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Other entries in Istanbul

Not going to make a They Might Be Giants gag

As far as chilled airports go, London Luton is numero uno thus far - security consists of a couple of chavish looking blokes sitting around trying to stay awake while the punters file through. Nevertheless, the lack of fistings has been pleasant thus far. The flight was pretty good to Istanbul - Easyjet don't muck around, the pilot took us down about 20,000 feet in 30 seconds, which had the Turkish bloke beside me crossing himself and crying out at each dip.

Sabinha Gocken ariport has all the trappings you'd expect of a city in between the far east and west - a shitload of firearms. The city itself is absolutely massive - 20 million people crammed into block after block of apartments, with seemingly every one of them shouting at once when we got off the airport bus to attempt a ferry crossing to Sultanahmet. Chaos reigns in the old city - people, cars, buses and stray cats share every square inch of the city, with seemingly equal rights. People cross where they feel, a car honked me while I was on the sidewalk because he had two wheels up and I was blocking him and cats crawl all over the place at all times. We walked forever trying to find a pub - an almost impossible task, but when we did it was worth it - pints of Efes (the only beer in Turkey, luckily it's good) for 3 Lira (about $2.80). It was full of Turks, but there were a few other tourists there - two old Aussies, one of whom swore like he was constantly stubbing his toe and banging his thumb with a hammer. Try though we might, the old guys were spot on, Turks don't do their drinking in pubs and the Nezih Pub was one of a kind. The city was crawling with Aussies before Anzac Day - it's a little disconcerting when you've paid a couple of grand for flights and spent two days on a plane to get somewhere and then hear "Simmo! Maaaaaate, check out me Fez maaaattee!!". Red and I walked 20km on the second day we were there through the markets and the Grand Bazaar - I attracted aftershave salesmen in alarming numbers while Red mainly got away with having children laugh at him and his ridiculous stature. Having lost my sunnies before we started the trip, I managed to pick up a pair of genuine Ray Bans for 5 lira - at first I was sceptical of their authenticity, as they looked remarkably like the servo sunnies on the rack above them but with a Ray Ban logo glued on, but my helpful shop assistant Ahmet put me at ease. Photos to follow in time... in time...

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