sultanahmet diaries

ugh

taxi drivers in istanbul are an interesting breed of people. i have
been overcharged, taken on the lonnnnng way to various places,
and been grumbled at because my destination was not the airport
or some other distant location in istanbul. the other night i had an
entirely different taxi experience, one that actually left me a little
bit frightened and extremely angry. i took a taxi from bakirkoy
(where i work) to sultanahmet because the bus route traffic was
terrible and i didn't want to take the train at night.

one of the male students helped me get a taxi, saying "we need to
make sure it's an old taxi driver." i figured this was just an over-
protective measure since turkish men are... well... overprotective.
found an old man, who then promptly hailed another taxi, whose
driver was young. my student shook his head, but i said not to
worry, i'll be fine, blah blah blah. the driver took me to sultanahmet,
and i gave him directions to get to the hippodrome (by directions
i mean "ok, right. left. right. ok."). he then asks me to have turkish
coffee with him-- which in itself is not a surprising or shocking thing.
they ask, i refuse, we're even.

however.....

this guy would NOT take "no" for an answer. i said, "tamam, dür
bürada lütfen!" (ok, stop here please!) but he keeps repeating
"just 10 minutes, just 10 minutes, please...." i'm repeating "hayir!
dür!" (no! stop!) but he keeps rolling forward, past where i wanted
to get out and go home. at this point, i am extremely angry and
i just want to get out of the taxi. he keeps asking and asking and
i must have said NO, STOP NOW about 20 times. i ended up
getting out of the taxi and having to walk about 1/4 mile back to
where i originally wanted to be let out. UGHHH. what a f***ing
a**hole.

so anyway.... i guess my student was right. i'll take the old taxi
drivers over that crap any day.

posted by camille @ 10:49 AM