TURKEY! :D

Sugar here comes in cubes, and I'm having loads of fun popping them into my mouth at every meal. Come to think of it, holidays are probably the only time I eat proper meals. The standard of living here, which is the measure of both material and non-material aspects of living, accounting for both how much people are willing and able to buy, and the quality of life they enjoy :D, is not very high. Even though the Turks don't earn alot, the cost of living is high. I won't go into details about how much meals cost.

So I spent the past few days reading up on WIki about Turkey, Ice Cream, the like. About time huh. Istanbul lies on 2 continents, Europe and Asia, seperated by a canal and joined by a suspension bridge. We didn't go over to Asia; the Europe side has the biggest shopping centre in Europe, Cevahir, which is 6 storeys high and has 343 shops. We spent an entire day combing the place (and finding Turkish Ice Cream), but the place is so expensive because it hosts international (unaffordable) brands. And, I haven't been able to find a single turkey except for the mascot of Turkcell, the Turkish phone provider.

The history of the place is quite engaging; visited the wall which protected the Byzantine empire before it got conquered by the Ottomans and it's ultra ancient, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia musuem which was a church converted into a mosque into a musuem, and of course lots of shopping at the Grand Bazaar. The Bazaar mostly sells carpets, silver, and spices. If you scour the place more closely, there are wear-able objects on sale. We bought 2kg of Turkish Delight from the Spice Bazaar, which unlike the ones found in SIngapore, are only mildly sweet, and ooper chewy :D

Missing home already. Our hotel is at the base of a hill, and everyday we have to climb up the hill (like NJ, except steeper), and walk, and walk, and walk. I would suppose it neutralises all the food we've been eating, but for a self-proclaimed couch potato like me, it's just a bit of a hassle.