Le Tangia

Tonight we had dinner at Le Tangia, a nice restaurant that has live music and bellydancers. The picture below is of the giant lantern hung at the middle the courtyard. The dining area is on the second floor with seats that look down to the ground floor. The musicians were on the ground floor which was the bar area. Shortly after the musicians finished playing, the bellydancers came out. There were 3 dressed in traditional bra and belt style costumes (not matching) and one heavier set girl in a fully covered costume (perhaps folkloric) who balanced a tray of lit candles on her head and did pretty the same twisting hip movement the entire time. They danced to a dreamy Arabic intro piece where they danced with midget sized veils, then a drum solo, then a techno piece, and then an upbeat fusion piece where they got patrons up (fortunately not us) and dancing, escorting them around the room. The dining room was square with the very center being the open air area that looks down to the ground floor. The four girls each took one of the four sides of the square and then rotated with each new song. Of the three girls dressed in bedlah, two of them were wearing bras that were way too small for their frame, and their boobs were pushed out to where it just didn't look good or natural. Their costumes were not as nice as the ones you see Sabaya wear. Call me a snob, but they weren't nice at all. But enough about the entertainment...the food was pretty good too. We had the typical harira soup and tagine kefta, but also ordered a new dish called couscous royal. This was a large plate of couscous topped with everything - lamb, chicken, sausages, carrots, carmelized onions, squash and other veggies. It was "royal" indeed and was nice to try all the different stuff.

Earlier this afternoon Ryan and I went to the riad's hammam. It was obviously more luxurious than going to the local hammam, but we were hammam virgins so we wanted to have a smooth intro. The hammam is basically like the Turkish bath. Every town has atleast one. With its main purpose for Muslim ritual and cleanliness, the modern day hammam serves an important role in the social lives of women. The men and women have separate areas. Then with each area are several rooms for disrobing, bathing, steam, massage/scrub/soap/rinse. The riad's hammam is private and all done in one room. My (Lily's) attendant was a girl who did not speak English, but we managed. After disrobing (tous, as they say in French), we walked into the warm bath area. She poured comfortably hot/warm water on you, then soap, then rinse. Then you lay face down on a rubber floor mat and she proceeds to scrub you down with her scrubbing gloves. I watched her take a fresh glove out of a sealed bag. You can literally see your dead skin get scrubbed off. There are obvious sensitive areas like the inside of your thigh and underarms, but everywhere else the scrubbing feels great! She rinses you once again. Sitting on the bench, you get your hair washed. Then she lathered on a mixture of fresh orange pulp, some brown paste that could have been mud, tumeric, and rose water. Then cotton pads of rose water was placed over the eyes. You sit there for two to five minutes while she rinses out her bowls. Then rinse again. The whole process went by quite fast, probably about 30 minutes. In a public hammam, women usually hang out afterwards drinking tea and socializing. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good cleansing!

My (Ryan's) hammam experience was similar in process and while nice, it was also strange. I basically had the guy who served me breakfast now bathing me. It felt really good and relaxing. I believe all the years of massages has helped ease the potential akwardness of the hammam. Now my skin is silky smooth...yet still masculine (haha).