Turkish Hamman - Istanbul, May 2010

For my last day in Istanbul I promised myself that I would finally make it to a hammam after having all intentions of visiting at least several times during my two week stay. After lazy about all day and chatting on Skype, I finally dragged my lazy self out into the streets of Sultanhamet in search of the Cemberlitas Hamami which was recommended by the lovely Turkish cleaner at my hotel. I had found another hammam in and internet search but didn't like that it was more catered to tourists and was mixed ie. men and women in the same area. Even the guys working in the reception of my hotel advised against this.

So I strolled up the main street towards the bazaar and there it was and so was I. I actually got really excited when I got to the door as I realised I have wondered what this would be like for so long and all those ancient paintings of naked women in a marble room made me wonder if it really was like that. Well it was and is! So the lady asked what package I would like to purchase - there's the "self-service" option for 35 lire which means you scrub yourself, rinse etc and just relax in the hammam, then the other options were someone else doing that for you and the luxury option was finishing the day with an oil massage. Well I decided that I havent had a massage during my last two weeks of intense dancing and I had intended several visits, so I splurged and got the luxury package for 95 lire plus a pedicure which I havent had since before starting India back in Jan so I still have India heels (pretty!).
You are handed a couple of coloured tokens one red and one yellow, a cotton saron, loofah and brand new pair of black undies in a cute little gift bag (must be one size fits all OR she sized me up well!).
I walked into the main enterance area looking very lost and was directed upstairs by the voices from a harem of very large, old Turkish women. I got to the top of the stairs and the lady tells me to strip and put my belongings into the locker and head over for my pedicure which was just what my poor little feet needed. I was then motioned down stairs where one of the old Turkish ladies escorted me shyly wrapped in my cotton sarong and sexy white plastic slippers into the hammam. It was brilliant! The room is octagonal with little holes in the roof to let the natural light stream in and in the centre of the room is a marble slab that is heated and you lay your sarong onto and then plonk yourself on there too. So you work up a sweat from the hot marble and steam in the air - I failed to mention that there are nervous women like me lying everywhere in black undies and no top - how as a woman do you politely look away when a massive Turkish woman with zulu boobs nearly touching her knees walks past you.
I'm certain we were all sneaking a peek at whose were better - is this what men do at the urinals but fail to admit it??!!!
So I tried to lie there comfortably and act local like I've done this a million times before - my cover was blown by my enthusiasm within the first 10 minutes. So the lady who escorted me in motioned for me to lie on the slab and left the room, I waited for 10 min and she didn't come back and I saw other women using the marble taps around the edge of the room and the metal bowls to pour water on themselves to cool off and then start scrubbing with the soap and loofah. So after observing this and thinking about all the travel books I have read with women in Morocco visiting hammams and the ritual, I decided this is what you do. So I got up and paraded across the room in my undies (its parading when you are topless Im sorry!) and started rinsing etc. Then the Turkish lady comes in and see's me and gets angry say "No I do this you relax" (insert rough scary voice). "OK" I replied and lay back on the marble slab as she strips in front of me in her undies with huge saggies in my face as she kindly puts on her bikini top. Yes I know I'm a woman I shouldnt be so shocked - its just how it unfolded and that these women were even in the foyer swinging them around, its so opposite to gym change rooms in Australia where MOST people keep them to themselves!
So there I lay on my tummy as she lathered me up, scrubbed me raw, rinsed me and then my favourite part she took me over to the taps at the side of the room and washed my hair. I sat there for a moment and felt like I was a little girl and mum was washing my hair again - it was perfect and I recommend a hammam for anyone missing their mum as it really took me back to being a kid and getting a bath - no soothingness of a day spa this is all about getting the job done!
After a few buckets of warm water to rinse me off she directed me into another room where I gave my red token to another lady who lay me down for my oil massage. Dont think Thai aromatherapy oil massage either - think more Johnson & Johnson baby oil with some knuckles working out the knots in my back. But it was brilliant. At this point Im lying there alongside other women getting massaged thinking I feel like I had been broken down and rebuilt over the last two hours. There was something soothing about it and once I got over the boobie factor, after my massage I found myself back in the hammam resting on the warm marble slab that reminded me of being a kid lying on the warm concrete beside the pool.

After sweating it out for nearly 2 hours in between rinses and giggles at the horror on tourists faces as they walk in to be confronted by boobies, I sat in the main foyer with the rest of the zulu boob troupe and enjoyed a freshly squeeze oj and chai. Seems like I timed my exit perfectly as a group of school kids rocked up - school kids going to hammams??? Imagine what they are saying about their teacher? Well they are lucky anyway as I was lying there scheming how I could build a hammam in Australia and charge entry :)
Definately something you must do before you die and definately an experience I would like to share with my daughter like one Turkish mum and daughter there. It really is like those paintings and so very relaxing when you get over your shyness.
To finish a perfect arvo I found a hairdresser across the street and got a haircut - they say Turkish hairdressers are some of the best - my guy was just snip happy and I have never seen so much of my hair on the floor, nor felt like I was going to cry and vomit at the same time. Alas my lack of faith turned out to be for nothing - he gave me one of the best haircuts I've ever had for 30 lire which included a blow dry and all the staff in the salon clapping in joy at how long my hair is and the end result.
What a beautiful finish to a special trip in Turkey - I will be back next year Istanbul, this time with no suitcase so I can have my wardrobe sponsored by the Mango outlet store :)
Next blog... Greece

Hidrellez Gypsy Festival - Istanbul 5 May 2010

After the Turkish Delights Bellydance festival I was ready to explore Istanbul, having been here for a week and not seen anything outside my taxi window. Moving across town to Taxsim a great pedestrian mall with many fashion stores, cafes and the old tram shuttling people up and down the few kilometre long mall. Every evening thousands of young Istanbul-i's descend to Taxsim to dine in the Melbourne like lane-ways and party in the bars tucked off the main mall.

The mall itself reminds me of La Rambalas in Barcelona. So this was the start to a second dance festival that I signed up to especially to have company when attending the Hidrellez Gypsy festival held every year to celebrate the start of Spring. Apparently in the last two years its become so big that they have moved location to the seaside. So a bus load of us participating in the daily Gypsy dance classes sat patiently in the traffic at 9pm as we worked our way towards the festival. We were really excited as this was the main reason everyone had joined this tour- you could do this on your own but dancing the night away alone just wouldnt be as fun as with a group of crazy bellydancers!

Finally we arrived along with a few thousand other young people from Istanbul - it was held on the seaside just near Sultanhamet the main tourist centre of Istanbul. After experiencing Turkish obediance to road rules (detect the sarcasim) our driver found somewhere to pull over safely for us to all pile out. As we headed towards the seaside park there were young entrepenurs with their van boot open and packed with cartons of the famous Efes Turkish beer.
I wasn't sure if this was going to be a festival filled with locals or tourists - but I'm very happy to say that we the tourists were in the minority. Gypsy women were sitting along the carpark edge selling water, scarfs, beanies, cheesy muscles (no I havent tried them but heard they are yum), loads of Turkish sweets and tea. Being such a large group of around 16 women - 13 being from the same Israeli group it seems natural that we immediately split. Leeann and Karen by new roomie from Holland and our tour guide Alp started scouting out the best gypsy bands.

I was picturing gypsies dancing everywhere which I was kind of disappointed about that we didn't see any, instead there were gypsy musicians roaming the crowds between the big stages showcasing the big acts of the night. The locals would go up to these roving musicians and give them 5/10 lire and request a song. I was pleasently suprised to recognise some tunes from my Gypsy CD's back in Australia thanks to previous workshops with Tanyeli (Turkish bellydancer) and Leonie Sukan (bellydance teacher from Sydney who specialises in Turkish style). We absolutely started burning the dance floor (ok grass and dirt) once these guys would start and they would do one or two songs then stop as the money usually stopped, so they would weave through the crowd looking for someone else to pay them. We were like the gypsies ourselves, weaving the crowd in search of the next group of young Istanbuli's dancing Roman style - cigarette in one hand and Efes beer in the other.
After much stuborness I finally cracked and we bought a huge can of Efes beer each - must have been half a litre in there. Leeann promised me its delicious and my Lonely Planet said its pretty much the only beer in Istanbul and with good reason. Sorry guys it just didnt strike a cord with me.
We kept roaming around and I noticed many of the girls decked out as gypsies either with the skirt, scarf in hair or both. Our tour leader Alp said that years ago Gypies were looked down upon and it wasnt cool to be Gypsy. It seems the young generation are finally showing appreciation for the talented musicians and traditions that they bring to Turkey. Some girls were really stunning and I wanted to take a photo with them but I actually felt uncomfortable asking unlike in India were I clearly stood out and it was a novelty for both them and me to get photos together.

There was like a gypsy side show alley with big pinball machines but they were handmade from wood and papermaiche so not really machines. There were hand painted signs with faces cut out so you could pose with the characters body - there were bellydancers, wrestlers, gypsy caravans etc that you could stick you head into the photo.

One tradition of Hidrellez is to pay (yes you pay to make a wish) 3 lire and you are given a piece of paper, pen, ribbon and pin. On it you write your wishes and pin these along with an evil eye bead onto this tree that is absolutely swamped with everyone's wishes. Yes I made some but no I'm not telling! Everyone was reading other people's wishes which I thought was a little rude but it seemed to be the thing to do. One very clever girl wrote in Turkish (thanks Alp for the interpretation) that she wanted to be able to Turkish Roman dance on stage with a famous Roman singer or dancer I think it was. She listed her mobile number on there and had pre-printed them onto A4 pieces of paper and you found them stuck up everywhere throughout the festival grounds - what a clever girl I hope it comes true for her! (maybe I should adopt this strategy to dance in a Bollywood movie at the next Indian festival that I attend??).

We made our way over to a main stage where a gypsy band was getting ready and there were a few thousand people cramming in. The band started their gypsy tunes and everyone was jumping, dancing, cheering, drinking, smoking and it was definately a meat market between the young boys and girls having a perv on each other. I was very excited when I realised the male singer at one point was singing in Greek with a female Turkish singer - really just reinforced the similarities in music between our two cultures.

We had a brilliant night and I can't wait to come back next year now that I know what to expect - it really is about catching up with friends, having a few drinks to keep warm with the chilly winter nights still lingering, make your wishes and have a Roman dance with the brilliant gypsies. Until next year and include my wish coming true in your prayers! ;)

Will post up more photos of the wishing trees soon.

Next blog.... Istanbul overview.

Turkish Delights - Istanbul Bellydance festival

After a well deserved rest for a month in Singapore it was time to pack my bags again and head off on the next leg of my tour.. Bellydancing in Turkey. Studying Bellydance in Australia for the last decade it had never really been high on my list of places to visit (ironic I know) but I think that has to do with the fact that the Bellydance scene in Australia is very much focused on Egyptian style - hence why I made it my priorty to get there first a few years back.

So after much excitement in getting to Istanbul the cheapest possible route (thanks Air Asia) including hiring a car and using a GPS to guide me 2 hours at midnight after a 14 hour flight and no sleep driving around London and trying not to throw the GPS out the window everytime it had a meltdown when I told it to find an alternative route due to road works AND 1hr 40min sleep at a hotel after this before boarding yet another no frills airline (thanks easyjet for slogging me another 40 GBP for 4kgs extra weight!) I finally arrived at Istanbul airport.

So the excitement continues when the festival organisers are not there to pick me up and my mobile wont roam as the telco promised (thank you Singtel) I'm now so tired and delerious I can feel a cry attack about to happen. Thankfully the hospitality of the Turkish people kicks in straight away when a lady offers to call the organisers on her mobile and helps arrange my transfer to the hotel. The festival organisers kindly paid the bill as I wanted to die when they told me its a 2 hour ride into Istanbul from this airport - waaaaaaaaa!

Im told to follow this young Turkish guy with a funky hair-cut to my shuttle service - after madly trying to keep up with him for our 15 min walk we arrive in a carpark to a Mercedes van with the rear door open and packed with suitcases - how will they get my big a*% bag in there??! Well 4 Turkish guys poked and shoved my bag into the pile and repeatedly tried to slam the boot door closed with no luck. I then interrupted their failed efforts by suggesting a couple of bag swaps and wa-la... yes it takes a woman! (felt like I was watching men change a light bulb). The drive into Istanbul was at break-neck speed and although there are marked lanes on the highway, it appears they are for show as everyone regularly sits in the middle of two lanes and drifts around according to where their mood that moment takes them. Crammed into this van I sat in the back with 5 other Iraqi tourists residing in London. It turns out they visit Turkey and Cyprus every year (lucky them) so they gave me the low down on everything.

I have to say that I was taken back by how modern everything in Istanbul was looking as well as the damn traffic jam we seemed to be travelling. The area that my fellow passengers were staying in was Sultanhamet - a famous tourist spot which has the iconic attractions of Aiga Sophia the Blue Mosque and many other attractions. I had a huge smile come across my face as I saw how pretty this area was - it was a hub of activity with cobble stone streets, beautiful trees, gorgeous manicured gardens with the last bloom of tulips and a mixture of locals and tourists lazying around the garden and wooden seats between the Blue mosque and Aiga Sophia.

After dropping them off my driver followed the road along the water out to the Sheraton were the 5 day bellydance festival was being held. The driver was an old man that couldn't speak any English and when he saw me bopping along in the back to his Turkish pop CD, he turned up the volume and started siginging - he was gorgeous. After stopping and asking for directions several times we arrived at the Sheraton and he kindly carried my bags in for me.

I was greeted by the organisers of the festival who directed me to my neighbouring "Marina Hotel". I checked in and nervously awaited to see who they had buddied me up with since I had asked to share a room. They told me that they had shacked me up with the only other Australian attending the festival - Leeann from Perth. After a mini delirious melt-down on the phone due to my lack of sleep and the terrible room service food that I ordered, in walked my roomate Leeann. Neither of us knew at the time that we would have so much in common and get along so well, she really made my Istanbul festival and stay special. As I have mentioned on my previous blogs, since my travels started this year I feel like I have been followed around by guardian angels protecting me and accompanying me on this trip and I add Leeann to that list.

So it was night one for the festival which meant gala opening night. We were told to dress up a little and head up to the Sheraton for dinner at 7pm followed by the opening gala show at 9pm. I must admit that we were a little disappointed when we arrived at the restaurant to see that we were all mixed in with the general public attending the buffet that evening, so we didnt really know who was there for the festival or not. It is however pretty easy to spot a bellydancer and when I saw a lone brunette with middle eastern eye make-up on, I took a punt went over and asked if we could join her at the table - again who was to know that this would be the start to yet another friendship and turn the three of us into charlies angels of the bellydance world! (ha ha)

So our new friend performs as Hayal in Poland and aside from being very pretty and fitting that stereo-type image of bellydancers, she was a talented performer and damn funny. So the three of us hit it off and after dinner headed into the grand ballroom to wait for the festivities to begin. What we didnt know is that this evening was open to the general public and it was also packed with the local press as this was the first festival of it's kind in Istanbul. It was great to see the locals get behind the event and they rocked up decked out in sexy Istanbul fashions. We were treated to never-ending live performances by Top 40 Turkish singers who also set the fashion trend with their outfits, but disappointed the crowd with their continual miming to their highly synthesised Turkish pop music. One singer however was from Egypt, Ahmet and his voice was live, real and devine - everyone was rocking when he sang and at only 22 years of age, I think Egypt's next Amir Diab is finally here.

So finally after Euro-vision style presenters and ear drum bursting feedback thanks to the sound guys, the bellydancers started performing. We were treated to dances by all the teachers who were on the schedule for the festival - Serkan Tutur, Yasmina of Cairo, Reyhan Tsuzu, Naime, Azi and many more local Turkish, Israeli, Russian and Egyptian teachers/performers. What a brilliant way to kick off the festival! After a super late AM finish (which I admit due to my jet lag I kept falling asleep at the table and had to retreat at midnight before I turned into a pumpkin!).

Next morning was day one of workshops, 4-5 workshops per day if you could take the pain! Considering with my travelling I have not been able to train in dancing as much as usual, my body took to the preassure like a fish to water. I felt alive again and after my first workshop I could feel the old creative juices flowing again. Day one say us be introduced to the Turkish Roman dance style and whilst I have been exposed to this style in Australia from the likes of Leonie Sukan and Tanyeli's workshops, it just never felt like it did here in Istanbul.

Naime taught us 9/8 Roman style to a live drummer, she turned up to teach in black jeans, knee high boots with a heel and a fitted top - not your everyday teaching gear but she looked the part. From the moment she started my heart was on fire, I felt all my tensions that I had bottled up for so long float out the door and my body find a new happy soul-fulfilling rythmn that I felt I had know before and missed for so long. You know when you just click with something as it feels so right - Turkish Roman style feels oh so right. For the entire workshop I looked around at Leeann and Hayan (or Polish as I called her) and we all had a glow, like we were apart of something special. Naime was not a typical teacher used to teaching Western style - instead she spoke no English and counted in Turkish as we played follow the leader.

Another Roman Gypsy teacher was Reyhan Tszu - I have seen youtube clips of her on Oryantal Star many years ago and fell in love with Roman style then - seeing her dance in the flesh was amazing, no one can move their stomach/pelvis like that. The entire class tried so hard to keep up - all we did was feel pain from suddenly stepping up those pelvic floor muscles as we tried to imitate her. I still think she is not human - it was so crazy the entire workshop she was like an energiser bunny with her belly/pelvis move whilst we looked ridiculous in comparison.

Gul was another Roman teacher who had experience teaching Westerners and her English was brilliant. She explained the many different gypsy motions we learnt and what they mean. Gypsy Roman is of the land so many of the steps we learnt were imitating daily life of the gypsies including showing off bangles, washing clothes, the balloon man at carnivals, one-eyed beggars etc

A Doctor/Professor from the Istanbul University of Arts came to teach some of us Karlisama (i may have spelt this wrong) a kind of folkloric dance done at festivals and events by women in pairs. It really reminded me of some of the Greek folk dances I have done. At first we all struggled trying not to get our legs in a knot for this dance and then when the true 9/8 rhythm started we all laughed as no-one kept up at first, but we nailed it by the end of class.

Yousry Sharif was also teaching at the festival and this was my first workshop over the five days. He taught us a fantastic Egyptian style pop piece that we all had fun doing but got a little confused with turns etc.

Serkan Tutur is my new favourite - a male bellydancer from Turkey/Belgium and crowned Male Bellydance of the world in previous years, he has a rare personality that makes him a perfect teacher and entertainer. I believe in the saying that you are either a teacher, performer or choreographer and it's very rare to do all three of these well - Serkan nails it! His teaching style explains the moves, associates actions to help you get the move and even counts steps which seemed a rarity at this festival amongst many of the teachers who preferred to feel the music.

Both workshops of Serkan's that I attended were upbeat routines, great songs and his humour kept us laughing throughout the lesson. Serkan is someone we need to see in Australia/Asia soon.

The crazy thing about the festival which I later learnt is similar to them all is that we started most days at 9.30/10am and had max 15-30min break between workshops right through to 6.30pm then had time to have a shower, scoff dinner and head back up to the ballroom to watch the show that night. Obviously its not humanly possible to sustain this level so lots of people started wagging classes choosing to soak up the Mediterranean winter sun as their body needed rest. Some girls even did only 2 workshops on day one then headed into town to shop!

The bazaar outside the workshops tempted us all with beautiful bellydance costumes but I was very shocked at the prices ranging between 750 - 900 Turkish Lira which is very expensive in comparison to the price you pay for even more elaborate costumes in Cairo. No shopping for me - I have a box of costumes that I'm no longer wearing :(

There were two evenings filled with student performances - I was one of the few that didn't actually perform and this seemed to perplex many people who kept asking why? I had seen it on the initial brochure inviting student performers but I thought since this was my first time I would just enjoy the festival and not have to stress about a costume and performance. Night one seemed to be full of student performances from Japan - we all got the giggles as the MC said "And our next performer is from Japan". I befriended some dancers from the land of the rising sun who were equally shocked at the number of performances from Japan that evening.

The next evening we were overwhelmed with performances from Natalia Beckers girls from Russia - again we got the giggles as the MC repeatedly said "And our next performer is from Russia". Maybe next year they will try mix up the countries? :) Natalia's girls from Russia had stunning costumes which she had designed - using lots of printed silk with circular skirts to compliment the endless turns the girls were doing. The Japanese performances left us a little concerned as to their interpretation of bellydance and what is actually being taught to them. There were some groups which were quiet beautiful, however we found a few resembled a cross between Hi-5 and the Spice Girls with their electro trance bellydance music and outfits.

One festival favourite as Leeann and Polish both know was my friends from Kazaksthan - who would have thought they were even bellydancing there but they are! Rita is a stunning teacher resembling Amena from Lebanon and she wowed us with her gorgeous costume and drum solo standing ontop of a tabla - if I did that it would break and so would my neck! Rita had brought a little entourage with her also which included a brother and sister approx 10 and 5 years - OMG they were too adorable. The little girls whose name escapes me did an amazing Egyptian Baladi style and the boy a saidi routine in a costume that made me think Harry Potter was on stage! They attended the festival with their proud father - watch out bellydance world. Rita had a young 3 month old baby (her body was stunning for giving birth 12 weeks ago!!) Ali was passed around the festival as we took turns babysitting him and I begged Rita to let me take him home!

On the 2nd night as the show drew to a close we hit the dance floor after a few red vinos (or Raki in Miss Polish's case) everyone had gone home and only the festival organisers, some teachers and the sound crew were left behind. One of the sound crew guys started breakdancing which kick-started a night of madness which saw us retreat after 1am and some teachers continuing their partying into the night clubs of Istanbul and as a result late to class the next morning - oops!

One thing I have to say about the festival which really took me and many others who I spoke to by suprise... the community spirit at the festival was alive and strong. It was really beautiful each night to have all the teachers at tables encouraging the student performances and burning the dance floor with us. There were no egos from the teachers, they all really seemed to be enjoying themselves as we were. Also the size in terms of festival participants was just right - I know this is the first year so obviously they will want to increase numbers for next year, but after what I have heard about the Egyptian festivals of over-crowding, pushiness down the front and princess syndrome I really have been turned off attending festivals. The Turkish Delights Istanbul Bellydance festival however really is a pleasent suprise with both teachers and students all being very friendly and social networking was at its best.

Congratulations to Gonul and Simona for a wonderful event that was really worth every cent and really exceeded my expectations. The variety of workshops, their content, the teachers, entertainment, staff and attendees were brilliant. I will be back next year and hopefully we can bring some more Australians along too!