Living the Travel Channel

First Stroll in Istanbul

January 22, 2011

Posted by DaddyBird

I don’t usually get around to posting on this blog. Unfortunately I’m usually too busy writing, editing, proofreading, tweeting and configuring things elsewhere. Hopefully, I can get a few posts in while we’re here in Istanbul.

After getting settled in to our cozy room, grabbing a few things from a local market and having a bit of dinner, Kanga was wiped out. I was tired too, but just had to go out for a walk anyway. We’re only a couple of blocks away from the Blue Mosque! Why wait ’til tomorrow to see it? When I’m in a new place, I like to walk around and get the lay of the land as soon as possible anyway, so out I went.

I took some pictures while I was out. Of course some of them were of the local cats. They’re plenty of them around, which is the sign of a great city. 😀 (Lara and Terrence over at The GranTourismo Travel Blog have a cool post about the cats in Istanbul.)

An Istanbul street kitty

Took a few night-time pictures of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. They certainly don’t do to the structures justice, but then, I’m not sure that any pictures can.

Aya Sofia

The Blue Mosque

Walking distances are much shorter than I expected, which is great; we’re even closer to more of the sights that I knew. So far the city is just stunning. Can’t wait to see more of it in daylight. The weather is great! Nice and cool. While I was out walking around in 10 degree Celsius weather, wearing a t-shirt and no jacket, I was asked by several if I wasn’t cold. I told them I enjoy the cold, which I certainly do. This is my kind of weather. (Well, a bit cooler and rainier would be great too!)

Firuz Aga Camii

Our friend Rupert, who has lived in Istanbul, made a number of recommendations on places to go and things to do. One suggestion was to check out the pudding shops. I found one just a few steps away from Aya Sophia. The pudding is tasty, and the food looked good too, may go back for dinner.

A Pudding Shop!

I uploaded a few of the pictures that I took this evening to a Picasa album. Here’s the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/pauliancastle/Istanbul

Go down to the end of this street and turn left and you’re at our place.

This seems to be how they say, “Don’t park in front of this building” in our neighborhood.

Kitty in the window

On a sidewalk near the Blue Mosque; I think I’ve seen these exact items on sale in Naif! 😉

More soon!

Posted in cats, Istanbul | Tagged cats, Istanbul, pudding, travel | 2 Comments »

Istanbul Arrival

January 21, 2011

Posted by Kanga

This was the site as we reached our departure gate at the Dubai airport. Now you know how they clean the windows. There was no water involved, so technically not washing the windows. They wiped them down with a broom covered with a cloth and had a window cleaner spray bottle for tough spots. They were also tightening the screws holding the windows in place as they went.

Sometimes you don’t have to learn the language to get around. Taksi anyone?

This is the street our hotel is on. And below is our current window. For three days, we will be in the basement room, then we move upstairs to the top floor for the rest of our stay. (I need to train DaddyBird to reserve ground floor rooms. The stairs are spiral and very narrow.)

Posted in Istanbul | 1 Comment »

Rainy Day

January 18, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

It’s been raining all day. For Pacific Northwesterners (U.S.) who have a plethora of words for describing rain, it has been mostly “sprinkling.” This denotes a very light rain (not as light as “misting”), but lighter than an actual “rain shower.” In Oregon, this rain would definitely not require the use of an umbrella and not even a coat, except for the wimpiest of citizenry.

But, since we, in the U.A.E. have brightly sunny and dry days nearly all year, this precipitation is of note. As I stepped out of the apartment building this morning I saw several book bags abandoned on the porch and three school boys standing out on the sidewalk where they could get (at least a little bit) wet. One was definitely exalting in the water falling from the sky with his head thrown back and his mouth wide open.

I enjoyed walking to the taxi stop near the mall, even though it was barely raining and the ground was nowhere near thoroughly wet, yet. It was also nice to ride in the taxi with the window down and enjoy the cool air rushing in.

I knew immediately that my taxi driver would be extraordinary, because he actually used his turn signal to indicate that he was pulling over to pick me up. Not only that, but he recognized my destination and offered me the choice of two routes to reach it. Wow! He asked me a few questions. Was I a teacher? Where am I from? (He guessed Australia. Surely, I speak better English than that. ;-)) I don’t usually have conversations with taxi drivers. Many have very limited English and then there is the cultural red tape attached to unaccompanied women. Most don’t initiate conversation and neither do I. (Not because I’m snobbish, but because I am a very private, introverted person who really doesn’t want to talk to strangers.) DaddyBird, on the other hand, with his “number one Muslim beard” gets into many a taxi driver conversation.

In other news, this Friday we will be traveling to Instanbul, Turkey. (Finally, after months of not traveling anywhere, we get to live a little “travel channel.”) We will be there for two weeks and will be blogging and sharing lots of pictures.

So, stay tuned.

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Axis of Evil Dining

January 14, 2011

Posted by Kanga

The Axis of Evil, in case you don’t remember the details, was Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

We’ve eaten at multiple Iranian and Iraqi restaurants which is easy to do because they are all over town (our part of town, anyway). This week we completed the triangle by eating at the new North Korean restaurant in town.

It started with me discovering this article Dubai Restaurant Offers a Taste of North Korea. It was an easy and quick conclusion that we must investigate and drag our friends along.

So, Sunday evening we arrived at Okryu-Gwan. Our friends arrived a few at a time over the next hour and a half. (There is a “no photo” rule, so you will have to imagine for yourself what it was like.) The staff (on the evening we were there) was all female. They were dressed in lovely traditional Korean dresses, called Hanbok. The dresses were pastel colors, predominantly pink. The waitress was delighted when DaddyBird used the few Korean words he remembers.

We poured over the menu which was full of delightful and unfamiliar items. Most of our group ordered some sort of soup – kim kee, spicy beef, seaweed, etc. I was entranced by the picture of the cold noodles (sorry didn’t get the full name of the dish). It also looked like it would be (or could be) non-spicy.

My cold noodles were the last to arrive at the table and required some assembly by the waitress. She asked “spicy?” I turned to look, saw a bowl of red paste in her hand, and my outcry of “no!” shocked her a little. So, we skipped the fiery red stuff and she added vinegar, mustard, and other things I don’t remember and stirred it all up. It was yummy. Next time we go back I should get something else and expand my knowledge of Korean food, but I will be sorely tempted to have the noodles again.

At 8:00 pm, the floor show began. It started with two of the waitresses dressed in their pretty pink hanboks dancing and singing in Korean. Followed by another woman dressed in a western style dress singing in English. Followed by another Korean number, etc. All of the numbers were displayed Karaoke style on a big TV screen next to the stage. The music became progressively modern including Beautiful Sunday (by Daniel Boone) and 500 Miles (by Peter, Paul & Mary). The finale was sung in Korean, so I’m not sure what it was, but it involved an electric guitar, drums, an electric piano and a flute. All in all, quite entertaining.

So, I highly recommend Okryu-Gwan and we will be going back there soon.

Posted in food, restaurant | 3 Comments »

Zabeel Park Sights

January 7, 2011

Posted by Kanga

This is a rather outstanding sculpture in Zabeel Park commemorating Dubai’s Australian sister city, Gold Coast. This is one of those things I never expected to see.

This fountain was rather fascinating. If they could just reduce the hissing sound of the mist jets, it would be very relaxing.

Posted in Dubai, fountains, oddities | 1 Comment »

Caution: Children Running for the Bus

January 5, 2011

Posted by Kanga

I’ve been scolded by Rupert for posting just this picture with no text. Apparently, he thinks people will think bad things about it. Personally, I think you are all big girls and boys and don’t need me to tell you what to think about this picture. Also, a little reminder that this blog is not for people who live in Dubai. You all are welcome to read/view it, but you can look out your own window and see these things for yourself. This blog is for the few friends and family we have back home who will probably never travel halfway around the world to see these things for themselves.

I thought this picture was charming. In Abu Dhabi, there are pedestrian crossing signs showing a man in a kandoora crossing the street. I don’t have a picture of that, yet, or I would have added it here.

I was just appreciating a small difference in an all too homogenized world.

Posted in signs | 1 Comment »

Always investigate the smell of burning plastic

January 3, 2011

Posted by Kanga

Whoever designed and manufactured this electrical adapter should be slapped upside the head, at the very least.

Now our wall socket looks like this:

Thankfully, this is as far as it got.

Posted in oddities, products/ads | 1 Comment »

Need a laugh?

January 2, 2011

Posted by Kanga

I’m going to recommend two blogs. The writers/illustrators of these blogs crack me up. If you are lucky enough to have a sense of humor like mine, they will crack you up, too. These blogs also make me think maybe I should draw my own illustrations, but I suspect that they make it look much easier than it actually is.

First is Hyperbole and a Half. I don’t know the writer, but she recently moved to Oregon, so she gets extra points for that. My favorite post so far is Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving. Made me laugh so hard, I cried.

The second is Wit and Sarcasm by Alexandra, a student worker at my previous place of employment. My favorite so far is “Am I An All-Knowing Genie? Not Yet.” I’ve lived it. Every word is true. No hyperbole there.

Without a rock solid sense of humor and ability to laugh at the stupidities of life and at myself, I would not have made it this far. Here’s to another year of laughter.

Posted in Us, USA | 1 Comment »

New Year’s Eve in Dubai 2010-2011

January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

We celebrated much the same way as last year with fish dinner at Bu Qtair and a short walk down to the beach to watch the fireworks at the Burj al Arab.

There were cupcakes (courtesy of the Nystedts).

My camera takes crappy pictures in the dim lighting and if I use the flash, everyone has red eyes. So, you will have to take my word for it that there were nine of us over the course of the evening. No hats, but there were noise makers and confetti poppers.

Then, the fireworks. (To see all the still photos click here.)