Everywhere you go there is a scam. Istanbul is the only predominantly Muslim country I have visited but maybe they are all like this. I met four kind-hearted Turkish people in the 14 days I was there. Everyone else had the singular goal of separating you from money as expediently as possible. Like I've said before, it was still fun. And once they see around you a couple times they stop trying so hard. But those first few days it gets annoying fast. When you really think about it, this system of scams is probably preferable to the North American setup anyways. At least anyone with half a brain can avoid the obviousness of some guy shining your shoes without permission or a street barker yelling at you to look at their shitty rugs. There is no organization to the scam, it's just the way they do business and you can say no and go to the next business that is cheaper. It's how pure capitalism is supposed to work in theory. Instead we get organized scams on a systemic level...
