Before we set off Nao warned us, 'watch out for the electric one!'. Electric, how does that work in water I wondered. 'Don't worry, its the best one.' he called as we left, hmm.
We followed his directions, and realised we had past it several times during the day. There's no huge signage or anything. There's a foyer area for shoes, and then a male and female door. The woman looking after the place, and collecting the money sits in the middle of these doors. I paid her and then went in and started getting undressed. She was watching telly but I was still felt very self conscious when I was getting undressed. Through the glass slide doors I could see steam rising, several wash stations with a bucket and tap, several bath tubs behind that. I had a long face cloth type thing which was good for keeping my privates, private.
I took a deep breathe, and thought f*ck it, let's just go. Pulled open the slide door, and the 3 woman that were in there didn't even look up. Nothing to worry about at all. I grabbed a stool, and bucket and picked a station which didn't intrude on anyones personal space too much but also so I could make sure I was doing things correctly. The main tubs aren't for cleaning yourself in, but rather for soaking in and relaxing so the purpose of these wash stations is to scrub yourself clean.
The locals really do scrub. Until they're like red raw some of them. The woman I was sat near was washing before I started, and was still at it when I got up to go to the baths. Its cute, the locals often have their own bucket which they take with their own toiletries, and toothbrush, hairbrush etc.
Ok, so I was ready. I think there was 5 baths altogether. I didn't pick the one closest to the washing stations but 3rd up. Popped my foot in, and got this tingling sensation. It was hot, hotter than I would normally have my bath but I just eased myself in. Then I felt like these kinda like vibrations which would make my muscles wobble. Of course, I jumped straight into the electric one!!! I didn't want to seem like the silly foreigner so I just sat there and soaked it up for like 5minutes before coming back out... It was actually ok when I was side on, ie when the zaps were on my side but when I turned and it was on my tummy, it was too much. It felt nice on my back, but the tummy was too much.
Next I tried just the hot bath, which was nice. Next to that was the very hot one. It took me a while to get into it because it was so hot. I couldn't really stay in it for too long because it was that hot. There was a bubbling one which I thought I would save for later, and a green one which a lady was already in so I choose the last one which was ICE cold. Dipped my toes in there, and then sat in slowly. Tried the green, herbal one, as soon as it was free. Nice, tingly but in a herbs kinda way not electric shocks way. Then I went back in the cold one- not sure if that's good for my body but it feels good to go from one extreme to the other. Then bubbles where another lady was but it was the biggest one so I joined her. She tried to chat to me but I can't speak Japanese so just smiled and told her 'Scottorando'. (Scottish) I really need to learn some Japanese, they are such friendly people.
After you've had enough of that you get out and wash yourself again. I don't take as long as the first time but still have a scrub because of the baths that other people have been in. When I went through the slide doors, I didn't care at all if the woman was watching tv or not. I was so relaxed, and felt kinda comfortable with my body. I'm never one for walking around a changing room naked but I felt good about myself.
We spent the next 3 weeks traveling West of Japan to Kagoshima and eventually back to Tokyo. I will write up about others we visited, including several onsen (natural hot springs), spa visit, and being buried into a sand bath...
STAY at Roujiya Guesthouse, Kyoto
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