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Turkey, General CommentsI can't tell you how often my American friends have expressed sentiments about how "dangerous" a trip to a Muslim country is, or how I should expect hostile reactions to my being an American. The truth, based on my experience in Turkey, is that far from being the "home of the brave," America is heavily propagandized into being a nation of needlessly fearful people. Maricor and I were often on our own in big cities and small, without a translator, carrying only a nearly useless Turkish/English phrase book from Lonely Planet, and at no time did either of us have any sense of danger. The whole two weeks we were there, we met with nothing but friendliness, generosity, and hospitality. I met Muslim women at a mosque who could only speak a couple of words of English but insisted I take their picture, an electronics salesman who walked a half dozen blocks from his store trying to help us find an internet cafe in a small town, little children who wanted to pose with us, a school girl who spontaneously kissed Maricor on the cheeks, rug salesmen that were hungry to talk politics, and many people who didn't speak English but whose smiles and gestures told me everything I needed to know. Turkey TourMaricor and I went to Turkey as part of a "music" tour. Overall we enjoyed Turkey very much and we're both ready to go back for more. I feel like I became surprisingly close with my travel companions, who for reasons of their personal privacy I won't describe in much detail, but I will say that the personal aspect of our tour was awesome! On the other hand, I was not as happy about the tour itself, but live and learn, eh? |
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