via
https://ift.tt/2wsg6sFargh i accidentally got sucked in and spent way more than i meant to at the grand bazaar on one fucking scarf, the guy was very slick and did exactly what all the guides warn you about, and like, cornered us and served us tea and talked at great length about how many old ladies slaved away over these (mass-produced) scarves that were made– i take you in my car, just thirty minutes away in nearby town– etcetera, and I was like, no way am I paying what he’s asking for these, and he named a ridiculous sum and I scoffed and was like, i don’t even have that much, and he was like how much do you have, and i was like no, i only have this much, and he was like, I give you extra gift scarf, and I was like no, I don’t even have that much money, and he was like, well I give you huge discount on second scarf, and I was like, why are we here, we should have left, and yet somehow, I wound up giving him literally the entire amount of money i had budgeted to spend on souvenirs and with which I had anticipated getting two scarves, a teacup set, a decorative tile, some tea, maybe some coffee, lunch, and dinner, and still somehow it was barely enough, and just. Ugh.
I’m really super-good at not getting scammed when it comes to not buying anything, but when I want to just– buy one thing– it’s like. Impossible to figure out how not to get taken in. It doesn’t help that the way they tell you to do it is know going in what you want to pay, and it was a particular type of scarf I hadn’t seen before so I wanted to know how much they cost. Well of course they’re not going to tell you, they’re going to give you a 30-minute sales pitch first before telling you they would be five hundred dollars in LA look we have a store in LA and we sell rugs to Bill Clinton there see this picture, this is my brother…
Argh. Anyway!
No more souvenirs in Turkey, I’ve blown my budget.
All I really wanted was a scarf so I could go into the Blue Mosque without borrowing one, but then my dress doesn’t cover my arms so they made me put on a smock anyway, so I didn’t even need the scarf.
But. Now I have three scarves. Which would have been cheaper for me to pay someone to import for me. But! I also have had a Relevant Cultural Experience (listen you would not believe the bullshit this guy went through, it was extremely colorful), and Dude was there with me and was equally helpless to the entire thing, so. We can back one another up.
our hotel is so beautifully located that we’ve come back twice today to cool off and shower and drink water and use the toilet and now ill-advisedly are taking naps, which one should not do.
But we have a plan, see, to take this bottle of wine we managed to buy in a convenience store for 40 lire, and go up and sit on the roof of the hotel at 7:45 when they call the Maghrib prayer, so that Dude can experiment with the video abilities of his phone and see if he can’t get something lovely.
(Your picture was not posted)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
