To The Old City

Travelling on ones own is always unpleasant but this point has never been proven so true to me as my travels between Ankara and istanbul. The day began with breakfest at the British institute of Archaeology in Ankara followed by6 a quick cab ride to the bus station and then after some time spent confusadly wandering the supposed largest bus terminal in the world caught a bus to istanbul. The bus itself was very nice. nicer than most Air Canada flights that i had been on.
However the steward did not speack any english so when he made an announcment and stopped the bus to let some people off i did not know if i should get off or not as i knew i was in istanbul but it looked like a suburban area so i stayed on the bus prayıng that that had not been the only stop in istanbul. a short time later we stopped at another offive where again i decided to stay on the bus to be rewareded some fifteen minutes later with the iğstanbul bus terminal.
it was the sketchiest bus terminal i had ever seen an unlit industrıal warrewn of streets filled with surly men yelling at one another in turkish. The bus soon rose to a more palatable platform where i dısembarked and having no idea where in istanbul i was decided to just follow the crowd and hope for a metro station. On my way to the terminal several men began yelling Taksi at first i ignored them but then alone and ignorant in an unfamiliar city i took one up on his offer and asked him to take me to the airport.
After a short negotiation of the price he led me BACK into the bowels of the bus depot where i immediatly began to regret my decision but found it too late to turn back. After some time he led me out onto a small side street threw my luggage into a car which already had a driver in it and motioned me in.
He then hoped into the passenger seat of the unmarked wite car which i was now sure was an illegal unlicensed taxi whose driveres i was now sure were taking me to some dark alley so that they could steal my belongings and dispose of me. Eventually though after being offered a cigarette several times and making limited small talk we approached the airport where they asked for my money some tıme before the terminal and underpaid some poor street vendor for water both of which served to make them appear even more sketchy.
Once at the airport i wandered around and managed to find the internatıonal arrivals terminal and got in the security line (a common practice here securıty check points) it is only after hoisting my bag onto the conveyor belt though that i recall i have both a knife and a chunk of obsıdion in it (the obsidion was not worked and therefor not illegal but i did not expect an airport securıty gaurd to know that) after a minor search of my bag concerning my locking net device i was let through much to my relief and despite my obvıous discompusure at being searched.
But i did manage to get there and meet up with David and we are currently both in a hostel in istanbul.

Please forgive any grammatical inaccuracies in this post. Turkish keyboards are hard to use. if any characters do not apear they are probably (i)s