Turkey
Hasankeyf
October 2007 • Batman was a bust, so onward to Hasankeyf with a bad mood and a head cold. Dragged myself to dinner in the town's only restaurant and ended up sharing a table with the only two customers: Berk and Murat, on break from university and traveling in the southeast by train. They couldn't speak English, and I couldn't speak Turkish, but somehow we spent the next few days bonding via photos, drawings, pantomime, music, telepathy, and beers at the town's not-so-secret speakeasy. On our last day, in nearby Midyat, they snuck away to a jewelry shop and bought three identical friendship rings. Very sentimental and, as I came to understand, very Turkish.
