33) SATURDAY, 30 JULY 1977 : 0KMS. - KONYA
The first day ... in a new year of life
to move forward.
After breakfast, we visited the museum of KONYA but nothing special on display but
old carpets and old Koran (Quran) book of Islam with the patterns drawn
exquisitely beautiful.
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| Old Koran - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search |
Feeling discomfort in the afternoon, so we went to go find a place to take a
bath or shower. It is a place with special characteristics of the Middle East (
Arabs and Muslims ) similar to Sauna called "Hamam ".
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| Hamam - Photo : Bing Images search |
Usually if we do not stay overnight in a camping parking site with facilities
provided for campers, we will use a wet (damp) towel to clean and freshen up our bodies. It is also
a way to save water .
The hamam we visited today was not so good because it is not in the very big city
and it might have been established a long time ago. It was a relatively old hamam
but there were many people came to use a common steam bath , both young and old
adults . However, it was not a mixed sauna for both sexes as men would have a
separate date and time from women using days, no nudity to be seen inside. Everyone wears a
towel or cloth to cover the important body
part (genital).
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| Hamam - Photo : Bing Images search |
Bathing in the hamam, a Turkish Bath with steam is customary routines of the
Turks and people in the Asia Minor and the Middle East (and as far as Japan ),
which stimulates the body 's organs . This is beneficial to the body because of
the heat and steam. Steam will make body
sweat as waste out of the body as well
as help causing chemical changes in the blood flow of the body to encourage heart
function for better breathing and also help to build immunity of the body. This should prevent a cold as it will be a warm and
cold bath alternately with a short reclining relax inbetween. So the
body will need to adapt to the temperature of
warm and cold water .
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| Turkish bath - Photo : Bing images search |
In the hamam , there were cabins for those visiting. Each has his own cabin to sit back
and relax as well as for keeping clothing
and private belongings. The bathroom area has small recesses, each of
them is equipped with faucets for hot
and cold water and a small clay bowl . Bathers sit in front of the bowl and took
water hot or cold pouring onto their bodies alternately.
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| Turkish massage - Photo : Bing images search |
There is a marble pedestal in the middle
of the shower room, slightly elevated above the floor, which is heated by the heaters (hidden) installed inside. Those who entered the bath would
sit and lay down to trigger sweating, rub
or scrub their bodies either by themselves or to hire a masseur to rub and
massage them or even take turns in rubbing
with another people . Here I met again
another Turk who worked in STUTTGART (where I went to the university ), he came
to talk to us with 3 friends who are studying at a university in ISTANBUL. Probably, because we were only foreigners and he heard
us speaking German. (There are many Turkish people working in Germany
as “Gastarbeiter” or guest workers at the top ranking)
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| Hamam - Photo : Bing images search |
We left the hamam feeling very relaxed and comfortably fresh . So we had a nice walk in the evening in KONYA but sometimes I felt cold, like shaking ( the
thermal bath and steam heat after hamam did not help me at all ?!) and
after a while decided to get back to
sleep to be fit to continue our journey tomorrow.
