the porous city

Meze
I'm in Turkey right now, travelling with Ozge. It is such an incredible luxury to be travelling with someone who speaks the language and understands the culture. Turks are very warm people but outside of Istanbul there are few people I would have been able to communicate with on my own.

Ozge's depressed about the number of women she's seen in headscarves. She thinks there are more than the last time she was here. She's been having despairing conversations with other secular-minded Turks about it. I didn't get her reaction at first, but basically there's a cultural war on here, and she sees the headscarf as primarily a political statement, not a simple religious preference. And if she sees a woman in a chador - well.

Also, the call to prayer would be more pleasant to listen to if it wasn't amplified. Every minaret has a loudspeaker on it. Every one.

Apart from that: the treasures of half a dozen empires over the last 3000 years, fabulous food and drink, you know, that kind of stuff. Istanbul is obviously one of the Great World Cities, and since I prefer cities to beaches, Ozge had to drag me out. But I'll be back ...


last modified: 07:01:05 25-Jul-2008
in categories:Travel/Vagabond'08

Comment

name*

email

homepage

No html.

what's the second letter of your name?

This is Lukas Bergstrom's weblog. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Tech
barcamp, Android, Social, Net, a11y, Medical, Web analytics, Energy, PIM, Product Management, MacOS, Shopping, Data, Security, OS, Open, Collaboration, AI, Development, Automobile, Mobile, RSS, Storage, Hardware, WRX, Web, s60, Audio, Crowdsourcing, Javascript, Visual, Business, Wearables

Other
Toys, Minnesota, Surfing, Video, Quizzes, L.A., Politik, Boston, NYC, Feminism, Friday, San Francisco, California, Clothes, Statistics, Games, Law, Podcasts, Food & Drink, Sports, Life hacks, Transportation, CrowdFlower, History, Personal care, Bicycling, Agriculture, Travel, Activism, Berlin, Housing, Geography

Music
History, Streams, Musicians, Boston, Shopping, L.A., Lyrics, Labels, Making, Videos, Mp3s, Reviews, House, Events, Mixes, Mailing lists, Business, Hip-hop, Booking, Good tracks

People
Exercise, Buddhism, ADD, Vocations, Enemies, Family, Heroes, MOTAS, Life hacks, Meditation, Subcultures, Friends, Working with, Weblogs, Stories, Languages, Health, Me, Gossip

Commerce
Marketing and CRM, Personal services, Insurance, Taxes, Management consulting, Microfinance, Web, IP Law, Shopping, International Development, Macroeconomics, Investing, Real Estate, Non-profit, Personal finance

Arts
Outlets, Desktop wallpaper bait, iPad bait, Visual, Comix, Poetry, Movies, Events, Spoken Word, Humor, Literature, Rhetoric, Animation, Sculpture, Burning Man

Design
Web, IA, Tools, User experience, Architecture, Presentations, Algorithmic, Type, Cool, Process, Furniture, Data visualization

Science
Physics, Statistics and Data, Environment, Networks, Zoology, Psychology, Cognition

Travel
Kenya, Vagabond '08, Kingdom of Siam, Uganda

Photos
Photos I Wish I'd Taken, Moblog, Friends

Philosophy
Mind

One Acre Fund

Mathematics

Internet classic

Subscribe to this site's rss feed