Sep 27th, 2008

Finally, got the permission (haan yaar! leni padti hai) to have another all boys trip after three years! This was a funny one because the people who started out shaping the entire trip finally never came in. The whole thing started with divya (the guy) suggesting a trek in Himalayas. When I mentioned this to arnab, he counter-suggested a backpack somewhere midway - well that sounded equally interesting and I was game. Divya backed out - wonder why! So went, asked a bunch of people, but guess who agreed - Pawan and Kshitij! So looked like this was going to be a rerun of the Leh trip with Arnab thrown in. We figured Istanbul would be a good place to go (partly because the families won't go there anyway - some security issues) and Pawan was going to be in Munich at end for Oktoberfest anyway so let's include that as well.

Few days later Pawan backed out - he figured his new factory might open at that time. I told him it won't, couple of month's later he figured it won't, but still he thought he could do a few really important meetings that week! Go figure! I want to ask him if he even remembers that week two years hence. I sure will.

So it was going to be me, Arnab and Kshitij for Istanbul, and Pawan would join us in Munich. I took the night Lufthansa flight on 26th - has to be the most uncomfortable flight I've ever had, landed in Frankfurt. Kshitij landed there about the same time and we were on the same flight to Istanbul. Kshitij figured he might as well get started on beer - "muh saaf ho gaya". As soon as we got to Istanbul, Kshitij let's out this one "my mouth feels like its morning" - bugger, go brush your teeth!

Anyway, we got to Istanbul and had to kill an hour there, by which time Arnab would fly in. Kshitij went out to buy a Lonely Planet and walked back after a few minutes with a lovely babe Ozmel - this guy has something! Even with that breath! Apparently he met her on his way and she decided she wanted to help him out - "with anything that he wanted" as she put it. After a while Arnab came in - his backpack was like he was headed for wilderness - am sure he will regret it by the time he has carried it some. He seemed to wonder if O was part of package deal with Lonely Planet! We decided to take the metro connection, and from the connection point, decided to buy Akbil (metro pass) - the guy at the counter just wanted us to buy the tix and not the pass - daant mat yaar - anyway, a local helped out.

Got to Sultanahmet. As soon as we got down, a local came up and asked if he could help -
"Sure! We are looking for a hostel".
"There's one down the road, here's the card".
"Ok, we will check out some more and then go".
"No, let me take you there. I am only trying to help".
"Thanks very much, but we will go there later".
"You are interesting people. Give me back my card"
What was that! Le le bhaiyya card!

Anyway, we found a hotel - Arnab did a good job of negotiating 90 liras a night for three of us - decent rooms - with clean beds, toilet, ac, and towels - of course, arnab already had a big one on him!

We got out fairly quickly and headed for the blue mosque. Had roasted chestnuts on the way. The blue mosque was a lovely place - fairly large, ornate. Why do they hang chandeliers so low? After a few quick pics, we headed out. A lady was selling potato and cheese bread outside - piping hot - man, arabic bread is something - melts in the mouth. By the time we were done there, suddenly there was huge amount of activity on the roadside market - breaking of the Ramadan fast - hundreds of people instantly made way to small shops full of food. Lavishly displayed, some of the sweets and fruits looked almost artificial. This looked a true bustling bazaar. We passed through it and took a metro to galata bridge - apparently good food there. After a short hike there, figured there wasn't as much activity out there. We went in a restaurant to check out if they had veg food, and when we were walking out because he had only one veg dish, the guy seemed offended - "what! Vegetarian is vegetarian everywhere!" - sure, nonveg is also nenveg everywhere! Arnab robbed another fish of its life to sustain his - all meat tastes the same to a vegetarian - wonder what people like in it!

People had gone back in for the prayer and were going to come back out eating at 9:30, so we headed back to the bazaar for our meal. Vegetarians have a tough time here - bread's pretty much what it looks like it will be for next 6 days - and kahwah - good coffee! Kshitij didn't quite savor it though - what's a man who can't sip strong coffee! We were heading back to the hotel, with Arnab egging KJ to call O and her friends - KJ's expert strategy was to allow at least 24 hours before he did so - dekhte hein kal kya teer marta hai! And just then we spotted this hookah bar - denizler - with live music in there. This looked like some party! lively arabic music and junta in full enthu. Surprisingly there were some small kids there, one smoking a hookah with his father - bugger got high soon and started dancing. Good crowd - yeh mazedar tha. Got a bit high ourselves and headed out. Arnab kept inquiring about nightclubs in the area and found one called Mosaic - when we reached there, it looked dead - perhaps too early. Got some references for tomorrow.

Got back to hotel - A and KJ got some beer while we played cutthroat. The TV didn't seem to work so we called the reception. "Wait for 5 minutes, it will start working". Called back after 5. "No, you have waited only 1. Wait 5 - it will work". Waited. Called. Came up. "The previous guest didn't use the TV - Wait for some more time" - this was one helluva solid state TV. While we were in middle of the game, someone noticed - the damn thing was now actually working - needless to say it only had turkish channels, and none of the kind A was looking for. The game was quite fun - the best player won.

Crashed at 1:30 in the morning, and sure enough wifey dear was prompt to call a 5:50 to say Hi! Thanks for the wakeup call, honey!