Spreading Eurasia (1)

I landed at Istanbul’s new airport on the European side. Although Istanbul is known as the “capital of the world,” I felt that the diversity of tourists here was still noticeably lower than in the UAE. There were no longer large groups of white European and American tourists; the ecological niche they left behind seemed to have been filled by Russian tourists instead. Of course, Turkey also no longer had large numbers of South Asian foreign workers, yet the overall prices were still about the same as in the UAE, roughly twice those of Beijing. This suddenly made me think that the number of tourists from one country in another is often heavily influenced by the relationship between the two countries. Turkey and Western countries are clearly not exactly on the same side.

Before this trip began, I had already been wondering whether I could find a stretch of the journey where I could try staying in a hostel. At first, I tried looking for hostels in the UAE, but after searching around, it seemed that there were basically none at all, perhaps due to local legal restrictions. So I switched to looking in Turkey and happened to find a very well-reviewed hostel in Istanbul called Wabi Hostel. It cost around 100 RMB per night on average, so I booked it without hesitation. When I arrived, I found that it was a four-person room, and I had been assigned an upper bunk. The overall environment was slightly better than I had expected, with a separate bathroom and toilet. For a moment, it felt as if I had gone back to my high school dormitory. The reason I do not say it felt like a university dormitory is that each room only had beds and lockers, with no desks. If I wanted to use my laptop, I had to go to the hostel’s common area. Calling it a common area is a bit generous, since it could only fit about four or five people, and even then it could not really be filled to capacity. Every time I sat down there and opened my laptop, a white cat from the hostel, with a little bell hanging from its neck, would come over and jump back and forth between me and the computer. The female owner of the hostel smiled and said that the cat especially liked me. The whole hostel gave me the impression of being small, but not particularly delicate or refined. Each floor had about eight rooms, so by that calculation there were around 8 × 4 × 5 = 160 guests in total, which actually was not that many. Writing this now makes me want to specifically try a small but refined hostel the next time I go to Japan.

On the first day, I walked from the hostel to Taksim Square before entering the metro. Taksim is the center of the new European district, drawing all kinds of tourists who come for its reputation. There were flocks and flocks of pigeons in the square. Before coming here, I had already heard that Istanbul was a city of cats, with many “stray cats” that were nevertheless very clean and behaved no differently from house cats. People could also interact and play with them freely. The cats would leap up to pounce at the pigeons, and every time an orange-yellow figure flashed past, nearly a hundred pigeons would take off at once, blotting out the sky. I bought a metro card and headed to the Asian side. Halfway there, while I was on Metro Line 2, the train suddenly emerged above ground and went onto a bridge spanning the new and old European districts. Even more amazingly, one of the stations was built directly in the middle of the bridge. I got off immediately without the slightest hesitation, left the station, took out my camera, and started shooting like crazy, as if no number of photos would ever be enough. That station must have been built specifically for viewing the scenery. After changing metro lines several times, I exited on the Asian side, and the station exit was right by the sea. It was evening, and the wind was slightly stronger than a breeze. The heat I had still felt that morning in Arabia was completely swept away by the sea wind from the Bosphorus. The sky above the strait was filled with clouds moving at a speed visible to the naked eye. The waterfront was lined with people fishing and enjoying the view. After walking only a short distance, I came across two huge number sculptures: 1453 and 1923, representing the year the Ottomans captured Constantinople and the year the Republic of Turkey was founded, respectively. After walking a little farther, I ran into a couple who asked me to take photos for them, probably because they saw me carrying a huge camera. I took the photos, added them on WhatsApp, and sent the pictures over. Afterwards, they warmly invited me to visit the city where they lived. When I checked the map, I saw that it was already at the other end of Turkey, close to Central Asia, so I could only politely decline. I imagine they were also visiting Istanbul as tourists. After walking farther on the Asian side, I could not find any suitable bus back to the hotel, so I had to keep walking for quite a while and then transfer between several buses to return. But on the way back, the bus drove onto a bridge spanning the strait. Judging by eye, that bridge must have been at least 80 meters above sea level.

On the second morning, I met up with the travel companion I had encountered earlier, and we followed the plan to explore the old European district. The old European district is full of tourist attractions, one after another. I had seen online comments describing it as a “premium version of Shanghai,” and after experiencing it myself, I felt that this was quite accurate. It is extremely suitable for a city walk. We went first to Hagia Sophia Mosque, then to the Basilica Cistern. When we arrived at Hagia Sophia Mosque, I saw many plaques with Arabic calligraphy and various murals. It suddenly occurred to me that I could take photos and ask GPT to explain them, which allowed me to understand all kinds of cultural relics. Around noon, we wandered to the Grand Bazaar and went to eat the famous Salt Bae steak. The taste was all right, but it really did not feel worthy of the nearly 600 RMB price tag. TAT. In the afternoon, we visited the Archaeological Museums. Originally, we were supposed to buy tickets, but there happened to be some event during those days, so admission was free. The richness of the exhibits was a pleasant surprise. Afterwards, we practically walked across the entire old European district and reached its highest point, the Süleymaniye Mosque, only to find that it had just closed when we arrived. However, right beside it was a spot where we could overlook the opposite side of the strait and the countless boats in between. I took many good photos there. After leaving, we directly found a highly rated restaurant on Google Maps. It turned out that there was not a single customer inside. Only after we walked in did the owner appear. We had wraps there. The owner looked like an engineer, and he even wanted us to help him sell his spark plugs to China.

On the third morning, I set out to explore the new European district. The first place I visited was the Museum of Innocence. It is a museum recreated from the scenes in the novel of the same name, presenting the plot and atmosphere of the story. I had planned to go there because I heard that if you bring the novel, it can be used as your ticket, and they stamp a dedicated page in the book, which makes for a very memorable souvenir. After that, my travel companion left for his next stop, Egypt, while I continued wandering around the new European district. I first went to the Cat Museum, which specifically documents scenes of various cats interacting with people in Istanbul. I do not know whether there is any other place in the world with this kind of human-cat relationship. I noticed that quite a few cats had one ear clipped at the tip. I guessed that this meant they had already been neutered; otherwise, the cats really would have multiplied into a disaster, haha. Later, I walked to Galata Tower, another extremely popular tourist attraction. Going up the tower cost 25 euros, and by then the crowds had already packed the streets so tightly that they were almost impassable. I did not go up the tower. Instead, I walked toward the higher ground between the tower and the waterfront. From there, I could see white clouds scattered across the sky, forming a striking contrast with the deep blue background, like a scene from a manga. By then, I was already exhausted from walking, so I returned to the hostel for an afternoon nap.

At the hostel entrance, I saw an advertisement for Bosphorus cruises, with different departure times available each day. I decisively chose the sunset slot, which cost 20 euros. At the scheduled time, a vehicle even came specifically to the hostel to pick me up and take me to the waterfront to board the boat. The route of the cruise was to sail roughly 20 kilometers along the strait and then return to the city center, with a one-hour stop on the Asian side in between. The commentary on the cruise was bilingual, in English and Russian, and there were also quite a few Russians on board. Although it was already the National Day holiday and there were many Chinese tourists at various attractions, I seemed to be the only Chinese person on the cruise. The young woman in charge of the commentary was very warm and enthusiastic. Of course, I think part of the reason I felt that way was that her English was the most comfortable to listen to out of everything I had heard over the past many days. The Indian-accented English I had heard so much of in the UAE had really put me through some suffering.

Afterwards, I returned to the hostel and packed my luggage in advance. If I remember correctly, I had set my alarm for 4:30 the next morning so I could head straight to the airport for an early flight. When I left the hostel, the streets in the city center were completely empty. Although it was still before dawn, I found on Google Maps that I could take a night bus and then transfer to the metro to reach the airport. That bus came about once every 30 minutes. Just as I walked to the bus stop, it happened to arrive, but it did not seem to intend to stop at the station. I hurriedly waved my hand, and the bus braked a few meters ahead of the stop. I carried my suitcase onto the bus and could not help feeling that this was a moment arranged for me by fate: not early, not late, everything perfectly on time.