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[tarte tatin]

I have had a couple of strange encounters with a gentleman at the train station at Kucukyali and a colleague of mine had an identical encounter.

This gentleman is in his sixties, stockily built, has silver hair and is smartly dressed.

He approached me on Monday morning to tell me the train was late, I told him I didn't know much Turkish and then he switched to French. He chatted to myself and a colleague who had joined me, got on the train then excused himself from us and sat down. He told us he had been a customs officer, he now works in import and export and his daugher is the ambassador to Turkey in the Netherlands! (The ambassador is a man, although he could have meant she works in the embassy). We thought he was quite a charming man and then forgot all about it.

This morning as soon as I got to the station he approached me again and shook my hand. After some small talk in French we got on the train together and he told me he had just been talking to a professor.

I arrived at work and overheard another colleague telling my boss that a French speaking man had shaken him by the hand and in doing so had pierced his palm with something. He then went on to describe the same man. It turns out my colleague was 'the professor' and he had been standing at the far end of the station out of my sight. This man had approached him, struck up a conversation and told him the same details of his life. He then shook his hand and walked all the way along the station to shake my hand. I felt nothing but my colleague definitely had a puncture mark in his palm.

There could be an innocent explanation but it could also be sinister. If anyone else has met this man along the Asian line, please PM me. It would appear he is singling out foreigners. I would advise anyone approached not to enter conversation in any language and not to shake hands.

[ghost]

That is the same guy who used to hang out at the main train station in Istanbul, and drive foreigners to his 'cheap hotel' in Cevizli....about a 1 hour trip from Istanbul Central. He would single out foreigners coming into Istanbul on trains from Greece/Romania/Bulgaria.

'The hotel', was basically a house with rooms for rent, and he targets foreigners, and is very successful, as he has a photo and notes album from his place. He is a good seller. But he has been known to turn nasty with foreigners when things don't go his way. He has two sides.

Ghost in Korea

[FGT]

[tarte tatin]

I am surprised Ghost is so sure but perhaps the life story part matches up. Anyway no need to worry about libel, the man has no English.

He certainly wasn't trying to sell anything and his motives remain unclear. The good news is my colleague and myself suffered no ill effects from our encounter but my colleague is still a bit shaken by having his hand deliberately punctured. He says the man pressed his palm flat against his and certainly has the marks to prove it.

All very odd methinks.....

[bigbadsuzie]

[scot47]

Istanbul like any city on Planet Earth has its fair share of crazies. Just part of the rich tapestry of life.