It was on Saturday that Johannes proposed to go to the local hot spring for the weekend excursion. I had nothing planned, so I said yes. However, it was quite a hard night before and I only had less than three hours sleep. As Friday night, I went to pool with the guys and had some drinks till early morning, 4:00am Saturday precisely! Regardless, I woke up with a disoriented brain and waited for pick up at 10:00am. A hot spring trip could be excellent to get me ready for the clubbing tonight.
The hot spring village, Loipersdorf is situated east of Styria and is only an hour drive from Graz. The thermal and healing bath in this region populated due to the volcano range around it. The water in the bath was pumped from the ground and it is really good for the skin and the body. After Kathi parked the car, we walked towards the bath. The key to various entries in the bath was a watch with a built in chip. By placing the chip on the sensors, we could access the facility, the lockers... By the end of the day, just simply put it back in a machine to get the refund back. It was quite an eye opener. The last similar trip that I went, they were still using paper strips over the wrist.
There were two main areas which we could access for the day, the hot spring and sauna. The hot spring area was further divided to indoor and outdoor. Nothing fancy about this part, but one was really nice. As the bath opens till late night, it is wonderful to sink in the outdoor hot spring under the stars that will be really nice. For the coming full moon, it is going to open till 2:00am the next day. Too bad, I didn't have a spare hand for my digital camera. Then there was the sauna...
While have anyone been to a public naked bath? Yap, this is one of them. In Austria, people go to sauna naked! In addition to that, the baths are usually mixed. Some of your guys who are reading this might start to think... Ahem... Later I heard from Philip that it is more for the hygienic purpose rather than sexual. At the beginning, it was completely weird and uncomfortable for me. The guys just went in the changing room, undressed and walked into the sauna with literally nothing. It was the same for the girls as well. Hmmm... Since I am in Austria, I shall follow their rules and I didn't think I have a choice then. I walked in with nothing, but with a towel around my waist. Trying to hide my thingy without being obvious. In less than 15 minutes I gave up and walked around the area like the others. To my surprise, once I got used to, it was really nothing and I enjoyed myself. When we were in the sauna room, someone would always take the initiative be the 'Master of Ceremony' and it is normally a guy's job. Starting of every session, he will open the door and spin his towel to get some fresh air into the room. Then, he will close the door and pour the water on the hot rocks. Also, he would flip his towel to get some air towards the stone and swing his towel like an helicopter, in order to get the hot air evenly distributed in the room. At the end of the session, people will really applaud for his effort. Philip and Thomas took the honor and did it really well.
Loipersdorf bath
By the time we left, it was already 8:00pm and it ended up quite funny. After a local took photos for us, he asked where were we from. In no time that Philip said, "We are from Okinawa, east of Styria." While the guy surprisingly replied, "Okinawa... Hmm... I haven been there... east of Styria." He actually believed it! Then, we finished off with Philip and Johannes doing a Nazi style goodbye... They were hilarious!
Johannes, me, Philip, Kathi, Thomas and Suza(Left to right)
Sunset at Loipersdorf
Johannes and Philip with Nazi style goodbye
The hot spring village, Loipersdorf is situated east of Styria and is only an hour drive from Graz. The thermal and healing bath in this region populated due to the volcano range around it. The water in the bath was pumped from the ground and it is really good for the skin and the body. After Kathi parked the car, we walked towards the bath. The key to various entries in the bath was a watch with a built in chip. By placing the chip on the sensors, we could access the facility, the lockers... By the end of the day, just simply put it back in a machine to get the refund back. It was quite an eye opener. The last similar trip that I went, they were still using paper strips over the wrist.
There were two main areas which we could access for the day, the hot spring and sauna. The hot spring area was further divided to indoor and outdoor. Nothing fancy about this part, but one was really nice. As the bath opens till late night, it is wonderful to sink in the outdoor hot spring under the stars that will be really nice. For the coming full moon, it is going to open till 2:00am the next day. Too bad, I didn't have a spare hand for my digital camera. Then there was the sauna...
While have anyone been to a public naked bath? Yap, this is one of them. In Austria, people go to sauna naked! In addition to that, the baths are usually mixed. Some of your guys who are reading this might start to think... Ahem... Later I heard from Philip that it is more for the hygienic purpose rather than sexual. At the beginning, it was completely weird and uncomfortable for me. The guys just went in the changing room, undressed and walked into the sauna with literally nothing. It was the same for the girls as well. Hmmm... Since I am in Austria, I shall follow their rules and I didn't think I have a choice then. I walked in with nothing, but with a towel around my waist. Trying to hide my thingy without being obvious. In less than 15 minutes I gave up and walked around the area like the others. To my surprise, once I got used to, it was really nothing and I enjoyed myself. When we were in the sauna room, someone would always take the initiative be the 'Master of Ceremony' and it is normally a guy's job. Starting of every session, he will open the door and spin his towel to get some fresh air into the room. Then, he will close the door and pour the water on the hot rocks. Also, he would flip his towel to get some air towards the stone and swing his towel like an helicopter, in order to get the hot air evenly distributed in the room. At the end of the session, people will really applaud for his effort. Philip and Thomas took the honor and did it really well.
Loipersdorf bath
Johannes, me, Philip, Kathi, Thomas and Suza(Left to right)
Sunset at Loipersdorf
Johannes and Philip with Nazi style goodbye
No comments:
Post a Comment