I returned to the baths on Sunday after taking in some of the Sunday morning Russian Orthodox service at Accenion Cathedral a block away. The bathing is more expensive on weekends (2400 Tenge/hr vs. 1200 Tenge/hr). At current exchange rates this works out to $3.50 vs. $7/hr. All the other services remain the same.
I spent about three hours there taking in all three bathing styles, lounging by the pool and getting a massage and scrub. The scene is considerably different on weekends. Fathers bring sons, groups of friends gather, and all in all there are just a lot more people there.
This time I inquired about a hat so that I would not look like a newbie and boil my brain in the Finnish bath. With my new hat, I started in the Finnish bath. It was crowded with men and seemed hotter than it did last time. I took a seat on the upper level and, as I did not bring any shrubs, sat and watched other beat themselves and each other with these parts of trees. The sound of a dozen men thrashing their naked skin with dried leaves is rhythmic and out of sync. It’s easy to key in on one nearby thrasher and hear his branches in rhythm while the others, the background singers are a bit behind the note. James Brown would have a fit.
After a bit of thrashing, a large man gets up and stands in front of me, hanging on to the railing. A friend of his gets up and starts thrashing the man’s back. He then returns the favor. All the thrashers kind of partner up and beat each other. Fathers beat sons, in the one time its accepted. Leaves break off and land on every available surface. I had some on my leg, the man had some stuck to his ass.
Being alone and not having sufficient language skills to carry on a conversation, I was left to observe and contemplate. I was struck by how some many people in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing were having such different experiences. For some, it was a hang out with friends, like the weekly coffee shop. For others, it was a father-son bonding time. For me, it was more meditative. It was a time I could have been trying to decide where I wanted to go with the rest of my life, but instead I thought about where I wanted to go in the afternoon and what kind of massage I wanted.
So, today I decided to go all in — I did the oil massage and a scrub. The oil massage, I would recommend over the general massage just because of the oil. Let’s talk about the scrub. Get the scrub. A guy wearing what amounts to loofas on each hand scrubs your whole body. It is heaven. America needs to ditch its puritanism and embrace these baths.