Christmas in Istanbul

Kapalıçarşı

 

A capital city of three different empires, İstanbul stands defiant against the passage of time.  Amidst the ageless city there are countless things to discover: ruins, mosques, churches, monuments, palaces... but forefront of them all is Kapalıçarşı, or the Covered Bazaar.

The Bazaar is over 600 years old and has 61 covered streets and 3000 shops.  It's a labyrinth of mercantilism where the careless can become lost easily.  Of course, it's easy enough for you to find your way out, but a little more difficult for your wallet to make it out intact.  A few Saturdays back, when we explored only a portion of the market, we were only two of an estimated 250 000 - 400 000 that pass through daily.

Its beginnings
can be traced back to the year 1455, when shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmet II dedicated a monument to the trading of textiles on what is now the site fo the Bazaar.  By the 17th century, it was an artery for world trade, with goods flowing from three continents through the Ottoman's capital city of İstanbul.  It was a gateway to Europe for all sorts of goods flowing from the Ottoman controlled Middle East and the Orient.  Nowadays, it has survived many fires and earthquakes to house everything from bath houses, madrasas and mausoleums on its way to becoming one of the city's most recognizable landmarks.  There is cheap bric-a-brac for a few kurush and antiques for thousands of lira   There is gold, silver, kitchen ware, house ware, tailors, carpets, restaurants, cafes, leather, clothes, antiques, art work, spice in bulk, food and more. I could show more pictures of it, but why not go watch 2012's Skyfall or Taken 2?  The Bazaar is in both movies, after all.

I created more of a stir with my entrance.

Summer 2012 - Part 1 of 2

A summer spent moving from place to place and place to place again can be tiring, but it certainly has its rewards.  What I may have lacked in sleep and rest I made up for with memories and stories, although now the latter are muddled a bit in my mind.  This is what I suppose what would be called a photo essay - with no particular theme or idea, except that the photos flow chronologically, from June of 2012 until November of 2012.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Ta Keo Temple, Cambodia. 

The Bayon - Angkor Thom, Cambodia. 

National Day - Ang Mo Kio, Singapore.

 

Pulau Ubin, Singapore.

  

Changi Point Ferry - Changi Point, Singapore.

Ang Mo Kio Fruit Market - Ang Mo Kio, Singapore. 

Seal Cove Harbour - Grand Manan, Canada

Swallow Tail Lighthouse - Grand Manan, Canada.

Quebec City - Quebec, Canada.

The Newseum - Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Montreal - Quebec, Canada.

Kadıköy - Istanbul, Turkey

The Grand Bazaar - Istanbul, Turkey

Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey.

Summer 2012 - Part 2 of 2.

To clear my muddled mind, I'm going to try to itemize some of the best and worst parts - mostly best - of my summer sojourn that spanned seven countries, six American states and five Canadian provinces.  
45 hours flown and somewhere around 5000 kilometers driven, and this is some of what I found:

• Best Restaurant Food - American chains Potbelly and Chipotle.  You can't beat the sandwiches at Potbelly or the burritos at Chipotle.  And soul food with some of my boys from Korea.  D.C.'s where the food's at.

• Best view - Has to be from a tent door overlooking sea cliffs with seals and herring weirs below in the surf.  Spent three days on Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy and I'd go back this second if I could.

• Best home cooked food - Coming home after 8 months away from my family for lobster, scallops, shrimp and mussels.  Can't get much better than that.

• Best drink – Ice cold beer at my friend’s place in Manila, and finding other friend’s are having a baby!

• Best Strange Food – A street vendor in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, offering heaping bowls of fried cricket, snake and frog.  I could only manage the fried frog whole, while a gun-ho German managed to stuff down the crickets.

• Most expensive weekend - Definitely a wedding in D.C.  Tux, hotel, drinks and more -  but totally worth it!

• Best Day of Travel - Istanbul, but then again, it's not really fair - On the weekend, I wake up in Asia, cross the Bosphorous to Europe, and come back to Asia for dinner.

• Best Museum - D.C.'s Air and Space museum; a building full of old airplanes, space ships, 
rockets, astronaut suits, missiles, I mean c'mon, a space station. 

• North Carolina BBQ – In its own category.


• Best Wildlife - Whales in the Bay of Fundy!


And…

• Worst airport - Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport held me captive for ten hours and took all my rubles in exchange for a beets and borscht.

• Worst Luck - When I found my car's locks picked and its shit riffled through.  Both doors slightly ajar, a wet mildew smell pervading the car and most of our clothes thrown on the ground for an unplanned washing by the rain and mud.  Here's the best part: the fools only got a computer speaker, and they forgot the cords!

• Worst (and best?) Rented Room - a hotel room with two double beds and a couch that was jammed full of 7 or 9 people at any given time.  I think it's important to know that said hotel room was frequent by delinquents and working girls, an atmospheric ad on they failed to mention in the ad.

• Worst Feeling – Driving home from Montreal with a stinky and broken into car, only to be struck by food poisoning.  On my birthday no less.