I got on the wrong Dolmus coming home from the EIT party Sunday morning (6am - before sun-up!!) but had met three nice Turks (2 guys and a girl) who let me know where to get off on Mini-bus street. I had to walk from Mini-bus street to Bagdat street but fortunately the nice girl from the dolmus was going part of my way. I was just telling her how her two guy friends weren't very nice to send her off without an escort, when a white police minivan pulled up. They asked for our i.d. and thankfully I had my driver's license with me and was too drunk to worry about the situation.

When I explained what had happened and where I was going, they told me to hop in and they'd drive me. Once inside, I realized these three police officers were in their early 20's and started teasing them about being 18 and fresh out of high school! When we turned right onto Bagdat, I noticed we were heading in the wrong direction and let them know my friend lived behind us. "No problem" they called out, flipped on their blue and red lights, did a 180', and started driving UP Bagdat street, against traffic. They dropped me off in my friend's alleyway, safe and sound! I let them know that I'd be passing on this great story to my friends. So there you have it!

SEE!!! Police escorts for foreigners doesnt always entail being escorted to the local jail.

Sucuk - can't get enough of the fcuker...

bringing it back.

Istanbul has a soul.
and that's not something I can say about other places.

Please digress!

Prices for standard pharmaceutical products - and pharmacy opening hours. I had friends visiting. They did their shopping in pharmacies! I just realized that I have strange friends.

I really like this story... Could make a TV show! Do you have it in your book? Talking of which is lost somewhere between my books as well as the "We are English" book!!!

[quote user="pollyanna" post="6084"]I was once leaving work (when i used to work in Cengelkoy) to go back to Bebek, but needed to break a 20 in order to get a token for the little ferry. I went to a bakkal to buy a pack of cookies and cola, but when the shopkeeper saw the 20 he said I could pay another time. I explained why I needed to break the 20, and he gave me coins from his pocket AND told me to keep the food. I wasn't comfortable with accepting such generosity, so I went next door to a restaurant and asked them to break a 20 and told them why. They couldn't break it, but forced me to take some coins anyway for the ferry token!

When I got to Bebek, I tried to break the 20 for the short 2 TL taxi ride to the top of that whopping hill to Etiler. I went into a florist shop to buy a bag of dirt (3 TL). They couldn't break the 20 and told me I could take the dirt and pay later. I told them the reason I needed the change and they gave me 3 TL and told me to take the dirt and the money and pay me back next time I came through!

None of those shopkeepers knew me or had seen me before. They didn't know if I was a regular in that part of town (I usually drove). But all of them were willing to risk it and eager that I should have my transport fare as well as whatever I wanted from their stores.[/quote]

[quote user="rbngsjhnn" post="93734"]Prices for standard pharmaceutical products - and pharmacy opening hours. I had friends visiting. They did their shopping in pharmacies! I just realized that I have strange friends.[/quote]

and the fact that so many items are available without prescription.

the asthma medicine i use (imported, not local mfg) costs about 16 ytl here, but i had to pay over $100 in USA (well, $35 since I had insurance).

i have heard that medical tourism is on the rise here, too. Specifically for dental work and plastic surgery. Anyone else hear/read this?

[quote user="pollyanna" post="93758"][quote user="rbngsjhnn" post="93734"]Prices for standard pharmaceutical products - and pharmacy opening hours. I had friends visiting. They did their shopping in pharmacies! I just realized that I have strange friends.[/quote]

and the fact that so many items are available without prescription.

the asthma medicine i use (imported, not local mfg) costs about 16 ytl here, but i had to pay over $100 in USA (well, $35 since I had insurance).

i have heard that medical tourism is on the rise here, too. Specifically for dental work and plastic surgery. Anyone else hear/read this?[/quote]

eye (laser) surgery is on the rise for the last couple of years as well..

[quote user="pollyanna" post="93758"]
and the fact that so many items are available without prescription.

the asthma medicine i use (imported, not local mfg) costs about 16 ytl here, but i had to pay over $100 in USA (well, $35 since I had insurance).

i have heard that medical tourism is on the rise here, too. Specifically for dental work and plastic surgery. Anyone else hear/read this?[/quote]


I can vouch for dental tourism. In the UK I worked with quite a few Turkish people who would use their annual leave to come back here, see their families and get dental work done - mainly the expensive stuff like implants. They'd also have eye tests done in the UK before coming back in case they needed new prescription glasses which were a fraction of the UK price.

From personnal experience, I had only been here a couple of weeks and had an excrutiating tooth ache so took myself down to the International Hospital in Yesilkoy. The tooth was too far gone to be saved so had it extracted - ouch. Just out of curiosity I asked how much an implant would cost - $1500. I had an implant in the UK which set me back just over £2000. So I'd definitely get any treatment like this done out here.

If anyone wants any dental work done, I know a very good maxofacial surgeon who speaks very good English and who was taught by a leading implant specialist. A bonus (for the guys) is that she's a stunner too.

Take a seat in the waiting room please.

David the disadvantage with a femail dentist is that you cant get them by the bollocks and say ''we arent going to hurt each other are we?''

i have had 2 major ear surgeries here as well as brain surgery. much cheaper (although price wasnt the deciding factor).

in fact the brain surgery cost less than the ear surgery. Not sure how they calculate that. must be by size of the brain!

[quote user="pollyanna" post="93758"][quote user="rbngsjhnn" post="93734"]Prices for standard pharmaceutical products - and pharmacy opening hours. I had friends visiting. They did their shopping in pharmacies! I just realized that I have strange friends.[/quote]

and the fact that so many items are available without prescription.

the asthma medicine i use (imported, not local mfg) costs about 16 ytl here, but i had to pay over $100 in USA (well, $35 since I had insurance).

i have heard that medical tourism is on the rise here, too. Specifically for dental work and plastic surgery. Anyone else hear/read this?[/quote]


Yeah, medical tourism is definitely on the rise in resorts such as Antalya. You get put up in a holiday place-the cost includes the procedure AND the hotel!

I've had dental work done here and will be getting more. My boyfriend had a tooth pulled, the dentist said 75 YTL but then only charged 50 YTL when he explained he was between jobs. I had a filling replaced, 60 YTL and a crown replaced 220 YTL for the best porcelain and a 5 year guarantee. I will also be getting an implant here, its quoted at 600 euros, much better than the price in the US even with insurance or the UK. In the UK an implant isn't covered under NHS and runs about 3000 quid (I saw that someone here got one for 2000, how'd you manage that? Maybe its the location of my tooth?).

The only specific field which is promoted abroad and which the Turks have made a real name in is private eye surgery. There are a lot of people that get dental work done in Turkey, but it is less formal. Plastic Surgery? Not only is Turkey not known for it, but the results are partcularly poor, unlike dental or eye care which most monied Turks will do in Turkey, no Turk with any cash will have it done in Turkey.

regarding medicines, yes most are cheaper than the US (as they are generally cheaper almost anywhere than the US), however it is not always the case (serious drugs, like many for cancer are more expensive in Turkey), while many classes of drugs are just simply unavailable (both Turkish OTC drugs and prescription) as the ministry cannot get around to approving them.