I took this photo while in Budapest, and it just struck me as funny. So, captions please!
February, 2008
27
Feb 08
Back from Budapest
I haven’t had a chance to write down anything about the trip yet with regards to the blog – mainly because of laziness and lack of wanting to drag my laptop down to some local Budapest pub with free wifi and go to town.
I did make a 140 megapixel photo of the Danube River. I think it’s kinda cool, but it’s hard to say that it’s awesome and I’d print it out when I went and just fired shots (the Canon 40D’s buffer does kick ass).
Photos, writeups, “Best of” photos, and other goodness is coming soon.
23
Feb 08
Budapest – the Winter Invasion
I’m in Budapest safe and sound and that my first 48 hours here were fantastic. The people here are amazing – even the scammers are polite. The food is not so great, however. But – having said that, I did have Indian food my first night that was way better than anything I had in India. Go figure. The local cuisine is bland. It seems like instead of Grade A beef, they use Grade Z beef – made from circus animals, natch. It’s time for me to crash – early train ride tomorrow to the hinterland. I’ve written 35 postcards already and my arm is tired. :(
19
Feb 08
Construction work
Next month at the orthodontist I get to get one of these puppies installed.
16
Feb 08
The Hawkins 7: 7 Things on the Internets that amused me to no end this week
1) IkeaHacker. If you have no love in your heart for Ikea, then you’re a communist. That’s all I have to say. This makes me want to go out and buy things and go nuts with power tools.
2) This low-budget Star Wars remake is actually better than the original.
3) The 19 year old son of a Guardian Travel Editor got his own column in the Guardian paper. The blog is for shit, but the comments ripping on him are priceless.
4) Beady Belle’s new album is out, and it’s quite good if you like what amounts to nu-Jazz, from Norway! You can get a copy for electronically for 1 Euro per track from the shop.
5) I signed up for Mozy’s home offsite backup and have been slowly uploading my photos from there. If it’s good enough for Gina at Lifehacker, then it’s good enough for me. Can’t beat $5/mo.
6) Ever since I wrote about Russian hookers in Istanbul, I’m getting a lot of hits on that very same topic. I feel kinda dirty.
7) I’ve started to write for a travel technology blog. As soon as I get some hits and feel like I’m a real writer instead of a “blogger.” Yuck.
11
Feb 08
Another awesome blog post about my Macbook
Readers of the blog should know by now that I have no love for Apple products. You’d figure that after 7 times hitting the Apple repair depot someone would have said, you know, this guy’s got a lemon. But no, they didn’t.
When I was in Istanbul, I not only had the dreaded screen flickering, but the Macbook’s screen developed a plastic bubble on the outside, creating this brown patch the size of two iPod Shuffles (since we’re all Apple here). It’s like the part of the screen melted and expanded outwards. I have no idea how in the hell this could have been accomplished. Anyway, enough was enough and I called the support line to get it shipped back while I emailed Steve Jobs and said that I would fly out to Cupertino and drop it off at the front desk (I’d bring a friend along to tape it, make a video on Youtube and shame them). I got a call 48 hours later from someone in Executive Support who said, yeah, you’re due for a replacement. This was on Feb 1, and I shipped my laptop out on the 4th. Meanwhile, my replacement Macbook finally ships today on the 11th from Shanghai and is due on the 14th. If it arrives DOA then I’m flying out to San Jose, having lunch with the Bay Area posse, then we’re all going to invade Apple HQ and deliver the laptop to His Jobsness.
So what have I learned? 1) Apple isn’t on my list of recommended products anymore. In retrospect, I should have just spent the money on a pimped out Dell laptop. 2) Emailing the CEO generally cuts through the bullshit for most things. It’s not to be used all willy-nilly, but it’s used when all avenues have failed. 3) Document everything.
I figure that 3 hours will be dedicated to getting it back up and running with all the apps I normally use. Still, Apple owes me a hug or something because of this nonsense. From support at the Apple Store (a tech told me that the screen was flickering due to my big hard drive, because it draws more power) to defective products, Apple is proving themselves to be an industrial design shop more than a technology company. Quite sad.
8
Feb 08
Last day in Istanbul
Gearing up for what I thought would be my final day in Istanbul, I hopped on the tram and made it down for a cruise on the Bosphorus. It was cold, rainy and windy, but I decided to make due and hop on board, seriously underdressed for the occasion in just a fleece jacket and light gloves and a hat.
I did get to see the Cisterns. Holy shit they were awesome. It was huge – literally a football field or two in surface area and quite high. If they were going for water storage, you can’t do better than this. I also found out later that they used the Cisterns for “From Russia With Love” in a scene.
I did have another dinner with my new friends, and spent a late night out at a club called Mojo dancing to a funny cover band and made fun of a weird girl who did interpretive dance at the club, but was a bitch because she faced the audience and tried to distract us from the band. Ugh.
7
Feb 08
Moses’ Rod and Russian Hookers
I think I’ve gotten to the point in my life where it takes a lot to surprise me. I don’t know if that’s entirely a good or bad thing, but it’s where I’m at. So my third full day in Istanbul (Sunday) running around with my new friends from Tennessee. I split off early in the morning to go check out Topkapi Palace, which used to be the home of the Sultan back in the Ottoman Empire. They had a special exhibit on Prophets, which I wanted to go check out to see what they had. The thing that stuck out the most (other than bronzed footprints of Muhammad) was the Rod of Moses. “For fucking serious?” I think I was shocked by that considering how little I think of religious history simply because how could you really attribute that to him? But whatever – it was still pretty damn cool.
We met up after Topkapi to take the tram to go to Dolmabahce Palace, which was where Ataturk died in 1938. It was also famous for bankrupting the Ottoman Empire because of the cost of all the gold and crystal in the palace. Seriously, despite how gorgeous everything was (including this seriously impressive 9000 lb crystal chandelier), it looked like it had the interior design done by a gangster rapper or a pimp with zero sense of style. Gaudy would be a major understatement.
As we headed back to the hotel to figure out dinner plans, in came two seemingly underage Russian girls with a man who was in his 30s. Both of the women dressed like prostitutes, wearing skirts that made Lt. Dangle’s short shorts seem almost Victorian in comparison. They couldn’t have been more than 14, but paraded around like strippers. It was simultaneously funny, disturbing, creepy and made me feel kinda dirty. Of course, they were next to my room in the hotel (as luck would have it). We all couldn’t look away – it was bad. But I figure, every good trip involves stories of Russian hookers of some sort.
5
Feb 08
Getting your drink on in Istanbul
So – my new friends from Tennessee… As a few of you noticed, I’ve got a lot of the same people in the photos. Well, I met up with Robert Hicks‘ birthday bash – apparently they pick a cool city throughout the world to go to and have an adventure for his birthday (I wish my friends weren’t lazy because this would be awesome) and I spent most of the weekend hanging out with them. I’m pretty sure that they’ve already contacted their respective attorneys and are working on the restraining orders as I write this against me. Good people though.
The first thing that got me up my first day in Istanbul is the Adhan – the call to prayer in Islam. I guess that’s what I get for staying in Sultanahmet, but it was cool to hear. It’s just different. I followed this up by heading to the Haghia Sophia, which I was really looking forward to simply for the fact that I would be able to try out some HDR photography. Upon entering, they x-rayed my bag and confiscated my Joby Gorillapod while I was in there. Crap. So limited by lack of flash (stupid jerks) and a lens that starts at f/4, I was hampered but I think I did ok – some of my good ones were cleaned up with Noise Ninja.
The two main drinks in Istanbul that I consumed lots of were Efes Pilsner and a local aperitif called Raki. Everyone warned me that Raki is sort of a gateway to getting pretty stupid but I did quite fine with it. I guess it’s my absinthe drinking skills that have rendered me immune to odd alcohol. Efes Pilsner was just ok. Nothing special about it, but when in Rome…
Anyway, after a good lunch, I went to the Archaeology Museum, which by far is one of the most impressive museums I’ve been in. Seriously, if it wasn’t for closing time I would have easily spent an extra day or three in there (isn’t it every nerd’s fantasy to be locked in a museum overnight?). The items from the necropolis of Sidon were very amazing and quite ornate. I do love me some museums.
After a rather bland dinner, I did hit the Hamam as described earlier. It wasn’t that fun to be honest – and I still felt sore and bruised a few days onward. Apparently it’s nice and relaxing for women but for men, it’s brutal.
The next day I hit the Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar, both of which were quite impressive. For some odd reason, I had it in my mind that this would be a large and disorganized bazaar with a lot of crap, but it was high end antiquities for the most part. I managed to stumble upon the most beautiful watch I’ve ever seen – a 1930 Rolex. I love this watch and it hurt me to ask how much it cost. Well, that old saying “if you have to ask…” – well, it’s true. $30,000 US for a brilliant timepiece. I was convinced to try the watch on and almost dropped it – but a lightning grab by Robert saved the day (and my wallet). I’d have a hard time explaining that charge to Citibank.
Not much happened that day – I watched my new friends buy carpets and after India, I absolutely loved the fact that someone else was spending money and I could just sit and relax and not be harassed like in India, where the hard sell reigned. Hasan of Adnan & Hasan was a good salesman – working on establishing a relationship with you versus making you buy something.
That night we at at Fener Restaurant, which was just average. The musicians were very loud and it was hard to carry on a conversation. Also, our waiter was rather funny for being demanding at the beginning of the meal for our attention (because presumably, we’d be too liquored up to know better). The Turkish wine we had wasn’t that great either – it tasted like your typical table wine. And to end out the night – we hit the local hookah lounge and smoked some apple-flavored shisha. Not a bad way to spend my first two days.
3
Feb 08
Photos from Istanbul
So I’ve gotten them all post processed and uploaded. They’re at Fotki, per usual.
Things I still have to do:
* Trip writeup, of course.
* Label the photos better.
* Make the “best of” photos from Istanbul.
* Process a few of the panoramic photos I took.
* Play with some HDR photos that I took, and see if they suck or not.
Give me a day or two to get these done.