Thessaloniki and Athens
- Details
- Category: Photography
- Published on Wednesday, 24 April 2013 00:03
- Written by Chris
Needing to get a new visa for Turkey, I took a bus from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, Greece. I should have realized the danger I faced when the travel agent said I'd have to buy my return ticket in Thessaloniki. The city was great. It has a sea-side, laid-back vibe and none of the stereotypes you might be holding about Greece, you racist a-hole.
And then I got stuck there. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10pm. From the railway station. Another bad omen. I get there 90 minutes early (after spilling beer on my MacBook Air...) and look for where the bus will pick me up. There is no obvious place. The information desk looks like it was last occupied by Aristotle. None of the railway staff have ever even heard of a bus. I find a bus travel agency - in the train station, 100 meters from where the staff told me in no uncertain terms that buses had nothing to do with rail stations - and the lady there says the bus leaves at nine. She says I should run across the street and buy a ticket. The shop across the street only sells tickets to Bulgaria and the only person who sells the Istanbul tickets is in the station. I go back and she's gone, the shop is closed. I wait for her 9pm bus. Nope. I go back to the Bulgarian dudes and they say that maybe I can find the 10pm bus at the Metro Tours shop and give me directions to their place near the station. I go there and find a Turkish guy waiting for the bus. He says that this is definitely where the bus will pick us up. By 11:30pm, we're pretty sure this is not true.
I end up flying to Athens the next afternoon, hop a taxi with two British ladies to the Acropolis and back again and finally arrive in Istanbul at 9pm.
Next time, I'm just fucking flying. Never trust a Greek selling bus tickets.
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Chris is an American writer and educationalizer living in Istanbul. You can follow him on Twitter @crfsanders if you're into that sort of thing
Randomstanople
- Details
- Category: Photography
- Published on Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:33
- Written by Chris
Some photos from the past week around Istanbul, taken with my iPhone.
Am not!
Istanbul has a long-held reputation for its tulips.
Please hold the mexicano sorrow, please. I'm not Republican.
The best reference section EVER.
Outside a mall, giant carrot planters and silhouettes on the benches.
Bad chair! Stand in the corner and think about what you did!
Just hanging out in Istanbul.
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IstanbulThis and the Case of the Bratty Dictator
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- Category: This: Week in Review
- Published on Sunday, 14 April 2013 16:02
- Written by Chris
So, North Korea, huh? Of course things got interesting in Seoul after I left. Everyone with anyone experience there knows that the Kims of Pyongyang are a notoriously whinny bunch, prone to temper tantrums and false claims. No one I know in Korea thinks there will be any real violence. But still...the threat to launch a missile test over Japan, and Japan preparing to shoot said missile down does raise the stakes a bit.
This week Disney unviels their newest princess, Daenerys Stormborn; wasps build a nightmare; and we got ready for the Google Street View camera. Cats+Science! We watched a cool video, listened to a noisy cafe in the rain, and got a glimpse of a Calvin and Hobbes movie. We saw the poster for Little Miss Star Wars, revisited American Psycho with some 80s icons, played poker with some legends like Brock Samson, and we activated a Dead Man's Switch. And finally, we like to watch...astronauts brush.
Disney Presents: Game of Thrones
h/t to Happy Place
Just look at this hellish, enormous wasp nest. Good luck getting to sleep tonight.
What to Do If You See Google Street View Coming
If you're this BMW-driving couple, you get out and get busy.
North Korea Will Crush Us All
- Details
- Category: Commentary
- Published on Saturday, 13 April 2013 11:00
- Written by Chris
Beneath the heels of their government issued high heel army boots.
Girlfriend in front needs to get a bigger hat.
These naval women don't get the same height on their heels.
As an aside, when I would go shopping for men's dress shoes in Seoul, a lot of them had heels like these below.
These women also have smaller heels, but they get (have) to show off their gams more.
And then there's whatever is going on here. Some sort of Arirang Festival Mass Games performance, perhaps?
22 Awesome, Obscure Awareness Days
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- Category: Miscellany
- Published on Thursday, 11 April 2013 21:11
- Written by Chris
Spice up your calendar with these highly underrated red-letter days.
World Day of the Snowman - January 18th
World Day of the Snowman website
Tinnitus Awareness Week - February 6th-12th
I said TINNITUS AWARENESS WEEK IS FEBRUARY 6th THROUGH THE 12th.
Pig Day - March 1st
Read about it here
Brain Awareness Week - March 10th-16th
Is anyone not aware of the brain?
Haiku Day - April 17th
Make a short poem
Just seventeen syllables
April's Haiku Day
Get the deets here, if you dare.
World tapir day - April 27th
Also called Awwwwwwww, look at that cute animal Day.
National Sun Awareness Week - May 26th – June 1st
Hey. Hey. Guys? Did you know? That yellow thing in the sky? It's the SUN!!!!11one
There, you're aware now, and it didn't take a week. Fucking bureaucracy.
International No Diet Day - May 6th
International Whiskey Day - May 18th
Fuck yeah!
And while we're on the subject, whiskey versus whisky.
World Hepatitis Day - May 19th
Fuck? No, thank you.
So, it's, um, World Hepatitis Day, so...go out and get some hep?
Or maybe tell your partners you have it and they should get tested, you sluts/man-sluts.
Towel Day - May 25th
A day to celebrate the works of Douglas Adams. And towels.
International World Whore's Day - June 2nd
It's not what you might think. It's actually a commemoration of a protest in Lyons, France, in 1975 that saw a hundred prostitutes occupy St. Nizier's Church. They were demonstrating against police harassment and the government taking away their children. Rallies for sex workers' rights continue, some on June 2nd and others on December 17th, End Violence Against Sex Workers Day.
Badger Day - June 17th
International Kissing Day - July 6th
I'm not sure why kissing has to be contained to one day a year, but hey, I don't make the laws.
World Cat Day - August 8th
Otherwise known as every goddamn day on the internet.
National Toilet Paper Day - August 26th
Talk Like a Pirate Daty - September 19th
This one is pretty popular and self explanatory, my good chum.
Vodka Day - October 4th
Fuck yeah! I learned how to drink alcohol with vodka. From Russians. In Russia! It holds a sweet spot in my heart. And my liver. And a black, fuzzy spot in my memory...
Mole Day - October 23rd
This also happens to coincide with an evening more important day, my birthday.
Mole day is actually about chemistry, not subterranean varmints. The theme for 2013 is The Animole Kingdom...those wacky chemists.
Sleep-in Day - October 29th
Fuck yeah! This is also known as almost every day of my post-job life.
It's 50 Llamas Day - November 1st
Global Orgasm Day - December 21st
Want to help bring peace to the world? Check out this site.
Or watch this video instead:
Thousand Words: Bellycose Rhetoric
- Details
- Category: Thousand Words
- Published on Thursday, 11 April 2013 18:15
- Written by Doug
