No Tryptophan In This Turkey

Im back in good ole' Dublin. It is easy to fall in love with a town like Dublin. Especially if you love Guiness, and of course I do. The Guiness does really taste better the closer to Dublin you get. I say town because it doesnt have the big city feeling to it. This is going to be my last entry from this journey so I wanted to talk about Turkey. When I think of Turkey five words come to me. Cay, pronounced like the tea Chai, cigarettes, bread, cookies, and then back to cay again. EVERYONE, and I mean everyone, drinks Cay. Cay is Turkish tea. They put tons of sugar in it too. No matter what town or village you are in you will see a boy or a man walking around with a tray of tea. On the buses they serve tea. Turks take at least four tea breaks a day. The next is cigarettes. I think Turks smoke more than any culture I have ever been around. The smoke more than they drink tea and if you ever go to Turkey you will see what I mean. The third word is bread. Turks eat bread with everything and lots of it too. It is really good bread so it is easy to just keep eating it. Usually you will see a local walking in the streat eating bread. Also there are vendors that push a cart around selling a ring of bread covered in sesame seeds. The fourth word that comes to mind is cookies. Wow the Turks really love their cookies. When you go into a little market or corner store more than half of the inventory is cookies. Within that you have over 30 different types and kinds of cookies to choose from. I love my moms cookies but there is one particular brand in Turkey that I couldnt get away from. They rival my mothers. Its hard to say which is better. That last thing is cay. Again if you ever go to Turkey, and you should, you will understand why I cant stress that word enough. I really enjoyed my time in Turkey. Out of all the countries I have been to, Turkey is right at the top. There is just so much to see and do. So many different landscapes and thats only in one half of the country. If you go to the east you have more mountains and more trees and lakes. The Turkish people are very warm and inviting. Even if they dont speak English they will try to help you. I thought coming over to a country like Turkey that many men would have beards. Boy was I wrong. I didnt see one person that had a beard even close to the length of mine. The men that did have beards it was just a little stubble and they were older men in there 50s or higher. I received a lot of looks walking by people and even questions sometimes on why it was that long. I just told them I hate to shave. The other day in Istanbul a gentleman asked me if I was Santa Clause. I told him no because my beard isnt white. He said that I could have dyed it. I was laughing as I walked away. For those of you who are still reading this go to Turkey. If not for any length of time, just one day in Istanbul wandering the Grand Bazaar and going into the mosques will be well worth it. I leave tomorrow from Dublin and fly into Chicago where my parents will be waiting. Im not sure when I will venture back over the big pond we call the Atlantic Ocean. I have decided where though. My next trip will be southeast Asia. Id like to go in the fall of 2008 but when I do go it will be for at least 6 months if not longer. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Take care to the folks who I wont be seeing anytime soon and to all you other freaks...see ya soon. Cheers!