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Herbal Sauna at Wat Sok Pa Luang
By Daniel Haber
Many visitors to Vientiane, coming from, say Bangkok, experience an immediate sense of relief--no traffic jams or pollution, and genuinely welcoming smiles. Although, like most businessmen, I was in a hurry to get on with my business once having checked into my hotel, I was advised by my friend, a long-term resident "This is Lao P.D.R.--P.D.R. means Please Don’t Rush, or Please Do Relax!"
One of the most relaxing things you can do upon arriving in Vientiane, the capital of Lao P.D.R. (which actually stands for People’s Democratic Republic) is to take a herbal sauna and massage. So with my lungs still congested with the foul Bangkok air, and still wheezing, I decided to take my friend’s advice and detox at the herbal sauna at Wat Sok Pa Luang.
It was already a relief to breath the fresh, unpolluted Lao air wafting off the Mekong--instead of fumes. I would smell flowers--and although the vehicular traffic has noticeably increased since my last visit two years ago--it is still nothing compared to Bangkok.
From downtown Vientiane, it’s only a fifteen minute tuk-tuk ride past shaded tree lined avenues and paddy fields to Wat Sok Pa Luang in south Vientiane’s Sisathanak district. In Laos it’s known as a wat paa or a forest temple where vipassana or insight meditation is practiced, although it is also well-known for its rustic herbal sauna, popular with both expats and locals.
There is no sign in English to mark the wat, but as everyone knows where it is, it is not hard to find. Two youthful novice monks in their bright orange-colored robes greet us at the gate and lead us to the stilted wooden house which serves as the sauna.
As it is still early in the afternoon, we are the first to arrive and the caretaker is first starting to stoke the fire under a blackened steel drum full of hot water. The wood fire is lit, and the man takes several bunches of herbs from a nearby table which holds over a dozen varieties of leaves, bark and roots from the forest, and throws them into the cauldron. Later, I find out some of the names of the herbs: kaffir lime (like Bergamot), holy basil, lemon grass, lemon, camphor bark, etc. Once boiling, the steam from the cosmetic concoction goes up into the small wooden planked sauna cabin directly above and fills it up with medical herbal steam.
Since it takes time for the water to boil, a friend of the masseur shows me around the grounds of the forest monastery which houses both monks and nuns (who wear white) in separate quarters. The nuns look after the sauna and grow and collect the herbs as well as cultivate orchids and other flowers which give the place an entrancingly exotic atmosphere.
By the time we return to the sauna house, others have started arriving, and peak period is about 3-6 p.m. after locals get out of school or work. One regular, a therapist from Canada, had recently arrived from China where he had studied herbal medicine. The other steam bathers are Lao--mostly university students, a teacher and a portly businessman who leaves his mobile phone outside the steam sauna, but later burst out trailing clouds of steam from the foggy sauna, dripping with perspiration as he tries to answer his ringing phone.
By the time I change into the sarong-like loin cloth which is provided, the sauna room is practically full to capacity--6 to 8 persons-depending on the size of the derrieres on the bench. I find a seat in the dense fog and can immediately smell a distinctly pleasant citrony scent in the smoke seeping up through the floor boards.
Unlike other countries in South East Asia, the Lao herbal saunas have nothing to do with sex. They are, however, co-ed and a good place to relax and meet Laotians who enjoy meeting foreigners and practicing English.
One can sit inside the sauna as long as you like--or rather, as long you can stand it--which is usually about ten minuets at a time. When you come out, the outside air, which upon arriving had felt hot and muggy at first, now feels cool and breezy by comparison.
Outside, on the table, there is a kettle of steaming herbal tea, so that by drinking the tea, you get medicinal benefit both inside and out. For optimum effect from the herbs, you’re not supposed to wash off the perspiration for at least several hours--some say six--to allow the herbal steam to soak into you pores. Although it is tempting to take a shower, it is better to wait until you get home or, better yet, to wait until the next morning. Don’t worry, you won’t have B.O., the herbs take all the bad odors away.
This gives you plenty of time for a massage. There are two expert masseurs who give a wicked Shiatsu massage that lasts about an hour for only 3,000 kip, or about US$3. The Canadian therapist said that was a real bargain as he would charge about US$50 in Canada, while my English friend Kevin said in London he would pay 40 pounds for less than an hour. For only the sauna, a 1,000 kip donation may be left with the attendant/masseur who is supposed to give it to the Wat.
When the lay people leave after dusk, around 7 p.m., the monks use the sauna themselves, and while the monks and nuns at Wat Sok Pa Luang may not be wealthy, they are certainly healthy and wise.
For those that are also interested in practicing Vipassana, or insight meditation, there are special week-end sessions conducted by Abbot Acharn Xali in which foreigners are welcome to attend.