I finally made it to istanbul with very little extra time to spare -- I fly out tomorrow afternoon. I suppose I could have really pushed my luck and arrived tomorrow morning on the night train, but that would have meant nearly three days of straight travel without any shower. That and I wouldn't get to see istanbul! I think last nights train ride was the most stressed I've been. On the ride from belgrade to ljubljana some canadians told me about a guy they met who was traveling to greece, slept through his stop and somehow ended up in istanbul without a visa. They arrested him and he spent a day in a turkish prison. Apparently the cops took pitty on him and that night when he got out they all took him out for a drink and he had a great time. I don't know the guy, so I have no clue how valid the story is, and after making the border crossing certain parts of it seem unlikely, but still, it had me a bit worried because I didn't want to end up in prison and miss my flight tomorrow. My travel guide indicated that you could get a visa upon arrival, but I hadn't met anybody who had personally done the entrance by train and could explain how the whole visa aquisition process would work. I asked on the train, but nobody who worked on the train spoke english, and nobody who spoke english (namely one girl from prague who was only traveling as far as bulgaria) knew.
It all worked out fine in the end, the train stopped at the turkish border around 3 in the morning. Everybody shuffled out to get their passport stamped. I was at the end of the line and by the time I got up to the front the officer told me I needed to go around the corner to get a visa. On my way over I saw too english speaking looking types and asked if they knew where I needed to go -- they pointed off in the direction I was headed and I eventually found it.
Back on the train I was finally able to get some sleep. The train was relatively empty and I had the whole cabin to myself which was both nice in terms of noise and privacy, but also a little bit sketchy... Sometimes its just nice to share the confusion with a fellow traveler who's just as confused -- even if they don't speak your language. The door had a chain on it though, so I really wasn't worried about getting gassed or having my things stolen -- it was just this worry that I'd sleep through the border crossing that kept me from sleeping well until 4 in the morning. That and the cold I caught a few days ago.
In the morning when we arrived They Might Be Giants was playing over and over in my fog filled head. When I got off the train I bumped into the couple that pointed me to the visa office at the border. I asked where they were from -- the standard travelers introduction (which is the reason you can go days without ever learning somebodys name). When they said chicago I was just speechless for a minute. Three months. I went three months and never met anybody from chicago. Then in Salzburg I meet somebody from Roselle. A week later Two weeks later in Wien I meet a girl from Gurnee. Then in Budapest one from Geneva and then just recently in Brasov somebody from Kenosha. She was pretty embarassed to claim to be from Chicago when she isn't even from the right state, but I didn't complain. When you're half way around the world, what's a hundred miles... So what's with the sudden burst of wannabe chicagoans? I explained my surprise to the couple and said from the looks of it they might even be "real" chicagoans.
"No," they replied, "we've only lived their five years."
"Actually I just meant you look like you live in the city -- as opposed to roselle, gurnee, geneva or kenosha. What neighborhood do you live in?"
"Logan Square"
More silence. Finally "Hmm, that might explain why I thought you looked familiar =) I lived at fullerton and kedzie over the summer."
"Yeah, that's right by us."
Of course I never did get their names, but Ruth or Leslie, if you have any friends that went to europe for five weeks, tell them that was your exroommate they bumped into.
I now have a friend in Prague. I finally finished the hat I started a week ago with yarn I bought in Budapest. It didn't take long, but I hadn't spent much time on it and I wanted to finish it before leaving europe -- it had become some kind of a farewell project. At one point I was in a bad mood while crocheting a few rows and felt a little bit like I was releasing all my frustrations into the hat -- that was good for me, but I felt bad about the idea of giving somebody a hat with bad karma... Anyway, when I took it out to finish on the train yesterday, the czech girl I was talking to seemed to take an interest.
I had her try it on for the last few rows to help me decide when to stop and then asked her if she'd like it. I explained the whole bad karma thing, but said I was in a good mood for most of it, so the yin balanced the yan out. She graciously accepted and said that she had to give me something in return. I said she should just send me a photo of her wearing it on her ski trip in bulgaria. She apparently wasn't much of a negotiator though as she ended up throwing in a place to stay if ever I was in prague -- so now I have a friend to visit in Prague =)
I really should get going. I'm hungry and I only have a day to see Istanbul. Its been a great last week in europe though. Romania was nice. I spent a day in Sibiu -- apparently this years culture capital of europe -- and another day visiting draculas castle. One of the girls I was traveling with woke up one morning with two mysterious looking bites on her arm! We were all pretty sure they were probably just bed bugs though and not a vampire. Based on the spacing that would have been one wide @$$ jaw if it was a vampire bite... So I don't think she'll be cringing from the light of day anytime soon.
Some gipsy kids tried to pick my pocket in Bucharest. We were walking to the palace -- aparently the worlds second largest building after the pentagon -- and I had my backpack with me because I was going straight to the train. Two kids started asking me for money and wouldn't leave me alone when I said no. They kept following, or rather should I say staying in front of me and making it impossible for me to move. I started yelling "No" and "Go" and motioned for them to get away. After a bit I had to start pushing them away and I caught one reaching for the breast pocket of my jacket. Afterwards I noticed he had succeeded in pulling the zipper all the way down. Whenever they reached for my pockets I'd smack their hands away and it was to the point where I really felt I needed to start elbowing or pushing them down to the ground to get my point across, but some local people started yelling at them and they finally left me alone. A few blocks later though they were back and with reinforcements. Now two had become four and they were hassling all of us. I got a little more aggressive, but we finally just walked into a coffee shop to get away from them -- that and some of the girls wanted to rearrange their passports and wallets.
When we left the coffee shop the kids were gone and I had to head back to the train. I only hope they didn't come back to bother the girls more.
Ok, time for me to go fill my tummy and see the city.
Two more days to Dehli -- Sagar get the idli sambar ready cause here I come!
