have enough time..next time, right? So at the bath, you go into this marble room where there are fountains and basins of water. There is a large octagonal marble slab in the middle where you get washed and scrubbed.

First you rinse yourself off and chill for a while, and then a practically naked Turkish lady signals you to lay down on your pestimal. Then, she scrubs you with a thingy and rinses you off. It felt so good and it was gross to see my dead skin cells pill up. Next she takes this pillowcase and fills it with soapy water and she soaps you up and gives you a short massage. It was awesome and the soap smelled so good. Finally, after your rinsing, she takes you over to a basin and washes your hair. I hung out for awhile afterward under the dome. It is not for the shy...don't worry it is completely segregated. Anyway, I'd like to try another one while I am here, if there is time. I will say that it was a big tourist place. I didn't see any locals bathing, at least not in the women's section.

After that, I walked down to Sultanhamet and did some more shopping and browsing. I found a baklava shop and ate some delicious pistachio baklava.

I've been back at the hotel for awhile. I am still trying to decide what to do tomorrow. Adam is at the closing dinner, which I was not allowed to go to. :( I ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. As I mentioned before it was good. OK, I'm done, Adam is back. We need to spend some time together since we don't get to see each other much.

I decided that I am not going to post anymore pictures for now. It is pain to do it on Blogger. I'll get a Picasa album up soon.

Yesterday

Ready for the next installment? Whew! This is going to be a long one as I have just had two packed days...

Yesterday I took the shuttle to Sultanhamet, the part of Istanbul that is tightly packed with mosques and tourists. As soon as I stepped off the shuttle I was hounded by vultures. These are men who prey on unsuspecting tourists by trying to lure them into their business. They wait by the area where all the tourists get dropped off by bus, van or taxi and then they jump with their impeccable English. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying it is.

When I tried to brush the first vulture off he followed me to the Blue Mosque. Then he was, "Why are you being all aggressive? Why you so angry with me?" I told him just wanted to be left alone and that I didn't want to see his carpets. Ugh!

So the Blue Mosque was nice, but nothing to write home about...I am not into big, old churches or what not. I mean the outside is gorgeous, especially the park around it. But the inside smells musty and well, don't shoot me, I'm just not that into it.

Next, I went to the Grand Bazaar. An old man on "his day off" offered to walk me there. He asked if he could accompany me inside and I told him no. I never did figure out what his deal was. Inside was crazy! Those vendors are so aggressive and they jack up the prices! I found some belly dancing shops and almost bought a costume. It was quite nice, but at $260 that was still too high. I still might go back. He was very nice and he had my size which he called the, "special, hard to find" size. Boy was he right about that! The first shop I went to, the seller sent me up these steep, scary stairs to a room filled with bra and belt sets from head to toe! Every one he pulled out was too small for me until I was like, "I'm leaving now, you don't have my size." He told me he did and I told him to keep looking until I came back (which I never did).

Then I went to Ali Baba, which was supposed to have nice costumes...Well, I got a little person for a salesperson, who was smoking like a fiend and I hate to hear myself say this, but he freaked me out. I also went upstairs to the costume room, which was filled to the brim, but I just couldn't did through all those boxes and my shadow certainly wasn't helping...So no costume for me. All I bought was a shawl for Erika. I had to haggle to get the price down, but it is beautiful. A seller at another shop in the Spice market said I got a really good price. Kudos to me! I hope it is real!

Yeah, so then I had lunch and took the tram to the Spice Market, aka the Egyptian Bazaar. I checked out the New Mosque and watched the pigeons. I also visited the Pet/Plant market...which was crazy. They were selling bunnies, leaches, chickens, ducks, turtles, and fish, not to mention the random stray cats hanging out every where. It made me really sad to see the animals in such poor condition.

Anyway, the Spice Market was much nicer. The salespeople are still pushy, but not as bad. There are more locals there, so it is slightly more authentic. Outside of the market there are street vendors and there were a lot of good shops. I bought some food for dinner, because Adam and I decided to stay in. I took the tram back to Sultanhamet and I got there at the wrong time because the tram was soooooo packed it was way uncomfortable. It was commuter time or something, because the tram was full of locals.

I got to Sultanhamet early and I just hung out for an hour or so...I found another market, Aratasu, which Audra told me about. It was ok, still the prices are way too high! Finally, the shuttle came at 5:00pm and I didn't get to the hotel until 7:00! Yep, two hours on the shuttle, smelling diesel fumes and feeling so tired. I was the only one on the shuttle, but the driver was very nice, despite not knowing any English.

So, the reason why the shuttle took forever is that the Olympic torch came through yesterday, so they closed a lot of roads and it was packed. I saw the parade starting earlier that day down by Hagia Sophia, but when I was on the shuttle, they were having festivities at Taksim square and that's where we got stuck.

Adam got really worried about me. I finally got back and let me tell you, I was not in a good mood! Thank God I brought Clif Bars! So I brought dinner for us to eat in the room. It consisted of strawberries, radishes, sesame bagel-type things, cheese, and lots of cookies. :) Adam wouldn't eat my strawberries and I got offended. He said they were dirty because I bought them from a street vendor...his dad apparently told him that Egyptian produce is bad and it will give you hepatitis. First of all, Egypt is far away from Turkey, and second of all, that information is outdated by a couple of decades. We searched the web and couldn't find anything about it...I ate them and I feel fine. But you're not supposed to drink the tap water.

Ok, that was yesterday...most of it anyway. I'll explain today after dinner...

Just a few more days

I dropped Adam off at the airport today. He'll be in Rotterdam for a few days before Turkey. I get this really excited feeling in my stomach when I think about our rendez-vous in Turkey!

He amazed me this morning. He had one backpack...ok, kinda two, because it's the kind that has the little pack that zips off. Anyway, he was able to fit enough clothes in there for 10 days, plus a laptop, plus a digital SLR, and books and such. What a man. I'm bringing this big old suitcase thing...the plan is to leave extra room to bring back gifts though. ;)

So preparation is still going strong. I contacted the Orient Youth Hostel about belly dancing. They usually have it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. The guy said it was the slow season so they will probably just have in on Monday or Friday. I think we have dinner plans on Friday, so maybe we can go the Monday night before we leave. From the Web site though, it looks like their belly dancer is a bit...hmm...risqué. I am going to try to talk Adam into going to one of the expensive Oriental shows designed for tourists. We'll see.

So I watched a docu-show last night called Globe Trekker: Istanbul. It was pretty cute. The hostess was good and she went to the main attractions plus some. My favorite part was where when she went to watch the "gypsies" dance. She came out in yellow bedlah that was too big for her and I was afraid she was going to pop out the whole time. She was in a small room with some musicians and some really young looking dancers. You could tell they were not quite Roma-style dancers, not Oriental either, something in between. My other favorite part was when she ate sheep brain at dinner. EW!!!

The night before that Adam had me watch a show on Turkey called "The Silk Road". It was from a French television show and he downloaded it from the Internet so it was all grainy. It was also pretty good though. The show explained more of the inner-workings of things in Turkey, as opposed to Globe Trekker that just showed tourist stuff. The Silk Road showed the gold trade and they went into a gold smith. They also went to Cappadoce where they worship pigeons and collect their poop for fertilizer.

The show felt really long because it was in French. I understood a bit of it, but not a lot. Adam started translating for me and it was much better. I didn't want him to at first, but I am glad that he did. Actually, it's not that I didn't want him to, it's that at first he was just translating the easy stuff that I could understand. It is when he was explaining the complicated stuff that I wouldn't be able to understand even if I did speak better French, that I appreciated it. Gosh, I am stubborn!

Anyway, I still need to do laundry, pack and add my tourist schedule to the itinerary. Then I'll be all set. Woo hoo!

Thank you

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me prepare for my trip thus far. I couldn't do it without you. A more complete thank you will be done after the trip, I am sure.

Thanks to Adam for being the best boyfriend ever and for paying for my hotel room. :)

Thanks to mom for the early B-day present

Thanks to Terri and Erika for letting me be your personal shoppers

Thanks to Audra and Courtney for the advice

Thanks to Karah for lending me your giant suitcase

Thanks to Sheila for watching my cat

Thanks to everyone else for their love and support.

I am just feeling so grateful that I am able to go on this trip. I know I had to put it on my credit card initially, but with the help of everyone I should be able to pay off most of it. I am so lucky that this will be my sixth adventure abroad. My life is just full of blessings! It is equally exciting that I will get to share it with my love. We're going to have great memories that will last a lifetime.

I am just now rounding out the rest of my preparation. I see Adam tonight to discuss last minute logistics. I bought a daypack, travel toiletries and a watch yesterday at Volde-mart. Now I just need to do laundry and sit tight. I can work on my itinerary some more and there are few things I've been meaning to look up...I can't remember what they are right now.

Oh, I just remembered...belly dancing, of course. A nice, random person from Tribe offered to help with our trip and he suggested a particular dance teacher. I doubt I will go because it is expensive and the teacher doesn't speak English. It seems like it would take a whole day too. I would really like to learn Turkish Rom, but there is a workshop in town coming up after my trip. If I am not too broke, I should try it. It would be great to take a class while I am over there, but I won't be too disappointed if I don't get to.

Anyway, six days and counting...

Making a list and checking it twice...

One of the things that can be the most fun, yet the most challenging part of travel are the gifts for others. It's like Christmas shopping only compacted into one week. I am feeling a litte overwhelmed by the prospect of picking up a little something here and there for friends and family.

Here's the list:
Parents (mind you I have four)
Siblings (another four)
Friends (just a little something-for about 6-8 people)
Belly dance friends (you get your own category as my shopping for you is different another 6 or so)
Adam (even though he'll be there he gets something too)
Friends at work (about another four)

And the grand total is ~27 little gifts for those I love.

Any requests??? Valerie has already asked for jewelry. :) Which I love to buy and I will be going to the gold market. Erika has asked for a shawl. I'll have to get the proper name for it soon. Just let me know, and if you're sweet to me you might get a little something!

Love,
Andalee

Less than a month left!

Wow! I can't believe how fast this trip is coming up! I don't feel ready. I should relax and take it easy on myself. I mean, it's not like I have to have every second planned.

I am a little disappointed that I won't be able to buy any nice costumes. That is a bummer. My last post was all about the costume designers and now I just have to go look. I have offered to buy nice costumes for my friends if they give me the money up front, plus a little extra (let's call it commission) for lugging it around and such. I hope that works out, because I would love to do shopping even though it wouldn't be for me.

At the very least, I will buy a cheap bra and belt set from the Grand Bazaar. I will probably also buy some hip scarves for myself and students/friends. Let's see what else? Shopping, shopping, shopping...That's about all I can think about...except for the Bath. I had the wildest dream about the hamam the other night. I can't even explain it, but let me tell you it got me excited.

Adam and I took a cold, hard look at my money situation last night. So far I have a little less than $500 saved for the trip. That was supposed to go to my plane ticket, but it looks like it will have to be my spending money. I can pay for the plane ticket after I return. I need money to eat! I plan on getting a little more money here and there, but we'll see.

I just received Rick Steves' Istanbul today. It says that you should plan on $100 per day for room and board, which includes $ for lunch and dinner, and assumes breakfast is included. Since I won't be paying for a room, I can assume $50 a day. Then I have to figure in entertainment to be about $7 per sight and a total of $20 per day for all that. So, I am up to $70 a day now, plus shopping and transportation. I think that sounds reasonable--although it looks like I will need to save a little more money... Any benefactors out there? ;) JK

I pray I can manage. I also pray that I have fun adventures out on my own. Adam will be working for a lot of it, which only gives us a couple of days together. I get sad when I think about it. I want him to experience it with me! I mean I know he doesn't want to do the belly dance shopping or the Bath, so I can do that with no guilt for sure. But for all of the other stuff, I want him to be with me. Although, Adam will get to go an excursion that I will miss because it is before I arrive. So at least he'll get to see some of the other sites.

We really need to get together and plan out those days we can be together. He'll have to tell me exactly where he wants to go and I will do all of the other stuff alone. Say he picks the cruise (hoping) and the Topkapi Palace, or other places like that. I would wait for him and we could go together. We still need to decide if we are going to change hotel rooms. I am leaning toward yes, but I am not sure if it is worth it.

For those days that Adam is working, I'll have to figure out how to get to the city-center by myself. After about 4 days of that I will have it down and so if we changed rooms, I would be back to square one. But it would be cool to have a place that is walking distance to points of interest. It would also be cool to travel outside the city to see other places and the countryside, but I don't know if that is possible. Probably not.

Anyway, as you can see there is much to be done. Now it's time to layout all of the details and groundwork. Hopefully we'll get to figure it out this weekend.

Oh, I can't wait to go shopping!

The shopping bug has hit me! I am so excited about shopping in Istanbul, especially when it comes to costumes and belly dance attire. I found this awesome Web site today. The woman made a google map of places that you need to check out for costumes in Istanbul. It's in German, but really cool.

Größere Kartenansicht

Crossing the bridge: The sound of Istanbul

So Adam and I watched the cheesiest movie about the music of Istanbul. I decided to fill my Netflix queue with travel videos and this little gem made it first.

First of all, I wanted to see some belly dancers. I mean there's one on the cover and I can hardly think of Turkish music without thinking belly dance. No luck.

So this film is a documentary about a German rocker dude who becomes obsessed with Turkish music. He is hilarious, but not on purpose. He has this long goatee, he smokes like a fiend, has nasty teeth and best of all, wears super-tight tank tops.

He goes to different music venues searching for all of the genres. He highlights rock, hip-hop, Romany, Kurdish and many other forms of music. There are some great scenes.

What struck me the most was just how big Istanbul really is. I guess I didn't take time to fully understand the immensity of the city. I mean I knew it was large, and I've been to huge cities before. Heck, I even studied the google map a few times. But seeing it on the big screen (Adam's 42 inch HDTV) gave me a new perspective. New pictures for my mind to run through when I day dream of my trip.

Then, I felt bad for cheating. Yes, it felt like cheating to see so much of a city on TV that you are planning to explore in real life. I mean if I keep watching these DVDs will it ruin my trip? Will it give away Istanbul's secrets? It's good to be prepared, but with out spoiling it.

I also bought my first travel book last weekend. It really cool because they break the city into five sections and each section is a map marked with points of interest. It's lightweight and compact. It's called the Knopf Mapguides to Istanbul: The city in section-by-section maps. My only concern is that it was published in 2003. Kinda old for a travel guide.

I still want to get another travel guide with more meat. I almost bought two today. I thought maybe that was too much. Perhaps another spoiler. I think I'll go with Rick Steves. He's always the best. I've heard nothing but good review about that one. There is also the Time Out Guide to Istanbul, which also has the highest ratings. Maybe I will get both. I mean what's another $30?

Found some cool stuff

I might be able to take some dance classes. Woo hoo! Although it is sooo pricey. A dance class cost $65 Euro which is $95! Here is the link: http://www.bazaarturkey.com/tours/Belly_dance_lesson.html

Here is another cool Web site although the owner is in some dire need of Web site design classes: http://www.turkumusic.com/travel.htm

Here is a cool tip:
"We are loving the akbil thing! Akbil is a little metal button on a tab that fits well on a key chain. It's a pass that you can load up which gets you into all the public transport- bus, ferry, tram, tunel, etc. You get a 10% discount over tokens as well as not having to spend the time in the ticket lines. You pay 6 lira for the thing, then load it up at machines or ticket windows. Keep your receipt when you buy it, because it's only a deposit, which you can get back when you leave Istanbul. We only have one and we scan it twice to get us both in. It will also get you some transfers free. It does not work in Ankara, or outside Istanbul."

I also am getting a travel video via Netflix today. I hope Adam and I can watch it this weekend. I'll post a review. Oh and we need to get to the bookstore to get our travel books!

Lunch with a friend and lots of notes

Today I had lunch with a friend of mine who went to Istanbul a couple of months ago. She is also a belly dancer, so she had some really great tips.

Here are the most important things I learned:

1) Get a driver from the hotel to pick you up at the airport. Taxi drivers suck and they will rip you off. They probably won't even know where the hotel is. Taxi rates also double at night. She said that taxi drivers don't know where places are, but they know landmarks and neighborhoods. They will drop you off in the general area.

2) It's expensive. Most people use Euro, which sucks for me because the Turkish Lira has a better exchange rate. Bring a calculator.


3) MUST GO to the Turkish bath, Cemberlitas Bath.

4) Write down the name of where you are going on a card and ask people for help. If they don't speak English, they'll recognize the name and point you in the right direction. You may have to do this several times before you find where you are going. Most importantly, carry around your hotel's card and memorize the closests/biggest landmark.

5) Go to Istiklal Caddessi for modern food, shopping and costume makers. Probably my best bet for vegetarian food.

6) Beware of pick pockets and wear a money belt. The trains and subway are crammed and people will try to scam you. On the plus side, public transportation is clean.

7) Outside of the Grand Bazaar is an area to buy beads and semi-precious stones. Must keep in mind for my jewelry. Also, if I want to buy precious metal I need to know the daily rate and make sure they weigh it.

8) The belly dance shows are good, but expensive and often with mediocre dancing and bad food. She said they all serve the same meal. She also said that the dancers all do raqs sharqi instead of Turkish-style. She suggested getting the hotel to book, so you don't get ripped off. GAR and Caravanserai seem like the best bets.

9) Go to the Aratsu Market. Not very well-known.

10) Of course, the Blue Mosque and some palace that I forgot to write the name of.

Anyway, I'm sure I will find out more from my lovely resource. She's going to send me cards of places to go, as well as help me figure out the public transportation system. She'll go over the map with me and mark the places I need to get off at. :)

I am bummed that things will be more expensive over there. I was hoping that I could use Lira which is less valuable than the dollar. That way I would get everything at about 20 percent off. But if I have to use Euro then that makes everything TWICE as expensive. I really need to brainstorm more ways to come up with money for the trip.

It looks like buying a nice costume is out of the question as they will run $550 and above. Although she also says they are worth it and much better than Egyptian costumes. I just bought a brand-new costume and I can't really justify buying another one.

It also sounds like people are very nice, yet willing to scam you or get their "commission." I must practice my bargaining and my stern look. Being from the south, that might be hard. Oh well, we'll see how it goes. I am still very excited!!!


Photos by Audra Evans. Used with permission.