The Deceit of Angels

Apparently it's become something of a meme in S. Korea, and I asked Alex to get a video of me drunkenly doing the dance to complement this piece but... Well if I'm drunk, explaining anything to him is borderline impossible. Yet, nevertheless, gangnam style suggests to me 'I'm gonna look like a twat yet do it anyway because it could be fun,' which sums up a lot of this trip. And the whole 'heeeeeey sexy lady' part, well that fits too (hot damn). Apparently there's also a major subtext westerners missed out on about the materialism of the modern world. Well, that has absolutely nothing to do with this trip. In fact, if anything, Alex was at his least materialistic which is certainly something I should commend, even if it resulted in more photo's of me in the bathroom and hours of drunken woman chasing, but moving on: Alex owns a copy of 'Twilight' on blu-ray. I don't know why, but he does. And so it begins, the drive to the airport

First night here and I feel I need to sing the praises of the riad (guest house) we're staying; a lift from the airport, a tour of the market and dinner that is already making the trip worthwhile. So good even Emily ate it with gusto, and she had difficulty finding food in the airport! The staff are attentive, helpful above and beyond what you would expect and they seem to genuinely care about their residents; the only way they could have done more would have been to guide us through each day as a personal guide, which obviously would be odd and impractical. Probably the best place I've stayed at amongst all my travels thus far and one I would have no qualms recommending to others, even if that front door is so small I feel like gandalf entering a hobbit hole. It's ranked 6th on tripadvisor for damn good reason. The only thing slightly disconcerting about the place is the security; no safe for valuables and no key locks to the doors (excluding the front door), just a bo

“Turkish people are ugly, cant dress well, cant sing, cant speak properly, are conservative, religious and make lousy coffee. Welcome to Istanbul!” - Hazal Another overdue piece, I actually visited Istanbul Nov 17th - 27th but due to my computer dying for a couple of months, this got put on hold. Nonetheless, details of my exploits in Istanbul to visit the student ex-Lifer regular who reappeared after a year of almost complete absence with 'So when exactly are you coming to visit me?' have finally arrived. I assumed my flight couldn't be as entertaining as the last time I flew alone. And I was right! Most of my experiences involved saying Turkish words so that nobody could understand them (kof-tay? Kerf-ter? Eh) and sitting next to an elderly Turkish man who sounded angry at being offered a paper in Turkish, demanding the English paper. He was grumpy at me too, for every tiny inconvenience. Until he twigged I was English. Then I became his best friend, constantly in