Just wanted to start with a shout-out to under-appreciated part of Ben Affleck's oeuvre.Hi from Istanbul! I'm basically killing time until the Whirling Dervish show. Yes, I'm being that touristy. And yes, I'm excited for the show.
First of all, the weather here is fantastic (not a lick of humidity!), the Blue Mosque is spectacular, Haiga, Haiga Sofia was good and Topkapi? Well, I maaaay have decided not to pay to see the museum (I trust you all know my theory on paying to see broken dishes and the like? If not, in sum, it's a no go unless there's something absolutely spectacular. Yeah, yeah, I'm a Philistine.)
Let me back up for a minute - so, my last two days in Nam were lovely. I have to admit that I hit an all-time low/ high on offensive sight-seeing. But it wasn't my fault! It was the official tour! First stop was at the Handicapped Handicrafts Laquerware Factory. Pretty much enough said, right? Right. Next stop was Cao Dai Temple where we all took a ton of pictures not 
only while they were preparing, but also during the service. It was sort of like your standard Episcopal service, only the men and women 
were segregated on sides of the temple and they were all wearing various and sundry costumes. Pics to come! Then it was on to the Cu Chi Tunnels where guides gleefully described the myriad clever booby traps and tunnels they developed to attack the Americans. It was pretty much 100% creepy. As expected, the tunnels are small and dark - as in wriggle your way through the dirt and the dark. It was really weird to see bomb craters, old tanks, guns and traps. They also have a shooting range where you can try out a bunch of weapons. Trust me - the sound of machine gun fire mixed with thunder and the darkening skies was completely unsettling.The next day I shopped and went to ship a box of stuff back to the states. I went to the Sheraton to get a box and have them help me pack/ mail it. I joked that the contents were
pretty much worthless and I just needed 'em to get to the States by December. I came back to learn that I had two options: send on the slow boat which would take 6 - 8 MONTHS and cost one million dong, or send by plane for 1-2 months and cost two and a half million dong. Funny thing, the word 'million' - as in, it definitely doesn't sound like thousand (btw - current exchange rate is 16,000 dong \$1USD.) I laughed and laughed and laughed. That's not real money! And I'd just spent hours haggling with teenage girls over things like that whether I'd pay more than a buck for a Tiger Beer t shirt (we started at ten dollars and settled on \n1.50). I took the box back, slapped it into a bag and have added it to my luggage. Now, I don't think I'm ruining any Christmas surprises, but let's just say that the contents of the box definitely didn't equal the cost of shipping.Anyway, back to being in Turkey. I saw some great movies on the plane here - the Breach, that Chris Rock movie, that Drew Barrymore/ Hugh Grant flick, 23 and the Astronaut. Sadly, no cheap beers or hotels here. And can we just let them in the EU and be done with the whole thing? I have to say that hearing the call to prayer was a bit odd at first, but now it's sort of like hearing church bells. And much like with church bells, I'm still not heading off to pray (sorry Mom...)
First night was in the brand spanking new Sheraton in a room with specatular views. The hotel is badly located, but had free internets and some weirdo convention of Eastern European models. Last night was at a pretty creepy hotel in Taksim Sq (loads of Starbucks nearby, two blocks from the James Joyce Pub and three blocks from the restaurant where I watched a dude pass out after smoking a hookah and then puke over everything. Awesome. Even more awesome not to be that guy!)
Tomorrow it's off to see a bunch of rocks, beaches and some other old stuff. Stay tuned!
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