Getting Clean - 9.11.06

After another super late night, i woke up rather early to a cloudy and rainy day and headed up to the loungey area for breakfast. There were a bunch of new people who i hadn't met. After some quick introductions and the usual banter about where each other is from and where we have been etc....we all decided that today would be a perfect day for a Turkish bath. One of the group Andy from Regina, Canada had already experienced a couple through europe and regaled us with some amusing stories. So 6 of us (3 boys and 3 girls...this becomes important later) headed off to the Grand Bazaar first and then off to the Turkish Baths.

The Grand Bazaar is an overwhelming hit on your senses...Its super crowded, extremely colorful and loud. Everyone is trying to sell you something. Its also very touristy which is amusing and annoying at the same time. The girls were really into their shopping and i personally was content just taking pictures. I figured this was something i had to experience but really have no desire to do it again. On Kenny's advice i think i'll head off to the spice and more traditional bazaar's tomorrow. After walking around in circles over and over again, seeing the same stuff being sold over and over again we headed off to the Turkish baths.

Grand Bazzar

We apparently choose one which was 300 years old and voted in the NY Times as 1 of 2000 things to visit in the world. This obviously meant we would pay more than any other place but we figured we might as well treat ourselves. We settled on the medium plan which involved a 10 minute massage, a steaming and a do it yourself wash (whatever that meant). They gave us each a washcloth like towel and we changed in our special rooms and we were lead out to the steam room. Andy from Regina, Mark from Australia (but he has a complicated past like me) and I spent 15 minutes lying on marble benches chatting away until our massage guys paraded in. They looked just like you would imagine a Turkish Masseuse to look like. Mustached, strong and well i could have sworn mine was Saddam Hussein's young brother or at the very least a cousin. The first guy went to Mark and in a move so swift and impressive ripped his towel off him. So this is how it is, we all thought. Saddam came up to me and told me to lie on my back (my head was inches from marks feet...this has it turns out is not a good thing as i will explain later). i was waiting for the towel grab but it never came...instead i got worked over. At this point Mark's masseuse started singing to him. Clearly my guy was beaten as a child and had a lot of anger in him. He never smiled and never spoke. He had a special hatred for calves. Every so often he would whack/slap me with a force not unlike being run over by a 6 ton truck. He slapped my thighs, butt, back and chest. I quickly noticed that no one else was getting slapped. At least i still had my towel on. Mark's guy was still singing to him. I was then asked to turn over on my stomach. Mark still had no towel on...so i was treated to a full on glimpse of his ass...turning my head quickly i then got my back worked on. After a few minutes of this i was then told to sit up and Saddam proceeded to twist me into the sort of moves only contortionists would dream off and then he would find something to crack. It didn't matter what it was, back, leg, neck as long as it cracked he seemed happy and honestly i wasn't in a position (i actually had no idea what sort of position i was in) to complain. It was at this point Mark's guy stopped singing and gave him back his towel. We all bathed ourselves off and then sat in a hotter steam room where we teased Mark over and over again about getting the perverted Turk.

After that we were lead out to the main courtyard where we were given towels and just chilled until we were told to leave. All in an all an interesting experience but i definitely get the feeling that if i went to less touristy place i would get a lot more bang for my buck. Mark might disagree but he was a great sport about it. Turns out the girls got really pampered...15 minute massage, shampooed hair and all sorts of other pampering activities. oh well.

Tomorrow i'm really going to try to go the mosques and bazaars and tomorrow night is the champions league game. I'm also getting scruffy so Andy and I might get a shave tomorrow.

Mark from Australia, Andy from Regina and myself

Me all toweled up