SaunaScape

The HMS Carlskrona at its home port

The San Jose Mercury News earlier this week published a profile of life aboard the HMS Carlskrona – A Swedish warship currently deployed off the coast of Somalia to help in the battle against the pirates there.

One of the facilities available for the crew to relax in their off-duty hours is the ship’s onboard sauna:

Taking a steam together is an essential way of getting to know someone in much of Scandinavia, said Mika Raunu, a sailor in the Finnish navy. It’s in the same tradition of Scandinavian egalitarianism that sees officers sharing rooms with lower-ranking sailors.

It also has led to a few cultural misunderstandings.

Lt. Cmdr. Carl Sjostrand told of a Swedish captain who invited a U.S. admiral to meet his senior officers after a formal ship’s dinner. The American was led down to the sauna in full dress uniform—only to end up shaking hands with a line of sweaty, smiling and naked Swedish sailors.

Like all facilities, the saunas are used by both men and women, and the Swedish military does not segregate living quarters or bathrooms.

Saunas, massages help Swedish sailors hunt pirates – The San Jose Mercury News

Images by Xiziz on Wikimedia Commons (boat) and Matti Mattilla on Flickr (letters)

In my review of this morning’s Sauna news, I happened upon a review of The Sauna Cookbook: Food for Body and Soul posted on The Culinary Cellar blog. This cookbook, written by Tuula Kaitilia and Edey Saarinen has 130 recipes with color photos and measurements in English and Metric Units.

We’re anxiously waiting for our copy to arrive at the Saunascape kitchens. In the meantime, we’ll rely on Debbie Vanni’s review at The Culinary Cellar:

So what does the sauna have to do with a cookbook , you ask?  It is known that sauna bathing depletes the body of fluids and electrolytes, thus making it necessary to replenish them with a refreshing drink and salty snack.  The sauna and the ensuing drink and treats together provide food for the body and soul, hence the title of the cookbook.  The Finns will cook food inside the sauna as it heats up.  Some of the popular items include sausages and fish.  Sausages are wrapped in foil and placed directly on the sauna rocks.  Others like to have sandwiches or salted salmon ready to eat inside their homes after relaxing in the sauna.  The cookbook has chapters on all the traditional sauna foods, along with wonderful bread recipes, desserts, beverages, sauces and condiments, and even Christmas foods.  Before all the recipes, the first chapter explains the culture of the sauna itself in Finnish life, which is fascinating.  It has been a ritual in Finland for thousands of years, and is an integral part of entertaining and family life.  People will build their sauna before they even build the home alongside it.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the sauna used for cooking. At Therme Erding near Munich, they have their “Bakery Sauna” where the sauna stove is used as an oven to bake bread while you’re enjoying the heat.

[The Sauna Cookbook: Food for Body and Soul] via The Culinary Cellar

Do you like your saunas hot? Really friggin’ hot? Then maybe you should consider entering the Sauna World Championships. They’ve been held in Heinloa Finland, a two hour bus ride from Helsinki, every August since 1999.

If you can get yourself to Finland this August 5-7, get a note from your doctor, and pay the € 50 entrance fee, you can add to the 137 men and 20 women from 22 countries who competed in 2008.

How hot is it? It’s 110°C / 230°F in there. If that isn’t hot enough, twice a minute an automatic shower dumps a half liter of water on the rocks of these specially constructed saunas.  There’s no high-tech clothing that helps here: The rules allow the competitors to wear only a swimsuit, with strict regulations on the maximum size. The winners have to endure up to 4 qualifying rounds, each requiring the contestants to outlast their other competitors in the heat, taking from 4 to 13 minutes. The 2008  final took 17 minutes to decide the men’s winner.

If you can’t get an idea of what this feels like, American Sports journalist Rick Reilly competed in the 2007 World Sauna Championships, and describes his experience in his new book, Sports from Hell: My Search for the World’s Dumbest Competition. There is an excerpt from it on ESPN.com. In it he describes his experience:

We went in, and it was so instantly, shockingly, insanely hot, my brain just stopped working. It was like walking into a bonfire and pulling up a chair in the middle of it. My strategy was to go in and keep time by the 30-second water splashes, but that plan was scrapped approximately seven seconds in. Thinking literally hurt. I tried to stare at the rocks and not blink, because blinking hurt. I tried to take very few breaths, because breathing hurt. I was sure flames were coming out of my mouth. My back seemed to have ignited. I was convinced my ears were literally on fire, but if I moved even slightly, they hurt more. I tried sitting up higher, but it was even hotter. I tried crouching down more, but then I was nearer to the unforgiving rocks.  Then came the hideous, cruel, pitiless splashes of water, each one lasting three seconds.  I was just about to bolt into the fresh air when — miraculously — the tall, skinny guy next to me ran out. Amazing! I wasn’t last! I had no idea how much time had elapsed — four minutes? Six? I promised myself: When I get to the point where I can no longer stand it, I’ll count 60 seconds and go.

Four seconds later, I decided I could no longer stand it.

So I started counting. One, two, three … It was the longest minute of my life. At 60 I went barreling out. Watching other heats, I’d wondered why even losers came out grinning and raising their hands in victory, but now I knew. The cool air was so beautiful, so redeeming, so life giving. You could French-kiss Osama bin Laden.

I looked at the clock. 3:10? That was it? When did the first guy bolt? “2:40,” I was told. Which meant I’d counted my 60 seconds in 30.

If you just want to watch the proceedings, admission costs € 15 each day.

[Sauna World Championships] via ESPN.com

Finnish Embassy in Washington DC. Photo by NCinDC on Flickr

The Washington Post today published a piece on the monthly Power Schvitz by the Diplomatic Finnish Sauna Society of D.C. held in the basement of the Finnish Embassy. The Diplomatic Finnish Sauna Society, according to the article is more than 150 members strong, and includes many Washington insiders and the reporters that cover them.

The embassy began the sessions two years ago to compensate for Finland’s predictable reputation and low international profile. The organizer is Kari Mokko, the embassy’s press secretary.The reporter goes on to describe the sauna:

At first blush, the sauna does not feel so blistering. (“It’s got proper airflow so you don’t feel like somebody is putting a blowtorch in your face,” said Erik “Erkki” Lindstrom, who built the embassy sauna in 1994.) Its walls are built from Virginia pine logs, and its benches are made from boards of African obechi wood. (“It’s cool to sit on,” Lindstrom explained in a phone interview.) An electric heater in the corner warms 200 pounds of igneous rocks and, according to a thermometer on the wall, raises the room’s temperature to about 190 degrees.

The sauna is used in two separate sessions. One for the women, one for the men.

Most interesting is the reference to the Swede’s sauna.

[The Washington Post]

Scene in the showers of a Korean sauna. Photo from Urijamjari on Flickr.

The Basics: Bathing areas are single-gender, and nudity is mandatory. Leave any shyness and modesty at home, because provided towels are small and privacy is not a consideration in the design. Larger saunas (called Jim Jil Bang (???) have coed areas where clothing is required. Uniforms are provided for these. Entry fees usually are not timed. Remember to take off your shoes as soon as you enter the locker room.

What to Bring: Korean saunas are known for being all inclusive: Towels, soap, toiletries (including toothbrushes!), robes and even uniforms for the coed areas are all provided in the entry fee, as is a locker with a key on a bracelet. The toiletries are usually basic, discount brand items, so if you prefer something specific, you should bring your own. Sandals are not allowed, so don’t bother bringing them. If you are going to a large sauna with pools in the coed area, or a small sauna that is having a coed night, you need to bring a bathing suit.

About the Korean Sauna:

The Koreans have a special place in their hearts for their saunas. Fortunately for us in North America, their émigrés also have an entrepreneurial spirit. Most major metropolitan areas already have at least one Korean sauna, and it seems that more are opening regularly. The Koreans aren’t marketing these services to us round eyes.

Of course, if you are in Korea, the sauna is ubiquitous, with saunas in every hotel and bathhouses of every kind, seemingly on every corner. In the large cities, the Jimjilbangs are huge, and open 24-hours per day. If you’re a traveler on a budget, they can be an economical alternative to a hotel for a night or two.

Most Koreans treat the sauna as part of their regular routine. It is a planned outing for cleansing, as well as socializing and general wellness. Nearly every sauna or steam room is equipped with some special material or herbs, and the largest ones have saunas made from jade or lined with gold, and some have tubs made from the wood of thousand year-old trees. Unique special treatments, especially for women, are offered, as well as deep tissue massages and exfoliating scrubs where the scrubbers pride themselves of ridding your body of every dead skin cell.

Arrival:

Upon entering a Korean sauna, the first thing to greet you is the reception desk. Here, you pay your entry fee, and be given a key to your locker. You may also be given towels, toiletries or uniforms here, if this establishment rations them, but most give you all you want. If you are looking to get a treatment of any kind done, you should inquire here about how to book this, and how to pay for it. Leaving the reception desk, the desk attendant points you in the direction of the appropriate locker room.

Most Korean saunas use your key as a house charge card. For low-tech places, when you order something, they call the front desk and read them your locker number and the amount so they can add this to your bill when you leave. Higher tech places give you an RFID key where charges are directly loaded onto it as they are made. When you check out, you pay for any balance due.

Storing shoes in a locker, from the Korea Tourism site. It includes a list of Jimjilbang in Seoul

As you enter the locker room, pay attention to the flooring. It will change from a basic industrial floor treatment to (usually) a wood-grained vinyl floor. Take off your shoes before you step on the different floor! There will be a shelf or locker here for you to store your shoes. If your shoes are expensive, you may carry them to your clothes locker for safekeeping, but don’t let them touch the locker room floor until you reach the shoe area. Slippers / sandals are for the toilet, and are not allowed here either. Socks may be worn on the locker floor.

When you find your locker, make sure the lock works, then strip. Towels, robes, and uniforms will usually not be anywhere nearby, and shyness or modesty, especially in the single-gender areas, is not appropriate.

The Bathing Area:

Once you are naked, you can enter the bathing area. This is usually separated from the locker room by a glass door. If you have a robe or any other clothing on, take it off before you pass through this door as it is not allowed in here. Reading material is also not allowed in the bathing area, but can be used in the rest area.

Once you enter, you should find a shower and wash yourself thoroughly before entering any of the pools or saunas. You will have a choice between (western) stand-up showers, and traditional Asian showers, where you sit on a low plastic stool. This first washing is important, because when you enter your body is dirty, and putting a dirty body into one of the baths will taint it for everyone.

At this point, you may first become acquainted with the complimentary towels. They are usually hand-towel sized, but freely available. (At times, they may be stored just outside the bathing area.) They offer no coverage for those looking for modesty. However, they can be folded into really nifty hats.

After this, you will be free to explore the baths. At a minimum, all Korean saunas have:

• A hot dry sauna,
• A steam room,
• A hot tub (> 105°F / 40°C),
• A warm tub, and
• A cool tub.

Larger facilities seem to add more pools before they add more sauna or steam rooms to the facility.

Unlike other cultures, there is no proscribed routine in the Korean bath: You alternate between the features in the bathing area according to your personal preference, spending as much or as little time in each as you wish. The only hard rule is after leaving a sauna or steam room, you must rinse yourself in a shower before entering a pool.

The saunas are always hot and dry in a Korean bath. Most will have a tray or bag of mugwort herbs near the heater. Most are wood, but a few are made from more exotic materials. Most have signs prohibiting throwing water on the rocks – It’s supposed to be dry in here. Oddly, all seem to have a TV inside of them. Bring a dry towel in to sit on both to protect your derriere from the very hot benches, and for hygiene. Because of the heat, you may want to bring a second damp towel in to cover your head to keep it from overheating.

The steam rooms are more typical. Again, they will usually have a tray of dried mugwort herbs somewhere near the steam generator, but otherwise, you can expect a typical steam room experience. I have seen a few with an area of the floor covered with river rocks that are used for massaging your feet by sitting or standing and walking in place on the rocks. Again, bringing a towel to sit on is prudent, as is having another one to cover your head… especially if there are Russians who frequent the place.

After a quick rinse in the showers, you can explore the pools. The hottest pools have no jets and are very hot. No, very, very hot. The warm pools are closer to the temperature of a typical hot tub, and will usually have jets of some kind, but may have more elaborate water massage features. The cold pool will again usually be without jets, but will usually have some sort of deluge shower in it to allow you to cool your head without submerging it.

After a circuit of the saunas and tubs when their skin is soft and pliant, most Koreans will return to the showers for a more thorough scrub, or hire one of the attendants to give them a full body scrub. Both are done with an abrasive plastic washcloth that can be found / purchased in the sauna. With lots of soap, the washcloth is scrubbed over the entire surface of your skin, taking off all the dead skin cells as you go. If you hire one of the attendants, expect them to be thorough. (Yes, they will scrub there.)

At this point, many will also shave, brush their teeth, and do other ablutions in the showers. This is a cleansing ritual. Most saunas provide toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors and shaving cream. Soap and shampoo is provided at the showers. It’s usually all discount brands, so if you like a specific product, bring your own.

After this, the bath is done, and it’s time to take a rest.

The Rest Area:

The rest area varies on the size of the sauna. In a small sauna, it can be a room with recliners, couches, or beds of some kind. In a large Jim Jil Bang, it may be a coed, multi-floor facility with restaurants, salons, and a variety of other activities.

Clothing is usually worn in the rest area, unless it is coed, where it must be worn. For single-gender rest areas, robes are provided. For coed rest areas, a uniform of a t-shirt and knee-length shorts are provided. These are usually color coded by the sexes.

A Jim jil bang can have many different features in the coed area, including workout rooms, restaurants, salons, pools, internet cafes, and especially more saunas. The most unique saunas in the facility are here, with walls made of gold, semi-precious stones or special clays, and unique heating systems like cars loaded with hot stones that exit an oven at specified times. All seem to have a story about what specific healing benefits each has.

In the rest area, you can usually find a collection of recent papers and periodicals (usually all in Korean), and are free to bring in your own. There will also be at least one TV, most times tuned to a Korean station with news or sports on the men’s side, and Korean soap operas on the women’s side. A few have chairs with individual TVs allowing you to watch what you want, and these will also have separate quiet rooms if you don’t want to watch anything.

The biggest Jim jil bangs have restaurants, multiple rest areas, salons, and other dry saunas in the coed areas. Some even have additional, swimsuit required, pools.