Laotian steam sauna

What do you do on a lazy afternoon in Vientiane, in 40 degrees Celsius? You go to the steam room!

After Ms A left for Bangkok, I suddenly had nothing to do. Instead of drinking my second capuccino or third beer of the day, I decided to do something different in the hopes of a local experience. 

Thank god this place is not listed in the Lonely Planet (yet), so apart from three young monks and a sex tourist, I was the only visitor. The changing room, washing area and steam cabin itself are gender separated, although the whole area is quite small. Let’s face it, it’s someone’s back yard. 

There are various natural skin care products on sale as I discovered too late (oat rub, clay, honey), as well as unlimited hot green tea. Again, it’s about 40 degrees outside. Inside the cabin it is closer to 90 and they had wooden benches like in a classical sauna. A herbal mix consisting of Eukalyptus, lemongrass and various other things was set in a basket on top of the steam exhaust, filling the air with a nice aroma. 

I did three rounds of steaming in a rented sarong totally on my own in the female cabin. I skipped the massage since they only had the Chinese type on offer that day, with those suction cups on your back…. That would have been too authentic, even for me. 

Altogether it was really great and the outside temperature felt nice and cool afterwards. For 20,000 kip entry + 2,000 for the  sarong (less than 3 euros in total) I would highly recommend this as a local experience in the middle of downtown Vientiane, away from the usual tourist activities. 

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