Banya

A brief description of banya might give the false impression that it is in some way comparable to a sauna. This is not the case, in the same way that a wolf is not really comparable to a chiuhuahua. Proper banya involves not hot coals, but a proper room sized furnace. As I enter, I pass the wood pile by the door, five or six foot hulks of timber ready to feed the flames.

True banya is a single sex experience. It is possible to do a mixed banya, Simon and I went along to one last night, but it is an expensive affair, 2000 roubles, with optional extras like an erotic, honey massage. Real banya is 100 roubles, the optional extras are birch twigs to hit yourself with, called veniki. For an even more authentically sado-masochistic experience you can use juniper, which has needles instead of leaves. These twigs are soaked in water in the communal shower area then taken with you into the steam room. Here you sit for as long as you can stand, then you jump up beat your self vigorously all over, from the bottom of your feet to the tip of your nose. Then you dash down the stairs, out the door and dive into the icy bath. This is an intense experience. The first time I do it this time, I get pins and needles in my head. There are quite a number fathers taking their children to banya after work, something I hadn't seen before. Even as young as ten they throw themselves into the ice bath with carefree abandon and lay down on the benches for a birch twig beating. After about an hour I decide I have suffered enough and stumble towards the showers, feeling fairly lightheaded but deeply, deeply cleansed. After a shower, I head to the changing room to dry off and chat with some Russians. It is worth mentioning that the whole experience has been conducted very naked. My watch is filled with water but still working, though I don't know how long it can last.