I went to a hammam last night....

[hockeygal 1]

There is a spa here in town, meant to replicate Turkish style baths. A couple of girlfriends and I booked ourselves as a group and it was fabulous! First we steamed in a marble steam room. Then the esthetician took us out one by one and made us lie down on a marble slab and rubbed us down with this pastey black soap, and then loofahed every little part of us, front and back. Even between our toes! It was glorious, but no modesty allowed -you are stark nekkid. Felt a little prison-like when they made us line up and face the wall and hosed us down, but we were still hazy and dreamy from the scrubbing in the steam room so we barely noticed. Then we were ushered off for a lovely massage, and then sent to recline on platform beds with pillows and tea and dessert.

Is this what a traditional bath house is like? I was relaxed, and soft and glowing by the end of it. This could be an expensive new addiction.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Damn I hope the facilities were clean, that sounds like the kind of place that could be crawling with all kinds of bacteria/viruses.

[hockeygal 1]

It was a pretty high end spa... but who knows.

After the first few minutes, you no longer care!!!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Ok I just looked up Hammams on wikipedia... interesting stuff. Here's an excerpt about the staff at these hammams (traditionally).

Traditionally, the masseurs in the baths, tellak in Turkish, were young boys, helping the men in washing the clients by soaping and scrubbed their bodies. Their duties were not just as washers, but also sex workers. We know today, by texts left by Ottoman authors, who they were, their prices, how many times they could bring their customers to orgasm, and the details of their sexual practices. (From the Dellâkname-i Dilküşâ, 18th century work by Dervish, Ismail Agha; Ottoman archives, Süleymaniye, Istanbul) They were recruited from among the ranks of the non-Muslim subject nations of the Turkish empire, such as Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Albanians, Bulgarians, Roma and others.

At times the relationship between a tellak and his client became intensely personal. It is recorded that in the mid-18th century, a janissary — an elite soldier in the Ottoman army, also often of European descent — had a tellak for a lover. When the latter was kidnapped by the men of another regiment and given over to the use of their commander, a days-long battle between the two janissary regiments ensued, which was brought to an end only when the Sultan ordered the unfortunate tellak hanged [citation needed].

After the defeat and dismemberment of the Ottoman empire, in the quickly westernizing Turkish republic the tellak boys lost their sexual aspect, and now the tellak's role is filled by adult attendants who specialize in more prosaic forms of scrubbing and massage. Yet in Turkish the term hamam oğlanı 'bath boy' is still used as a euphemism for a homosexual.

[Jenn! 918]

Damn I hope the facilities were clean, that sounds like the kind of place that could be crawling with all kinds of bacteria/viruses.

OCD much?

[mybackpages 0]

Is this what a traditional bath house is like? I was relaxed, and soft and glowing by the end of it. This could be an expensive new addiction.

Wow nice to have one in your own backyard so to speak. I've been to hammans in Morocco and Turkey. The Turkish baths have pools! It sounds like you got the real treatment- although i've never been COMPLETELY naked...Although once the undergarment gets wet...well you might as well be.

I had to laugh at the hosing down analogy...I've only experienced being doused with buckets of water.

never felt so clean and relaxed!

[Ban Hammer 14,295]

Yet in Turkish the term hamam oğlanı 'bath boy' is still used as a euphemism for a homosexual.

i think it means the same thing in san fran too

[rclouse 0]

You sold me at "nekkid with the girls".

[no name 1]

never done a turkish bath, only a posh spa in London and baths in Budapest (old people but cleansing minerals!!!) and hot springs in New Zealand.

Yours sounds lovely.

[iceyspots 0]

pampering is good

[hockeygal 1]

You sold me at "nekkid with the girls".

They scrub men down too....

devilette... old people and cleansing minerals? woohoo!

seriously, it was great. That scrub down in the steam room was the bee's knees. I am still so smooth. I keep telling people at work to feel my arm.

Edited August 24, 2006 by hockeygal

[AllisonB 0]

That sounds amazing!!

You sold me at "nekkid with the girls".

They scrub men down too....

devilette... old people and cleansing minerals? woohoo!

seriously, it was great. That scrub down in the steam room was the bee's knees. I am still so smooth. I keep telling people at work to feel my arm.

[Veiled Princess 1]

Ok, hamam in Arabic is 'bathroom' or 'toilet' so I was really at this thread before I figured out it was a bath house.

[no name 1]

devilette... old people and cleansing minerals? woohoo!

well, i meant that there was no self-consciousness cuz their boobies were down to their bellybuttons. Altho there were some pervy looking masseuses.

[almaty 19]

i went to a spa but they seems to scrub only one body part...hmmmm

Edited August 24, 2006 by almaty