The Bizarre Bazaar Experiment

Our first visit to the famed Grand Bazaar

in Istanbul was a complete failure.  We

went in with our happy, eager, filled with

wonder American faces and were pounced

upon.  Imagine thousands of salesmen asking,

"Where you from?" 

 us - "America",

them - "America? - we love America!"

translation: We think you are rich... and gullible.

We didn't stay long.

Though I would have loved to look at all the

merchandise and I may have purchased

something ~ if the price was right.

Jump ahead a few days ~ it is a Monday,

it is raining and cold and the only thing

open with a roof in Istanbul is the Grand

 Bazaar, so we went back, but this time we

had a plan...  We were not going to look

American, we walked a bit hunched over,

we had long, sour faces and dead eyes.

We couldn't look at each other or we would

crack up.  But it worked, we were basically

left alone.

When I saw something I was interested in,

I would point to it and say "Vat price for?"

in a strange Russian accented English, I took

my inspiration from Natasha in Rocky &

Bullwinkle.  When they would try their typical

"Where you from?, I would suspiciously ask,

"Vhy?" and that would stop that line of

questioning...  We didn't buy anything in the

Bazaar.  We found it very over priced, perhaps

they have a big overhead to meet but I had a

limited travel and purchasing budget and must

get the best price for my purchases.  Some things

I bought off street vendors but most I bought in

small shops from people who were willing to

talk about the merchandise and were not hard

sell.  And the price had to be right.

"