Turkish Hammam with Massage (but no chicken)

As a thank you my boss gave all the teachers and assistants a spa voucher for a Turkish hammam. The first thing I did was google what a Turkish hammam was of course. I was still a little unclear before I went as there were many variations online. I went with my friend and was a little apprehensive not knowing what to expect. The spa was very nice and they welcomed us each into private rooms where you're instructed to strip down and put on disposable thong underwear and an optional bra top. Then you go into a small room and lay down on a stone slab, it's like a steam room and you're instructed to relax and they leave you there for about 10 minutes.  I was still a little hesitant at the time but decided to just do my best to relax. It ended up being really cool! They're basically bathing you (which at first seems really weird but you get used to ha) and they scrub you with something which takes all of the dead skin off your body. It's a little gross when you see the amount of dead skin that comes off (the lady makes sure to point it out). At the end they wash your hair, which struck me as quite odd but I just went with it haha. Your skin feels amazing at the end! They also massage you and the whole thing takes about an hour and a half. I really enjoyed it, it was relaxing and the feeling of your skin afterwards is really incredible. Once you're finished they give you a robe and a towel for your hair and you're taken to a relaxation room, where I was able to meet back up with my friend for some tea and dates.

Disclaimer: I have a friend who bought a voucher off of groupon for one and went to a different spa  and had a very different and slightly questionable experience haha. So I guess the lesson to take away is  to research the spa before you go and make sure it seems like a reputable place haha.

That evening we met some friends for drinks at Riva Beach Club on the Palm.

We started talking about how we'd gone for Turkish hammams and really enjoyed them. The boyfriend of one of the girls there started saying "Oh yes, hammams are very good", and of course we agreed. He continued, and then said "But you know what the hammam is missing? A big piece of chicken", he kept going on about how great it would be with chicken. We were really confused but we really didn't know the guy so weren't sure what to say, so just nodded. I was sitting there picturing being scrubbed in a steam room eating chicken. I thought the guy just must really love chicken. Then his girlfriend jumped in and said "You realize they're talking about hammam the spa treatment?" Apparently we were pronouncing it wrong and there's another Arabic word that sounds very similar that is a plate of food:) He said both and they sounded like the exact same word to me, but of course I nodded and pretended like I heard a huge difference ha.