Hot Springs in Beppu

As a volcanically active country, Japan is known for its hot springs or onsen in Japanese. The onsens spread widely from here to there throughout the island. Namely Beppu, one of the famous hot spring resorts in Japan. Come to Beppu and take a bath. The district even has onsen accomodation that will be very handy for tourists. There are 8 hot springs in Beppu. Most of them are equipped with spectacular view and a wide range of hot baths. Aside from the usual hot water baths, there is also a very unique sand bath, where bathers are buried in black heated sand up to their necks, with colorful umbrella by their side protecting them from sun exposure. There's also steam baths and mud baths.

Turkish Bath (Hamam)

Enter Istanbul.
On a sunny day, the weather is mostly humid and hot, you will most likely break a sweat.

Put on your roundest hat and take a boat trip under the clear sky and watch the blue color of the Bosphorus, at the same time watch the palaces, pavillions and mansions along the sides of Bosphorus.
Not to forget, Istanbul is a city of surprises. You can be caught to a rain storm during summer. So don't forget to bring an anorak with you. The brightest one you could find, that is.

Istanbul is also known for its Turkish Bath or hamam. There are five star hotel hamams, but the real hamam is not to be missed.
Tracing back in time, bath tradition in Turki was the merger of the Romans, Byzantines, Turks, and the Moslems. The first hamam was used to serve a harem where it employed young men (Tellak) as bath attendant and.. sex workers. :o I know!
But after the defeat of the Ottoman army in the early 20th century, the role of tellak boys was filled by adult attendants that simply scrub and give massage.
And nowadays it is yours to experience. It's more like taking a bath as Sultan and Sultana.

In Hamam, there are three rooms involved:
1. The Warm Room
Before taking a bath, bather can relax and perspire freely in the warm room with stone platform in the center. The room acts as sauna. While the tiles below remove static electricity from the air and help to relax the mind and body, the light diffused through glass in the ceiling is soft and relaxing. Bather will melt like jelly..

2. The Hot Room
The bath attendants will scrub the bather, remove layers of dead skin, and lather up with lacy cloth until bather's body covered with rothy bubbles.
Hamam use different cloths for different purpose. There is a peştemal, a special cloth of silk and/or cotton to cover the body, like a pareo, a nalın, wooden clogs that prevent slipping on the wet floor, or mother-of-pearl, and a kese, a rough mitt for massage.
After full body wash and massage, you can't help but to feel like a polished gold medal.

3. The Cool Room
This is the room where you cool off and drink your tea.

There's a language barrier, so you may want to nod and shake purposefully to the bath attendants.

Oh yes, you may also want to check out some Turkish baths in Hungary such as Rudas Bath, a thermal and medicinal bath that was first built in 1550 and Kiraly Bath, a thermal bath that is also built during the time of the Turkish occupation in Hungary.

Disrobe, ladies!

Welcome Bathers!

I dedicate this page to post about baths all over the world for I love spending more time in the bathroom. And I love, love the kooky yet otherworldly porcelain doll persona Nicole Kidman has..