Perplexed Orange Independent Biker

Today I am in Akademgorodok, a nice area outside Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia. After the local DST “spring forward” last night I am fully 12 hours ahead of home.

After 13 hours of sleep last night, I went for a walk today. My hotel is right next to a sort of shopping mall, so there were plenty of options for people-watching, eating, and even a very good cup of espresso.

More pictures to come, I have to catch up with sightseeing in Istanbul on Friday even. The hotel charges me per MB, so I may be waiting to post from the client office tomorrow.

Colors

Sasha took this picture of a fruit & vegetable stand just off Istiklâl Caddesi last night. I love how the colors pop.

"This is good pork"

This is a picture of some very tasty lamb. We ate dinner at the Çiçek Pasajı, a former flower market which now houses many restaurants in a fun atmosphere.
There were three good quotes on the night. I said “this is good pork.” Regarding the meat/tomato/cheese dish, Sam said “this is not kosher.” And Emre took the night’s award for worst bad driving excuse when he said “wow that is a long bus.” Sorry, I guess you had to be there drinking the raki.

Raki

Emre explained that there are two ways to drink raki. Both involve drinking too much, but we didn’t go too far overboard. Click through to the flickr stream for more photos of the evening, I’ll be blogging more as I find time today. My body needs a bit of yoga, a shower, coffee, and breakfast.

Levent 1

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

It is nice to know that in the middle of this — the view south of my hotel to the district Levent 1 — traffic, construction, new malls, office towers;

Two cool cats

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

you can still find this — two cool cats playing backgammon at a traditional little neighborhood cafe — just a couple blocks away.

Sun Plaza, Maslak

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

Sun Plaza in Maslak is the home of Deloitte Istanbul. Maslak reminds me of a suburban Atlanta office area like Perimiter Center or the 285/75 interchange. Lots of big office building, traffic jams, and little else. Of course in a city of 15 million this is on a different scale…

Emre and Sasha

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

Sasha is a fresh Deloitte analyst from Moscow. She speaks great English and it has been fun to work with and get to know her. Most of my readers know Emre, by reputation if not personally. He, Tumay, and Deniz seem challenged but happy relocating to Istanbul.

Me and Sam

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

Sam is in charge of the forecasting portion of this project. He’s up to it. But still, good luck.

Tired

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

Today I worked. The clients are nice people. Deloitte’s Istanbul office is in a very stylish modern building. The regulars scan their eyes to get on the elevator, guests like me go through airport-style security. (Same thing at the hotel and at the mall.) There is a Starbucks on the ground floor of the building, oh bittersweet irony!

The hotel attempt to charge my credit card was denied as fraud, which was annoying but very painless to resolve. I’m in my room early to finish catching up on sleep. Last night was good, I got almost 9 hours with one short interruption, but I need more.

I promise a better picture tomorrow.

Note to self: I am a US citizen. US citizens require a $20 visa to enter Turkey. Go to the visa line BEFORE going to the passport line. Have cash, the visa people don’t take plastic.

Heaven

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

On a brighter note, this little gem of an appliance is in my hotel room. Sweet!

Almighty Dollar

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

Odd stuff in Turkey: This building has a dollar sign on top like a corporate logo. Scary. The highway from Istanbul airport to Maslak district where I’m staying is also odd. Lots of people using the right-of-way as a park, just out sitting on the ground watching the cars scream by. I’ll have to ask Emre about that.

UPDATE: Turns out this is the logo for a bank “i” “s” bank, where the “s” is actually an “Åž” which gets pronounced like “sh”.

Russian Visa

Originally uploaded by dansteeves68.

My visa for Russia arrived today. UPS Next Day Air, one day before departure. Nothing like taking it down to the wire. With all the cryllic characters I can’t read a thing about this, but the dates look right so hopefully it will get me to Novosibirsk next Saturday. Off to Istanbul tomorrow afternoon…

Novosibirsk Main Station

Originally uploaded by UlrikeE.MUC.

I’m headed to Novosibirsk for work! Novosibirsk is the capital of Siberia and the third largest city in Russia, at about 1.5M people. This is pretty exciting.

I depart the 17th for a week of work in Istanbul, then on the 24th I head to Novosibirsk for a second week. I do the entire 24 hour journey home on the 30th.

Thanks to the flickr user who posted this picture of the Novosibirsk Main Station.