Day 2, Tuesday February 2nd 2021 – First impressions and visiting the Asian side with our new access rights and friend

 

First thing as planned was to get local sim cards. We also got the HES codes we need for transportation etc. We also had heard the foreign phones are blocked in Turkey after some time period, 90 days or so. What this actually means is still a bit unclear to me. Anyways we were told at the operators shop they can reopen the phones for a small fee later. We were first planning to purchase some cheap local phones but at least for now we keep using our old phones with local sims. With the help of the HES-codes and our new friend Pedro, we headed for a small trip to the Asian side. Getting to the ferry my Istanbul card did not work, but with help of the security personnel we got the card linked to my HES-code. Usage is easy, you just beep your card in a reader and payment is done.

On the ferry to Asia

The ferry took us across the Bosbhorus and there we headed to Kadiköy district. Click here for the route We noticed quite strong police presence while walking around. We bought something to eat and some beers and headed back closer to the sea for a picnic. Sitting right next to the water we were lucky some local men were also hanging out there drinking beer and singing with a guy playing Kanun, a traditional string instrument that resembles also the Finnish traditional instrument Kantele. It was pretty cool to sit there and talk with such singing and playing in the background. It is also nice and maybe surprising that drinking beer is totally ok in public. While we sat, ate and drank Perdo was telling of his plans that sounded quite hardcore. This young man is barely over 20 and already seen a lot and been around and next he plans to hitchhike to Iraq. Even though I find him smart person, I am not sure about how smart his plan is.. well maybe I am just too much of a coward myself to do something like that. His plan is to travel around the Kurdish areas for about 20 days and then return. We had already initially agreed we would bunk in Pedro’s room for the duration of his next adventure and then agree about the rest. Our talks moved around different topics and moved through the political situation in Turkey. I realized I was feeling a bit strange. Instead of following the things on TV I was actually here in the middle of things, experiencing it first hand. The strong police presence was related to the unrest and demonstrations and we had found out our missing roommate had been arrested with some 50 other students at the university. We were feeling worried for this person we had not even yet met. Our talks and the background music continued until it was again getting dark and we started heading back home. On the way back we saw even more police, they were in several groups close to the ferries. While waiting for the ferry we enjoyed some tea and coffee right next to the police.

Having some warmup coffee and tea in the safety of the police

The ferry arrived soon after and we were carried back to our side. Once at our place we started to hear strange sound coming from the street. Several people were clinging some metal objects (pans with spoons or something) in their windows. Due the demostrations the local people showing their support to the students. This is a tradition that has been active since the 90’s already I was told. During the day I did notice that unlike in some documentaries from Turkey there are no pictures of the president here anywhere. In stead of the president, many shops and public places do have several pictures of Ataturk. Another thing I noticed are the numerous cats and dogs on the streets. It seem locals are taking good care of the animals on the streets though and they both are marked for vaccinations.