turkey time and some fireside chatting

so when i was in the planning stage of this trip, a good handful of my backpacking friends spared no time in telling me i was crazy for hitting the road on this trip. not so much the 6 months being away or really even the places i am visiting-- more the less the speed with which i am traversing the globe.

"you're crazy mate" were the words of an aussie friend.

and well, i wouldnt succomb to the fact that i am crazy just yet-- but the whole "speed" thing caught up to me right around the day i stepped in to budapest. months of sleeping in the backseat of cars, overnight trains and mattresses that most closely resembled concrete had finally caught up to me. i was pooped.

and poof! in pops little sister emily. immediately you think "disaster" when her raring-to-go mentality clashes with my tired body. but our time so far has been nothing even remotely close to that. in fact, it has been just delightful really.

its nice having emily around. haha its like clockwork-- people (guys in particular) just want to talk and be friendly when there is a nice girl in the group. seriously, the amount of guys that want to get to know you or just have some friendly conversation increases exponentially as you have more females in your group. all these dudes all of the sudden love america, they want to visit, etc. its quite amusing, honestly.

this whole "friendliness" i speak of was at its best the night we met the old italian stallions. we were out for dinner one night and up pull some young italian stallions asking us if we knew where the local "discoteque" was. i was perhaps the worst person in budapest to answer that question, but we got to talking to them about other things for a while. long story short, they invited "us" (haha i was nearly the 3rd wheel at this point) to their apartment in budapest for pasta the the following night.

i was getting a good kick out of all this.

we ventured over to their place the following night, had some pasta, and then ended up mixing things up that night at the "discos" with them. dear god, was i ever out of place. i had my 4 week old without-a-solid-washing pants on with the nicest shirt i could find in my backpack. it was even funnier when emily told me i looked nice to make me feel better. the italians were adorned in the finest of shiny, dancing apparel. watching these dudes rip out of the gate was like a flashback to "a night at the roxbury"-- these guys were animals.

soon they brought over a round of absinthe (hungary is apparently the absinthe capital of eastern europe-- the real stuff that is, worm wood and all). my goodness, i am reasonably sure that taking a shot of that death water was about the closest thing to satan's handshake as you can get. the 5.3 seconds of fury that followed as i thought my esophagus (ouch, sp?) had just disintegrated was painful to say the least. i felt like i was back in college taking shots of cheap vodka in the dorms. it was like nothing could take that fiery taste out of my mouth.

a good night in all, very very amusing with the voracious italianos.

i caught word that there was a travelling historical spanish art exhibit of goya, velazquez and el greco on at the museum of fine arts. i was quite keen to check it out, but clearly emily was a bit hesitant. i ended up dragging her in but i think in the end she was mildly content with having spent the time checking it out.

the whole "heroes square" area-- just adjacent to the fine arts museum-- in budapest is really something else. it seemed every walk of life congregated there for small talk, tea, just some sitting or family time even. it reminded me of trafalgar square a tiny bit, but much more atmosphere was present.

amidst everything, emily was really helping me out in getting re-cooperated. its amazing how much the comfort of a close friend or loved one halfway around the world helps your whole mental state. all of the sudden, things were just fine.

now it was time to get to istanbul for part two of our little adventure. i looked in to renting a car for a little overland adventure. i thought the idea was great-- scenic countryside, travel at our own pace. no problem. i went to check out some prices and such and about 10 places basically laughed in my face at the thought of driving from budapest through romania and bulgaria to istanbul. some highlights:

"well, you know you must drive through bulgaria, right? certain parts you are good as dead there"

"well.. see... with.. ehhhhh... bulgaria. you....ehhhh... check in to a hotel and in the morning you... ehhh...have no car. gone. crazy people have your car... ehhh.... not you"

"to istanbul? thats crazy"

needless to say, the car idea was a no-go. we hopped on a flight instead-- much more tame i suppose. i have to admit it was quite nice to make that nice little puddle jump in just under 2 hours instead of days on a bus or what not.

getting to istanbul didnt come without a hitch. the day we got on the plane i was waiting to eat until we boarded the plane. naturally, i was starving by the time we got on because i had refused to buy a meal that day in full knowing i would get one on the plane. and well, we did in fact get a meal... BUT, it closely resembled the sort of meal you may feed your pet hamster.

strike 1.

we landed and i had to get some local turkish currency. well, in 2005 turkey switched from the old turkish lira to the new lira (YTL) and so the guidebook that we had didnt give an official answer on what currency to use in the country as of 2006. great. i went with what i thought was the sure-fire euro (i knew it wasnt the local curency but a lot of times you can pay for just about anything in euros). we left the airport for the metro. welp, we got there and as i stood in line to get two tickets for emily and the guy wouldnt accept euros. "turkish lira only." super. and of course there were no other ATM's in site, so we walked all the way back to the airport and then back again to the metro. i was beginning to sweat, my backpack felt like it weighed about 659 pounds and frustration was grabbing a hold of me. i was probably scaring emily.

strike 2.

we got on the metro and got to our stop. the directions to the hostel said that i needed to get on a new city tram that serviced the area we were staying in. lord knows that with my cunning directional skills this was going to be a task. about 29 minutes later we boarded the tram. the thing was so crowded i could barely breathe. sweaty people were rubbing all over me.

strike 3.

once off the tram, actually finding the hostel (or someone that could give directions) was damn near impossible. about 33 minutes later i threw my bags down in the hostel lobby and belted out "well holy shit, we found the place." a stunned attendant at the front gave a frightened "welcome."

strike 4 (sort of).

so turkey wasnt exactly top on my list yet, and most of the time three strikes and you are out, right? well that couldnt be any further from the truth for this incredible city. the place really took my by surprise. i wasnt expecting much. a friend had talked the place up for a couple years and that was about the only thing i was going off of. but this city is truly something else. turkish people are some of the most friendly, the food is unreal, the historical elements and cultural relics present are second to none. how the hell could you not like this place?

we floated the bosphorous river on a ferry boat and that was delightful amidst the blustering winds that damn near threw me overboard. it was funny, it took us about 45 minutes to figure out there was a reason that we were the only ones on the top deck-- most others were comfortably sitting in the indoor lower deck. down we went! the views were nice and being on the water is always nice.

the markets and grand bazaar are amazing. you can get everything from rugs to turkish soccer jerseys to old crumbled remains of ruins. i personally have taken a liking for the incredible availability of arguile socks in a wide assortment of colors. dont worry, i picked up about a half dozen. i know, kind of sick.

the food.. dear god. the food is just brilliant.

i have eaten at least 55 kebabs in the past 5 days or so. emily has even taken a liking. she will admit that my penchant for the little guys is borderline disgusting, but i simply cannot resist. turkish blend coffee is incredibly tasty. it tends to be a much stronger blend of coffee than we are used to in the old US of A. i happen to really enjoy it, even with its gritty consistency and pungent flavor. similarly, the turkish tea and its infinite assortment of flavors will never let you down. i have taken a liking to the lemon mint variety. börek-- a sort of pastry with turkish cheese in the middle (or meat if you please) is excellent for a little mid-day snack. all the pide (closely resembles pita) is fantastic dipped in the crazy sauces. and i think i havent missed having some fresh baklava after most meals. amazing!

the mosques truly are breathtaking. at first sight of the blue mosque, i really did have to pick my jaw up off the ground. the spectactle in front of me was jsut breathtaking. the sheer size is part of it, but all the intricate design and architectural elements are the icing on the cake. these mosques are incredibly old as well, you can really feel the power. looking at the 4 "elephants feet" in the middle of the blue mosque (they are the pillars that support the entire structure) makes you wonder how in the world these things were constructed and moved so many years ago. naturally, something that is so foreign to my eye balls gets that bit of shock factor thumbs up.

and the people like i said are just incredibly friendly and caring. emily and i had the pleasure of talking with an old turkish man. he talked endlessly about leading a simple life-- a life devoid of complexity (or monkey business as he liked to put it) so as not to get in the way of your true intentions. for him, it was keeping himself happy and doing "good things" in life for others around him. he talked about taking care of yourself, making YOU happy, to truly take care of your internal needs.

now when someone sort of gives me a thought to chew on, i tend to chew tirelessly for probably too long. i like to get lost laboring over what that "higher meaning" is. so naturally, the old man got me thinking for quite a while. his simple lines were infectious really, it had my brain racing about this idea of living a fulfilled life. his sort of "aged" outlook was making me think. but why? he had this grandiose scheme of how the world could work on such simple terms. it seemed his "plans" (both past and present) were far greater than the average bear. he seemed to have so much going for him by virtue of the way he allowed his thought processes to work. at first glance, you wouldnt see how lucky this guy was, but it was so evident that the power of his mind was something that many people do not have.

again, i couldt stop thinking about the old man and his thoughts for a few days. and in full cheesy fashion, this particular quote just kept poking at me in my head:

"make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized." daniel burnham said that. he was the lead architect for the world's fair in chicago in the early 1900's. he was in fact very responsible for so much of chicago's beauty and success as a modern city today.

now i understand there is a bit of cheese factor there, lets be honest.

but this plan! it kept sticking. what was my plan? what was my scheme? what were my thoughts for crying out loud!? surely i want to "stir mens blood" with my actions in life. who doesnt? i would like to open peoples eyes a bit. but how? this idea of harvesting our power as individuals to create that chanelled mental energy to indeed make "plans" that stir the blood of those around us is truly possible (hmm run on sentence? screw it). i do in fact believe that when we take our powers as human beings and project that energy in a focused manner we do in fact have the ability to write our ticket to whatever it is that we strive for.

so i have been thinking about that "plan"-- about that mental energy-- about putting yourself in a good spot upstairs to allow for you to do things in life that are in fact truly meaningful. acts that are worthy of helping you to lead that "fulfilled life." i mean, you only get one shot. here the old man talked of a simplistic scheme of countryside living and doing good. mine.. well, im working on it. you got to!