Tesettur Swim Wear

When i was growing up.. living in first, Penang island..then langkawi island...spending most of my weekends playing at the seaside in Batu Feringgi (Penang) n later my beloved Pantai Tengkorak (Langkawi).without ever knowing how to swim.. of course the usual clothing my siblings n i used to wear was track bottom n t-shirt. I think people still do wear that in Malaysia..though after tsunami, i am not sure how many have concured their phobia of the sea to play at the beach.

We dont use swimming suit or bikini as part of our swim wear..we r not used to thati remember when i was in Langkawi and these foreign girls were sunbathing at the seaside wearing bikini.. we (my siblings n i or my friends n i) used to look at them with the look of awe..i used to ask myself..*bogelnya minah ni*..n sometimes these foreigners used to kiss each other in public.. i remember how strange it was for me coz that kind of behaviour is not a part of our culture..theirs probably but not ours..

Of course after coming to turkey, i somehow get used to it.. the people's idea of swimming would include especially for those young slim girls.. as sexy..i mean as bare bikinis as possible (some go naky even in certain beaches) n the normal swimsuit (less bare)..come on.. talk about being almost naked..some very liberal newspapers have a section on the front page of a girl wearing bikini everyday...praising the woman's beauty...

What about us? what about those people wearing head cover? r we to be deprived of the sea n the pool as well.. ?? The introduction of Tesettur swimwear especially to cater those with headcover quite a few years ago had made it possible for the head covered ladies to indulge herself in the pool n sea.. I think it is fair to say that the tesettur swimwear is pioneered by the turks.

So far Haşema is the biggest name in the production of tesettur swimwear, marketing their products locally as well as internationally (Sampaikan Dr Faez kita kat UK tu pun beli)..of course there r other good brands as well..for example, the one i have now is made by odema sport. Less famous by name but of almost the same quality n definitely much much more cheaper. Haşema for example, because it is a brand name sells their tesettur swimwear for the price range from 56YTL and above... it can go up to....more than 100YTL..Like the one i have , it had cost me only 35YTL..the only problem is, i can only find this brand in edremit where we normally spend our swimming in the sea days a week a year..since hatice is starting schooling, the chances of us going there is now nill coz our staying period there clashes with the school opening season.In edremit, the choices r a lot..haşema n other brands....take ur pick.

To give u some idea of what tesettur swimwear in turkey looks like, here is a slide show for u to enjoy...


I have to admit though, ever since i have my tesettur swimwear, my swimming in the sea has become so much more comfortable . (YEs..i have learnt n can swim in the sea).. it feels lighter to fight the waves in the sea while swimming....to enjoy my swimming..n most importantly, the lightness in the suit has made it possible for me to catch up with halil in his superb swimming. Just imagine swimming using t-shirt n track bottom.. the track bottom sometimes got twisted in the ankle..n the weight of the material of ur t-shirt made the swimming less free.. heavier (esp if u r swimming in the pool)..now no more..the weight has been lifted enormously....

But the thing about head covered people is this.. i dont think that a lot of them really swim in the sea. The tesettur swimwear is used for them to hang around in the sea and to play till ankle or waist length in the sea...They dont really swim deep into the sea..they just play there..Besides, for a bit more islamic families, they usually go to certain places..certain beaches only to swim.. Halil for example, will not ever be bringing me to bodrum (a famous beach area in turkey for summer holiday) becoz over there people r with bikini etc..etc.. he wont want his children to be among the crowd of naked girls in bikini....n i wont be comfortable in it either..Like i said, head covered people have certain places they like to go.

For example the place we used to go..edremit. For the beach we used to go, the sections of the beach area r divided into 3. The left side is for the men only. The right side is for the ladies and the middle side is for families. We usually hang around in the family section where we at times just throw the kids to baba to monitor (they would be playing with the sand n baba sun bathing)..while halil n i would be romantically swimming together in the deep blue sea hehehehe hey!! husband n wife do need some time alone dont u agree?? BEsides, the grandchildren-grandpa bond will be strengthened that way.. (alasannnnn) hehehe The pool over there is also separated. THere will be pools for male only and pools for ladies only. Of course the ladies..in that kind of pool.. u can see them in bikini.. well..that is the only way they can wear bikini right?? n the best part of all is that in the ladies' pool..there is a space where the sun can shine into the pool area n the ladies can sun bathe without anyone of the opposite sex
seeing her. In fact nowadays more n more 5 star hotels r making it a point to have both isolated pool by gender n mixed pools in their hotels..

Of course..since the pool in sapanca is a private pool, i do not use the tesettur swimwear in sapanca's pool. i use something like this...not exactly but the same concept..

but of course for public places.. i have a normal tesettur.The model is like this..
Mine is in pink color..just like the color in the semi closed swimwear in the second last picture with a very light pink stripe..very feminine color..pink hehehhe mona....wei jgn kutuk..aku memang suka kaler pink hahahaha

and tomorrow is wednedsay..No more World Cup.. The pool is ready..i need to pack the bags..iron what nots..maybe tomorrow noon we will leave home.. Baba will be coming with us as usual....mısıtık will come on thursday. I suppose kerim will join us after his wife n kid r on the flight to her hometown..The rest of the siblings n families r on their holidays everywhere else..i hope they will join us as soon as they get back from their oversea holiday..hatice n baddin would love to play with their cousins..

I am totally excited..I really love Sapanca..i miss it so much. Halil, hatice n baddin r totally excited as well..n i think baba has been looking forward to this for ages.. i need to do the packing. InsyaAllah i wont forget the camera. I dunno when we will return..i think max is 2 weeks but we may return on tuesday to istanbul n then go back to sapanca on wednesday.. i dunno....

I'll see u when i see you!!
Sapanca Here We Come!!!!