Bathing Naked In Beer
Oh yes, last Wednesday - in what is likely to be the most decadent evening I'll have for a fair old while, almost worthy of Caligula himself - I got to live out the fantasy of many a bloke, and you know what? It felt good...
Thanks to a phone call from Sean, he and I headed out to everyone's favourite bathhouse/brewery 'Nohan' where they were holding a beer promotion. Funny, I'd imagine that if you were trying to sell a drink you'd get the potential customers to taste it rather than soak in it - hey, I'm not complaining though.
Japanese onsen etiquette dictates that you enter completely bereft of clothing with nothing more than a loincloth-shaped towel to protect your modesty, and shower thoroughly before getting into the water. The actual bath area of this place, the men's bit anyway, is split between an indoor and a sheltered outdoor area - two baths inside, a super hot one and two individual barrel-type baths with cold water outside. It was one of these cold ones which had its water supply connected to a stack of those large metal draught cannisters, through which was pumped gallons of diluted dark ale at something like a 30-40% mix....
After soaking even longer than usual in the super hot one to the point where I could almost bear it no longer, it was time - what can I say? Cooling down in the cloudy, amber depths of a barrel-shaped bath is a slightly icky, if not entirely unpleasant experience. What tends to happen in these cold ones is that your body cools rapidly, causing large amounts of blood to suddenly rush to your head, making one feel somewhat woozy. Add the fumes of God knows how many litres of booze to the mix, and the sensation is made just that touch more intense. Protocol clearly demanding I scoosh myself with water from the showers before getting back in the hot stuff, much fun was no doubt had by the other patrons while watching me attempt to walk in a straight line, my loincloth half-cocked (so to speak) and almost headbutt the shower head.
Of course, what with rules being rules and my digital camera not being waterproof I have no photographic evidence to prove any of this. On the other hand, perhaps it's best that I spare you such wanton imagery. I hear they may be having another one of these again soon, wonder if they'll use the pilsner next time...
Thanks to a phone call from Sean, he and I headed out to everyone's favourite bathhouse/brewery 'Nohan' where they were holding a beer promotion. Funny, I'd imagine that if you were trying to sell a drink you'd get the potential customers to taste it rather than soak in it - hey, I'm not complaining though.
Japanese onsen etiquette dictates that you enter completely bereft of clothing with nothing more than a loincloth-shaped towel to protect your modesty, and shower thoroughly before getting into the water. The actual bath area of this place, the men's bit anyway, is split between an indoor and a sheltered outdoor area - two baths inside, a super hot one and two individual barrel-type baths with cold water outside. It was one of these cold ones which had its water supply connected to a stack of those large metal draught cannisters, through which was pumped gallons of diluted dark ale at something like a 30-40% mix....
After soaking even longer than usual in the super hot one to the point where I could almost bear it no longer, it was time - what can I say? Cooling down in the cloudy, amber depths of a barrel-shaped bath is a slightly icky, if not entirely unpleasant experience. What tends to happen in these cold ones is that your body cools rapidly, causing large amounts of blood to suddenly rush to your head, making one feel somewhat woozy. Add the fumes of God knows how many litres of booze to the mix, and the sensation is made just that touch more intense. Protocol clearly demanding I scoosh myself with water from the showers before getting back in the hot stuff, much fun was no doubt had by the other patrons while watching me attempt to walk in a straight line, my loincloth half-cocked (so to speak) and almost headbutt the shower head.
Of course, what with rules being rules and my digital camera not being waterproof I have no photographic evidence to prove any of this. On the other hand, perhaps it's best that I spare you such wanton imagery. I hear they may be having another one of these again soon, wonder if they'll use the pilsner next time...
posted by Callum | 4:48 PM
1 Comments:
for any non believers out there I too would like to state that I bathed in beer recently (and sake the week before!). Now might also be a good time to clarify that the male baths, are by the sounds of it, much the same as the female ones. - although the women dont seem to have as much concern with the rinsing etiquette- you have to shower thoroughly but they dont seem to rinse the beer off.
Whatever you think of the idea of bathing naked in public - dont knock it till youve tried it - (to some extent I was a "british prude" when I got here, at least I thought I was, and now I love it and go once a week. No better way to relax!!!
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