Istanbul ! !

Finally, after three weeks of re-tracing previous travels, I have a new destination. I touched down in Istanbul at about 2:15pm on Friday. I immediately got ripped off on my shuttle ride from the airport to my hotel. I found this out after the fact, of course, and I intend to have words with the assholes when I pass back through the airport on my way out. I'll let you know how that goes.

So anyway, Muge dropped by my hotel after work and we took a cab to her mom's apartment on the Asia side of things. Here is Muge's family at dinner. She is out of the picture, and so is most of her mother. On the left is her younger brother, to his right is mom's boyfriend. Mom is telling a story about the kids she teaches at school. Her brother's facial expressions are great.



After dinner, some good 'ole American TV. Here is Muge speaking on her cellphone in Turkish. I love it. Yes, that is Will & Grace in the background...



I was falling asleep watching TV, so I accepted her mom's offer for me to sleep over. I took brother's bed, since he is living with the dad right now. In the morning Muge and I went for coffee at Starbuck's (yes, the are everywhere), walked around the neighborhood, and found a shop where I could buy a New York Times and some other English-language media. Eventually I took a cab back to my hotel. There I examined a couple of maps and planned to take Istanbul out for a test-walk. Below is the track I followed. Over 6 miles. Oh, yeah.



From the hotel I walked through Taksim Square and down the hill via a busy pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants. It led me to the Galati Tower, below, and then to Galati Bridge, which crosses the Golden Horn to the classic center of Istanbul, you know, what was Constantinople.



I walked through the wooded grounds of Topkapi Palace, and then paid to walk through the palace itself, with all the other tourists. It was actually quite interesting, and I'm glad that I paid for the little self-tour audio gadget. I spent so much time there looking around that when I exited it was closing time, and Hagia Sophia was also closing, so I'll have to see it another day. The Grand Bazaar however, was open. It was a madhouse. I quickly walked through, caught my breath, and grabbed a cab back to my hotel. No more walking, thank you.



Left, Europe. Right, Asia.



Above is a model of the palace grounds.



Now that's en eff'n sword...



That night Muge came by again and we went to dinner at some place that there is no way I will ever be able to pronounce the name of, but it was good. Rooftop, very trendy and European. At any moment I expected Wesley Snipes to show up and start slaughtering vampires. It had that feel. After dinner we went out and met some of her friends and had a few drinks. It was very loud.

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Bye Bye Bombay

Here is my Michael Mann impersonation...



It is a quarter ‘til 9, local time. I slept the entire flight here from Mumbai to Bahrain. It started at 6am. That means I had to be at the airport at 4am, leaving my hotel in South Mumbai at 3am. Of course, I decided to just not sleep. Another rep helped me with this. We ate pizza at a place on Marine Drive that I always hit when staying in South Mumbai. Just as we arrived outside the pizza place, all of Marine Drive was shut down for the motorcade of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister. He was having dinner at our hotel. We got out of there just in time. After the pizza, we went into the bar next door for a few Bombay & tonics. Had to do it. Next we hailed a cab and went to a shopping and nightlife center known as Phoenix Mills. Some prospective grad students at the fair earlier that day had told me about it. Two of the clubs that we’d been told to go to were closed for private parties. The first we tried to weasel our way into. Didn’t work. The second we just tried to crash. That didn’t work either. Might have been because we were the only ferengi in the joint. The place was popular, but not with foreigners. For our third try we settled on a sports bar, had some more drinks, and played some pool with some rich locals. One gave us quite a ride, back to our hotel in his chauffeured car. I then packed, showered, and was off.

Is this perhaps the last time that I will exit India? Part of me hopes so. I’m tired of runny nose, irritated throat, and loose bowels.

So I sit in the Bahrain airport again. Last time I was here, I believe that I was on my way to a few days off in Goa. This time, I’m headed in the opposite direction, to Istanbul. I’ll have one day there, tomorrow, a Saturday, with nothing scheduled for work. I’ve never been to Istanbul, or Turkey, before. Luckily, one of my infamous exes, the Turk, is there to be my guide.



Here are some views from the rooftop venue where our fair was held…

Sri Lanka

I almost skipped this last stop on the tour. Last year it was no good for me. Very few prospective students visited my table. I’m glad I decided to participate in the end. It was much more productive this time ‘round. I had some time off on the day of my flight out. I went downtown with a couple other reps to try to do some shopping. No good. It was largely shut-down and deserted. There is a big festival somewhere else in the city, and the place is on lock-down – lots of armed military patrolling about. Still, we walked around a bit, then took a stroll along the seaside promenade. Got a couple of interesting videos…

Here is a 360 of where downtown meets the beach...



And where the run-off meets the beach...



Sri Lankans enjoying a nice afternoon...



Sri Lankan-style fast-food at the local mall (okay, I still had Pizza Hut)...



This last one I took at a food break on the way to the airport. Again, I'm disappointed with the quality of the transfer (so much better on my computer!). Make sure to get a look at what the last one leaves behind.



And your moment of zen...

Entertaining Moments in India

That last entry was repetitive, I know, but I wanted to show what a recruiting tour like this feels like at its worst - fair after fair after fair after fair. There have however, been some entertaining moments to help break up the monotony...



First we have the tour of Bollywood, the center of India's film industry, which is the largest in the world. That clip shows a nightclub set where they are preparing to film a bar/dance scene. The girl in the black dress on the right at the end of the clip (I know it's fuzzy) is the female lead. Here are two stills - one of the dance set, and a close-up of two starlets.





Our 15 minutes on-set was the only good part of the "tour." 4/5ths of our time was spent in transit (horrible traffic, that is) betweens the stops. At the same locations as the nightclub set, we saw a variety of other sets not currently being used. Actually, some looked (and smelled) like they had not been used in years. We had lunch at a Chinese chain restaurant that our guide tried to tell us was popular with Bollywood types (yeah, right). Finally we went to a minor post-production facility where they do editing and visual effects. Nothing spectacluar, especially considering the university I work for. Not once did we actually step foot in Film City proper. I got the feeling it was just a hastily arranged sequence meant to fleece us of our money.

OK, cheer up, here is another view of the elephant walking down the busy street in Pune...



And a colorful shot from our bus of a market in Bangalore...