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“After walking the streets of Istanbul for a few days, I met some pretty
interesting and friendly characters, both foreign and Turkish. I did however
co-incidentally run into the same Turkish man several times, and each time
he seemed friendly enough. He wasn’t trying to sell me anything and I
thought he was just being nice and maybe practising his English. We were
outside the Blue Mosque when he offered to show me his local bar and go for
a drink. I accepted willingly and thought nothing of it. After he’d returned
from the bar, with my drink and I drank it, I started feeling dizzy and
disoriented. Next thing I remember was waking up slumped in the corner with
my wallet, credit cards, passport and travellers cheques all missing”.
Lesson To Be Learnt!!
This guy may be scum but can even catch the most experienced travellers off
guard. Be smart and don’t accept any food or drinks if you haven’t bought it
yourself or seen it opened.
“Sultanahmet is a great part of the world, but not the centre of night life
in Istanbul. Taksim is where most nightclubs and bars are.
I hooked up with another backpacker and we decided it would be a night of
clubbing for us. We walked into one bar and it didn’t take long for the
locals to notice we were tourists. Before we knew it a couple of local
chicks pulled up some stools and were all over us. Damn, we thought, these
Turkish girls are fiery little things! Me and my new mate were high-fiving
each other thinking we were in - yeah baby, who's ya daddy! Well, when last
drinks were being served we couldn't believe it! The chicks did a runner and
left us with the bill. Turns out the champagne they were drinkng was top
shelf and the bar tab came to a whopping USD 400!! The five 'mafia looking'
bouncers blocking the doorway made it quite clear that leaving without
paying for the chicks was not an option”.
Lesson To Be Learnt !!
This is more common than you think. Don't be stupid or scared, be real about
it - Turks are trendy people. If your in a sleasy bar having your swelling
ego rubbed then expect to get fleeced. Go to a decent place where you have
to pay a cover charge and the chicks play a lot harder to get. Check out our
Raki review.
“We jumped in a taxi at Sultanahmet and asked to be taken to Bebek, a
beautiful suburb on the Bosphorus. The meter kept ticking over as we drove
and drove for nearly 2 hours. When we eventually stopped the meter read 50
million TL. We cracked the s**ts and refused to pay. Before we knew it, he
had called his mates and there we were with 3 angry cabbies about to beat
the s**t out of us. They ended up grabbing my wallet and taking everything
out. Man, were we pi**ed off but having already seen batons next to cabbies
seats we decided to scoot.
Lesson To Be Learnt !!
Istanbul cabbies are usually well cool but you get the dirty ones in every
city and they always hang around the tourist areas (I'm not prejudiced
against cabbies by the way, I once had a good mate who was a cabbie!). Keep
an eye on them fiddling with the meter while driving. Make sure the meter
flashes up periodically with “Gunduz” between the hours of 6 am and
midnight. After midnight it will read “Gece” and you will be legally, paying
double. As with all travelling, be on your guard. If you want to get to say,
Taksim from Sultanahmet (about 8 million TL) find out what it should cost
from a barman and let the cabbie know that you know. Show him the note if
you have it too.
And another thing from “International Traveller 101”, if you’re in a
touristy area and want to catch a cab somewhere, don’t get a cab from the
rank where the dirty cabbies sometimes lurk. Try walking a few blocks and
hail a cab driving past.
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