Thailand in the eyes of a 20-something..: Day 11 - Hello, Bulgaria! Goodbye, Bulgaria!

-Knock, knock, knock! "Border! Passport!" 5am we arrived at the Serbian/Bulgarian border, and this time the official came along, checked my cabinmates' IDs (who were apparently Bulgarian) and handed them back, but then took one look at mine and walked off with it. Doing my best to be patient and calm, I stood right by the cabin door, watching out the window as they disappeared into the little building outside, spent what seemed like an eternity with my precious passport(among a handful of others), then emerged to return them, stamped and ready to go. The guy returning them laughed when he saw me waiting so anxiously for mine at the door of my cabin; I couldn't get that little book back in my over-protective paws fast enough.

My "comfy" bed on the train

-When we arrived in Sophia, a MetroTravel guy (according to his nametag) at the train station asked where I was heading. I told him Istanbul, and to my dismay he said there was a train at 7pm. "Or," he said, "you can take a bus. Next one leaves in one hour." So the bus it was. Twenty-four Euros, 9 hours, multiple stops along the way for toilet and what-not, and a long stop at the Turkish border. Visa was easy though - went up to the window, handed the guy my 15 euros, and he slapped a sticker in my passport (he almost put it on the endorsements page under the Prague stamp, but I stopped him with what I'm sure was nothing less than a panicked shriek, and directed him to a correct visa page). Got it date-stamped and I was ready to go! Okay so we had to take all our bags and push them through a customs x-ray conveyer machine and then wait while they searched the bus for...bad things, but it wasn't complicated or confusing despite all the instructions being barked at us in Turkish (or Bulgarian, I wouldn't really know).

On the way to Istanbul, by bus

Some of my pastry treats from Belgrade

The last of my pastry treats from Belgrade

Bulgarian/Turkish border

Waiting while they search the bus

At our first rest stop south of the border...Welcome to Turkey :(

-Arrived at 6:30 in Istanbul when the sun was just setting. Found my way to the end of the T1 tram line to Bağcılar, only had to tell off one creep who tried to follow me, and arrived safe and sound to my host Ilker's apt shortly after. I immediately showered (as I hadn't all weekend), and then Ilker took me into the city for an authentic Turkish meal. I chose the 5 dishes mixed on my plate, but I only liked 3 1/2 of them; not to mention it was a lot more food than I could finish, despite how hungry I'd been. Had a quick nightcap in a really nice rooftop lounge then dashed back to catch the last tram home.