Japanese bath house

Where can you find a remotely similar Japanese bath house outside of Japan?

The Kings Cross one closed down a while ago in Sydney. You can tell by the location, some shady people go there not just to bath..... lolol.

So, we decided to head to a quieter and unassuming bath house down an industrial lane during our Melbourne trip.

We got on the tram and rode to High Street. I forgot the bath house address (and forgot my mobile that day >.<) and had to use someone’s mobile internet... If only one of us had a super versatile iphone =( BUT fortunately it was only a 5 minute walk to the left down Cromwell Street from the tram stop. That street was full of car repair shops and other industrial services. Such an unfitting street for a tranquil bath house!

If it weren’t for the humongous sign we would have walked right past it~

Inside you take off your shoes and we were separated into males and female washing and bathing/sauna rooms. The shiatsu masseuse was all booked out. We really wanted a painful sounding massage to complete our eventful journey in Melbourne =( . But the sauna was already testing our limits lol.

Anyway, we were given robes and towels and told to take off all our clothes in change room. You HAVE TO be naked in the change room~!

Floorplan - females only

The place was much smaller then we expected. No wonder you have to book in advance because it can only hold like 8 people every session.

From website, the bath and washing area.

I don’t know what the male one looked like but it must be similar. You wash yourself squeaky clean with the loofa. The wash room is in the same room, unlike large bath houses in Japan usually a separate room to the bath. I didn’t know how to turn the handheld shower on so only had the tap and bucket. The plastic stool was so daunting to sit on LOL. Because I’m sure everyone has a slight case of mysophobia.

Anyway after being super cleansed and free of make up and scaring people because I just got a boy’s haircut, got into the bath and just sat there. It was nice and warm but I wish it was foggier so we can pretend we are the only naked person in the bath >=/

Went into the sauna and it wasn’t steamy in there either. Even when I put like 3 scoops of water onto the coal. Made it super hot and my friend can’t stand heat so she went out while I stayed, moving around trying to find a cooler spot to sit and sweat and thus lose some weight =D .

That’s what you can do while there. It’s not coed at all. Until you change into those loose robes and meet in the tatami room. If it were coed that would be like a nudist camp =o= . The tatami room is just a quiet room with tables.

From their site

There was one in China which was coed and we had to wear bathing suits. Gahh there were so many people but luckily all of them were polite. I stayed in the jasmine pool for ages hoping to smell nice for a week after I came out. Well, it didn't work. The coffee one was nice. It was suppose to make you lose cellulite but my skin had a nice tan to it afterward... The most extreme was the ying-yang pool where you go from a 45˚C pool and jump straight to a 16˚C pool so your blood vessels get a work out dilating and constricting. It's suppose to ward off colds or something...

Anywho, we ordered some food there and cold tofu is so nice after hot bathing. You can also sleep there because they provided some bamboo pillows and bamboo fans too. So old school!

There are rules btw! You can’t do anything lesbian there and masturbate LOL.

We came out cleaner than we’ve ever been our entire lives... quite hungry too and decided to eat Japanese food to compliment our day =D

Came across Sushi Burger a while ago at the end of Chinatown and decided on dinner there that night.

I ordered a salmon burger while my friend had the teriyaki chicken. Her one was better than mine..

"What a cool idea!"

The bento was quite large but the tofu udon was so plain. Two thin slices of tofu with udon... pricy for $10.. Good thing I ordered sides because that wasn't worth eating anyway.

Later on, we went back to hotel and woke up next day for flight home ~ :)

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Here are some more bath photos.
Google it and heaps will come up, like authentic baths in Japan with sites in English!

I heard they ban gay and lesbians but only if you show inappropriate behavior inside. Also the normal people might stare at gaijin people LOL.

At least the one we went to looked really clean and not shabby or old. It was just small but tidy and comfortable. We only had 4 people in that hour but there bills must be gastronomical pumping all that hot water. We only paid like $30 for 1 hour of bathing and an extra hour sitting around in tatami room. Well I recommend this place!! AND crown complex, zoo and aquarium too. Visit if you have the chance :)

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Off on a self rediscovery... ;(

Au revoir!