oh yes! she really did.
the hamam, turkish bath house, was.... an experience. its pretty much a teenage boys wet dream on steroids. its a bunch of naked women, all ages, all together, in pretty much one room, washing, exfoliating, shampooing, bathing- each other. yup, its an experience all right. dont get me wrong, it was fun!
pictures 1-8 are kristin and i at the hamam, of course i couldnt take any of inside the actual hamam itself, but look at the wikipedia link cuz thats exactly what it looks like. i really wanted to cuz the building inside was gorgeous, we went to a historical one and it was 'more authentic'. apparently there are modern ones that are more private and sanitary and ones where men and women can be in the same vicinity. im guessing that means you cant get naked and thats no fun. if you can then i need a bunch of hot guys to meet me there for some quality loofah time.
this google pic is really similar to what ours looked like inside,
although ours was pretty much all white/gray, no blue tiles.
a hamam is not a place for a germaphobe to go, especially with the mindset that you will leave clean from the bath. sanitation is not really something that is practiced. for example, i was exfoliated from head to foot and everywhere in between with the same loofah used on the girl before and before her and before her and it was used on the girl after me, i wonder when they actually do change out loofahs. then all the dead skin they rubbed off you, and theres tons, like huge worm shaped rolls of dead gray skin, floating around the marble thing you are laying on and they just take a lil cup of water and splash all the dead skin off onto the floor, where it eventually ends up in the 'drain', which is really a river of dead skin and soapy water running along the exterior of the room, kinda like a dead skin canal.
so here's how it worked. we walked into this really cool old looking building and thru some sort of mind reading sigh language powers told the lady we wanted to do whatever it is you do in a hamam, she said something about shampoo and we shrugged out shoulders. we got neked except panties in a lil closet room and walked out with pink clog crocodiles on our feet and a cute lil cloth wrapped around us toga style. then we were lead to a hot room, it was all steamy and there was a modern day looking jacuzzi, there was hesitation cuz werent sure where or what was going on and we got lead the rest of the way into the domed room of the hamam.
another pic from google, our hamam wasnt as elaborate but they all have domed ceilings with holes,
so here's how it worked. we walked into this really cool old looking building and thru some sort of mind reading sigh language powers told the lady we wanted to do whatever it is you do in a hamam, she said something about shampoo and we shrugged out shoulders. we got neked except panties in a lil closet room and walked out with pink clog crocodiles on our feet and a cute lil cloth wrapped around us toga style. then we were lead to a hot room, it was all steamy and there was a modern day looking jacuzzi, there was hesitation cuz werent sure where or what was going on and we got lead the rest of the way into the domed room of the hamam.
another pic from google, our hamam wasnt as elaborate but they all have domed ceilings with holes,ventilation i suppose.
it was like walking into a sauna and my glasses immediately fogged up, so the lady stole them from me and walked away. i guess she thought i didnt need them but i was like um, i cant see. so somehow thru more mind reading powers she brought them back a few minutes later.
this is what we saw, or what i saw anyways.... white marble surface everywhere, lots of steam, shampoo smells, several women of all ages, some sitting at the lil tubs on the perimeter of the room washing themselves, some wandering around, some getting rubbed down on the marble slab in the center of the room, some doing the rubbing, some getting washed on the marble slab, some doing the washing.
we were unsure what to do, a turkish woman who knew some english asked if she could help. not really, we were just trying to go with the flow. so we sat at our assigned basin on the perimeter of the room, well first we hung up our toga cloths and then we sat, we realized we should have brought dry panties to change into, i assumed we'd be stark neked so bringing a dry pair never crossed my mind. eh well, we'll go home commando.
so we sat there, and chit chatted, and observed and wondered what we were supposed to do. we realized lots of women had brought there own shampoo and body wash, maybe thats what the lady was asking at the begining, if we had brought ours too. we watched them wash and wash and wash, maybe they were really dirty? we splashed ourselves with water from our basin, the room was super warm and steamy and so we got sweaty, and soon my glasses equalized so i could see clearly. yay. i splashed Kristin after she threatened to splash me. and we sat. and we speculated. and we sat. and we giggled. and we watched the women on the marble slab get exfoliatingly loofahed, rinsed, washed/massaged, rinsed. there were saggy turkish boobies everywhere. i wish i could know what they were saying, gossiping, complaining/sharing about their husbands, kids, housework, jobs, etc. and i was thinking what it would have been like way back when in the olden days when this was the time away spa like pamper zone, get away from it all and get clean, cuz really it was the only way they bathed way back when, and how much fun it must have been to be with just the other women.
a lady came and took kristin to the slab and i started picking at my toe cuticles with my finger nails which K has dubbed talons, and i watched K get exfoliated. after i got one foot done a lady came and took me to the slab.
the hamaming of me: the marble slab was really warm, and wet and slippery, she made me scoot forward cuz someone else was going to lay behind me, i mouthed to kristin on the other side of the slab, does it hurt? cuz we saw lots of skin coming off of the other ladies. and she mouthed back nah. it did hurt- my knees! laying on the hard surface totally killed them, i had to roll my legs in so that the pressure was on my leg and not my knees. anywhoo, the loofahing began, it was firm but not torturous and i was enjoying it immensely when she went over my itchy bee sting, when the back side was done i was instructed to roll over onto my back and the front side was done, i figured it'd hurt my nips but nope, they were fine. she did rub some extra skin off of my shins and that burned, and it was really red after the bath was over. after all my skin was gone she had me stand up and rinsed me off then barely rinsed the slab of all my skin and i laid down again for the washing.
they use lots of soap and it makes lots of bubbles. the bubbles got in my hair, up my nose, in my eyes and coated my glasses. i started on my belly again, poor knees, and whoa there was a breeze in the nether regions and, ehem, all those parts got sufficiently cleaned and then whoa a major wedgie and my ass cheeks got a good cleansing and massaging, then she decided it was a good idea to bend my heels back to my bum for a nice stretch, it wasnt a really good idea and K said shes heard of people getting acl damage before, i can certainly see why. onto my belly and my boobies got a nice sudsing, i was thinking, as i was watching the lady bathing me with her boobies hanging and bouncing in my face, that it should be a really hot man doing this. now that would have been an experience.
then i got 'massaged' she rubbed my shoulders for a minute or so, and then a rinse, and then it was time for a shampoo, i asked K f she had got one and she did, so i did too. i was taken back to our basin and she prolly used half the bottle for the amt of suds she conjured up, again, up my nose, in my eyes, down my ear canal etc. and then again, cuz doing it twice makes all the difference. and she gave my scalp a nice rub down as well. then i was done!
i sat there and splash/rinsed myself some more, i had soap still in my ears and plus i was super hot by this point so rinsing with cool water felt good. we commented to each other on being violated and then i remembered i needed to pick all the dead cuticle skin off of my other foot cant have just one pedicured foot, id be off balance. my shin was def rubbed raw and was even red and raw for a few days afterward. i def felt like my skin hadnt been this fresh since birth. but i def did not feel clean. thanks to america and their germaphobiness.
i decided i needed to hose off a lil more in the lil shower area back in the jacuzzi room, ill admit im a rinse-a-phobe, we both peed and then assumed we were supposed to go dry off and get dressed again. thats when we took all the pictures of us in the mirror, cuz were cool like that.
and then we rushed home to get ready for the marine ball later that evening.
id do it again. it wasnt a traumatic experience by any means, the word we've been using to describe it is interesting. cuz it really was.
i really liked the womanly camaraderie, the taking care of each other, the being totally comfortable with each other, being totally comfortable with yourself, it reminded me of The Red Tent, maybe cuz i was reading it on the plane out here, but it was just really nice to be together with a bunch of women and i couldnt help thinking that some of these traditions from ancient times shouldnt be swept away by modern marvels and instant gratification. i bet its safe to say that there was a lot of meaning besides just getting clean in going to the hamam every week.
this is what we saw, or what i saw anyways.... white marble surface everywhere, lots of steam, shampoo smells, several women of all ages, some sitting at the lil tubs on the perimeter of the room washing themselves, some wandering around, some getting rubbed down on the marble slab in the center of the room, some doing the rubbing, some getting washed on the marble slab, some doing the washing.
we were unsure what to do, a turkish woman who knew some english asked if she could help. not really, we were just trying to go with the flow. so we sat at our assigned basin on the perimeter of the room, well first we hung up our toga cloths and then we sat, we realized we should have brought dry panties to change into, i assumed we'd be stark neked so bringing a dry pair never crossed my mind. eh well, we'll go home commando.
so we sat there, and chit chatted, and observed and wondered what we were supposed to do. we realized lots of women had brought there own shampoo and body wash, maybe thats what the lady was asking at the begining, if we had brought ours too. we watched them wash and wash and wash, maybe they were really dirty? we splashed ourselves with water from our basin, the room was super warm and steamy and so we got sweaty, and soon my glasses equalized so i could see clearly. yay. i splashed Kristin after she threatened to splash me. and we sat. and we speculated. and we sat. and we giggled. and we watched the women on the marble slab get exfoliatingly loofahed, rinsed, washed/massaged, rinsed. there were saggy turkish boobies everywhere. i wish i could know what they were saying, gossiping, complaining/sharing about their husbands, kids, housework, jobs, etc. and i was thinking what it would have been like way back when in the olden days when this was the time away spa like pamper zone, get away from it all and get clean, cuz really it was the only way they bathed way back when, and how much fun it must have been to be with just the other women.
a lady came and took kristin to the slab and i started picking at my toe cuticles with my finger nails which K has dubbed talons, and i watched K get exfoliated. after i got one foot done a lady came and took me to the slab.
the hamaming of me: the marble slab was really warm, and wet and slippery, she made me scoot forward cuz someone else was going to lay behind me, i mouthed to kristin on the other side of the slab, does it hurt? cuz we saw lots of skin coming off of the other ladies. and she mouthed back nah. it did hurt- my knees! laying on the hard surface totally killed them, i had to roll my legs in so that the pressure was on my leg and not my knees. anywhoo, the loofahing began, it was firm but not torturous and i was enjoying it immensely when she went over my itchy bee sting, when the back side was done i was instructed to roll over onto my back and the front side was done, i figured it'd hurt my nips but nope, they were fine. she did rub some extra skin off of my shins and that burned, and it was really red after the bath was over. after all my skin was gone she had me stand up and rinsed me off then barely rinsed the slab of all my skin and i laid down again for the washing.
they use lots of soap and it makes lots of bubbles. the bubbles got in my hair, up my nose, in my eyes and coated my glasses. i started on my belly again, poor knees, and whoa there was a breeze in the nether regions and, ehem, all those parts got sufficiently cleaned and then whoa a major wedgie and my ass cheeks got a good cleansing and massaging, then she decided it was a good idea to bend my heels back to my bum for a nice stretch, it wasnt a really good idea and K said shes heard of people getting acl damage before, i can certainly see why. onto my belly and my boobies got a nice sudsing, i was thinking, as i was watching the lady bathing me with her boobies hanging and bouncing in my face, that it should be a really hot man doing this. now that would have been an experience.
then i got 'massaged' she rubbed my shoulders for a minute or so, and then a rinse, and then it was time for a shampoo, i asked K f she had got one and she did, so i did too. i was taken back to our basin and she prolly used half the bottle for the amt of suds she conjured up, again, up my nose, in my eyes, down my ear canal etc. and then again, cuz doing it twice makes all the difference. and she gave my scalp a nice rub down as well. then i was done!
i sat there and splash/rinsed myself some more, i had soap still in my ears and plus i was super hot by this point so rinsing with cool water felt good. we commented to each other on being violated and then i remembered i needed to pick all the dead cuticle skin off of my other foot cant have just one pedicured foot, id be off balance. my shin was def rubbed raw and was even red and raw for a few days afterward. i def felt like my skin hadnt been this fresh since birth. but i def did not feel clean. thanks to america and their germaphobiness.
i decided i needed to hose off a lil more in the lil shower area back in the jacuzzi room, ill admit im a rinse-a-phobe, we both peed and then assumed we were supposed to go dry off and get dressed again. thats when we took all the pictures of us in the mirror, cuz were cool like that.
and then we rushed home to get ready for the marine ball later that evening.
id do it again. it wasnt a traumatic experience by any means, the word we've been using to describe it is interesting. cuz it really was.
i really liked the womanly camaraderie, the taking care of each other, the being totally comfortable with each other, being totally comfortable with yourself, it reminded me of The Red Tent, maybe cuz i was reading it on the plane out here, but it was just really nice to be together with a bunch of women and i couldnt help thinking that some of these traditions from ancient times shouldnt be swept away by modern marvels and instant gratification. i bet its safe to say that there was a lot of meaning besides just getting clean in going to the hamam every week.