Little to report. The 11th I slept all day, again. I wake up around 03.00, 04.00, coffee and journal, writing a daily gratitude list which I text to Inga my dear friend in Amsterdam. I had a sponsor in Ventura for about a week. From the first day she asked me to call her every night at 19.00, write a daily gratitude list minimum ten items, and have ten women's numbers in my phone. From that one week I internalised the habit of the gratitude list. It is now a part of my day. From that one week I became, after years of hatred with, comfortable talking in the phone. I am very grateful to her for that. My position as an agnostic was a hurdle regarding the spiritual component of our discussions. I believe in nothing. What I operate by is experience - things I have done which gave a pleasing result I keep; that which produced an unsatisfactory result I toss. I still write the list, I just send it to Inga instead.
So, my mornings, after that are get a bite to eat, do stuff on my phone and fall back to sleep around 10.00. Wake up around 17.00, get dressed, and go walk around the city for a few hours.
On the 12th I walked to Asia. This is simply a matter of walking across the bosphorous bridge to the Asian side. It's a short walk, relative to my fondness for walking. Pics are grainy nighttime pics. I liked the Asian side. Very mellow. There was a plaza with bike and walking path along the waterside, lots of people out meandering, and fishermen everywhere.
I took photos using the brown camera, so called for the cover. The pink phone is for navigation. The silver phone is u.s. stuff only. I'll withhold the discussion on VPNs and sd cards. I'll add pics after posting this. I'm too fragile or too relaxed to wrangle the phones right now.
Came back home around midnight. The hills are great exercise. I notice that as the night hours pass the ratio of men:women increases M+:W- . Still, I feel very safe walking around. I dress in jeans, black coat, navy cap, backpack. I have yet to encounter any menace. My roommate, a Russian girl in her twenties, likes the Turks for they are generally very warm toward one another and by extension create a warm social atmosphere. It is common to see men who have known one another a long time hold hands, usually two older or one younger one older.
Thursday I woke up around 05.00. My one goal was to stay awake until the Grand Bazaar opened at 10.00. I was keen to see how this town looked in the DAYTIME. In my journal I repeatedly wrote DAYTIME in bold. It was a priority. The only one of the day really.
The Bazaar is about a 19 minute walk from the hostel. What a difference daytime from night here. Crowded, cars everywhere. Not pleasant. I am in the Old City. The streets are narrow and winding, the sidewalks thin and inhabited by boxes from the shops. Shops are everywhere. I love this. One thing I noticed about the shops during my search for small microfibre towels- when the goods displayed outside are brooms of all sizes this does not mean the shop has all housewares. No. What is inside are more brooms of all sizes. Istanbul is like the Literal Cyn (a name I call myself for a lifetime of understanding things in the Literal sense).
The Grand Bazaar is less like the Pike Place Market and more like L.A.'s wholesale Fashion district only set in an ancient Mediterranean ruin. It was fabulous in many ways, for the color which is what my senses crave. But the repitition bored me after a short time.Gold store, silver store, designer knock off shoes, gold, gold, beads, beads, beads, silver, silver. You get the idea. That was concentrated more inside. The Bazaar proper extends outside. The further from the nucleus one travels the greater the variety in goods.
I splurged on a handful of gorgeous colorful buttons, a Turkish-design tin with soap inside, a few postcards and a scarf for visiting mosques. Total damage $7. As I am homeless and must carry everything on my bike this makes it easy to avoid overpurchasing. I would have easily bought some of the gorgeous lamps.
I left, navigated the crowds back toward home, felt wiped out, ate, ruined my digestion by contacting KLM about a problem, and went to bed around 02.00. The time is estimated.
Nov 11th night walk to Asia-
Nov 12, the Bazaar-
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