eurasian fantasy part 2

before i can move on to present life and times (i.e. gaoshu elementary school: taiwan's one and only children's folkgame school and proud host of pingtung county's folkgame friday), i need to bring closure to a very special episode in my personal history: my trip to the motherland, *EURASIA*. specifically, turkey! where shirley and kemal were married on 9.5.09. my head started to spin as soon as arabic graphics appeared on the in-flight map and our plane oriented itself (and us) towards Mecca. my flight pattern, for those interested, took me from taipei to hong kong (1+ hr), hong kong to doha (qatar-- 8.5 hrs), and doha to istanbul (4+ hrs).

mike and i experienced a very happy reunion in istanbul, the land of the blue mosque, the hagia sophia, topkapi palace, and kebaps. the one slight (!) cloud was the rapid realization that my bridesmaid dress was still in mike's closet back in nyc. and the wedding was 5 days away. we decided to keep this news a secret, and to trust in DHL and kaz, mike's dear and trustworthy friend. on with the sightseeing!

istanbul is so many things at once. past/ present, religious/ secular, modern/ traditional, europe/ asia, meat on a stick/ meat inside a vegetable, pastry layered with cheese/ pastry layered with honeyed pistachios, fish sandwiches from boats/ leeches in jars from fruit vendors. we tried to consume as many of these facets as possible in 3 days. thanks to adam carr's fine recommendations, we knew to kick our tour off with a commuter ferry across the bosphorus, crossing from european istanbul to asian istanbul. we went to asia looking for a restroom, and departed 2 hours later having unwittingly ordered a ramadan-sized kebap feast. needless to say, we loved istanbuller asia. we visited the blue mosque (built by sultan ahmed ~500 years ago; intended to upstage the hagia sophia), the hagia sophia (originally a byzantine church built ~1500 years ago; converted into a mosque ~600 years ago by mehmet the conqueror), and topkapi palace (home to ottoman sultans during a 400-year period; on view are pieces of john the baptist's arm and strands from the prophet mohammed's beard).

i was most captivated by the arabic calligraphy, the intricate metalwork, and being immersed in islam once again. mike loved all of these things as well, especially the minarets' call to prayer. but his main preoccupation was this hagia sophia mosaic depicting a prophet with extremely wavy hair.

fast forward to thursday and our flight from istanbul to bodrum. leaving istanbul so soon felt tragic, but we dealt with imminent departure by consuming as much borek, doner kebap, and insanely tart fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice as possible in the final hours.

bodrum is one hour from istanbul by plane. the flight takes you over countless ancient greek and roman ruins and deposits you on a beautiful peninsula jutting into the aegean sea. the suspense of the missing bridesmaid dress reached a happy conclusion on friday morning, the day before shirley & kemal's wedding, with the anticlimactic appearance of a teeny tiny dhl package in our golturkburku hotel room. teshukur, kaz, kaan, and dhl! we spent 2 days immersing ourselves in aegean holiday rituals and enjoying the company of wedding guests and old friends.

shirley and kemal's wedding was on a beautiful hillside overlooking bodrum proper. shirley looked unbelievably beautiful, and the feather in her hair was beyond icing on the cake. kemal never stopped grinning. i was honored to give my newly married friends a special tribute toast, and i did my best to show love for my dear friends while embarrassing shirley as discreetly as possible.

the poolside reception was everything one could dream of-- 10 random turkish ladies celebrating with us all night long from an overhead balcony, a phenomenal display of congratulatory fireworks, kanye & estelle's "american boy," and 1/2 of the wedding guests going in the pool... including the bride, groom, and bridesmaids. of course. serefe, tootie & kemal!

photos: mecca orientation; subway mosaic depicting istanbul's golden horn & european halves; outside and inside the blue mosque & hagia sophia (epic scaffolding); islamic ornamentation inside topkapi palace & hagia sophia; wavy-haired feat of tiling; shirley marrying kemal in bodrum; handsome mike & eileen & the infamous dress; soggy bridal party (shirley, tina, erica, me, kim)