couple of oddities of turkish culture i wanted to jot down before i forgot them:

• it's perfectly acceptable for turkish men to walk down the street linking arms. this is seen as a sign of good friends. also acceptable behaviour: walking with had around a man's hips, had on a man's thigh/knee while sitting, hand over shoulder while sitting.




• the east of turkey is incredibly friendly: i had drivers stop 3 times while i was walking along the road to see if i wanted a ride, i had people buy me dinner, everyone was happy to sit and chat broken english with me. it was sort of like what i imagine being a tourist in japan is like, you're this novelty that everyone wants to enjoy.




• hitching a ride from people who speak a language you don't understand is very weird, for all you know their conversation could be going something like this: "you want to club him since i got the last one?", "actually i just got this new rope i was thinking of trying out", "come on, you know the club works why won't you just use it?", and so on