Blog 14: SAHLEP The Winter drink in Adana

Blog 14: SAHLEP

A popular winter drink in Adana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salep

When you’re talking Turkish drinks you think of Raki ( a very potent famous Turkish Alcoholic drink), Salgam (a bitter but quite savory street drink made of black carrot and a red turnips), Turkish coffee (served in tiny cups – with about half the cup filled with a strong coffee power – often used for fortune reading when the power is left in the bottom after drinking), Ayran, (a savory yogert drink that the Turks prefer to drink at their meal table over Coke), and then there’s Salep.

Sahlep (or Salep).

For this blog I will cover Salep, a milky thick, very hot and nutritious drink made from ground orchid tubers. A very popular winter drink, Sahlep is historically tied for centuries with the old Ottoman Empire.  

I will spell Sahlep as Salep because my wife insists this is the correct way. The van's all spell Salep with a "h" but you can find it online either way.

I discovered this drink at a cafe in the Grand Bazzar in Istanbul in 2007 and have loved it ever since.

In Adana this drink flourishes in epic proportions. Salep vans can be found in their hundreds all around the lake foreshores of Adana. All with their slightly different recipes, each claiming to be the best. (Salep in the Winter, Bici Bici in the summer.)

Above - The van we choose to drink from this time around. Below - an example of the many van's that are every 50 meters or so aroun the lake.

I must admit, the best Salep I have tasted was from one of these street vans. You also find Salep in many Café’s during the winter months here.

I could go on adding van pictures here but I think you got the idea - Heaps  of Sahlep vans!!

Salep is a “Must Try” in Turkey and in Adana you will find some of the best examples. My wife makes it now of a night and tonight is rainy and cold so the Salep was perfect!!

Salep is served from a very unique brass machine that is an attraction in itself. I love the look of these machines, so exotic, it take the eye!

And when it’s a cold day these Salep Machines can give off a steam that adds very much to the ambience and attraction.

 Sahlep is best served boiling hot, not like the wimpy luke-warm coffee you can expect from many Café’s back home who forever fear a law suits since McDonalds was sued successfully. Coffee is best hot and so is Sahlep! If you want a cold drink, go buy a milk shake!

Sahlap’s unique flavour comes from ground orchid bulbs and because it takes a lot of bulbs to make the power, the real stuff is expensive as hell! (excuse the language) Served with a sprinkling of cinnamon and often crushed walnuts, it’s a marvellous combination for a great Turkish drink.

It’s also considered a powerful aphrodisiac but I can’t confirm the science of that claim. Either way I’m encouraging my wife to make and consume it in large quantities! ;-) I’m not sure if it’s working!! :-/

Salep, my favourite hot drink.

Cheers

 Andrew

Blog 9: Adana Haircut

Blog 9: Adana Haircut – The best and most freaky haircut I have ever had!

 Tuesday Nov 13^th, 2012

 I’ve experienced this before so it was less of a shock this time around. My Adana hair cut was in 2008 and I was shocked then I can tell you!! Lol And scared somewhat as well!!

It’s a good thing I had my wife with me because if you don’t understand what is happening it can be a bit alarming to the Westerner. As an Aussie male it also feels like attack on any male macho senses you might have! Lol



My hair is straight, strong and thick!  I spike it because, well that's all it's good for! It's the type of hair I commented once to an Australian hairdressers back at home saying “my hair is horrible isn’t it!” and they replied “yes it is!” lol

It’s also the type of hair that looks easy to cut, so at home the hairdressers normal takes one look at me, and the hands me on to the 1^st year apprentice. So I have a book worth of horror hair cut stories about the 15 minutes apprentice haircut.
Funny thing is after this 15 minutes "lunch break" haircuts they have hide to ask me for $26 Aussie dollars (about 42 lira) and I am stupit enough to say “Thank you!” :-/

But here in Adana the story is much different!! The fashionable young Adana male is stylish and sheik, hair spiked to the centre, styled with precision. In Turkey the hair dressers are mostly male and mostly “straight”.

My experience at home in Australia was hairdressers mostly female and expecting a wink from any male ones! Lol (Ironically the gay male hairdressers have the best reputation in Australia.) But my hair was always cut by females.

So you can imagine how I felt with my first hair cut here . It wasn't the usual 15 minutes lawnmower apprentice hairdresser cut I'm used to, but nearly 2 hours long work of art! It was an Adana hair cut made also  with the aid of 5 guys all doing different tasks! Can’t see the “Paul Hogan” Aussie male sitting through this experience can you? Lol

So for the blog and as “MUST TRY” I have sacrificed myself for another Adana haircut.

The salon I chose “ABBAS” was first rate and very clean salon, with music TV and free tea and coffee at the offering. ABBAS Hair solon is locate on 64014 Sk (14 sK), Adana

https://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&tok=xDENe_6wIjCYPU-_ckJUzQ&pq=64014+sk+(14+sk),+adana&cp=9&gs_id=5&xhr=t&q=64014+Sk+Adana&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38093640&biw=1957&bih=921&bs=1&wrapid=tljp135284461707200&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

We pick up the cut about 45 minutes in, The male hair dresser has already finely machine trimmed the sides of my hair and sculpted what felt like every hair with scissors and an array of other tools which were handed to him, one by one, by another male who was assisting the cut. (like a doctors gets handed a scalpel and other tools in surgery)

I was very impressed with his care to detail and how it was important to him to make it all perfect before moving on.

The photos start with him using a very fine layering tool on my hair, and then trims my eye brows and nostril hairs!!! Lol  He did ask and would normally also trim my mustache and goatee, but I declined this time around. My first hair cut in 2008 that was all a bit freaky, but not as much as the next procedure to come!!

Next: They lite this flame wax stick that they twirl expertly with naked flame around your ears, face, forehead and nose to burn away any hairs and leave your skin shinning and hairless! OMG!! (Not for the faint hearted this hair cut! Lol)

Then it’s the electric trimmer to the back and sides, making perfect your lines and hairless your neck.

 Next is the shampoo. They have a selection of shampoos you can choose from and it all comes complimentary.

What is vastly different, is you don’t go to another place and lean back into a bowl so you don’t get water on your face. With Adana haircuts you lean forward into a bowl and get totally soaped up and saturated by at least two hairdressers. It also involves a pretty strong but nice head massage.
Tip.: Open your mouth and make an air tunnel so you can breathe! lol

After that it’s a towel off and then the cotton buds to the ear holes!! Lol They really clean them out! I was freaked out in 2008 when the man stuck his fingers in my ears but this time I’m an experienced veteran! Not! :-/

Next process which my wife didn’t get a photo of, was the molding gel. The hairdresser finely sculpted every hair, from one side to the next with perfect care and pride of workmanship. You don’t see pride in trade so much at home and when you do you pay through your nose for it!! (Aussie term for a lot of money! Aussies hairdressers charge a fortune, especially for women.) That is not the case here in Adana and you can get a super hair cut for a women just as cheap as men.

After that, two types of hair spray were used to hold the mold.

Then little white blotches of face cream was dotted around my face and then finally worked in to invigorate and soften my skin. (I was offered a facial mask but declined)

The to my surprise the hairdresser complimented me on how nice my hair was to work with and how nice it is (in complete contrast to Aussie hairdressers) and then said I look like the latest JAMES BOND! LOL

 He obviously couldn’t see I was hiding my molded “6 pack” with a few good meals! But hey, I’ll take that compliment!! J

And then I was done! “Mashala!!” Fabulous!! Best cut ever!


Really this was a first class. A little freaky but 1^st class. I have never had anyone or group of people work on my hair with such pride and care and these guys did it why style and pride.

Hats off to Adana Hair Dressers, you could teach Australian Hairdressers a thing or two!!

A “MUST TRY” for any male. Common, you’re away from home, nobody is going to see you!! lol

 And the price for all this care, product, cream and time???

 Only 20 Turkish lira!!! (Approximately $11.50 Australian) Now that is value for money!!

That’s all for today and for a week as I travel to another city for 7days. Back soon!


Cheers

BOND… JAMES BOND! J

Blog 3: A walk in the Park - Adana Central

Blog 3: A walk in the Park - Adana Central
Today is Saturday the 3^rd of November 2012. 

 Yesterday we just had a day of rest and a little walk so nothing much to report. But today we set off to the Optimum Shopping Centre by Central Park Adana.

I am wearing what I like to call my “Where’s Wally” shirt which is an old work shirt which I wear once on holidays to show my workmates back home how far it’s travelled and rub it in that I’m on holidays far away! J

We took the subway which is pretty new in Adana. We chose a brand new underground station to start our journey and found it devoid of people!? What a contrast! Above us, busy traffic and below quiet as a mouse, not a sole. I wanted to take a picture but the security stopped me.

Like anywhere in these parts, security guards or police are prevalent in most public places. It feels strange when we don’t have any security like this at home. 

Once we got on the train ironically it was pretty full. The train was also modern and clean.

The Optimum Shopping Centre

http://www.optimumoutlet.com/
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=36.992853,35.337589&spn=0.011586,0.016994&t=h&z=16&msid=200302479427406736865.0004a07ad84ffa6a2c530

Aim for the Hilton Hotel, a tall building that stands out because there nothing around it to compete, or aim for the Sabancı Merkez Camii (mosque) which apparently is the largest Mosque in all Turkey with a capacity of over 28,000 people!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabanc%C4%B1_Merkez_Camii

If you aim for these buildings you will find the The Optimum Shopping Centre which is a very new shopping centre on prime real estate overlooking the river with beautiful views of the magnificent Mosque and its equally magnificent gardens (all 52,600 square meters of gardens)

The 175 or so shops in this Shopping  Centre are modern and most of the well known chain stores. And this centre does have “free” clean toilets which is a bonus! (You frequently have to pay to use toilets in Turkey and they can be of mixed quality – If you don’t know how they work it can even be scary! lol )

In the shopping centre there is a large electronics store which I like and there is a mixture of American and Turkish fast-food outlets in the food court on the top floor.

This is a multi-story complex, food supermarkets down stairs, fashion, electronics and gift stores in the middle floors and games, a cinema and food court at the top (plenty for the teens on the top floor). There is even an ice skating ring which is nice to sit close too on hot days.

ATMs and all your needs are at this centre though don’t expect Turkish Bazar or street market prices here. It’s very western, you don’t bargain for goods here but they do have sales.

Like any major shopping centre in Turkey you have to pass through security first to get in (similar to airport security).

We ate at Hosta which was relatively inexpensive and ok. I won’t detail blog about it because it hit the hunger bug but not the delight bug. Nothing to write home about really. Fast food rarely is! I am lucky, I get to eat some home traditional Turkish cooking via my Mother-in-law and she is a great cook!

At the food court they do have a little play area for the little ones but it could have more and it did need a good clean from what I could see.

Otherwise it was all very nice.

CENTRAL PARK ADANA

After the shops we decided to skip the train and walk home via Central Park. This was very nice. When I mentioned the gardens were well maintained at Ataturk Park in my last blog, well they are magnificently maintained at Central Park, Adana. And there is a large playground to die for. No, again there is no soft fall, but it’s an adventureland to any kid and a credit to Adana! Fantastic!

Coming to the park we had to cross a very nice foot bridge, right next to AQUA LAND, a water themepark. We went to this place last time I was here and it was a lot of fun. Many slides and pools, however they don’t all operate at the same time and only during school holidays.

As we were about to walk over this bridge to Central Park 3 kids ran up to me saying something in Turkish, very excited by my camera. My wife translated that they were pleading for me to take their photo and so I did. They were totally adorable kids and I wish they could see the picture because it’s the picture of Turkeys youth, so innocent, and full of hope. I wish I could give these kids the world!

I will let my other pictures do most of the talking for this park this time but I need to say this park has so many aspects and personalities, water features, sculptures and flowers, you could spend a day exploring and my pictures to do not cover much.

There’s a few cafes within the park as-well. We went to one at the opposite end to the mosque (near a little market and McDonalds). This café was perfectly set on the river and nice for a “cay” tea. Tea is 1 lira but for a coke you can pay 4lira so stick to the tea because you don’t get a class or ice with your coke. Something I really expect for the price and on a hot day. It is nice place however to watch the ducks over the water at this café and they have many ducks and other animals wandering around to amuse the kids.

One of the great things in Central Park is the little train ride you can take which tours around the whole park. And it costs just 1 lira for adults and kids free. It’s really is a long ride and great value taking you past all the attractions. Well done Adana for this park!! First class!!

We noticed also many of the local dogs hanging around the park freely. There are literally hundreds of stray dogs in Adana, mostly around the lake, but they wander through the streets too. They are tagged by the government and monitored for movements, habbits I guess. This one below was very thirsty!!

Lastly before I finish I will drop a picture of graffiti we passed on the walk home. I do this because it was the only graffiti I saw in the city so far and at least it has talent. They could certainly teach our teens a thing or two back home where I come from. The teens I am in contact with only seem capable of ugly tags with no meaning. Where’s the talent gone??

That’s me signing off for the day.

Cheers

Andrew