1/5 Thu sick in bed

Out of acton today with a cold. Spent the day in bed and Phoebe Antonieff Mitchell toured on her own returning from time to time with supplies - fruit, panadol, soup.

Thought I'd put down a few thoughts about Turkey 

Very friendly and helpful people.

I feel very safe. Phone in my back pocket. Maybe there are pick pockets but I've not seen any. 

Clean but mainly because there's an army of people sweeping. Shop keepers sweep out the front of shops and government workers are vacuuming and sweeping public areas. People seem to just drop cigarettes wherever. 

Tomatoes and strawberries have way more flavour than the ones we get in Australia 

No helmets on push bikes.

Mobile phones used while driving. 

Indicators rarely used. 

Drive with one hand on your horn. On the other hand they seem to duck and weave and miss each other by nanometres. 

CATS in Istanbul do very well. They are everywhere. People feed and water them. They are apparently immunised by the government. They will accept a pat but are pretty nonchalant about it. Out in the country they seem a bit more scrawny. 

CARD OR CASH

I think there's a scam where they tell you the card didn't go through. There was a couple of times when my credit card showed the same amount twice. So I've started using cash. It's about 20:1 rate so 200Lira is AU$10

A few implications. 

First getting the cash. Ok from ATMs but I've not been able to find a list of ATM fees etc so it's pot luck. Usually 8 to 8.5%

BROTHER

Everyone has a brother who can help you out and another brother who lives in Australia. 

And if you sit and listen, you'll discover wherever a customer is from, the shopkeeper has another brother - USA, Greece,France, India, China, NZ.

RELIGION 

It feels like ilIslam is a part of life a bit like Christianity in Australia. Some people go to the mosque but the majority just get on with business. The call to prayer goes out but business continues. There's no laying out of prayer mats or rushing off to prayer. 

ALCOHOL

Pretty much all cafes will serve beer and wine but no stand alone pubs.

COFFEE

I think Australia has the best coffee in the world.

Here a long black is an Americano.

What constitutes Turkish coffee seems quite varied. 

Cappuccino can be undrinkable. Least risk is to stick with an Americano. 

TOILETS

Often have no toilet paper esp ones in public places.  

Often cost money. 

TRY 10 is the going rate. They will have toilet paper and be very clean. You can smell the bleach.

TOURISM 

The whole place seems geared to tourism. There's lots of industry too. Apparently the second largest exporter of white goods. At the airport lots video promoting their defence industry. Education seems big with lots of universities.

Spoke to a Dutchman who was attending a chicken production conference. Apparently Turky is seen as a good place for trade shows because people from everywhere can attend including our favourites in Iran and Russia as well as Syria, Iraq and so on. 

Speaking of Russia, I haven't been game to ask Russians about their thoughts on Ukraine but there was for example a Russian family from Moscow at our hotel. Mum dad and a couple of kids. The kids were studying history at school so they thought they'd show them some.

 

 

 

In the evening, went down to a local restaurant and had our usual meal - Shredded beef & salad.

I abstained from wine because I have been taking panadol for my cold.