Touring the Asian side, Japanese Restaurants, etc.

This weekend the americans and I went to visit the Asian side. A much lauded activity by those in the know, and only about 25 steps away from the hip-ness of visiting something on the Eastern side or making a day trip to Syria.

Actually, it was kind of everything people said it would be (more 'asian'/'real') I suppose. It certainly had an atmosphere that the European side doesn't have, and was more like the Asian cities that I went to. I also felt cooler, which is a big plus. Everything was incredibly busy and a lot of things smelt like fish, which is nice in its own way, and there were shops selling loofahs and cinnamon sticks and semi-dried tomatoes (tick!) and loads and loads of people. One of the things that has struck me again and again (perhaps suggesting that I am a little simple) is how MANY PEOPLE THERE ARE. Just like, in the world. Because as you may know, most of them don't live in Australia. I think my comprehensive school had about as many people as my home town, so wade through the masses of people speaking another language is always quite fun. The downside to visiting this last hurrah of authenticity is that the masses of people also take many many buses to get there, and so it took about 80 minutes to do so. I had nostalgic flashbacks of the glory days of Dad running late and doing 120 on Firman's Lane in Hazelwood North and covering what must have been about 25kms in 15m.

Anyway, after recovering from the somewhat traumatic experience of trying to get home from the suburbs, a few of us went out for Japanese food in town. We are led to our table: 'Could we sit outside?' I ask? 'No', my otherwise impeccably well-mannered waiter tells me. This is a little unnerving... I'm not sure if I should ask again but decide to just behave and sit inside. Under the floodlights in one probably one of the most expensive restaurants I've ever been to. Mood lighting is, in my experience, one of the later acquistions of 'developing' countries.

So the sesame seeds were stale, the gyoza basically just chicken mince and it all costs about a month's wages... but it was sushi, my beloved, and so I was happy. Another weekend in Turkey.