"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain

Monday, August 1, 2011

Turkish Bath, Take 2

So last year when I visited Jordan I went to a Turkish bath with some peeps from the Jerusagroup. It was quite the experience: shifty, yet fun to remember. Let's just say, it wasn't quite a BYU approved experience. Anyhoo, now that I've got your dirty minds trying to figure out what the heck I'm talking about, I'll move on to this years experience. 

Austin, Skye, and I decided that we wanted to go to a Turkish bath. Austin wimped out at the last minute, and Skye and I were late, but the owner said we could come in anyway. The place was really nice: lots of fancy furniture, a fountain, and nice stone walls. After getting changed (and by changed I mean we were clad in only sheets) we went into the steam room for a bit. The outside of the room reminded me a lot of a brick pizza oven, and the metaphor continued to gain relevance as it got more and more hot in there. Sheesh! We went out one at a time with the owner. First he scrubbed me with a sponge that's texture can be easily compared to steel wool. It hurt bad, but felt good later. I haven't felt that clean in 3 months... talk about extreme exfoliation! After another round in the steam room he soaped me up and gave me a mediocre massage. It felt OK, but mostly served to remind my muscles that massages do exist and are out there to be had; I want a real massage SO BAD! Maybe I'll trade with a pretty girl when I'm stateside. ;) After getting rinsed off I was dressed in three different towels, one of which was tied around my head, before being led into the lounge where we sat and talked to the owner for a bit before changing and leaving.

So although it was a bit rushed, this year's experience was much better than last year (albeit not as memorable), and felt especially good after 3 months of mediocre showers.

يرمي

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