Last Night in Fethiye

Well, last night was amazing and awful at different times. At 8pm it looked like it would be the perfect night; by 1am I just wanted to drag myself home. I'm used to nights going downhill, but usually awful waits until a bit later in the evening before it appears.

So ... Hailey and I start the night by going to the hamam. Left an hour later feeling fresh and clean. She took me into my first carpet shop to see the fine silk ones, and they were amazing. They ought to be - the low price for a good one was $12G US. They were less carpets than fine art that would catch and hold the light until it seemed as if the carpet itself were the source of light. I don't even know what you would do with one if you had it - they certainly wouldn't go on the floor.

Later, on the streets - the same streets I've walked down dozens of times - we seemed to be the popular couple. We stopped to talk to one guy, and soon we were chatting with half the guys in that part of the bazaar. It's amazing how differently the world treats you when you've walking around with a blond chick.

Hailey asked around for a bar with local music - not a bar with Turkish Night, but a bar with a local band. I would have never thought there was one in this neighborhood, but we were pointed to one of the few doors without any English signs on them. We went in, went up some unmarked stairs, and foudnd ourselves in a Sufi hang out. It was hella cool; we split a water pipe [I don't get the thrill, although it felt cool], ordered a couple raki, and watched the musicians. There was a guy on drums, a guy playing something that looked like a sitar, and a skinny girl in a yellow shirt singing with the most amazingly powerful voice. I was hypnotized by her voice, even though I have no idea what she was singing about.

So that was the good part of the night. On the way home we ducked into a more English nightclub. I felt more a foreigner there than in the Sufi club. The music started out alright, and there were plenty of lasers and flashing lights to make it look pretty, but the sparse crowd was off. Everybody was trashed, the women had kicked off their shoes and were dancing alone, while the men were thrashing around all over the dance floor with no sense of rhythm or style. It was like the tail end of a UK white trash wedding.

That was the good part. The bad part came when they switched dj's. The club music ended, and it turned into 80's retro night. People have been re-living that damned decade since the day it ended. It's been fifteeen years - it's time to give it a rest. I tried to put myself in a good mood, but I just couldn't. I washoping to snark with Hailey, but an elderly Minnesotan was busy trying to seduce her and I think she was enjoying the attention. When the same Minnesotan tried to lead her in a drunken tango to a Men at Work song [as if I Come From a Land Down Under was ever a dance song] I gave up and went home.