My Turkish Bath Experience

During my stint in Turkey I tried to partake in every traditional cultural activity - from the food to the relaxation.

One of the things that I (and 3 other girls) tried was the Turkish bath. 
Also known as the Hamam, it is a place for relaxation or cleansing. 

We walked in to the change room to be greeted by another English speaker who advised us to take the plunge and partake in the bath in the 'traditional' way - that is, get down to the buff - or our undies would get saturated and you would get wedgied.

Seeing as I only had the one pair of knicks on me that day, I got starkers, wrapped around the 'towel' they give you, slipped on my thongs and headed for the first room. We were greeted by a lady who didn't speak much any English, but she gave us each a glass of apple tea. Apple tea is a delicious traditional Turkish drink that you can get just about anywhere - and sometimes even for free! 

The lady then lathered face masks over us, it was a lovely puke green colour.

Once we were all covered, we were directed to the steam room where we waited for 15 minutes then hit the showers to wash it off.

Walking through the next door we were greeted by the sight of bush. Bush was everywhere (no boys, not in a lesbian porn movie good kind of way). I didn't know where to look! So I checked out the architecture instead.

In the middle of the room was a hexagonal bench/table. On the edges were naked women being soaped up and massaged by the ladies in black bathers.
The walls of the room were lined with benches interspersed by water taps.
It wasn't overly hot as it was in the steam room, but it wasn't cool either. 

We four sat lined up on the wall bench awaiting our turn. There were a few ladies in front of us who were participating in a cross country bike ride. It took us 12 hours on a bus! I couldn't imagine doing it by bicycle!

I was lucky enough to be first up in our posse. 
The bathing lady instructed me to lay out my towel on the seat behind me. I was standing the butt naked while she proceeded to throw a few buckets of water of me before I sat down on my towel. Then she got out the exfoliating cloth and started rubbing me down, she was extremely gentle of my epic sunburn from 5 days previously and pretty much missed my whole stomach. 

More buckets of water to wash away the dead skin before being directed to the bench on the other side of the room to await my massage. 

Finally, a happy looking blonde lady was waving me over. Again I was instructed to lay out my towel except this time I was to lay stomach down on top of it. I did see her bending knees with previous ladies so I made sure to let her know about the old broken leg (read that little adventure here).

She started wacking me with a pillowcase full of soap bubbles, then proceeded to massage from my feet up till my neck - there ain't nothing better than a bum massage! -  before telling me to flip over. 
There's something just a tad awkward about laying naked on your back in front of strangers, but my massage lady soon had me covered with bubbles from her magic pillowcase. 

All too soon, it was over and she was washing away my bubbles by throwing buckets of water on me and directing me back to the shower. 

After the shower you exchange your soaking wet towel for some dry plush ones and relax on some loungers with another apple tea. 


It was a wonderful experience and one I would recommend to anyone. I would definitely do it again if i had some spare coin. 

Have you ever taken a Turkish bath?

Tubing in Saklikent Gorge (and some muddy fun)

It was about 17 degrees on a semi sunny day of Turkey's Mulga province. 

Standing around in our bathers, oversized PFD (life jacket) and sexy 'water' shoes on, holding our paddles and tubes, we listened to our Turkish guide explain to us in heavily accented English the guidelines for taking on Saklikent Gorge. 

A few minutes later we were heading towards the stream. There was a few minutes hesitation after the instructor asked 'who's going first?'

Out of the group of 59 people, with about 30 - 40% males, no one volunteered. 

Step forward me:

Stepping into the water was an instant body freeze. That clear blue stream was arctic!

The tubes themselves are pretty self-explanatory - a rubber ring with a hole in the middle (you were lucky if you got one with handles) that you sit in with your legs dangling out in front of you. Direction is determined by the rush of the water and how good you are with the paddle. 

Being the first out was probably not the best idea I've ever had. The water carries you away from the starting point before anyone else has a chance to board their vessel. This includes the instructors.

I was lucky enough to 'find' a few of the hidden rocks - I became an expert at lifting my bum out of the water. 

It took about 20 minutes to get down to our final destination. We were lucky enough to have only a few mishaps on the way down. One or two people fell overboard and one poor girl was hurdled into a tree and lost both her paddle and her tube. 

Side note**** For those of you who are familiar with the banks of the mighty Murray River (Australia's main water supply river) and the overhanging branches of the trees on the bank, it was pretty much like that. 

Luckily she did get saved and wasn't lost to the wild Turkish countryside. 

Our tubing destination was a massive mud pit. Some of the more outgoing people got straight into it, diving headfirst into the mud. 

I was a wee bit more dainty as the mud can suck you in and it's a right bugger trying to free yourself from it's clutches. 

After a good cleanse with the mud, as well as a bit of flinging and throwing, we were ordered back into the arctic waters of the river to clean off for the van ride home. 

                      





Fun Facts
Saklikent Gorge is located about a 40 minute drive from Fethiye.
The canyon is one of the deepest in the world.
The tubing was part of my Turkey ANZAC Adventure with Busabout and was in conjunction with our accomodation of the day: click here
There is a high possibility of a bruised behind.