Searching for Something #7: Heartfelt People & Visa Hell - Konya and Ankara, Turkey

20 Mar 2002

We've been in Turkey for a little bit now and have finally taken the time to slow down, travel at a much slower pace and get a better feel for the country.

When we were in Istanbul, everyone wanted to talk to us, find out our names, where we were from, etc. Unfortunately, "everyone" was mostly touts who wanted to get us into their carpet shop or to join their tour. Luckily, getting away from big cities has introduced us to a myriad of friendly and heartfelt people.

Despite all the language barriers, I feel that we've connected with more people here than through months of living in San Francisco. When I'm alone, women often approach me to try to talk, always with gifts of sweets or fruit that I am just forced to eat. When Josh and I sit down on the steps of a mosque to rest, we are offered cups of tea that miraculously appear out of nowhere. Old women seem to be quite fond of me – I keep getting pinches on the cheek that are quite painful, but I just nod and smile back to them. Everyone tries to talk to us, even if to Josh's consternation; all they can do is point to him, smiling, and repeat "George Bush." Gotta say I love this country.

Whirling Dervishes

Konya is possibly the most religious city in Turkey. We were warned that people would be unfriendly and regard us as infidels, but nothing of the sort happened. Yes, there were more people in traditional dress and I did cover my head there, but people were as friendly as ever.

Konya was the main headquarters of the Whirling Dervishes, who believe that they are brought closer to Allah through whirling themselves dizzy. Unfortunately they only whirl once a year (could it be that they'd make themselves too sick otherwise?) so we weren't able to see it happen, but could only look at the artifacts and tombs of various famous whirlers. It was interesting that while walking around in Konya, we saw mobs of young women, most in traditional garb, crowding around two black-clad cooler-than-cool young men. They were apparently two radio DJ celebrities whose autographs the shrieking women absolutely had to have. Quite an amusing dichotomy to observe.

Warnings of Off-Season Turkey


There are numerous reasons to travel in the off-season: fewer tourists and cheaper prices being the main ones.

But I don't know that I'd have chosen to go through Turkey in the off season. Many of the hotels and restaurants simply close down. We weren't able to visit towns along the Mediterranean coast or take the famous yacht cruises because they just aren't available until the high season. The tourist infrastructure is repairing their boats, painting their houses, preparing for the next year and not at all willing to open up for a couple of stragglers.

Similarly we weren't able to visit the stone heads at Nemrut Dagi. Only the most trodden tourist trail of Istanbul, Ephesus, and Cappadocia is easily accessible.

Visa Hell

After talking to various travellers, Josh and I had decided to try to go overland from Turkey down through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan into Egypt. The countries sounded friendly and wonderfully untouristed. Everyone in this area knows that it is safe. Basically, the only thing being hurt by the Western world's current fear of the Middle East is people's livelihoods. Unfortunately our decision hadn't yet encountered Middle Eastern bureaucracy.

First of all, we both needed Egyptian visas since our original plan was to fly from Istanbul into Cairo. Over the phone, we were told: "U.S. passport no problem. Thailand passport... hmm. Maybe one week, maybe two weeks."

"Which one is it? One week or two weeks?"

"You must bring the passport in. We must look at it."

Luckily Egypt was a success story. When they looked at my passport (which disappeared for a frightening 20 minutes) they finally said it was OK and gave me the visa the same day.

At the Syrian Embassy we were told again that the U.S. passport was no problem, but that Thais needed a letter of recommendation from the Thai Embassy (which I obtained) and that the visa would be available in one day. When we went to the embassy, they took a photocopy of my passport, then informed me it'd take 5 days to fax the copy over to Syria, but that they were sure it was "no problem." Five days later we returned to the embassy only to be told that maybe they'd know one or two weeks later. Aaaargh!

Finally at the Jordanian Embassy, I got a very helpful man named Jamal, who started to make the situation a little clearer. Jordan has the same visa requirements as Syria, except that Jamal tells me up front that the approval from the Jordanian Interior Ministry will take 2-3 weeks. The reason? Apparently, many of the Middle Eastern countries have been hit with an influx of Thai prostitutes, many of them entering as "servants." So unfortunately there is quite a stigma about my passport.

So the long and short of it is that we wasted a decent amount of time travelling to and from Ankara, although we did get to do a lot of relaxing while waiting around. And now (drum roll) we've decided to travel separately for a week or so. Josh will travel down to Egypt through Syria and Jordan, while I fly to Cairo tomorrow to try for a Jordanian visa both there and perhaps at the border, where the guards are known to be amenable to "special fees." We'll keep you updated and for now, I'm just dreaming of Petra...