Day 12

it all starts with a Taxi ride....

Nisanca Hamam

Jason pouring cold water from the marble basin over him

Finbar cooling down



Matt relaxing on the big octoganal marble table
in the centre of the domed Hamam



the gang with their " tea towel" covers




the court yard



Sheik Abdul al Ahmnet al Stef Stef

the princes Fin & Ja

and Dan, Matt and Lachie

Turkish tea with lots of sugar...

resting and relaxing around the fountain...

The Haman experience – a visit to the Turkish Bath

It is raining heavily this morning and it seems like the perfect time to enjoy a Turkish sauna and find yourself instead finding ourselves walking through the City getting drenched .
It starts with a real turkish taxi ride – seven girls squashed into a four seater taxi. Hello, no problem, my friend!!! We go in a second taxi – five big boys on three seats in the back. Every bump in the road becomes an experience.


From Emma:
All the girls were worried about having to go nude in front of each other and the randoms who would be washing us so we asked the guy at our hostels reception if we could wear swimmers, he said that we could which made us all more compfortable about it.
After the very squishy and crazy cab drive we arrived at the Turkish Baths. We entered the girls room which had a couple of ladies in it, one older woman was just standing there topless which was a bit strange for us. The changerooms were all around the room so she gave us keys and a certain number of us went in one change room which had windows so you could see out of it while changing. Fumbling with our towels around us we got changed into our swimmers and went into the wash room. It was really hot inside and the lady told us to sit next to the basins and pour the hot water on ourselves. There was a big square bench in the center where you layed down to get your wash.
The lady made us go topless which was a bit strange and awkward for us all since being nude infront of a group of other people is not exactly in our culture. Luckily we could keep our bikini bottoms on!
The lady exfoliated us, then washed us. A face full of soap is not very fun, trying to breath was a bit difficult, and my eyes stung. After that they washed our hair for us, yet again getting shampoo all over our faces. It was then time to get into the sauna which was extremely hot. Ive been in saunas before and it was so much hotter from what I was used to. I only lasted in there for a couple of minutes before getting out. It was time for us to dry off and get changed after this long two hour session. I must say it was a very interesting experience! I feel so clean now.

Before our Turkish Bath experience today we decided to do some washing since there is a laudry right opposite our hostel. We handed our washing in and one man washed our clothes, dryed them, and even folded them! All for 4 Lira a kilo. I thought that was a pretty good deal.


From Matt:
The bath was amazing, one of the best experiences that I have ever had. We started in the sauna for about 20 mins, sweating like there was no tomorrow. I would have lost all the water from my body, very relaxing, it was about 60-70 degrees in there. It was a tad awkward having the guys naked in one little room but casual convo made it less noticable that Lachie’s balls were showing.
Afterwards we sat down in another room where there was a tap and basin where we could cool down and poor as much cold water on us as we wanted, we had no idea were the water was going but I don’t think anyone cared. Then when the fat hairy Turkish people started to scrub us down they showed us how much dead skin we had on us (I think he stole my tan *sad face*), I think Stefan was enjoying it the most, judging from his groans.
They shampooed our hair and we relaxed on a marble platform while staring at the roof which had sunlight coming through it and we practiced our acapella. The building was beautiful, it was built in the 15th century. Next we got a body wash and we were scrubbed all over (minus several areas). It cleaned the hell out of us but he got really close to my junk and I’m pretty sure he checked out my size….. they’re totally jealous over here. While we were covered in body wash they massaged our backs which I think could have been better and a bit longer but it was nice, then we went back to the basin and they poured really cold water over us which was freakin’ awesome.
We went back into the sauna but we couldn’t stay as long as before, sooo hot in there, then we just chilled and talked next to the basins while pouring water over ourselves. We started chucking hot and cold water at each other, sounds a bit gay in writing but was very enjoyable, went back in the sauna for about 5 minutes and then just chilled next to the marble basins and kept pouring water over ourselves. I really needed to keep pouring it on my feet because they were ridiculously hot. I went to the toliet somwere in the middle of that and it was a bit weird with their squat toilets, if anyone comes to Turkey it’s a must do! (The bath place not the toilet).
When we left they put towels on our heads and over our bodies which was really comfortable and we chilled on a lounge, drinking tea. They really needed to put milk in it in my opinion becouse it was too hot. Once we dried ourselves off we went into our little rooms which had windows on the doors so people could look in (awkward). Jason had somone peeking in at him when we came in and they demanded he take his underwear off, luckily he was used to it thanks to all the girls he’s been pulling in Europe. We then got changed and squished seven people back into the one car for the trip home, a great day and definitely worth experiencing!