November 22, 2003

Pleasure and Pain. How close they are to each other. Today we, err, enjoyed, a trip to a Hamam or Turkish Bath. I would describe it as an unusual experience. It was hot and steamy and you receive a good battering. I suppose it's a little bit like playing a hard game of rugby somewhere in the sultry tropics; your body gets a good slapping about, you sweat a lot, you ultimately enjoy it and afterwards a pint or six seems like an exceptionally good idea.

You don a kind of towel that looks more like a kilt and then the shenanigans begin. It starts with a "shower" where you have a bowl of hot water thrown all over you. It's like bathing a baby I imagine; you know where the water gets everywhere but somehow it causes much laughter. This is repeated until you are thoroughly soaked and then you go sit in a steam room and well, steam and sweat. All very cleansing I'm sure.

It's after this however that all the real "fun" begins. You are taken to a massage room, probably known colloquially as the "torture chamber" where you are set about by a bloke with bulging muscles. It all seems relitively pleasant as you receive a facial and head massage; though perhaps the old alarm bells should have been ringing when imense pressure was applied, seeming directly to the temporal lobes. Next your arms are taken and manoevered into new and puzzling possitions, yelps are taken as a good sign of progress and thus more contortion is enacted. It is however the back that takes the brunt of the punishment. As you close your eyes the fellah hops into a Class 8 truck and rolls it accross you. Honestly I have never heard multiple cracks from my spine before, but here it was cracking away like a bag of microwave popcorn after three minutes on full power. Please remember you are paying good money for this!

Following this loosening up session (this is perhaps how they referred to the first go on the rack historically?) you are then slapped about a little more and washed down with something akin to a loofah glove. By now your skeleton has given up and your skin takes the full experience. An amazing tingling all over, which on the soles of your feet has you giggling like a kid and a warm inner glow starts moving towards the surface. Most peculiar.

After being peeled off the bench you are sat down and covered in suds which are then rinsed by gloriously warm water; until of course the sadistic side of your man comes out again and he decides to douse you with a bucket of cold water instead, oh how I laughed, no really I did.

You're pretty much done at this point, both physically and process wise, so you nip off for another rinse and then a cooling shower to finish. Amazing. At the end you're met by a bloke with a fresh kilt and some nice fluffy towels that you wrap yourself in and then retreat to the safety of your cubicle for some quiet recouperation time. It is here that the buzz starts to really kick in.

You feel fantastic! I swear I could have gone back for another go, well almost, except that being Saturday afternoon the bath is exclusively for women. And Bruiser was due a break before his next victim arrived. Oh well maybe another time. Honestly it was superb. Everyone should do it at least once; which on reflection may probably be more than enough for many, but for this lad another go one day is a must!

Ok and now I must eat some humble pie. To all my English mates who I derided as dreamers for claiming that Johnny Wilkinson, err sorry England, would win the Rugby World Cup. You were right, I was wrong and yes that does make you the best team in the world. There I said it, publicly, to the whole world, so don't ask me to do it again. Well done.

We were fortunate to be able to enjoy this experience in Cappadocia due to our change in plans given the Istanbul terrorist bombings. We will be avoiding Istanbul all together and heading to the Agean coast town of Selçuk tonight on overnight bus.

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This Page was last update: Monday, December 29, 2003 at 5:41:35 AM
This page was originally posted: 11/22/2003; 6:13:13 AM.
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