My new friend, part 2
Friday was my sightseeing day, so I took a taxi over to the Sultanahmet area where most of the sights are. I had been warned that it was impossible to avoid touts trying to get you to visit their carpet shops, and having the previous night's experience in my head, I was determined to play it cool. So I brushed off a few guys as I dashed first to the Hagia Sophia and then to the Yerebatan Cernici, an old Roman cistern. On the way to the Blue Mosque I was accosted by another guy, Tolga, who I was determined to shake off, but he was persistent as he showed me around the Blue Mosque. He was also honest ("I'm not a guide, but of course I do have a shop") and a bit of a character. When I mentioned I was going to the Grand Bazaar next, he responded that it was so convenient that his shop just happened to be on the way. I told him I had no desire to buy anything, and he said "let's make a deal: we'll try to sell you a carpet and you try not to buy one". It didn't feel like a scam and everyone says that looking at carpets is one of those uniquely Turkish experiences, so I figured there was no harm.
So off we went to his shop, where I was introduced to his uncle (everyone seems to be an uncle or cousin to everyone else) and given a nice cup of tea. As soon as I sat down and his uncle reassured me that he was the only carpet seller in Istanbul who didn't put any pressure on potential customers, he looked me right in the eye and asked what I thought about the government meeting with Hamas representatives the previous day. I tried to give a diplomatic answer, at which point he told me it was bad for Turkey and that the government would probably not last much longer (I'm sure this was all part of the process of sizing me up in advance of a potential negotiation). In the meantime, despite speaking excellent English he said he couldn't read it and he was trying to do business with people in Virginia, and if his nephew printed something from the Internet cafe could I read it for him? (At this point I was wondering if they were going to try to pull me into one of those Internet scams where you give someone your account number with the promise that you'll be generously compensated later. Luckily it seemed legit and they really did just want to understand what their trading partners wanted and they didn't ask me to do anything other than read it to them and try to explain what I thought it meant.) After more idle chit-chat he finally started pulling carpets, which were admittedly beautiful, from stacks, but there was no way I was going to buy a large, expensive carpet. He finally got the point and asked if we had anything for the baby's room, perhaps a small kilim rug? Sure enough, he started to pull out some smaller and less expensive rugs out, and before I knew it I was negotiating for a kilim to put under the baby's crib. Of course they congratulated me on my expert negotiations, but they probably made a killing on it (although at around $100, it was worth it).
All in all, it was actually a fun experience and now we have something for the crib. I wouldn't want to negotiate for an expensive carpet, but it was a bit of redemption for the previous night's weirdness.
So off we went to his shop, where I was introduced to his uncle (everyone seems to be an uncle or cousin to everyone else) and given a nice cup of tea. As soon as I sat down and his uncle reassured me that he was the only carpet seller in Istanbul who didn't put any pressure on potential customers, he looked me right in the eye and asked what I thought about the government meeting with Hamas representatives the previous day. I tried to give a diplomatic answer, at which point he told me it was bad for Turkey and that the government would probably not last much longer (I'm sure this was all part of the process of sizing me up in advance of a potential negotiation). In the meantime, despite speaking excellent English he said he couldn't read it and he was trying to do business with people in Virginia, and if his nephew printed something from the Internet cafe could I read it for him? (At this point I was wondering if they were going to try to pull me into one of those Internet scams where you give someone your account number with the promise that you'll be generously compensated later. Luckily it seemed legit and they really did just want to understand what their trading partners wanted and they didn't ask me to do anything other than read it to them and try to explain what I thought it meant.) After more idle chit-chat he finally started pulling carpets, which were admittedly beautiful, from stacks, but there was no way I was going to buy a large, expensive carpet. He finally got the point and asked if we had anything for the baby's room, perhaps a small kilim rug? Sure enough, he started to pull out some smaller and less expensive rugs out, and before I knew it I was negotiating for a kilim to put under the baby's crib. Of course they congratulated me on my expert negotiations, but they probably made a killing on it (although at around $100, it was worth it).
All in all, it was actually a fun experience and now we have something for the crib. I wouldn't want to negotiate for an expensive carpet, but it was a bit of redemption for the previous night's weirdness.
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