Super Size Me

"The bigger the better," "Big is beautiful" and "Baby Got Back" are just three well-made arguments put forward that size does matter. I haven't been to the States (not a dig at waistlines, I'm in no position to mock!) or Dubai so I can't confirm whether those mantras prove or disprove the theory. However, I have lived in, travelled around and generally experienced some pretty big things (ooh behave!).

My mind began thinking about the old cliché about the world being such a small place the other day while I was taking a bus. I was on my way to visit the Istanbul Turkazoo Aquarium - home of the biggest aquarium-located underwater tunnel in the world. From my house in practically the centre (if Istanbul can be said to have a centre) of the city, I can jump on a bus, tram or metro service in next to no time and journey to almost all parts of Istanbul.

The Turkazoo Aquarium was a one hour bus journey north-west of my house by bus (without traffic) and it left me wondering just how long it would take to get from one end of the city to the next, an expedition I might even attempt at some point. Last year I visited the Princes' Islands which can be found a 2 hour boat ride to the south of the centre. As the boat chugged along and Sultanahmet and the Galata tower became mere specks on the horizon, the city of Istanbul continued to stretch on and on and on and on a little bit more. Although, it terms of population, this isn't the largest city I have been too, it may well be the most spread out. To emphasise the point, whenever I have travelled to other parts of Turkey and returned by bus I forget that the 'Welcome to Istanbul' sign isn't a precursor to alighting the coach anytime soon. It can be some 2 hours later when I finally get off the thing and that's early in the morning with no traffic on the roads!

The aquarium turned out to be a nice afternoon excursion, but I feel the 'big' tunnel was in need of a lot more sharks and other forms of sea life to do it justice. As I was wandering around mugging for the camera in front of a scuba-diving member of staff vacuuming the bottom of the tank, I couldn't help compare it to the last one I had visited in Hong Kong and be slightly disappointed.

Hong Kong and China in particular are places of which I will always have fond memories. The sheer scale and bonkers-ness (I don't care if that's not a real word, it is now!) of those places give a whole new level to 'big.' From the 1.3 billion people who call it home to the cult of Mao (who could arguably be called the most followed and revered leader since that bloke with the beard and sandals threw a party with a shitload of wine and invited everyone!), the Chinese don't like to do things in half-measures. Heck, they even built a gigantic, though useless, wall just because they could.

 Not everything in China was big...

However, not even the giant mega-cities of Shanghai or Beijing had anything on the population explosions that occurred in Delhi and Mumbai (formerly Bombay).  Walking around these cities and sharing your breathing space with 23 million+ other souls could be quite claustrophobia-inducing.  Nevertheless, something can be said for being in a place where no matter which corner you turn there is usually something strange and wonderful going on.  I guess this would sum up the best and worst of living in Istanbul; too many people and far too much traffic, but with pockets of quiet randomness to keep things interesting.  As the great philosopher Sir Mix-A-Lot didn't say, I may not like big and I cannot lie... but I also can't deny that I don't dislike it as much as I used to.  I still think the best things come in small packages, but as long as the world is full of big things then there'll always be something at which to marvel.