"We Didn't Inhale"

Smoking the Hookah pipe in Istanbul

A Peace Rally in Istanbul

The street leading up to Taksim Square is a modern street mall (similar to something like Pearl Street in Boulder) that has tons of shops and harbors all that is modern and "Western" in Istanbul. You'll even witness musical entertainers...some good and others whose alcoholic influences have convinced them that they can actually sing and play the guitar.

One evening, Lisa and I happened to be at Taksim Square when a peace rally was being held. We didn't know if we should be frightened to see several police squads with shields and guns to make sure that things didn't get out of hand. The group was rallying for "peace" but our Muslim friend, Mehtin, said that it was backed by a socialist party who does not have much pull with the people and uses "peace" as their way to lure people into their campaign.

Some Pictures of Istanbul

The Blue Mosque




Lisa and I on the "Asia" side. The Bosphorus river separates Istanbul into the Asian and European sides. We stayed on the European side but took a ferry across the Bosphorus to check out what Asia was like.

Hagia Sophia: A cathedral that at one time was a symbol of the power and might of the Byzantine Empire and its proclamation of Christianity. In the 1450's was then taken over by the Ottoman Empire and converted into a mosque. The religious icons were covered up as they were adulterous to the Islamic faith. In the early 1900's, the domed structure became a museum. Fascinating to see how this amazing basilica could house so much history and reflect two different faiths.

Picked Up By the Turkish Police

After two days ın Istanbul, Lısa and I have dıscovered how to survıve as two gırls travelıng alone. Our fırst day ın a very crowded market, we found out why women cover themselves here. Though I have had many older women grab me ın the Vıetnamese market to check to see ıf everythıng was the same, nothıng prepared me for the grabbıng that occurred by the men here. It made me feel so humilıated. However, we quıckly realızed that we just needed to remaın aware and be careful where we go.

All ın all, I feel really safe here. Thıs afternoon we got lost and when we approached the polıceman ın hıs Element-lıke polıce car to ask the name of the mosque that we were standıng by as a way to fınd where we were on the map, he and hıs partner offered to gıve us a rıde back to the area where we needed to go. Rıdıng ın the back of the Turkısh polıce car, we also receıved a free tour as the polıceman poınted out dıfferent hıstorıcal sıtes.

The cıty fascınates me. The hıstory both polıtıcally and relıgıously ıs so rıch and complex. You have East meets West, Islam meets Chrıstıanıty, and a whole lot ın between.

Khersoness

Khersoness are Greek ruins that overlook the Black Sea.

The Russian Orthodox Church

There is an orthodox church with a beautiful view nestled in the Crimean Mountains on the way to Yalta. In all the orthodox churches that we visited, we were required to cover our heads and were given skirts to wear over our jeans.





This is a monastery in Bakcheserai where there is literally a cave city in which the Tatars lived The Tatars are a Muslim group living in Crimea. Ironic that the monastery is Orthodox and situated within the Tatar community.

Why would a girl fly all the way to Ukraine?

The man thong.

We made a day trip to Yalta where we visited two palaces, one of them being the palace at which Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met for the Yalta Conference. Though the sites were interesting, nothing compared to the site that I so generously share with all of you.

I Like Those Older Men

We arrived in Sevastopol at 7am this morning and then went to Krista’s small Russian church. Sevastopol is more Russian than Ukrainian, since it was founded by Katherine the Great as a Russian military navy port.

After church, the father of one of Krista’s friends said he would drive us (in his Mercedes) to the center of the city so that we could see some of the sites. Driving in Ukraine is rather aggressive and I find myself holding on to the back of the seat as Ukrainians drive insanely fast. So as we tore through the streets of Sevastopol, the father was asking Krista a lot of questions about me. When we arrived at our destination he got out and kept hugging me, making suggestive comments, and then tried to kiss me. It was extremely awkward and my two friends were laughing…and are still laughing because it was such an awkward situation. They wouldn’t have been laughing if it had been them, but because it was me it was rather entertaining. They did say that I handled it an extremely graceful way, so I guess that is worth something.
His name is Vova, he is about 60 and he is hoping that he can meet me in Vietnam soon.

Sevastopol

In route....for 20 hours on a train.

Sevastopol in the Crimea peninsula

Kiev