Istanbul Intriguing
A TWOFOLD BEAUTY
Istanbul or Constantinople? Both refer to the same place – the ancient capital of the Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire and the metropolis of the largest city in the modern republic of Turkey. This is the exhilarating dual nature of Istanbul – historical and steeped in tradition on one hand yet modern and contemporary on the other. The location of Istanbul also embodies that dual nature so successfully. It is set between two great continents – Asia and Europe. The people of Istanbul are confident in their Turkish identity but have a modern European sensibility. If you stepped onto the streets of Istanbul, you would think that you were in any modern European city. The only thing that gives away its location is the iconic silhouette of the historic mosques you see at practically every street corner in Istanbul.
I fulfilled a long held dream to visit this beautiful city and savoured every minute of it. Turkey, for me, was an exotic city trapped in a long forgotten era. It came as a huge surprise to realise that Istanbul is a modern and thriving cosmopolitan city filled with people of different cultures and backgrounds.
ARRIVING IN STYLE
15 km from the city is Ataturk Airport, which was named after the founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. I was greeted at 6.30 am at Ataturk airport by International and domestic terminals, bookshops, restaurants and even an Airport Hotel. After waiting for one and half hours to pass through the immigration counters, a quick taxi ride brought us to our hotel and into a crisp spring morning in March. Unfortunately, we were too
early, having arrived at 8.30 in the morning. We then trotted off to a neighbourhood café to have soup, bread, salad and cakes to warm us up. Nevertheless, we were tired from our journey and were extremely relieved when we were told that we could have our rooms earlier! What a pleasant surprise! We were soon sinking into our warm beds for a good rest.
EXCITING EXCURSIONS
In a few hours, we were woken up by a call from the tour guide to get ready by 2pm for a visit to the Spice Market and a Cruise at the Harbour down the Bosporus. The Spice Market in Istanbul is a 350 year old market selling spices in Istanbul. Yet, there’s much more at this market than mere spices. It is a market selling spices, medicinal herbs, aromatic oils, fragrant incenses, coffee and Turkish Delight. (Turkish delight is a sweet sticky dessert flavoured with nuts and fruits and is a little piece of heaven when you bite into it.) Piles of coloured spices compete with mounds of dried apple tea and fragrant Turkish coffee for your attention. As if that was not enough, silver jewellery, inlaid boxes and souvenirs will do their best to ensure that your bags are heavy and your wallets emptied of their Turkish Lira, the local currency. two continents – Asia and Europe. However, even for the intrepid traveller like me, I found the cold too much to bear, but before I left the boat’s deck to seek warm shelter, I did get fabulous photos!
TASTY TURKISH TREATS
We met my Turkish friend, Abdullah at the hotel, who was so kind to take all of us to a local restaurant. There they served different meaty delights. We marvelled at shish kebabs – minced beef and lamb with spices cooked over a smoky charcoal grill. We also savoured chopshish – small cubes of beef and lamb marinated in yoghurt and grilled. Turkish coffee warmed us as we talked about the history of Istanbul and the Byzantine and Ottoman rulers of Istanbul. There was no escaping the historical nature of the city. Even in a small café tucked in the middle of a deserted street, we are always reminded of the traces of the Istanbul’s past. The 300-yearold neighbourhood mosque kept beckoning us to visit and fathom its place in the story of Istanbul.
THE STUNNING SIGHTS
We were back in the 21st Century as soon as we walked out of the cafe and turned round the corner into Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue), one of the most famous streets in Istanbul. It is a 3 kilometre avenue surrounded on both sides by luxury shops, designer goods,
chocolate shops and crowds jostling to move past one another. An electric tram ran the length of the avenue for people who did not want to traverse the length of this on foot. At the end of Istiklal Caddesi is the famous Galatasaray Football Club, founded in 1905 at the Galatasaray High School.
For the second day in Istanbul, we were treated to a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel. More kebabs, Turkish cheeses, all kinds of breads, salads and breakfast meats and juices were lavishly spread on the buffet table. As we were up at 6.30 and ready by 7, we were the first to savour the delights of a typical Turkish breakfast. We took the Istanbul Metro to the famous Sultanahmet district where we would be filling our day with Turkish history and culture. After that, we would be jumping right back into modern day commerce and shopping at the Grand Bazaar and at a carpet bazaar.
Our first stop was the breathtakingly beautiful Aya Sofia. Also known as the Haggia Sofia and Sancta Sofia, this Cathedral, then mosque and finally museum has stood the ravages of invasions, earthquakes and even changes in empire. The frescoes and architecture inside illustrate Istanbul’s Christian and Muslim heritage and how the republic of Turkey has steered itself towards a modern European outlook.
The Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Mosque is also another breathtakingly beautiful testament to the power of faith and power. It is named after the man who provided the funding and talent to build the mosque. It is popularly known as the Blue Mosque and the interior outshines its exterior. You would never know what the inside looks judging from the outside. The subtle shades of blue, grey, red and green with rose, pomegranate and tulip motifs, with Islamic calligraphy, is made all the more breath-taking when you realise the interior is decorated with tiles instead of paint.
After our outings, we took a simple lunch of apple juice, mint tea and lamb kebabs with rolls. This simple fare was sold along the square alongside Topkapi Palace, our last historical stop. Once the residence of the Ottoman Emperors, the Topkapi Palace is as opulent as the European writers and painters made it out to be when they wrote about it in the 19th Century. It took us 3 hours to view the
interior of the Palace. What made it interesting was the small placards that explained the various halls, such as the Meeting Hall, where the Ottoman Emperors greeted Ambassadors from the great Empires around him. Even the Harem, where the Sultan stayed with his many children, wives and concubines made for interesting viewing.
The Grand Bazaar and the visit to a Carpet Shop provided us with many good excuses to spend our Turkish Lira and lighten our wallets. The Grand Bazaar is one the largest covered markets in the world. Everything from silver jewellery, lamps, clothes, souvenirs and antiques as well as food can be found here. By then, we were exhausted from the walking, so we quickly bought small souvenirs there and made our way to the hotel. We ate at the hotel and wandered round the neighbourhood, where local shopkeepers tried to entice us to buy their lamps, shisha (water pipes for smoking flavoured tobacco) and tiles decorated with the same flower motifs as the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace.
A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER
For the inexperienced traveller, there are some tips to help you get the best of your visit to any foreign country. Firstly, always change your currency at the local money changer or use the Auto-teller machine (ATM) to withdraw local currency. It helps to get a better rate when you buy from the markets. Secondly, learn to speak the local language as it helps you to get around and shopkeepers are likely to give you a slightly better price as you have made the effort. Thirdly, keep all valuables close to you especially your travel documents and your money too, and don’t get enticed into dark deserted corners and streets with promises of cheap food and drinks. Always remember that you are in a foreign country and the locals know each and every corner better than you. Lastly, be amazed at the new things you will see, for many of them could be 300 years older than you.
You may have heard that using mobile phones, or cell phones, can cause cancer, but is this really true? Can you actually get a brain tumor from over-using your cell phone – or from using it at all? Science has worked hard over the past few years to determine whether or not cell phones do cause cancer, and here is what several different studies have found:
What the International Agency for Research on Cancer says
Recently, an article in Time noted that the International Agency for Research on Center, which is part of the World Health Organization, puts cell phones in the same category as DDT and gasoline-engine exhaust as far as their ability to cause cancer goes. The IARC notes that cell phones are a “possible carcinogen” to humans because of the radiation that comes from them during transmission. The IACR has based this warning on the Interphone study conducted through the World Health Organization.
The Interphone Study
According to New Scientist, the World Health Organization spent $30 million on the study of cell phones and brain tumours. The study involved fifty scientists spread out over thirteen countries. The study took place between 2000 and 2006, and researchers studied 6,400 people with brain tumours and about as many without them. The subjects were simply asked how much they used a cell phone, and the study found that the healthy people actually used cell phones more often than the people with cancer.
The scientists later found that the study had a bias for positive results, as many of the healthy people who declined to take part in the study were less likely to be regular phone users. In the end, the study could have had an over-representation of people who were healthy and who regularly used phones.
Although the overall results of the study seem to point to the fact that cell phones don’t necessarily cause brain tumours and are not linked to cancer, on closer look, they did find some surprising results. When they compared the cell phone users who spent the most time on their
cell phones with those who spent the least amount of time on them, there did seem to be a statistically significant difference in how many cell phone users had cancer – with a 40% increase of gliomas and a 15% increase of meningiomas. Both glioma and meningioma are types of brain tumours.
What does it all mean?
In the end, the Interphone study was simply inconclusive. It relied on people’s memories of when they used cell phones, and as a retrospective study, it may not be the most accurate picture of cell phones and cancer. The study’s leader, Elisabeth Cardis says that caution is merited when it comes to cell phones simply because, while we can’t say that they do cause cancer, we also can’t say for certain that they don’t cause cancer.
Reducing your risk
There are several ways that you can reduce your risk of cancer caused by your cell phone, if you do indeed wish to take Cardis’s advice to use caution simply because we’re unsure whether or not cell phones cause cancer. Here are a few ways to reduce your risk:
• Use a hands-free set whenever possible. Those who think cell phones can cause cancer usually cite the fact that the small levels of radiation are always very close to your brain. Keeping the actual cell phone further away from your head may help lower your risk of cellphone induced cancer. Headsets can transfer sounds do and from the cell phone, but they don’t carry the radiation as the cell phone communicates with local cell towers.
• Use text messages. Text messaging is a good option for getting short messages across, and it doesn’t require the phone to be attached to your head the entire time you’re having a conversation.
• Use speaker phone. If you don’t have a hands-free set, you can also lower the amount of radiation you get from your cell phone by using speaker phone. You can safely and easily use speaker phone to keep the phone further away from your head.
• Use a land line. Land lines don’t radiate like cell phones do because they aren’t communicating with a cell phone tower. If you have the option, have longer phone conversations through a land line – or even through your computer with the help of a microphone and a head set.
None of these options is a very extreme thing to do, and even the Interphone study leader doesn’t suggest trying to cut cell phone usage out of your life entirely – which would be an extreme option indeed in today’s fast-paced world! However, if you’re at all concerned about the risk of cancer from cell phones, taking the above simple steps can be a good way to reduce your risk.
More large-scale studies are being carried out as you read this, so we may know more in the future when these studies have been completed. The Cosmos study, prospective at the time the Interphone study was finished, proposes following cell phone users for two or three decades to get a better picture of just how cell phone usage is linked with brain cancer. Until then, it’s not a bad idea to use cell phones with caution whenever possible.
Resources:
Flemig, Nic. “Largest ever cellphone cancer study is inconclusive.” New Scientist. 206, 2761. 2010. Walsh, Brian. “Mobile alert.” Time. 177, 24. 2011.
Have you ever considered a dish of grasshoppers sprinkled with tiny ants? How about a plate of houseflies and spiders? Well, those insects would make a hearty lunch for a special plant known as the Venus flytrap. Let’s find out what makes this particular plant so unique and if they really are as mean as they seem.
What are they?
Venus flytraps, also known as Dionaea muscipula, are a species of carnivorous plants within the plant kingdom. There are over 670 different species of the plant, but the Venus flytrap is the one that most of us have heard of. These plants have been around since the 1700’s. Contrary to popular belief that the Venus flytrap originated from a faraway place, it can be easily found thriving in swampy areas in the southern portion of the United States – mainly the North and South Carolina coastal areas. The Carolina Beach State Park boasts a large population of these plants in its preserve. The plants rest through the winter and as many other plants do, begin to grow bulbs as the warmer seasons arrive.
However, unlike most plants which live on water and sunlight alone, a carnivorous plant such as the Venus flytrap survives on the nitrogen from flesh, of insects. This ability was developed because the Venus flytrap grows in a very acidic environment; without the nutrients that are otherwise readily available in a moist, grassy field. In order to survive, the Venus flytrap has evolved over time to feed on other sources of nutrients that are available in such harsh environments – crunchy and juicy insects.
How do they ‘eat’ insects?
How can a Venus flytrap consume small insects without a mouth, or digest them without a stomach? It has developed a special trapping mechanism and digestion process.
In springtime, the Venus flytrap starts as a bulb and grows stems with leaves that form on the ends. These leaves are actually the trap that will act as the mouth and also as the stomach when it retrieves its lunch. The leaves have tiny little hairs along the perimeter of the leaf which may appear as ‘teeth’ to some people. Unlike animals, which can move around to hunt for food, plants are stationary, so they need a way to attract their next meal. Here’s how:
• The Venus flytrap contains nectar that is secreted from the leaves which draws in an unsuspecting victim.
• Flies, ants or spiders that are attracted to the nectar will land or crawl onto the plant’s leaves to eat or collect the nectar.
• Once the insects legs touches at least two trigger hairs in less than 20 seconds, the plant closes its leaves, trapping the insect and begins digestion.
After the plant has received the biological signal that this is indeed a meal, the plant leaf will form an airtight closure so that it can eat the insect. Just like our stomachs, the leaf trap will produce and secrete digestive juices which will slowly break down the insect. The digestive juices of the Venus flytrap also contain a small amount of antiseptic to kill any bacteria that could be on the insect it is digesting. As the nutrients from the insect are released onto the leaf, the leaf will then absorb the nutrients. In fact, the Venus flytrap only digests the insides of the insects, leaving behind the exoskeleton of the insect. Once this process has been completed, the leaf trap will open up fully again, exposing whatever is left of its meal to taken away by the wind or the rain. The entire process of digestion will take place anywhere from 5 to 12 days.
Enormous and Eerie?
You may have seen Venus flytraps portrayed as large, scary flesh-eating plants in books or movies, but in reality this plant only grows to be about 5 inches, even under the most ideal conditions. They can sprout up to 20 leaves, though most will only manage to grow about 5 to 8 traps at one time. Furthermore, these plants can only consume an insect that is one third the size of its leaves. If the insect is too big, the leaves are unable to shut fully and bacteria could enter the leaf while digestion takes place. This would eventually cause that leaf to die and fall off of the plant. The life
expectancy of a Venus flytrap is about 5 years if properly cared for, but most do not tend to live this long.
Despite its reputation as a dangerous, scary flesh-eating plant, the seeds and bulbs of the Venus flytraps are sold so that people can grow them in their own homes! Unfortunately, the weather in Singapore makes it much harder to cultivate the plants here, as they require the right temperature to survive. Nevertheless, you can still find out about these green wonders from the Internet or books on botany and carnivorous plants.