Chinese friends and Çeşme

Jesse, Seline, and I headed out to the beach near Çeşme (chesh-may) . It's an hour and a half by bus from the bus station at the far end of town. It's a 20 lira taxi ride from the hotel just to get to the station, a 12 lira bus ride, and a 3 lira dolmuş (minibus, about the only Turkish word I've learned in a week), so it's kind of an ordeal. We're not exactly sure what we're doing the whole time, and this adorable curmudgeon of a retired Turkish man who spent the last 20 years living in America helped us out. “Do you like living here,” “Eh? It's expensive.” “Do you miss your sons in America?” “Eh. One just had a son, I guess I should go back and meet him.” I kinda wanted to hang out with him all day. What a payoff!! It's a Friday afternoon, the beach Jesse and Seline wanted to go to was Pirlanta beach, the one furthest out. I had officially run out of lira, so I thought that I would just take some out there. But this beach was so unspoiled that there was no cash machine. Just a couple of huts selling really bad and expensive beach food, but the beach was practically empty. The water was azure and immaculate, except for the few things people had clearly and thoughtlessly thrown in the water. It was shallow and calm, even pretty far out, and I could see my toes the whole time. When I go to the beach, I usually can't handle more than two hours, but the next thing I know it's 6 pm and we're watching the sun start to set. A young guy named Sirvan strikes up a conversation with Jesse about Kung Fu, as the animal tattoos on Jesse's back must have indicated that, he did indeed study kung fu when he was young. I think Jesse is tired of talking about Chinese things with people, and maybe a little tired of being as much of a target as I felt like. He said in Cappadocia, people queued up just to take pictures of themselves with a Chinese couple. The bus back to Izmir wasn’t leaving til 9:30, so we had some time to walk around the Çeşme marina. It is the most beautiful upscale waterfront or marina I have ever seen. A number of chichi seafood restaurants, beautiful people, decent music, and jam-packed with boats. If anyone ever wants to marry me, I'll have to remember to honeymoon here. The next day I spend walking around Izmir. It grew on me a little, but I still am not very impressed. I think people must like eating on the waterfront, but to me that's like eating at South Street Seaport. I'd rather have less of a view, better and cheaper food. We found a place not too far off from the waterfront called kanatçim (cumhuriyet blvd #126, kanatcimkordon.com) that had really great kebaps... but we ordered some meze (appetizers) and were full before the food arrived, not that it stopped us. I don't know what it is about being in another country, but I always seem to accidentally order innards. Yesterday, we pointed to something that looked really good,and one bite and I realized that again, I ordered liver. It was the best liver I have ever accidentally ordered, but I didn't really like it even thought I knew it was good. My dinner companions didn't mind a bit. I was sad to see Jesse and Seline go. When we were together, people stared just as much – a Western woman walking with a Chinese couple – but I didn't feel worried or alone. They're interesting and brilliant, fun and adorable. There's something really special about meeting people you click with when you travel... even though we might never see each other again, even though I am 10 years older, there were so many things to talk about, so many experiences to share, that two days pass by in an instant, and that part of the trip felt so rich and wonderful. They will always have a place to stay if they ever come to New York.