Welcome to Turkey. In Canada Pot Okay.

For the first time in nearly two years I boarded a plane headed for a developing country. That's right, for the last 22 months it has been only easy, English-speaking, fancy pants places where the roads are paved, the water is hot and you don't have to worry about getting gastro every time you eat or drink something. I know what you're thinking - where's the fun in that?!?!

I decided to ease back into it in Turkey alongside some of my best best friends. Call it backpacker light. Taking off from London - the developed world's most cosmopolitan city - and landing in Istanbul - the developing world's most cosmopolitan city - after only 3 hours on a plane was surreal. The sights. The sounds. The smells.




Their swanky new airport was a near seamless experience and my baggage carousel was shared with a flight arriving from Baghdad, which was fascinating, but then came catching a cab.

Now, perhaps I'm overly hardened by years of travel but from Sydney to São Paulo and everywhere in between, I'm convinced that all taxi drivers at airports are trying to screw me. This was no exception. There is just something fishy about them. Like they know you don't know a damn thing about getting to your destination. Not how long it takes, not how far it is, nothing. Then you're hopping in a car - in a foreign country where you don't speak the language - that says its meant for public hire with some guy you don't know who will supposedly drive you directly to your unknown destination. Would we ever advise out children to do such things? Absolutely not! That's some dangerous stuff. But when you're an adult it's "an adventure." And my ride certainly was.

The driver took my bag and swung it into the boot, miming that it was extremely heavy (the lightest I've ever packed, so a little upsetting).

We got in and I pointed at the meter indicating that we would need to be using that. "No problem my friend," he said to me. I then pulled out the address on my phone screen to which he shook his hand vigorously and said "no letters. Phone?" And thus began my first round of charades on this trip. "No phone," I said. "No Turkish," deciding I should then attempt to read the address out loud, which when as well as you'd think. I struggled through and when I finished he laughed, pointed at me and said "you no Turkish." Indeed sir. Me no Turkish. So I said the generic central square, he nodded, and we were off.

Minutes later he said "music?" so I gave a thumbs up and he cranked up the Saturday night jams on Joy FM. Next it was where I am from, and this is when it got AMAZING. "Canada," I said, heeding the advice of a professor from my trip to Turkey in 2004, when the invasion of Iraq pissed off most of the world. We had been in the Grand Bizarre and a seller asked us if we were Canadian. My friend said "no, American," at which point the shopkeeper pulled out a knife and chased us out of the market. Therefore I felt for reasons of safety it was prudent, on this trip, to be Canadian.

"Ohhhhh, Canada!!!" he exclaimed, waving two thumbs up vigorously while steering with his knee. "In Canada, smoking pot is okay," he explained, while mimicking inhaling from a doobee. "In Turkey, not okay." Um, okay.





On that note the car fell silent and we allowed the thumping bass on the radio to fill the void until the drive shouted out of nowhere, "RED BULL! RED BULL!" while mimicking sipping from a can. I gave him a thumbs up, indicating that yes, red bull was indeed a thing." This somehow translated as "let's get some" and we were soon careening across 3 lanes of traffic to pull into a gas station and, you guessed it, buy some red bull.

As we ground to a halt and he went to hop out I pointed at the meter, waving my hand as if to say "stop the meter if you're making a pit stop." He looked at me, laughed and said whilst waving his hand "it's okay. No problem!

After disappearing in the shop for what felt like ages as I watched the meter tick over he emerged with a red bull for him and a schweppes mandarin in a glass bottle for me. "Heyyy!!! Canada!!! Red Bull!!! It's okay!!!"

This is where my past experience anxiety reached new highs. We are at a service station. He's just bought us sodas. The meter is running. It's midnight and people are waiting. It's been two years since I've done this. I don't remember my old "full time traveller" skillset. Oh god, what do I do.

Just then he popped up the bottom of his seat to reveal a bottle opener, a corkscrew and plastic cups. This guy wasn't trouble, he just liked to entertain. Strangers. While moving.

He popped the bottle for me and we were off, once again zooming towards the city center. The music was blasting, the drinks were cold and the wet hot air of summer was rushing across my face. This is what I've been missing so much.

We road in silence the rest of the way, enjoying the music and the beverages. As we approached the square I said to him "thank you in Turkish." English is thank you. Turkish is..." and without missing a beat he responded, "gvaz."

"Gvaz," I said to him. "And hello," I inquired. "Gvaz," he said. That's easy, I thought. Same phrase! "Goodbye," I asked. "Gvaz," he answered. Okay, like aloha, I thought. "What about please, " I wondered allowed. "Also Gvaz," he replied. This is one useful word, I thought. I stopped there for fear of having to learn a new word if I asked too many questions. When in doubt, I thought, just say Gvaz.




He dropped me bang on the centre of the city. We shook hands, "I said gvaz a few times," he said "gvaz" a few times, and away I walked, having reentered for a moment in time the world I love so much. One in which everything isn't always clear and stuff just sort-of happens. Plus, I'm now nearly fluent in Turkish, which is fantastic.

Gotta run! Gvaz for now!

-Kyle Taylor

- Posted using BlogPress from my KyPhone

Location:Kağnı Yolu Sokak,Nevþehir,Turkey

The Best 7 Minutes Of Your Day

Let's start with me admitting I was a blubbering mess watching this, but so was Keith Urban and half the audience.  I can make logical arguments as to why this was extremely significant for the gay rights movement - a rapper, with a global reach and international audience, gave his airtime to use contemporary music as a vehicle for change, nothing about it seemed token, it wasn't over the top, etc. etc. - but it's mostly that watching it gave me this feeling we're going to win.  There is no turning back now.  Change has come.  I rarely think mainstream art leads.  Instead, I usually find when it's picked up in the mainstream, we have arrived.  Okay, I'm off to re-watch it 500 times.

A Case of the Mondays

I've given writing this blog a go several times in the last six months and never seemed to be able to stick with it.  I couldn't figure out why.  Was there nothing interesting to say?  Was there no political commentary to be made?  Had I lost my comedic streak?  Was I just not "seeing" the world anymore the way I used to?  One major impediment is that I can't write about work for obvious reasons (politics and all).  The other reason, I only just realized, is that the rest of my life is fairly boring.  By fairly boring I mean, for me, really boring.  The most exciting thing that happened to me today was getting an amazing deal on fresh ready-made deals at the supermarket.

I do believe I have a low threshold for boredom.  If I'm not being pulled in 3 different directions, learning something totally new, consuming news in real time, watching a TV show, and planning my weekend while on a moving train, plane, or bus I generally feel bored.  This is my reality.

As it's a new year, I'm recommitting myself to beating the bored out of me.  It may take some time, as waking up and having your first thought be when you can next get into bed is still somewhat appealing.  Also, it doesn't get light until 8am so it's not the most inspiring situation in the AM hours.  But hey, I know that's a load of excuses.  While I scheme, at least I know I'll be eating healthy, in controlled portions, and on a budget, so that's something.

-Kyle Taylor

P.S. This is NOT a New Year resolution.  It's just something I'm doing.  Resolutions are overrated and hardly ever last.  If you want to do something, just do it. Right?

Syria Isn't A War, It's a Moral & Human Obligation

What happened in Syria - the use of chemical weapons - is a moral atrocity.  It is an explicit desire to inflict pain and suffering on people and in this case, it was performed by a government to its OWN people, which is even more shocking.  What I'm saying is, there is no need to use them.  They don't do anything more than regular weapons to kill people, they just make the death more horrific and painful.  There is no point to them.

This is the argument that has been used to suggest it was "the rebels" and not the government in Syria who used the weapons, despite the fact that there is extensive evidence to show that the government has such weapons, along with a fairly decked out military.  That versus "the rebels," who are made up of several different disparate groups who aren't organised, aren't being supplied by foreign governments or groups (as opposed to the Syrian government, who is being armed by Iran and Russia).  Three international governments have ruled near conclusively (it's never possible to be 100% sure but knowing that in one incident the weapons were dropped by fighter jets pretty much rules out the rebels, no?) that the Syrian government was responsible.  Most recently, Germany.

I've been confused by the lack of public support for any action at all when you consider what has gone on and how much less we've gone to war for in the past.  Iraq - No WMDs in existence, much less used!.  In Libya, much of the same.  And yet guns were blazing in the USA for the former and around the world for the latter.  Now, this time, we have concrete evidence that a leader is brutally murdering his own people and the world is like, "no, not this time." Huh?  Here are my four points:

1. If there was ever a conflict this century to act on, it's this one.  The Syrian government has violated an obscene number of international laws, used chemical weapons to kill their own people, and caused the displacement of SEVEN MILLION PEOPLE, 2 million of them across borders.  When people are fleeing TO Iraq you know something's seriously wrong.  That's one third of the entire population displaced.  Not even the conflicts in Afghanistan or Iraq can match that.
2. We're not "helping Al-Qaeda" by taking action.  One of MANY groups fighting Assad is Al-Qaeda and in fact, the most powerful ones are secular groups in the south.  Also, is Assad's government not a terror group itself at this point, dropping chemical weapons on civilians?  Also, doesn't it offer some semblance of good will and shift the perception of people when the international community intervenes for the right reasons?
3. Um, folks, whose side do we want to be on here?  I believe it's Iran, Russia and China who are backing Assad at the minute for whatever reason.  None of them are really superstars as of late when it comes to basic human rights.  My guess is their team isn't the best choice.
4. Nothing I've written really matters because of the moral obligation we have as human beings to help other human beings who are being senselessly slaughtered by their own government using cruel and unusual methods.  I mean, dear god, how is everyone not wildly and unbelievably outraged?  This is a violation at the most human level and if something like this doesn't drive us to act my bigger fear is for humanity in general.

Hot Dog Crust Pizza & Other Ways We Know We Have Enough

Living in central London, we get about 4,761 leaflets under our door a week.  Recently, TWO pizza places have been offering their "Hot Dug Stuffed Crust Pizza," using an arrow to show exactly where the hot dog goes inside the crust for those of us who have never even heard of pizza.

We all know that in "developed" countries we have, generally, enough food (of course there are also those going hungry in the developing world, which further reinforces my point).  We know this because we have overweight and obese people, suggesting there is a significant excess of food available to us.

With that in mind, WHY ARE WE PUTTING HOT DOGS INTO THE CRUST OF PIZZA?  Some would say "why not?" and go into a long speech about how this is the American Dream and freedom and blah blah blah.  All of those arguments are absurd.  We as a society have proven that decisions like how much to eat can't be left up to us because we make bad choices and that affects everyone (healthcare costs, for example).  As such, it's time to be an overreaching government-loving liberal and call for the immediate ban on all foods that combine two foods that are terrible for you into one food.

On that note, I'd also like to ban useless crap like this strap-on knee pillow.  For those of you considering purchasing this fine piece of useless sleep accessory, please spread your legs, take on of your head pillows, and place it between them.  Close.  Done.  I just saved you $16.  You're welcome.

-Kyle Taylor

Pride Adventures

Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of being gay is being able to celebrate with your community at parties, parades, and events the world over.  People often ask what it's about and why we do it and "what's with the costumes and outfits?"

There is no quick answer and while the sense of being part of something bigger in a world that has historically been quite hostile is certainly a central reason, right now it feels more like a real dichotomy of celebrating advances in equality that are happening globally with protesting the horrific devolution of minority rights in places like Russia.  Somehow getting together and having a good time en masse feels like a real way to do exactly what those places don't want people to do - celebrate diversity and inclusion by showing we're proud of who we are.

This year took me to Brighton and to London for some serious celebrations.  Photos below from Brighton:

And London:

Friend Adventures

One of the most brilliant bits of living in London is the number of people who fly through, stay for a bit, or decide it's the perfect place for them to live as well.  That is combined with the ease with which you can get pretty much anywhere on earth from this fine city.

Brilliantly, Amy arrived just before her birthday and is STILL HERE, which is excellent for everyone and everything but my liver:

Nipping to DC meant seeing this lovely trio:

And this less-lovely trio:

A recent move to Abu Dhabi allowed Miss Zubes to stop in for a long weekend:

Reconnecting with Stacey, Mika, and Hillary:

And catching up with the Brussels crew also while in DC:

Looking forward to more people flying through, staying for a while, or something in between as well as visiting people far and wide because the world intersect in London and London intersects the world.

-Kyle Taylor