How to annoy a Turkish political campaigner

Seeing how the Turkish election day will be on the 7th of June, I'd better post this up first  . Was in the square next to the New Mosque and it was the music blaring from this mobile truck that caught my attention.

Before I proceed further, again, let me stress that this post is not meant to promote or offend. It is just that the campaigner's reaction was a bit too funny for me to forget. 

Somehow, I ended up annoying him as I snapped away. Because of my curves , hair colour and build, some Turkish and Kazakhs have assumed that I am a Russian.

Totally clueless as to how that makes a difference here in Turkey. 

Anyway here's what happened.

1. Spot the truck with

Ahmet Davutoğlu's face on it. 

He's the current Turkish PM btw.

Transit in Ataturk International Airport

Yes we are flying Turkish Airlines again. Soothing music , great food and gentle sexy service. 

Few steps to master before you take part in a Kurdish dance

I was absolutely delighted to come across this inclusive Kurdish dance out in the open and it's so wonderful to know that men and women can join hands and dance together in a big group line dance. 

However, being slow at picking up the steps , I held myself back . As such, for the benefit of myself or any other foreign visitor who might be stepping into Turkey in the near future,  

below are 5 clips with the last one being a close up of the footwork. The middle clips 3rd and 4th are a bit blur and screwed up. My apologies. Still better than nothing eh ?

Study and practice the steps, so you too can join in the merriment when you have the chance  !

The dance

Another dance - slower tempo

How to join in

2 more examples of how to join in

The Footwork

P.S. if any Turk is reading this çok özür dilerim , it is not my intention to promote any party nor offend anyone. It is just that I find the dance very fascinating and if I ever return , I would like to join in and try it out since it looks like so much fun. 

12 hours in beloved Istanbul

Thanks to the heavens above , I had the great fortune of getting the very devastatingly handsome Mr Imdat of Turkish Airlines ground services to attend to me. With his invaluable assistance , I managed to slot in a few mad rushed hours to spare while on transit in Istanbul . 

Omg I shopped like mad you know ?
I went to LC Waikiki , grabbed tees from the smaller stalls and spices from the Spice Market. Also got a neat hoodie for 20 lira after having to endure a very hot under the collar demo by a young man . I should have filmed it ! 
Seeing how I absolutely adore Turkish food of course I ate my way heartily through. 

Then on the way back to the airport , I came across this group of gentlemen engaging in a street dance . Though possibly linked to the current elections , I found it so mesmerising to watch . There was a bigger dance troupe further up. But I really like this one since it looks quite challenging even with the simple repetitive shoulder movements. 

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Click on the links below ....not the picture above .
 The two links leads to the video on my Google+ page



Cute Turkish Street Dance - Part 1



Cute Turkish Street Dance - Part 2

Second time staying at The Tashkonak

At a time when there are hundreds of hotels out there in Istanbul for me to choose from and I end up here a second time, speaks volumes for this charming little hotel.

Reasons.

Number one, they have staff that can speak in English, secondly, every now and then you see the bosses happily walking around, actually so glad to give you a little piece of the grand old Istanbul , third I feel absolutely safe here, fourth ..good wifi connection ( how do you think I'm getting this out to you on location, right now ?)  and last but not least of course , while the price is still affordable, this hotel serves one of the best Turkish breakfast spread on this side of Istanbul. Extremely good deal if you ask me , especially if you like to start off your day well fed .

Located in a cobblestone neighbourhood area that looks like a little hamlet, with a small mosque built wayback in 1553, yes you read right, the year 1553 ,in the front, the hotel lobby has undergone such a remarkable transformation that I swear this picture below which I took, just as the sun was shining in from the door, is using no filter whatsoever. Just magical don't you think ? 

  

3 important traveller apps for destination Istanbul

So let's just say you wanna go to Istanbul but don't wanna go on a full tour because by Day 4 , you're so tired of living in and out of your suitcase , sitting on the coach for so long till you can't feel your ass no more and when you do get up, you feel like a living zombie....it's time to go FIT ( free individual traveller ) my friend.

The hotels you stay in may have lesser stars but at least you will hop back on the plane without the middle part of your tour programme forgotten ( which part of the country was I at again ? ) due to being over stressed and over herded to the point of developing a mental block leading to temporary amnesia. Now, if you're ready to take that first big step forward and DIY your own trip, you'll wanna download this first app.

1. 

Discover Istanbul from Turkish Airlines.

Kozde Kanatci Muro - cheapest and most filling

Takes some weaving around the lanes near the Egyptian Bazaar before you can stumble upon this little tuck shop.

I'm just amazed at how much similarity there is to our Pasar Ramadhan's back home. Look at this massive grill and tell me it doesn't remind you of that ? Well, maybe we copied them but who cares, let's sit down and eat.

Baran 2 Restaurant - Divanyolu Caddesi

The last time I made a mistake such as this was in Beijing, but then again, especially when it comes to foreign food which I'm eager to try out, I never learn.

 Won over by the display, which looked so mouthwatering, we walked in since I reasoned, it's been some days since we'd had a hearty plate of rice. 

Woman against the machine - Istanbul

If you believe what's being said on the net, then you'll never believe what I saw just outside the Dolhambace Palace.

The lady driver in the grey sedan and the truck driver, are both coming down from the hill. They take the corner and wham, small scratch I think, nothing serious.

She comes to a complete stop.

 

One of 2000 lanterns to flow across the Bosphorus

Sometime ago, I penned a virtual message to mark the opening of the Shangri-la Hotel's chain in Istanbul , Turkey .

Then early this week I received this lovely email from their manager informing me, that my words had been put on one out of 2,000 lanterns to flow across the Bosphorus Straits on the 14th of May . How awesome is that ?