Friday 25 September 2015

Turkey Update

It's Friday today
And our holiday is in full swing
As a dyed in the wool shopaholic
I quickly located the main shopping street 
And zoned in on the New Balance trainer shop 
Where I promptly bought a pair of navy and pink ones
It was hard to know what size to buy
As my feet have swollen in the heat 
But I think I bought the right size
Anyway
I'm happy with my purchase 
And that my friends 
Is about all that my budget will stretch to
I need to keep my budget for essentials like food and water

Today we got up early 
Had breakfast on the terrace
And my Mother and sister and I decided to take the ferry to Princes Island 
To hit the beach for some sun
As today was promised to be a scorcher 
The ferry trip was about an hour long
However the minute my Mum felt the roll of the boat in the water
She decided against going
So she headed back to the hotel 
My sister and I had a lovely boat ride
We sat on the side
With our legs dangling above the water 
And drank freshly squeezed orange juice
We arrived on the island at about 11am
Where we quickly located the nearest beach 
Two sun loungers 
And an umbrella 
I parked myself there with my book and my drink of lemonade
Happy as a pig in.....
My sister went in swimming 
I just paddled as I feel the cold too much in water 
It was a lovely day 
And as it started to get really crowded and hot
We decided to head back 

We arrived back at our port at about 4pm
And started making our way back to the hotel
We were walking up one of the many hills
When a man walked by with a shoe shine kit
As he passed me 
One if his brushes fell out and on to the ground 
I did what anyone would have done
And picked it up
As the man didn't seem to notice it had fallen 
I called his attention
He turned around 
And when he saw I had the brush
He put his hand to his heart and bowed in gratitude
Then he shook mine and my sisters hand
And asked is where we were from
We told him
Then he wanted to know if we were lost
We said we weren't
That we were heading back to our hotel
It was at this point that we looked at each other
And started to feel a little uneasy
He persisted asking us 
And then looked at my sisters trainers mans said he would clean them 
He told us to follow him
And he walked on ahead of us 
We followed but crossed the road when we could 
Again he followed us 
And would not listen when we refused his offers 
We practically had to shout at him to get him to listen
Eventually we got away from him
And thinking about it
He probably dropped the brush on purpose 
In order to engage us
But it's just that they can be so persistent 
That it's really uncomfortable
There is an awful lot of poverty here
And I gues people do what they have to do to make a buck
I suppose they think that because we are tourists 
That we have a lot of money to spare 
And maybe some people do
But I sure don't 

The poverty is very much in your face here 
Walking around the city last night
There were whole families who had set up camp at the side of the street
I mean little children and babies
It's really heart breaking 
My mother was especially upset by this
And was giving the families money
But then it's hard to know if that is the right thing to do
And then there is the question if these people are exploiting their children to pull on our heart strings 
It seems to be a city divided in to the very rich
And the very poor 
Everywhere you turn 
There are people trying to sell you anything from bottles of water to packets of tissues
I guess they have to make money some how 

In other news 
I am managing my meds a lot better
And taking my methadone during the day 
And tablets at night
That seems to be working 
So we'll go with that
Just heading out for dinner now 
Happy Friday to you all
And see you on the next post....







5 comments:

  1. -!
    Reminiscent of the Lorrie Morgan song, 'What Part Of No' (Non? Nein? Nay? Nyet? 'Nuh-uh'?? [or howEVER you say it in Turkish!?]) don't you understand?! Gah!! So glad you & Sissy r alright-!!
    :/ That must been kinda scary, Rubly! (or @ v leastest UNNERVING. *shudders* Man…
    Hoping this doesn't spoil thgs for you!

    Glad your meds are on-track favourably now; 'good on ya'

    That water is AMAESING, [Totally worthy of the 'E']-!!!

    <3 Jils ((huggles))

    ReplyDelete
  2. i think all of us are shopaholics inside. i love shopping! food, clothes... just shopping! i feel a little sad and empty when i leave a store with nothing to buy.

    i think reading Confessions of a Shopaholic reminded me of that thing about shopping - that there's something about bringing home a new purchase that makes you feel good inside. i agree!

    it sounded like you had a good vacation. it's nice that you were able to make a few new memories, my little princeasea.

    when you said Princess Island, i had to do a double take. then i looked up and saw "Turkey update". dear God, you went to Turkey.

    i didn't like Turkey very much, but oh, i loved walking there. i'm not sure what aspect of Turkey i didn't like. i think i went to a few parts and one time, our lunch cost us so much it was actually hilarious. i think i bought one pair of pants when i was in Turkey and it was a cargo-military type pants. that was a few years back when i was into the military-cargo look.

    "I suppose they think that because we are tourists
    That we have a lot of money to spare"
    YES. that's typically the case. it's worse when you come from the Middle East also because they expect that you have so much money that it's spilling out of your pockets. it's true for a lot of people but...

    "And then there is the question if these people are exploiting their children to pull on our heart strings" this is true for a lot and not true for a lot as well.

    it's interesting to see. the very rich do not help the very poor. that's the essence of segregation.

    "There are people trying to sell you anything from bottles of water to packets of tissues" aye, i've seen this happen a lot. even around here, a lot of people from lesser countries come here to sell. the thing is they work for minimal wage jobs and for very little, but because of the exchange currency (Bahrain has such as HIGH exchange rate) that to them, they are making so much money for doing little minuscule jobs. in fact, there are some frightening stories about what a lot of them would do for more money and/or the kind of deception they'd get involved in... happened to a few of our house maids actually. :S

    from what i know, a terrible sight of poverty/unequality in a society is very predominant when you go to India. i heard some terribly sickening stories and i do not wish to go there at any point in time.




    either way, wishing you a very good holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  3. When I was in Greece it was kind of like that in some parts of Athens we walked around and people wold pull their children from school to come and play at table for money or trying to sell flowers. Our guide and my professor who had been there many many times told us not to give them money because it supported their parents' behavior. The children would even get pretty angry that we wouldn't give them money. They are so cute and it's heartbreaking not to give them any. On top of that, I saw someone sitting by a church with what looked like gangrene on their leg, just this huge wound and I was shocked because though we have pretty in your face poverty in America at times, there are clinics people can go to if they're homeless. It's crazy to see how things are outside your world. I'm glad you made it away safely. It makes me a little nervous traveling in foreign places as a woman at times, especially after watching the movie Taken. :P I'm glad you're having fantastic time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I went to Greece as a teen and at the bus terminal some lady passed/threw me an actual swaddled baby out of the blue. Then her son(?) stole my wallet and ran off.
      I was beyond perplexed.

      Delete
  4. so glad the holiday is going well - that's lovely :)
    can you ask locals about the issues of giving on the streets?
    keep safe and have fun x
    (ps and be wary of liquids sold by beggars, including water...)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving some love x