Travelog 1#: When I went to Istanbul (This article 15,000 Characteres and 60+ Photos)

Istanbul, is a city I want to visit for a long time. Previously, on behalf of an NGO organization called PuKAT (Cultural Center of Aceh and Turkey), we sent some people for internships, or about media activities.

I like to go to this city, but I'm scared too. I'm afraid to board a plane, and I'm dizzy when I ride a vehicle like a plane, a bus, or a ship. I like to travel, but suffer on the way so I have to force myself to sleep.

In that case, of course, traveling abroad or away from Aceh is not much fun for me. I'm excited about saying I want to go to someone else, but silently, I wish I did not have to go if a trip was confirmed.

Nevertheless, I did want to visit such historic cities as Turkey, Spain, Baghdad, and others that still have evidence of the glory of the world under Muslim leadership.

But this time, I myself have to go, with a friend, a senior activist in Banda Aceh, Rizal Usman from the ACSTF NGO. He should have gone with me at the same time, but, because the communication was wrong, he booked a ticket that arrived at the exact spot on the day of the event, should have arrived a day earlier as scheduled.

(At first I wondered why he could have chosen the wrong time, but it turns out I was even more wrong to book a ticket home early so that the two-day event only had one day and had to go home in the middle of the night-I'll tell you a complete story about it, because I tell chronologically Just so easy to stiff and easy to read).

Rizal, I do not know (I even had a mistake later in Istanbul because there are people from Malaysia named Rizal Osman, but Rizal Usman is greeting me and talking to me while joking-he is an expert in such communication-). We have not had a chance to meet. Several appointments by phone, did not happen.

Just like me, he was recommended by Dr Mehmet Ozay, a sociologist of Marmara University graduates, the place we visited for the Turkish state politics, after the two-continent country was shaken by a coup that could be foiled on July 15, 2016.

Rizal was supposed to be my traveling companion from Banda Aceh to Istanbul, but it turned out that we were different when we left and went home, our first meeting in Istanbul. And we both live in Banda Aceh.

Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport
Aircraft

Since leaving from Banda Aceh to Jakarta, of course I'm afraid. But the plane I was flying belonged to Garuda Airlines, who had a good ranking in the civil aviation world, the same as the Turkish Airlines fleet that I would later ride between Jakarta-Istanbul. It made me a little relieved, and I had to replace my opinion about the plane ride on the spot.

The way I cope with the fear of boarding a plane
I conditioned my thoughts and feelings (I remember the self-control trick in Anthony Robbins's book - Unlimited Power), and thought and believed that the ride was fun. I fantasize about an acting movie chase the pursuit with an airplane, how cool. But since I was on a passenger bus, I just relaxed in a chair and slept, not like a fighter like in a movie. That's how I eliminated the fear of flying the plane back then.

I thought, take this plane, just a few hours from Banda Aceh to Jakarta, while from Jakarta to Istanbul later, twelve hours in the sky. What if I had to travel between countries every month? Of course I have to solve this problem.

Arriving in Jakarta, I took a bus to the city, near Monas Monument, where Dr. Mehmet Ozay was waiting. Then we went to his office. Then I headed to the inn, and stayed one night in Jakarta.

The next morning I went to see Dr. Mehmet Ozay. Towards noon. Arriving near the meeting, I bought a pack of rice at a small tavern, a side street shop. Actually I did not like the menu, maybe I could not eat it, but I had to eat rice. Then as soon as I entered the coffee shop next to it, where we met, it turned out that at the Acehnese, they sold Aceh fried rice and noodles. Sure, I chose to eat fried noodles and did not eat any rice I bought before, I put it in my bag.

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

After eating fried noodles, I went to Sukarno Hatta airport (CJH) again. After a long process, I was able to board a plane belonging to the Turkish Airlines airline, whose ticket had been held a week ago. This is the airline I love. Turkish Airlines. It was a big airplane that after I got off at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, I noticed it carefully, I estimated the length of the plane was over a hundred meters.

Before entering the waiting room of the plane, the officer repeatedly checked my bag, drinking water and food I had to remove. They confiscated some items containing water and lotions. But they are still checking again, over and over again, because their detector device gives a signal, I confidently say, it's just a liquid thing and such. Then they were confused. After checking several times, they let me into the plane's waiting room.

(Upon arriving at the hotel in Istanbul later, when I looked at the contents of the bag, I realized that the rice I had bought in Jakarta had brought to Istanbul, apparently that was denied to a guard detector but was not found when examined for clothing, and I could not eat Rice that has been like in the refrigerator so- 12 hours in the plane).
Inside the Turkish Airlines plane, just as I was from Banda Aceh to Jakarta, I repeated the way to overcome the fear of boarding a plane. So I just relaxed, I deliberately looked down as I watched the map on the tv screen in front of me. The plane turned out to take the left lane, Indian Ocean (When I got home I noticed they took the left lane from Istanbul, which means it was the right lane when leaving Jakarta as it is today).

There are two meals in Turkish Airlines flight from Jakarta to Istanbul, all Turkish food. I can only eat the sweet. (If I remember that the rice I bought in Jakarta took me to the plane, maybe it was the best food).

The food was typical Turkish, there was chopped fruit, almost all milk or cheese that tasted salty or salty, a taste that was rejected directly by my stomach. Precisely, milk is rejected by my stomach. The fresh bread I've eaten, it's better. And, they also give a strawberry fruit. I do not like strawberries, but on the plane that night, the red strawberries are the most delicious food.

Atarturk International Airport

The Turkish Airlines jetliner arrives at Ataturk International Airport on the Continent of Europe, on October 26, 2016, in the morning, before dawn. But because of some of my own mistakes, I did not get to meet a friend from Jakarta, so I left at the airport alone.

I poked in there, the card in my handphone is Indonesian card, can not be used in Turkey, and internet connection also can not with that card, but there is free connection at that airport, but my handphone battery is almost gone. (I just found out there was a place for cas handpon in the airplane seat and near the tv screen in front of the sitting room on the way home.I laughed myself remembering it, a small mistake could have a big effect).

But I just relax, trying to enjoy the confusing situation there. Then, after a little over an hour, I found a place for a cas handpond at the airport pole. Then I connected with Dr. Mehmet Ozay and Nia Deliana, they are the board of PuKAT. They helped connect me with the same people leaving from Jakarta, but have been picked up by the committee.

I'm left alone, they can not contact. And was able to get a visa after about four hours of twirling, walking past a long queue several times, at the big airport.

But it turns out later, where the visa is the place I've been to several times, but I'm wrong to speak. And there's nothing to say. Visa on arrival. When I first landed, I was right there, around four in the morning.

After I got the visa, I took a taxi from the airport via Galata Bridge to Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Moda, Kadekoy, Istanbul, parts of Asia. Unfortunately, it is not an official taxi but a taxi illegal (private car used for taxis, gara gara it later the committee did not want to replace the taxi money, just replaced a little - it was 100 Euro replaced sementra I need two times more -, My fault).

Taxi and Constantine Castle

The taxi crossed the Constantine Fortress. I still carry the US Dollar (I have not switched it with Turkish Lira) to slow down the trip because the taxi driver had to trade it first).

As soon as I got off the cab, I shivered. The driver did not want to escort her to the front door of the hotel, she said to spin away, but I thought she was surprised to find that she had withdrawn the rent because the taxi was illegal. Because I saw a taxi with the official taxi logo standing in front of the hotel door, lowering passengers.

This is excessive weather for me. In Banda Aceh, the normal temperature is 25-30. That plus, since the second time eating on the plane between Jakarta Istanbul, I can not afford to eat, all Turkish food, made from milk and cheese. I am not rumored that it is now a transition to winter so I do not bring a jacket.

Turkey enters the transition from summer to winter, at the end of October 2016. The temperature is approximately 17 ° Celsius.

Not the weather is the problem, but also the food.

Until the afternoon Turkish time, I eat halva (halwa), sweets like haluwa in northern Aceh, in Kadikoy market. After I eat.

After the taxi left, I shivered near the hotel yard. I saw people there smoking in public places like in Aceh. After a quick cigarette, I went to the front door of the hotel. I stood there for a long time, wondering how to contact friends. After a while, the guards whispered, then came out to meet me, so I went to the receptionist.

My name has been registered, staying two nights. However, the guard girl at the receptionist asked me to pay for my own rent for one night, because he said, only one night is covered by the committee.

Well, here I am getting unhappy and almost angry at the Istanbul woman. Because according to the information I received, all the needs there were borne by the committee. I debated with them, and asked them to contact the committee and participants from Jakarta who had checked in beforehand, when contacted the person explained about the event we wanted to follow, but the friend did not come out to meet me, either because he was out or was sleeping. The receptionist woman contacted the committee, about my objection to pay the hotel rent.

After a while the receptionist said that I did not have to pay the hotel rent, but it was covered by the committee. Just imagine, I did not fit the food in the plane, also at the airport can not eat anything, and problematic at the airport, also taxi who take the expensive fare, now even be said to have to pay hotel room again.

Kadikoy

Muhammad Abdullah Azam, who was asked to accompany me, came. We also walked to Kadikoy market. There I sell a lot of typical Turkish food. There is also corn on the cob. What interests me most is that there is a halwa (Halva) food similar to haluwa in Aceh. That's traditional food in Aceh. It was an Ottoman food.

Once in Kadikoy, Azam book a ferry ticket to Eminonu.

[Muhammad Abdullah Azam]

Ferries on the Bosphorus and Galata Straits

After that take the ferry to Eminonu, eat the typical Galata bread fish, behind the ekmek. Only half the back of the ekmek I could eat. Actually i want drinking coffee at café in Galata Bridge, somehow fire, my guardian friend, who is not after I chck in hotel, think I want to eat behind ekmek, and I do not like, I want to drink coffee.

Galata

Turkey was in a state of emergency Civil emergency after the coup failed July 15. While in Galata I see the difference between martial law in Turkey and in Aceh (before the 2005 Helsinki MoU). If in Aceh, security forces often check anyone, raids. While in Turkey there is no such thing. The soldiers and the nuclear police, came by bus, and stopped in the crowd, then they made the police line, alerting the police line with ready-to-fire weapons. There is no indiscriminate inspection there, so although civilian security is enforced, the people are not bothered and are not afraid.

Breakfast at Hotel

Having breakfast at this hotel, which suits me best because there are many choices of food, and I can choose any one, of course I choose sweet and fruit cake. In addition almost all made from milk. However, due to the limited time, before I could finish the fruit, the committee had called us to leave immediately to the venue. We boarded the bus.

Marmara University

I went to Istanbul to attend the International Conference "Failed Coup and The Future of Civil Society in Turkey", at Marmara University Faculty of Theology, Uskudar, Istanbul, Turkey, 27-28 October 2016.

Invited by Prof Hamza Kandur, vice-chancellor of Marmara University, to attend the event as the board of the Inter-NGO, PuKAT (Cultural Center of Aceh - Turkey).

Turkish presidential spokesperson, Prof Ibrahim Kalin, and several others who took part in opposing the July 15, 2016 coup. Including, there was also Metin Dogan, a man lying in front of a tank, also present a young woman who confronted the army of the couplers by themselves.

Also present were some male and female professors from several campuses there. Also present Sumeyya son of Erdogan and her husband who was minister of energy Turkey at that time. There are 64 international NGOs and 10 Turkish NGOs present.

Lunch
At lunch, the food provided is a sumptuous meal in Turkish culture. There are dozens of types, but the same as in the plane, not able to even one, except half of fresh bread. There was a small packet of rice - a handful - that had a lot of spices, I did not eat. This is where I met Rizal Usman, he introduced himself. I'm confused, he does not look like in the photo, and barusa also dibingunkan there is a person named Rizal Osman, from Malaysia.

[Rizal Usman give my book Aceh 2025 to Prof Hamza Kandur, in Marmara University, Istanbul, October 28, 2016.]

Finally I looked at him for a long time, then I'm sure he was Rizal Usman, because before, Dr. Mehmet Ozay mentioned, the photo of Rizal Usman that I saw was a photo of him when he was young.

Rizal talked on and made a joke. But because it was too stuffy, we went out, smoked on the porch of the building, outside cold, I shivered all day, even though I was wearing a jacket lent by Muhammad Azam (Muhammad Abdullah Azam).

The guards there asked me what I thought of Turkey, I said, "I'm happy here, Turkey is beautiful and wonderful."

Dinner Greeting all Participants

Dinner. This dinner welcomes all attendees from various countries. Dinner, I hope there's a change. We were escorted by bus to the historic Ottoman heritage villa, approximately an hour's drive down the edge of the Bosphorus Strait next to Asia. Cold getting gripped. Dinner is expensive, only a few can eat, especially sweets that resemble haluwa, keukarah, and wajek. Returning to the hotel I opened the package that the hotel keeper provided when registering, it turns out that peanut bread is somewhat in accordance with the tongue of Aceh. But I can not be full, all day.

Bosporus Bridge

After the event at Marmara, we were escorted to dinner at all the speeches of Albayrak, son-in-law of President Erdogan. The show was on the edge of the Bosphorus Strait. I do not know his name. A typical place. While we were eating, we could see the Strait of Bospurus and the glittering European lands as this one of Asia. I tried to pick out some foods I could eat, especially those with no strange mixes, like bread and fruit.

But it was a chamber, stuffy, I could not linger long and the room began to feel slightly dizzy. Moreover, plus a long speech. To make matters worse, Prof Hamza Handur came to me, saying that I had to leave home at two in the morning-two more hours-that was an urgent time for the International airport. It was my fault, who booked the return ticket on the day of the event, as it was mentioned for only two days.

So, in the committee drove me to the hotel by taxi, to get the goods, then to dash to the Airport. Dio in the taxi we had to sit four people, crowded. Rizal was not given along, who joined only Muhammad Azam, because he who can speak Turkish. He is a student at marmara University, asked by Dr. Mehmet Ozay to escort me there.

A small room that does not open the air, let alone in a speeding car, is something I do not like. But if the speed is slow and comfortable, not too dizzy. But not that night. I have to take a crowded taxi crowded and speeding, if late then missed the plane.

We also crossed the Bosphorus Strait, a bridge and strait that we often talk about in Aceh. As I passed the legendary and unidirectional bridge of the Bosphorus, between the jostling cars, I vomited, the thing I most avoided when riding in a vehicle. But that's it. The Bosporus Bridge that we always share with joy and considered romantic also changed in my memory. But I ignored the event and remembered the beauty of the Bosphorus Strait, the calm waters, the calm ships, and the big gulls. To my surprise, it turns out the gulls on the Bosphorus are bigger, bigger than the pigeons.

Arriving at the Ataturk International Airport of Istanbul, I left Lira money that I had not had time to spend, to Azam, to buy Turkish and Istanbul bosses and to get Rizal Usman to take back to Aceh. I also entrusted him, a book of Aceh 2025, so that he would love Rizal Usman to be given to Prof hamza Kandur. I also presented a book of Aeh 2025 to Muhammad Azam.

So I went home, in the plane I wrote a poem, especially for Zahrani. I can not bring anything home for her, at least I have a poem, which I wrote with difficulty.

Merindukanmu di Bosporus

Di antara camar dan kedamaian Laut Marmara
Waktu, cuaca, dan makanan,
mengirimku pulang sebelum membawamu ke sini.
Ada waktu untuk kita lagi,
langit jingga, dan taman merah muda.

Dalam pesawat Turkish Airlines, Istanbul-Jakarta, 28 Oktober 2016.
Thayeb Loh Angen

---------Miss you at the Bosporus

Among the gulls and peace of the Marmara Sea
Time, weather, and food,
Sent me home before taking you here.
There is time for us again,
Orange sky, and pink park.

In the aircraft Turkish Airlines, Istanbul-Jakarta, October 28, 2016.
Thayeb Loh Angen-------------

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