Phillip Hotton's Page #2 Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 13:05:08 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Turkish BathHaving read ALL of everything in the mailbag, I've yet to hear anyone mention the Turkish Baths. (hamam)sp? One of my favorite memories of my tour (1955-56) was the baths.Back then the cost was between 2 and 2 1/2 Lira which then was 20 to 25 cents USA. We regularly showered in our quarters and thought we were as clean as the average GI. Little did we know how scuzzy we really were!
The Turkish bath was open only to men except for one day per month when it was taken over by the women. Also, one day per month it was reserved for Turkish Soldiers (free). As you entered someone escorted you to a booth with a door and windows where you were issued a towel, not the terrycloth kind but more like something you hang in the window at home. After stripping and donning the towel, you would enter the warmup room before going into the hot room. Being young and not altogether bright we would do pushups to speed up the sweating process. The hot room was hot and had a groove around the edges of the floor to conduct the waste water to God knows where. Of course there were stone or cement benches around the perimeter of the entire hot room. Water flowed non-stop from several taps here and there on the wall. You could wash yourself or for a 50 kurus tip you could have a guy scrub you and we always got the full service. Turkish people are modest so the guy would scrub down as far as possible and up as far as possible and you took care of "possible" yourself. This suited me just fine.The washing guy used a very stiff luffa-like sponge. Remember how I said we thought we were clean? Well,the scuzz that guy would scrape off of us was unbelievable. When you were done, your skin was pink the endorphins were flowing and you felt like a million bucks. Leaving we would return to out booth to be given two towels one to dry our body and wear, and one that the attendant would wrap on your head as a Turban. Then you would be served a bottle of guzoos(sp). That stuff is a whole different story, maybe later. You donned your clothes, paid your bill and left. A haircut and shave at the NATO berberi and your day was complete.I can't believe that I'm the only one to go to the Turkish baths. I'd really like to hear from some of you guys that tried it and how you liked it.
Picture #1 - This is the famous (infamous?) Ali Bas who was our cook. Ali also starred in my memo about trying to corner the Turkish beer market and the response of the local "Turkish Mafia". Thanks to Abdullah Eren, I know that Ali now owns and operates a restaurant in Sinop known as the White House (Beyez Ev). I have also learned from Abdullah that Ali's brother Abmet, who was our do anything guy, died four or five years ago.
Picture #2 - This is a shot of the Air Force iki bochuk (deuce and a half) which had delivered our commissary and PX orders from Ankara one month. If you look closely you can see part of the driver on his hands and knees behind the first set of dual wheels. The first thing that you noticed about him was his "uniform". He has on a pair of non-GI boots and a pair of yellow and black plaid pants, really YELLOW and really PLAID. This outfit was topped with a regulation USAF short jacket with his A/2C stripes. This guy, whose name I never knew, was a small but really tough airman second class. He never rested when he reached Sinop. While we unloaded his truck and sent it up the "Hill" to gas up, he would come into our kitchen. Ali the cook would scramble a dozen eggs for him as he filled us in on what was new back in civilization. In addition to the eggs, he would down most of a loaf of local bread (Ekmek) with a stick of margarine. Then without further rest, he'd hop in the truck to return to Ankara. He told us he kept an apartment there and had a beautiful young maid who would have dinner and drinks ready when he got back. Was he lying? I don't know. But to a man we desperately wanted to believe him.
Phil Hotton <photton@hotmail.com>
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