Van, Turkey

I've been dreaming of going to Van for a long time. It was almost 3 or 4 years ago that I first heard about it. It is located so far south in Eastern Turkey, that we saw some road signs that said turn left to go to Iran.

We met this guy inside of a little restaurant. I think that he was carrying a small tattred piece of paper in his wallet that had some phrases written on it in English. It was nice to know that someone had been saving those words just for us, and when he found us he was able to share them with us.

This boy was one of my favorite people that I met on the trip. He was working for his father in a little shop that made the tea kettles that you can see him holding. He was so friendly, he showed us what each machine and tool in the shop did, and showed us how he made his tea kettles. If I ever went back to Van, I would definitely try to find him.

This guy saw us interacting with some other people and started following us for a long time. He walked with us for a few blocks, and I started to grow suspicious that he was going to try to ask us for money. But he just kept following us quietly, watching what we were doing. Finally, I asked him if he wanted his picture taken, and he said yes.


This guy owns a vegetable market. We hung out with him for a while and he gave us all the free fruit that we could eat.

This kid kind of seemed like a practical joker, but I liked him anyway.



We ended up having tea with some guys who owned a glass shop. After we had drank our tea, I did a portrait of them.


This guy owns a duner shop. Duners are the same an Greek gyros.