The city swallowed my alive. It is warm and packed in its guts. It feels nice even though having a bit the feeling of suffocating from time to time.
The weather changed. A strong headache was announcing that change. I got comfortable at the Neverland Hostel and took advantage of having a permanent broadband internet connection.
Furthermore there are a lot cyclists stopping by here, so I could have a couple of discussions about possible destinations, visas, and the current weather situation.
I met half of the English boys here again. One half already returned, but Piers and Dan were still here.I also met Laurens, a guy from Belgium that was cycling pretty much on the road for the same time. Then tow Italian guys came to meet Piers, funny chaps, having even a coffee machine in their luggage (to fulfill the stereotype). Yesterday Will and Julie, the Korean couple came by and brought another French cyclist, Thomas, with them. I was a good evening, during which we exchanged a lot of travelling stories. Thomas is currently getting the visas necessary to ride the Silkroad. A good idea, actually, so he can avoid Teheran. Also he does not seem to be scared about the winter conditions at all and will continue his trip early next year. And to add another one, today a French couple with Liege-Velos checked in the Hostel.
Otherwise I feel veeeery lazy. I want to imitate the hostels cat and just lie around all day, watching movies, surfing, drinking tea and mostly do nothing.
Never the less I forced myself to go to the Sali Pazzar (Thuesday Bazaar) at Kadikoy on the Anatolyan side today. It was pouring a lot and only in the late afternoon the rain got less strong and finally stopped. I did not find anything I needed in the bazaar. All I got was a pair of soaked feet. But the boat trip back to Taksim was beautiful. The sunset into the Bosphorus, just visible through a gap between the many clouds created an amazing atmosphere. At the horizon, in the water next to the city, there was another one constituted by all the huge ships, waiting for passage. The minarets of the many mosques were lit by the evening sun and scratched the dark gray and almost black clouds.
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