DAY 33 - KONYA

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.

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 ".

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).

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 .

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. 

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)

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.