I took the night bus from Göreme to Istanbul and had already made friends before even stepping off the bus. The attendant on the bus – who serves the passengers snacks, drinks, and bacteria killing hand wash – seemed to grow a liking to me as when it came time to serve me, she would smile, hand me my snack, and each time teach me how to pronounce “Istanbul” the correct way. “Is-tan-bul” she would say, as I repeated after her several times.
I spent my time on the bus with a couple from Budapest who were generous enough to invite me over if I chose to go there during my trip. They warned me about getting too friendly with Turkish people as there are stories about scams floating about.

Upon arrival in Istanbul I noticed a lot of greenery. Besides that, I would see minarets jutting through the dense cloud of buildings and homes that would lie on hillsides. It was quite the different scenery of Turkey that I was accustomed to, after staying in small cities for the past week.

My first night’s stay in Istanbul had little to desire for. My stay in the Interyouth Hostel yielded in meeting a drunkard from Oregon, sleeping beside a street lamp, and helping out a couple from Switzerland – which was the better part of the day. I quickly checked out the next morning as I was ready to meet my friends from Quebec City who were scheduled to come to Istanbul a day after I did. We met, we found a place, and we had a great time. The hostel – which was more like a hotel – had an all you can eat breakfast, free Internet access, and free hot beverages. Best of all, our room had an amazing view of the Sea of Marmara that I didn’t really care if we had to climb six flights of stairs just to get there. It was well worth it in my opinion.

It was because of this room that I didn’t really mind staying there for a whole week. And I didn’t mind staying in my bed for the entire day that day when I was recovering from food poisoning.

What happened to Taku after he recovered? Find out by downloading the PDFzine!