More from Istanbul

We've spent the last two days chilling around the Sultanahmet area and enjoying the atmosphere......went and saw the Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque yesterday.....beautiful buildings....the Aya Sofia was built about 1000 years ago by Emperor Justinian...the architecture is incredible....a huge domed building with no column support inside....it origianlly was a church, then a mosque and now a museum....the blue mosque is newer (1600's if memory serves) and still used for prayer today....have good pictures of both for you guys....

Speaking of prayer......5 times a day at the same time all of the mosques turn up the loudspeaker and some dude gets on the mic and sings some crazy shit....i asked some turkish dudes and they said they can't make out what they're saying, but man can these guys sing....sometimes they do this warble thing with their voices and then drop down to some incredibly low notes i didn't know existed....it's actually quite nice to listen to....

The people here are friendly, but for a reason....they all know that there are USD burning up holes in your pockets and aren't afraid to offer their services for a "special price" including restaurants and, of course, the carpet shops....usually i chat with them, or make them walk with me wherever i'm going....i don't want to tell them to fuck off, plus it's fun playing them along a bit...i figure if they're going to try and waste my money i'll try and waste theit time....plus if you bargain hard you can actually get some good deals, but i think things will be cheaper in the south...

Looking forward to getting down to the south and the beaches, getting a little sick of the city thing since that's all we've been doing....chances are we'll leave today, though we still have to decide where to...

ryan