Vabali

This is like being in a home decor magazine. The rooms are extensive and you can pick where you just like the furniture and paintings and textiles. The Germans just took everything from Bali or Bali inspired and put it in this joint. They have heated waterbed mats upstairs and many, many, many- an amazing amount of many cozy places to lay. One secret back room has a window full of gardenias- one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever laid. Several of the saunas have picture window views of the outside, and there are cabanas outside as well as many pool lounges on the grass which just really reminds me of sleepy naked people puppies at a dog park. Its a very spatially comfortable place. The food in the restaurant is really bad- typical German palate ruining approximations of other cuisines. I guess its like Asian-fusion style but everything I ate there was excruciatingly bad, and they were very proud of it. Thai masseuse is actually Thai & good. Here, there is not much architectural or temperature difference between the various sauna  rooms- instead they they add the drama performatively with the aufguss. So there is a schedule and everyone goes on a circuit from room to room for the infusions. For the infusions a strapping young German swings towels, fans, and branches around, sometimes with like orange peel- or maybe giving you a salt scrub. You sit and competitive sweat. A punishing feat of public endurance. Stay in the whole time- even sit at the top where it is hottest. The only draw back is between infusions the saunas cool down a lot, and it can feel like you’re chasing the schedule rather than being in your own rhythm. After the aufguss everyone crowds naked to the showers. There is a social vibe of self satisfaction and posturing through punishment in this place. They had a black guy in the women’s hamam doing a chocolate face mask- which was wrong on so many levels and which I walked out of once I realized what was going on, then had a political convo with that guy after. He said yes they do only have him do this treatment, yeah maybe its racist, the women really like it, and its how he’s working his way up to infusions. You can get there via the bus and a short pay-for-bike ride.

—Carrie

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