Posted by ScarlettMar 29th, 2010 | No Comments
Well it’s been about 4 months since I posted anything on here, but today I’ve finally decided to get my butt in gear and start writing again! If you’re wondering why I haven’t written in so long (a few of you have asked), there’s a few reasons. The primary problem is that I’ve fallen so far behind I don’t even know where to begin writing and it feels like I’ll never catch up. Story of my life – start something, get picky about every little detail so it takes forever to complete each task, get confused halfway through about what I’ve done and what I have left to do, get frustrated with my confusion, and then give up altogether. I start a lot of things I don’t finish. This blog is on the verge of turning into one of those things.
Posted by ScarlettDec 3rd, 2009 | 1 Comment
While checking out other travel related websites to get ideas for how to improve/drive more traffic to this site, I stumbled upon this news article (http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,26197059-5014090,00.html) about the potential for travelers who post bad reviews of hotels on the web to be sued by the hotel for defamation! Is it just me, or does this sound crazy?!?!?
Posted by ScarlettNov 14th, 2009 | 5 Comments
After a short one hour flight from Istanbul, we arrived in Athens, Greece this evening. At the moment, there are no budget airlines flying to Athens, so we took a flight with Aegean, a regular carrier. Although it was a bit more expensive (€180 for two one-way tickets to Athens), I have to say it was nice not to fly with a budget airline for a change!
Posted by ScarlettNov 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Today we finished off our week in Istanbul with a visit to the Ortaköy neighborhood to try Kumpir – the biggest stuffed potato you can imagine. The bus ride had us scared for our lives, but it was a worthwhile trip…
Posted by ScarlettNov 12th, 2009 | 5 Comments
I’m taking a break from writing about what we’ve been doing/seeing/eating today to write about a topic which has been bugging me as of late – the question of “where are you from?” We are asked this all the time – when we go eat, when we buy something at a store, when we meet other people at the hotel/hostel/B&B – and when we reply Canada, we frequently get the response “No, originally where are you from?” This has been bugging me because I’m really truly originally from Canada – just because I’m Chinese doesn’t mean I can’t be from Canada!!!
Posted by ScarlettNov 11th, 2009 | No Comments
(please note that, for obvious reasons, we couldn’t take pics inside the bath so the above image is from the Internet)
Everything we’ve done these past few days has been interesting, but getting scrubbed down and massaged with soap by a couple of male “tellaks” tonight definitely tops our list of unique experiences! Paul generally refuses to go for any kind of spa treatment (he doesn’t like other people touching him), but our Aussie roommates in Vienna told us this was an amazing must do thing in Turkey so he agreed to give it a try. While it wasn’t as amazing as we expected, it was definitely interesting…
If you’ve never heard of a Turkish bath before, the first thing I should point out is that it isn’t the kind of bath where you soak in a tub of water. A Turkish bath is more like a sauna (not as hot) where you sit on a huge slab of warm marble with other people until you get scrubbed and massaged by a professional tellak (traditionally a male, but some baths now use females). Most Turkish baths have separate sections for men and women, but Paul didn’t want to be in a room full of other almost-naked guys so we opted for Süleymaniye, the only mixed gender Hamam we could find. I thought this meant just the two of us take the bath together, but they group you with other people. It’s not what you’re thinking, though, women are given a bikini top and shorts to wear while men cover up with a decent sized towel. If we had to get naked with all these strangers, I wouldn’t have gone in!
To be informative, I’ll take you through the experience step by step.
1. We showed up at Süleymaniye without an appointment and asked if they could do a bath with both of us. They said sure, 75 lira each (cash only), includes unlimited time in the bath, a scrub and soap massage. Then they asked us to have a seat and wait and served us some strawberry flavored tea.
2. A large group of people showed up and I realized we would all be doing this together. We all sat for a while and then they sent us upstairs to change (each couple had a private change room). When we went back down dressed in our bathing gear, we were given some really uncomfortable large wooden clogs to wear (I couldn’t walk in mine so I shuffled along).
3. We sat in the warming area (a dimly lit room with the huge slab of hot marble you sit on) for about 20 minutes to adjust our body temperatures. The tellaks appear to get a break during this time in between groups of people. I tried to lie down, but the person next to me smelled badly of BO so I had to sit up. With 10 of us in the group, there was no space on the marble slab to move elsewhere.
4. The tellaks came back and took two couples at a time to do the scrub/massage. Since we were the first to arrive, we were the first to be taken to the bathing area, which is a walled off section in the corner of the warming area. Being with a bunch of strangers of both genders, it’s nice that you go into a slightly secluded area with just your partner for the scrub/massage part (at regular baths the tellak comes to scrub you on the large marble slab you sit on with everyone else). I felt like our bath might have been a bit rushed because we were the first.
5. My tellak told me to sit down on the floor and then began to rapidly pour bowl after bowl of cold water on me (kind of like how way I bathe my dog). He then put on a mitt called a Kese and proceeded to scrub me. It wasn’t nearly as amazing as other people have described – just a few basic strokes on my arms, legs, and back. I didn’t see any dead skin roll off me like I’ve read in other peoples’ descriptions.
6. More cold water got dumped on me and then I was asked to lie face down on a marble table. Then came my favorite part – the soap bubbles! They were warm (yay!) and felt amazingly soft and smooth. Using the soap, the tellak briskly massaged my body. When he finished rubbing my back, he gave a few quick presses to crack my back, which felt really nice. He then asked me to turn over and massaged my front, including my abs which felt weird. The massage ended with a few stretches and slaps and I was unexpectedly doused with cold water again!
7. I was asked to sit on the floor again and the tellak rinsed me off with more cold water. He then asked if I’d like to be shampooed. I’m glad I said yes because he did a nice little head rub with the shampoo, but this also meant lots more cold water got dumped on my head. I don’t think they realize how uncomfortable this is because they continuously drench themselves in the cold water to keep their body temperature normal. I felt like I was drowning.
8. The tellak gave me a final slap on the back, said I’m done and told me to go relax on the marble slab again. The smelly person had gone to get bathed so I took the opportunity to lie on the slab for a while, which felt nice. In total, the scrub and massage lasted 15 minutes or less. For 75 Turkish lira ($50 CAD), I could have gotten a very good one hour massage back home so I feel a bit ripped off.
9. When we were done sitting on the slab, we went back to the entrance of the bath and were told to go into a room to remove our wet clothes and wrap ourselves with a large towel. We thought we were done once we changed, but we had to wait for another member of staff to wrap our hair and our shoulders up with some smaller towels. This is the part where I really wish I could have taken a camera inside because we looked ridiculous wrapped up like that.
10. We were taken to a cooling room where we sat with everyone else. They offered us drinks (for an extra charge) but most people declined. Paul had had enough at this point and went to change right away. I sat in the room for a while and then went to change as well. Eventually people began to wonder how long they were supposed to sit there and figured out that you can just leave when you’re ready.
We left the bath feeling a little ripped off, but we’re glad we experienced it. I would love to try another bath to compare, but it’ll have to wait until we come back to Turkey again. Now I’m looking forward to Korea next June, where I’ll be sure to try a Korean bath which is supposed to be similar…
Everything we’ve done these past few days has been interesting, but getting scrubbed down and massaged with soap by a couple of male “tellaks” tonight definitely tops our list of unique experiences! Paul generally refuses to go for any kind of spa treatment (he doesn’t like other people touching him), but our Aussie roommates in Vienna told us this was an amazing must do thing in Turkey so he agreed to give it a try. While it wasn’t as amazing as we expected, it was definitely interesting…
Posted by ScarlettNov 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Paul has been swamped with work these last few days so our sightseeing has been limited, but today is a holiday (Remembrance Day) in Canada so we had some free time for a change. We spent it shopping and eating on Istiklal Street, and in the evening we experienced our first Turkish bath at the Süleymaniye Hamam. Getting scrubbed down and massaged with soap by a couple of male “tellaks” definitely made today a unique experience!
These past few days have been full of new experiences actually. Eating wise, we’ve tried a lot of new things. On Monday we ate at a place called Cennet near our hotel (actual address is Binbirdirek Mh. Divanyolu Cd. No: 31/A). Here we tried gözleme, a hand made Turkish rolled pastry like a pancake or crepe that is filled with your choice of topping (we tried spinach and meat), and manti, a Turkish dumpling filled with minced meat (I would describe it as a wonton ravioli and I loved it). They also gave us our first taste of chocolate baklava, which was really really good but a bit too sweet for me.
Yesterday, I made the mistake of trying a Turkish coffee without reading about it first so I drank it totally wrong. First I didn’t realize you’re supposed to tell them when you order if you want your coffee sweetened because sugar is added while the coffee is being cooked. I ended up dropping in a sugar cube, which doesn’t taste right at all! Also, because Turkish coffee is made so the coffee grounds float freely in the brew (that’s why it’s so strong), you’re supposed to agitate the cup continuously as you drink to re-mix the grounds with the water. I just sipped from the top and left the inch of “mud” at the bottom, which apparently is where all the strength is!
Today we unknowingly had a very adventurous meal – a kokoreç sandwich at Şampiyon, a restaurant Ilyas recommended. Kokoreç is minced lamb or goat intestines which are seasoned with lemon, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. The seasoning takes away the intestine taste and we didn’t realize it was intestine until we came home and looked it up! Ilyas had actually forewarned us, but we had forgotten what kind of food was at each restaurant on the list he wrote for us. If Paul knew it was intestines, I don’t think he would have been so willing to eat it!
Sights wise, we set foot into a mosque for the first time yesterday by going back to Sultan Ahmed Mosque when prayers weren’t happening. It astonished me to see how big it was inside. Outside there’s a list of rules for visitation and it says women should cover their head with a scarf so I used a cashmere Burberry scarf I had bought while outlet shopping in Italy (yes, I know, it’s a ridiculous luxury item to carry around when you’re backpacking). Because the scarf isn’t very wide it didn’t work well for wrapping around my head, but I thought it was better than nothing which is what I saw some other female tourists do. It seems a little disrespectful to me to just ignore the rules like that. We also went to the Egyptian Bazaar (spice market) yesterday and it was our first time in a spice market. Apart from spices, you can find all kinds of sweets, nuts and the most amazing smelling coffee here. I desperately wanted to buy some coffee, but it comes already ground and therefore won’t stay fresh until we get home in a month.
On our way to the bath tonight, we almost experienced our first scam – the shoe shine brush drop. What happens is a shoeshine guy walks by you, dropping his brush as he walks. Not knowing any better, tourists usually pick up the brush and call out to the guy. Thankfully, another Turkish man saw us about to do so and rushed over, pushed us out of the way, and told us to keep walking, saying something like “mafia.” We were confused, but realized he had just saved us from some kind of scam and noticed shoeshine guy go back and pick up his own brush. Now, after talking to a friend on Facebook, I’ve learned that what they do is offer you a free shoe shine for helping them, but then insist you give them some money when they’re done. Lesson learned, sometimes you have to deny your instinct to help people!
Finally, most interesting of all, there was our experience at the Turkish bath tonight. Paul generally refuses to go for any kind of spa treatment (he doesn’t like other people touching him), but our Aussie roommates in Vienna said this was an amazing must do thing in Turkey so I made Paul go with me. Most Turkish baths have separate sections for men and women, but Paul didn’t want to be in a room full of other almost-naked guys so we opted for Süleymaniye, the only mixed gender Hamam in Istanbul. I thought this meant just the two of us take the bath together, but they group you with other people (women wear bikini tops and shorts while men wear towels). Since we were the first to arrive, we were the first in our group to be called into the bathing rooms after we had sat in the warming area for a while to adjust our body temperature. Being with a bunch of strangers of both genders, it’s nice that you go into a slightly secluded area with just your partner for the scrub/massage part (at regular baths the tellak comes to scrub you on the large marble slab you sit on with everyone else). I felt like our bath might have been a bit rushed because we were the first and it wasn’t nearly as amazing as other people have described. The scrub was just a few basic strokes with the Kese mitt, and I didn’t see any dead skin roll off me like other people describe. In between each activity they dump cold water on you like they’re bathing a dog. The soap bubbles felt amazingly soft and wonderful and the massage was ok, but again just a few quick strokes and a couple slaps. The bath part lasted 15 minutes or less and then we went back to “relax” on the marble slab with the others, but someone smelled funky so we didn’t want to stick around. For 75 Turkish lira each ($50 CAD), I could have gotten a very good one hour massage back home so I feel a bit ripped off!
Paul has been swamped with work these last few days so our sightseeing has been limited, but today is a holiday (Remembrance Day) in Canada so we had some free time for a change. We spent it shopping and eating on Istiklal Street, and in the evening we experienced our first Turkish bath at the Süleymaniye Hamam. More to come on that later, but first, a look at what we’ve been doing these past couple days…
Posted by ScarlettNov 8th, 2009 | 2 Comments
In an effort to be more “concise” with my blogging, I’m going to try writing shorter articles and be more brief when I talk about what we’ve been doing. In the past, I’ve summarized several days into one blog, but this is a little different. Right now we’re starting to research and plan our next leg – Southeast Asia – and I realize how useful people’s blogs can be when looking up information. As a result, I’m making sure that I put any relevant and useful information into my blog entries while trying to be more concise. Here goes attempt # 1….
Posted by ScarlettNov 7th, 2009 | 1 Comment
When we got back to Stuttgart after the Sindelfingen Plant tour yesterday, we did some shopping on Königstrasse, Stuttgart’s main shopping street, but by 2:30 we were bored. We headed to the airport, thinking we could hang out and use their Wi-Fi until our flight at 10:25 pm, but the Wi-Fi at the airport was broken! Once again, I’m not a fan of airports or flying…
Posted by ScarlettNov 6th, 2009 | 2 Comments
Please note that I’m still putting up older posts, but they won’t show up on this page anymore because of the date (to prevent confusion I continue to date blog posts according to the date of events they relate to, not the date I write about them) so if you’re interested, please scroll down and click on older entries. I’m slowly but surely getting all of the old stuff done.
Also note that current blog stuff has once again fallen behind because I’ve been preoccupied with Aisa trip planning, which is making my head spin! I had forgotten how hard it is to find info sometimes! Accordingly, I’m adjusting my style of blogging a bit include more facts/tips. If you are looking at this blog because you are trying to find some info about Europe travel as you plan your trip, but what you’re looking for isn’t here, I might still be able to help so feel free to contact me.
Thanks for reading!
Scarlett
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