Day 426: East Side / West Side

Istanbul, Turkey

I vaguely remembered Kitti from Hungary told me about a Turkish friend she had. Browsing the friends of friends’ list on CS website led me to Cagil’s profile. I shot him a couch request a few days ago and he accepted it.

Prior to my relocation from the European side of Istanbul to Cagil’s place in the Asian side, I spent the day lazying around in Sultanahmet district. I tried to avoid the main tourist areas and wonder down the more residential part. There weren’t much to see besides from rundown buildings and sun-basking cats.

Cagil picked me up with his car at the ferry port in Kadikoy. Turkey probably has the most expensive gas in the world. For a small sedan, the Turks pay about $100+ to top up the tank. How the locals afford driving and how Istanbul’s traffic got to be so bad despite the ridiculous price on gas, I couldn’t fathom

Cagil lived with his brother in a dope apartment. For $350 a month, they got to live in a spacious two-bedroom. So I guess at least rent is nowhere as pricey as NYC.

We stopped by a grocery and Cagil did some shopping before we headed to his place where he prepared a huge dinner. In the evening, Cagil went out with his friends and was kind enough to let me stay in if I wanted to. I chose to spend the night watching an episode of “Boardwalk Empire” and sleeping early.