Two for the Road

We’ve officially left Europe (well, we left it three times actually). Our first two landings in Asia happened in Istanbul – one of very few cities on the planet to span two continents. On our penultimate day in the city, we took a ferry to the Asian side for a quick wander around, picking up a simit (Turkish equivalent of a sesame bagel) for breakfast. These two activities combined set us back about £2 – Istanbul is definitely a budget friendly destination! We took a wander around the Kadikoy area and encountered a swarm of football fans, scampering back to the European side before the match kicked off (probably for the best given the famous passion of the local teams).

On our final day in Istanbul, we first headed to the beautiful Blue Mosque – it’s free to enter and they let you borrow a headscarf to go inside, unlike it’s neighbour the Hagia Sophia. Then we booked onto a spur of the moment discount river cruise for only £3.50 each. We spent two-hours on the water, seeing the sights of the Bosphorus (the water separating the European and Asian halves of the city) then we were dropped off to explore another area of the Asian part of the city. We were told we had an hour to get back so we strode off the cruise hoping to pick up a spot of fast food for lunch. It was about 11.30 and so we were a little early for some spots we’d scoped out to be open, and with the clock ticking, we jumped into the first place that would take us. Unfortunately for us, this place was a fancy restaurant hotel and only served fish – not exactly what we were going for on this occasion.

In true British fashion, we were too awkward to leave so proceeded to order the catch of the day, a salad, and some bread, hastily following up our order with a Google Translated instruction that we had to go in 30 minutes. After some mild anxiety, and planning an exit strategy in case the food didn’t come out, we managed to eat and get back to our boat with a few minutes to spare!

Following all this trans-continental Hokey Cokey action, we boarded our first long-haul flight of the trip, diving into a month in Thailand starting with three nights in Bangkok. We’d been warned of how hectic and crazy the city was, but I have to say as I write on the evening of our second day here, it seems pretty chilled compared to Istanbul! Unfortunately, Matt has managed to pick up food poisoning from his very first try of the famous street food here, so as a result, we’ve stuck close to toilets and ‘safe’ food from more western restaurants and the convenience store today. Fingers crossed the patient is well enough to dip his toe back into the Pad Thai tomorrow!

Iris