a fat georgian man has seen me naked

Yesterday we had a new cultural experience, and we even got Salome to do something in her own city that she had never done before: go to the sulfur baths. These are like Turkish baths, only, as we were reminded several times, "They're not Turkish baths because they're in Georgia!" Hot sulfury water comes from somewhere inside the earth to fill the baths, which are covered, as you can see to the left, with brick domes. We also discovered the mosque in Tbilisi in the same district, the tower of which you can also see in the picture. (I ripped this picture off the web, but since it's from some address with emory.edu I figure it's going to be okay.) The guidebooks give vague descriptions of masseuses scrubbing, pummeling, and walking on you in these establishment. What the hell, we thought, when in Tbilisi...

None of us knew quite what to expect when we got there: would we have to be naked? Would we have to be naked with a bunch of other people? Will girls and boys be separated? If girls go with boys, would they think we are prostitutes? Are they really going to pummel me, and will it hurt? So we kind of randomly picked one out and walked underground. We had the choice of a bigger or a smaller (private) bath, and the girls could stay with the boys. Our bath-room had a sitting room with a television, some (waterproof) couches, and a place for changing. Adjoining it was the actual bath, which had a small pool or jacuzzi-sized thing where the sulfur water came in, a marble table for massage, and hot and cold showers. We all decided to order the ambiguous massage-pummel treatment, and we ordered a round of beers (that promptly became warm in the sauna-like bath).

My first impression of the place was that it was way too modern- I wanted something that was made of old stone with grafitti from the 10th century or something, something ancient. Instead, the inside was covered with newish tile like your bathroom at home. The floors and bath were marble. The dome had a little opening where the sulfur, vapor, and some of the heat could escape, and where we could see the sun coming through. It was really, really hot. The water was hot, and the rest of the room was like a sauna. In order to not become too uncomfortable, you had to get out every once and awhile and get under the cold shower. We had thought to stay for 2 hours, but after 15 minutes or so we thought we might get heat exhaustion if we stayed that long.

Then our pummeler-man came in: a fat, ugly Georgian. We were all a little scared, and no one wanted to be first, so I volunteered. He promptly sent all the guys out of the room and made me strip down (we were all in bathing suits) and lie on the marble table. First, he took a mit and scrubbed like a centimeter of skin and Tbilisi dust off me-- the amount of stuff that came off my body was kind of disturbing. Then he poured a bucket of warm water on me, and then a cold one. Then, he took this big sponge thing and actually scrubbed me down with soap. Now, I've had a naked massage before, but I've never been washed by a stranger. It was a little weird, but all the scrubbing was really relaxing, and afterwards my skin felt so soft. Then there was a light massage, and then done. It was great, and only about $7! And fortunately (or unfortunately?), no pummeling was involved. Might have to do it again before leaving.

Tonight we're taking the overnight train to the beach at Batumi. I've kind of abandoned the idea of Istanbul unfortunately. I'm kind of disappointed, but I should be able to be content with 3 countries for the summer. I'll make it back to Turkey some day, but probably not to Armenia or Azerbaijan, so that at least will be time well-spent. I think in its place I'll make a new commitment to see more of the sights in Tbilisi. I kind of lost passion for the city after the first week, but going to the baths and seeing more of the old town yesteraday reminded me that there are things I haven't seen.

In other news, we went to the embassy to apply for a visa to Azerbaijan, and we were almost denied simply because Julian was carrying a water bottle he bought in Armenia. They are not on good terms. Nice.