Oct 21, 2007 | Hasankeyf | Midyat

Batman was a bust, so I went to Hasankeyf with a head cold and a bad mood. Dragged myself to dinner at the town's only restaurant and met Berk and Murat, the only other diners there (not to mention the only other tourists in town). They couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Turkish, but that didn't stop us from spending the next 3 days together, communicating via pantomime, drawings, photos, and telepathy. On our last day, in Midyat, they snuck away to a jewelry shop and bought 3 identical friendship rings. Very sentimental, and as I came to understand, very Turkish.