Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Traffic and toilets

Good to know that Istanbul traffic hasn't changed at all since we last
visited, we sprint across streets and intersections as cars and
motorbikes accelerate towards us! We just sat outside eating water
burek, which is completely addictive, (kind of like lasagna if it was
made with thinner layers of pasta, butter and salty cheese) and
watching the madness.
 I haven't really detailed the whole toilet situation, I can't remember
if I went into it on the last visit or not but since toilets are
pretty much always entertaining...I took the photo of the "modern"
toilet sign today in Istanbul as it cracked me up. In the village, the
toilet is a nice hole in the ground with a porcelain surrounding part
to step on, in a little shed removed just far enough from the house to
prevent smells from carrying and to ensure that I had a really good
chance of falling in the mud when I was sleepily stumbling down the
path in the dark. Big improvements in the village this year were a
roof, (very nice,) a birds nest with 2 baby birds and a light bulb
wired down from the house whose electrical supply exploded in a smoky
ball the 3rd day we were there. There is a big plastic container of
water that you fill a little plastic container with and pour from that
onto your hand and deal with things. Toilet paper is not one of the
options available.

In Istanbul, there is the city version of this which includes a faucet
for the running water, sometimes toilet paper and no birds nests. Some
public bathrooms have both a Turkish toilet and a "modern" toilet as
people have preferences. Luckily our apartment has a modern toilet.

We saw the wall with the red writing says "smiley face clean" sisli--
Sisli is the name of the neighborhood and the writing is some kind of
a pr campaign for how clean Sisli is. Right after this we saw someone
telling fortunes with a dirty white rabbit--I was a little tempted but
kept walking.


The photo with the yellow buildings and trees is the view of the
street from our cute little apartment in Cihangir.
I'm going to come back with very strong legs as everywhere we walk involves walking
straight up and the straight down.
Another one of the falling-down wooden buildings that I love.

3 comments:

sallyb said...

I love the cobbled, narrow alley ways. They make you think you will find something really fine around a corner. Sometimes the vines create a very green and shady tunnel as you walk down the street.

b said...

I know, I love wandering the streets without actually looking at the map and just choosing the best looking alley to walk down. Of course we end up walking straight up and straight down alot this way....

jen said...

interesting about the toilets, very similar in india except we carried our own toilet paper for things. but they had that little cup for the water and sometimes a faucet.