Turkey part 1

S'up everyone. This be Hans bringing you the latest and greatest of our adventures in Istanbul.

The entire group arrived after an exhausting journey to Cheers Hostel, located in the immidate vicinity of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and 10 minutes walk away from the Grand Bazaar. First impressions of the hostel ranged from average to abysmal -the girls got their rooms immediately, average service, the boys had to wait 4 hours, abysmal service - and after breakfast (or some resemblance thereof: cucumber, tomato, feta cheese and eggs is NOT breakfast) and 2 hours of sleep our guide deemed us ready for our first stroll around the metropolis. At the moment I begged to differ, but off we went, and I quickly changed my mind. Istanbul is mindblowingly amazing! From the hectic tourist trap that is the Grand Bazaar to the Imam calling everyone to prayer, Istanbul is something unlike everything I have seen in my life before.

First stop was the Grand Bazaar, more than 500 years old and a center for trading for just as long, this place is a mecca for shoppers, tourists and traders alike. Here we also got our first glimpse of the turkish haggle culture: no price is carved in stone, everything is negotiable. Morten and Jeppe proved to have skills in this area and it was quite staggering to watch them cut 40% of various items by hesitantly walking away, causing the poor shopper to come running after them, yelling 'OK, OK, 10 is you'. Personally I deemed myself too tired to participate in any serious shopping, so I just quietly tagged along.

After the Bazaar we grabbed lunch at a kebab place, paying the equivalent of 25 kr for a meal with drink, only further positivising the first impression of Istanbul. After that we went to the spice bazaar, which is almost as old as the Grand one, but not quite as big and much the same. Still we jaywalked through and Martin, the guide, announced that todays program was over, 3,5 hours after it began. We all hurried back to the hotel, took a shower and sawed logs for 2 hours. At 7 we woke up, got dressed and met up with the others in order to grab dinner. We found a kebab shop and after Jeppe once again aced a haggling exam, giving us kebabs for 2 lira each, about 8 kr.

Afterwards we found a water pipe (hookah if you're an uncivilized american) bar, grabbed a beer and a smoke, chatted about the first impression, which everyone agreed passed all expections, and relaxed. Sadly, the only thing that is somewhat expensive is beer and other ethanol-containing substances, but we'll manage. This being my first time smoking just about anything, I was quite high when we left 90 minutes later, but still manged to find my way back to bed.

Next day we woke up at 9.30, had 'breakfast' and a shower, and headed downstairs where the bus would take us to Star TV, a fairly large turkish news company. The bus was delayed - trafic flow in Istanbul range from bad to unbearable depending on the hour - but off we went, some of us still quite groggy and hungry.
Star TV is owned by a turkish entrepeneur who used to use the network for bashing his competitors, before transforming into a more 'serious' news network. Our guide, whose name eludes me ATM, forgetfulness thy name is ethanol, showed us a TV studio, office areas and the reception before parking us a meeting room that would've satisfied Wall Street executives. A waiter(!) brought us water, tea and soft drinks before leaving us to the poke at the TV lady (again, sorry for lack of memory). At first she was hesitant with her answers, but after awhile she had no problems critizing the government and Ataturk, usually places that are no-go. We left 2 hours later, well informed, our thirsts quenched, but starving.

Martin took us to another place in Istanbul with good kebabs and close to Dolmabahce Palace our next stop. After yet another kebab (4th or so at this point) we headed for said palace were Ataturk resided when he was still alive and kicking. (Fun fact: when he died in said palace, at 9.05, they stopped all the clocks at the exact moment, forever remembering the man and his deed). However when we got there the museum was closed... who the hell closes a museum at 4 PM? With broken hearts and tears in our eyes we left for the tram to take us back to hotel. Some weirdos with too much energy decided to tour more or Istanbul, but since you're only interested in Los Experiencos dos Hansito I won't tell you about those. (Read: I don't know what they did)

At the hostel I slept for 45 minutes, somehow ignoring Jasmin and Niels going bananas on a drum they bought at the Bazaar. At this point I should probably tell you that the boys sleep in an 8-man dorm, the girls in a 10 and 6 man dorm respectively. Since 8 is larger than 6, but still only a single digit this is naturally the place to kick it. We attempt to keep a somewhat militarist attitude towards hygiene, but we're already failing somewhat on the 2nd day. (If it doesn't smell, it's not home)

Anyway, we had dinner at a place that Martin picked out for us, where the food was OK, but not fantastic. I tried Raki, the Turkish national drink, which was fairly good once you got used to it. It's also very strong (unless you're fucking Jordan (here as an adjective, not a verb) you don't mix 45 % liquor half 'n half - Lonely Planet inform yourselfes) and really has quite a kick once you down 6 or 7 glasses. After dinner we tried to find a night club, but the only one that seemed discotequeish played house music which didn't suit most of us. The night life in Istanbul doesn't compare to anything else in the world: never have I seen so many people crammed in so many bars, with so much live music and such a nice overall vibe. For danes it's comparable to Roskilde basically, next to no violence and bad experiences, just people, chilling, dancing, listening to music, smoking, drinking and having a good time. 'Hygge' is no longer only Danish: the Turks know how to do it as well.
Our small group of 7 people found a water pipe bar, smoked, had a coke (here as the beverage, not the drug), before me and Reut went home at around midnight. Apparently Jeppe almost got his passport stolen by some random dude, but Elif and Uruba saved his ass. (Should've have blown all those skill points in haggling my man (here as a Diablo II reference, not.. fuck it, this is old already))

So here I am, still a little drunk from the Raki and a little high from the water pipe, bringing you the first part of our trip to Turkey. Do we miss Krogerup? Not yet, but it'll come. Are we enjoying ourselves? Hell yes. Is Istanbul infintely cooler than Bolivia? Having spent less than 48 hours in Istanbul, I'd have to say that Bolivia would have to be heaven on earth to even compare. (Enjoy your koka leaves, suckers!) Am I awesome? It goes without saying. Will this blogpost be used to deem whether humans are intelligent beings or not by extraterrestial life? For the sake of humanity, let's hope not!

- (A drunk and nicotine high(I don't smoke pot, mum) Hans