Stepping off the plane in Dubai was surreal.  Especially after having a very Indian experience at the Mumbai airport where a simple layover turned into an incorrectly posted flight time, waiting behind a line of 100+ nuns who clearly had never flown before and a no-show airport bus to take us to the “international airport terminal” resulting in an unexpected taxi ride. However, after landing in Dubai, we hopped on the driver-less metro system, grabbed a cab at midnight and made it our hotel without haggling … weird. For the first time in months, we saw walk-able sidewalks, free of trash and debris, the air didn’t smell like a sewer plant and there were certainly no cows on the street. It was a nice change from India.

Dubai is a very challenging city to visit on a budget, but we succeeded on that front and did not feel as cash strapped as we envisioned. We stayed at a great hotel (see hit list) just off the metro line that was immaculate and relatively inexpensive.  With the use of the free hotel shuttle and inexpensive metro system, we were able to get around quite easily. However, I will note that there is a serious lack of signage when exiting the metro that left us puzzled and constantly asking for directions.

Dubai is reminiscent of Vegas on steroids laced with some Singapore.  There is a very long strip of development along the Persian Gulf, but instead of casinos it is made up of enormous malls and office towers. The architecture is extremely contemporary, if not futuristic, with large office and residential buildings at every turn. Where one of these buildings might be a landmark structure in a US city, there were dozens of them scattered around Dubai. Our days were filled with visiting the marina district, several of the largest malls in the world (including indoor snowboarding at the Mall of Emirates!), viewing the nightly water show at the Burj Khalifa tower (tallest building in the world) and strolling through the old city.  Unfortunately, the “old city” felt completely fabricated and didn’t really consist of much besides some stucco one-story buildings with art galleries.  The spice and gold markets, while bustling were obviously geared towards tourists.

All together Dubai was great for a quick three day layover.  We were able to refresh at the hotel, walk without encumbrance, and eat kebab and salads!  We did some shopping and small tourist activities such as Ski Dubai, but any longer in Dubai and we would have been bored with our budget constraints. Lastly, we had a strange realization while in Dubai. While we had physically left India, India did not leave us. In fact, nearly all unskilled labor in Dubai is performed by people of South Asian descent, predominately Indians. On our first day, we encountered numerous Indian restaurants at each corner and thought we’d never be able to escape paneer and masala. Luckily, doner kebab was not far from reach and we could finally exhale.

After a brief altercation with the Fly Dubai staff regarding our ability to land in Turkey without an outgoing ticket, we jetted off to Istanbul.  I’m not sure if our feelings would be different if we had first travelled west to east through Europe, but we love Istanbul. While a surprisingly large and populated city (14 million residents), we found the café-lined, cobblestone streets incredibly “European” with a very moderate Muslim feel to it. While the call to prayer is omnipresent, Istanbul was our first experience of modern Islam. Street clothed men would whisk up and down the numerous mosques for prayer and quickly continue their day, nearly uninterrupted. Clearly, this was a divergence from Dubai and even more so from parts of Malaysia where the traditional garb is ubiquitous. While roaming through the vibrant Taksim district, down pedestrian only Istiklal Avenue and into Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia (closed on Mondays!) and underground Basilica Cistern in Sultanahmet Square, we frequently stopped and enjoyed the surprisingly tasty and diverse Turkish cuisine. We also enjoyed sipping cay (Turkish black tea pronounced “chai”) to warm us up or slurping down an Ayran (yogurt drink) to wash down some doner kabab.

Of course, while in Turkey we must visit a Turkish bath! For some reason we both thought a Turkish bath would be similar to a Japanese Onsen, where you get naked and soak in pools of hot water.  Since we couldn’t afford the touristy Turkish bath we ventured into a more local bathhouse.  We were escorted to a dressing room where we were instructed to take off all of our clothes and then given small Turkish towels to wrap around our waists. After departing the dressing room we then walked into a large white marble room with a dome ceiling and small sinks surrounding an extremely large white marble slab in the middle of the room.  We were told to sleep until someone was to come and get us.  We were the only ones in the room and completely shocked that we didn’t enter a room with Jacuzzi tubs everywhere.  After about 30 minutes of sitting/laying on the large marble slab, a man comes in and gestures to Andy to sit down in front of a sink.  Andy then gets washed down; literally he gets a bath by another Turkish man with a washcloth glove on his hand.  After that he gets lathered up with bubbles and then washed down again.  Meanwhile Adena was escorted to a private room, where the same sequence happened by a Turkish woman humming Turkish tunes while bathing her.  I guess this makes sense now why they call it a Turkish Bath!

We also had a great time with Istanbulites Sally and Cengus who gave us a place to crash, infinite knowledge and a free Turkish body pump class. We hope to see them again when we circle back to this fantastic city.

As most know, Istanbul is the only city to straddle both the continents of Europe and Asia. We have consistently debated the merits of Istanbul’s Europe and Asian characteristic and feel the need to share them below.

.                                                                            European                Asian

1)      Cobblestone, café lined streets                       x

2)      Questionable food stall hygiene                                                   x

3)      Street trash, no dumpsters                                                            x

4)      Ubiquitous smoking habits                              x

5)      Tight jeans and leather coats                          x

6)      TP goes in trash not toilet                                                             x

7)      Streets free from cattle, sheep, pigs              x

8)      Consuming copious amounts of tea                                            x

As you can see from the comprehensive analysis above, you don’t need a map to tell you that Istanbul is really a mix between European and Asian cultures. It’s in the facts!

Next up, Cappadocia. But wait, there is more! We finally got around to starting up a food blog, something we should have done at the onset of this trip. We will be including very brief entries of our favorite dishes, local specialties and just plain oddities that we encounter along the way. You can check it out by clicking on the “3 Meals Out” tab at the top of the page or by clicking http://3mealsout.wordpress.com/.