The Turkish delight

BLG arrived from Istanbul last weekend and came to work bearing gifts. Turkish delights, locally called lokums, according to him. They're yummy! He had so many stories and it was lovely to hear about what he'd been up to. He absolutely loved the city and wished he'd had more time. Everything was perfect, he said, until his last night when, on his way back to his hotel, he ran into this dignified looking businessman who started chatting him up. They found they had a lot of things in common and even conversed in German, to BLG's delight. The businessman, Hassan his name was, invited him for a drink at a "family bar" he owned close by after regaling him with tales about his wife and four kids. BLG agreed since it was his last night anyway and he was having such a good time. So off they went to this charming neighborhood. Turns out the "family bar" was an underground nightclub. And Hassan didn't own it like he said. BLG started feeling confused and uncomfortable and thought of taking his leave when Hassan sat them down and started ordering all kinds of stuff. After a few minutes, BLG said it was getting late and that he had to go. As he was getting up to leave, the manager came over and showed him the bill. BLG said Hassan told him he was paying but Hassan denied it. BLG couldn't make a run for it because he was flanked with waiters, the manager and Hassan on all sides. It was all incredibly organized. He had no cash on him and they looked inside his wallet to confirm and found he had credit cards inside and told him to pay with one. Faced with no other option, he negotiated the price down (the bill was over 40k) with the little Turkish that he'd picked up during the week and they seemed delighted with him enough. Hassan agreed to pay for half of the bill. When they settled everything, Hassan walked him out to get him a cab.

BLG got back to his hotel, thankfully without incident, sat on his bed for a very long time trying to process what had just happened to him before finally going to sleep. He said that was the only thing horrible about his trip to Turkey. Then he talked about the lovely people he met there, which were pretty much everyone else.

So for those of you travelling to Istanbul anytime soon, stay away from "family bars". But do grab a box (or two) of those amazing Turkish delights.