Monkey & Rooster's Travel Tails
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Hello Again – It’s Been A While!

Posted by ScarlettMar 29th, 2010 | No Comments

march 

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. 

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Suing Over A Bad Review?!? Come On!!!

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?!?!?

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First Time Flying Aegean Airlines

Posted by ScarlettNov 14th, 2009 | 4 Comments

Aegean

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!

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No Really, I’m From Canada!!!

Posted by ScarlettNov 12th, 2009 | 5 Comments

Canada

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!!!

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Our Turkish Bath Experience

Posted by ScarlettNov 11th, 2009 | No Comments

Hamam

(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…

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A Note About The Dates Of Blog Posts

Posted by ScarlettOct 14th, 2009 | No Comments

So, if you’re reading this because you’re a faithful reader who has stuck with me no matter how far behind I’ve fallen (4 months now!), or if you’ve just stumbled upon this blog from some internet search for information or whatever, I think it’s time I address the fact that I’ve fallen ridiculously behind on this blog and have to do something to catch up!  Paul and I are still on the road (in Poland now), and a combination of friends meeting up to travel with us, not having Internet consistently, procrastination, and being too busy out and about sightseeing and stuff has put me 4 months and 6 countries behind in my writing!  (more…)

A Wicked Day In London

Posted by ScarlettJun 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment

Queen's Birthday

Today was the best possible Saturday I could ask for – we managed to get front row tickets to Wicked, a musical about “the untold story of the wicked witch of the west,” and then we stumbled upon the Queen’s birthday celebration and saw the whole Royal Family at Buckingham Palace!  I am so thankful we happened to be at the right place at the right time… (more…)

Our First Live Football Match!

Posted by ScarlettJun 10th, 2009 | No Comments

Football

Since we accomplished so much of our sightseeing while Calvin was here, we took a day to rest yesterday and hung around the hotel, sleeping in and doing a bit of shopping in the area.  Unfortunately, this morning we found out on the BBC news that a two day Tube strike starts today, meaning we’re stuck in Wembley until Friday, unless we want to brave the masses of crowds who will be relying on the buses!  Thankfully we scheduled extra time in London so we’ll just wait until the strike is over to resume our sightseeing…

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Westfield London Shopping Center

Posted by ScarlettJun 8th, 2009 | No Comments

Westfield

Today for Calvin’s last day in London, we decided to spend some time shopping at Westfield London, which isn’t anything exciting to write about, but I wanted to include a small blurb here about the mall because it’s probably the nicest mall I’ve ever been to, in terms of interior design and appearance.  I was born and raised in Edmonton, home of West Edmonton Mall, the largest in the world until 2004, so big malls are nothing special to me, but Westfield London, the largest urban mall in Europe, did make me go “Wow!” just a little bit… (more…)

Overnight Ferry To England

Posted by ScarlettJun 5th, 2009 | No Comments

Stena

Tonight we are on our first ferry ride of this trip, taking the Stena Line from Hoek van Holland to Harwich, England.  Stena operates two ferries from Hoek van Holland to Harwich each day, one during the day and one overnight.  We were originally going to take the daytime one, but when we realized our mistake about miscounting the number of days we had been in Schengen Agreement countries (as mentioned before, Canadian citizens are allowed in for 90 days out of every 180 without a visa), we changed our reservation to the overnight ferry.  Once we got onboard and saw that the ferry is more like a mini cruise ship and we have a decent room equipped with bunk beds and a washroom and shower, I was glad we took the overnight ferry instead.  At about the same price as plane tickets to London (€ 45 each including the train ticket from Harwich to London), I think the ferry is a much more relaxing way to travel and you save on one night of accommodations by taking the overnight ferry! (more…)

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