Harness

bethy_the_vt_hiker

The Jhinu Hot Spring ✨️

Amazing... I highly recommend visiting when you are in Nepal 🇳🇵

As usual, quite little to share, especially on topic.

An opinion piece from the Kathmandu Post (May 8):

'Nepal’s hot water springs have great potential as a renewable geothermal energy source that generates low levels of greenhouse gases.

...

The Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) study on identifying and developing hot springs [2024 report] recognised 41 sites meeting threshold parameters (discharge and temperature), which is noteworthy for geothermal energy development'.

The conclusion is that despite all the pro's, there's still a lot to do before the potential can be harnessed.

seasontech

Hot spring Yamchun🤩

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#dostuptravel #trip #travelling #travel #tajikistan #tajikistan🇹🇯 #точикистон #таджикистан #памир #pamir #ямчун #yamchun #hotspring

An extensive article on the website Bhutanpilgrimage (Sep. 12) concerning Bhutan's tsachu's:

'The origin of hot springs in Bhutan dates back to the visit of Guru Rinpoche to Bhutan in 746 AD. Because of this, Tshachus are revered and regarded as holy, and as a result, Tshachus are typically located in sacred places.

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The most popular hot springs in Bhutan are the Chuboog Tshachu and Koma Tshachu in Punakha; the Duenmang Tshachu in Zhemgang; the Khempajong Nye Tshachu in Lhuntse; the Gasa Tshachu in Gasa; and the Gelephu Tshachu in Sarpang.

Bhutanese have used Tshachu for generations for relaxation, bathing, and treating various physical illnesses. The traditional winter custom of visiting Tshachu reflects how seriously the Bhutanese people take their therapeutic practices.

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A study conducted on the hot springs of Bhutan has classified hot springs based on water temperature as hot-, warm-, tepid-, and cold springs. Only six of the 29 pools from the 10 hot springs are classified as hot springs (temperature: 42°C). While the majority of pools—18 pools—belong to warm springs (temperature range: 35–42 °C), two pools are classified as tepid springs (temperature range: 25–34 °C), and one pool is classified as a cold spring (temperature range: 25 °C)'.

ExPlore with Phub TsheRing (Apr. 24)

Sacred Nude Hot Spring of Guru Rinpoche in Tibet

I would like to share my unique and sacred experience of soaking—completely naked—in the revered Tidrum (also spelled Tidro) Tshachu hot spring in Tibet.

During my first visit to Tidrum Tshachu with a group of clients, I was informed that it's mandatory to bathe without any clothes. In fact, if you enter the spring with clothes on, you’re fined ¥200!

I felt extremely awkward at first—I'd never bathed completely naked in front of others before. But some of my senior clients reassured me, saying, “We all carry the same thing —nothing to be shy about.”

They also reminded me that in traditional Bhutanese culture, it used to be the same practice.I hesitantly removed my clothes, using my right hand to cover myself as I quietly slipped into a corner of the spring, immersing myself up to the neck. To be honest, the scene was quite humorous—we saw all kinds of “pistols” out there, and yes, it’s actually considered disrespectful in Tibetan culture to enter a hot spring with clothes on. One should be especially cautious when getting out of the spring—chances are you might accidentally bump into someone else’s “pistol”

Nowadays, though, many Bhutanese have started wearing underwear while soaking.

According to legend, Tidrum hot spring was created by Guru Rinpoche himself, using his Dorje (vajra). The spring maintains an average temperature of around 40°C and is rich in minerals like sulfur, limestone, bitumen, coal, and others. Tibetan medicine claims that soaking here for at least a week can help with ailments such as gastric disorders, tumors, paralysis, rheumatism, dermatitis, poor blood circulation, and general physical debility…

We visited today

Contagious
Findpengiuns concerning Ala-kul hot spring, high up in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan (Sep. 18):

'Eventually, after 19km, having climbed 1,000m up and 1,400m down, we reached the 'hot springs' village of Altyn-Arashan where our second yurt camp was located. This hot spring was quite different to the Japanese onsen experience: more like a tin shed in a freezing field, which you can only enter for a half-hour slot. But it was actually very good considering it only cost us £4. A hot (sulphurous) bath after 8.5hrs of hiking is not to be sniffed at (not least because it’s quite eggy).

Tasteful hot spring shot.

An Arasan bathhouse, we're in Kazakhstan. Teagan Mayr (Mar. 14) on Penn State Student Media:

'When learning about some of the bathhouse’s history during our walking tour on the first day, my friend Amy and I knew we had to go inside.

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Following a confusing exchange with employees at the front desk, Amy and I weren’t entirely sure what we were walking into, other than a room full of naked women. We had thought the baths were clothing optional, however, we quickly learned that clothes weren’t allowed.

The bathhouse was filled with women of all ages, shapes and sizes, swimming in a cold pool together. As someone who has body image issues, I was scared to drop my towel and join the women in the pool but after some encouragement I waded in.

For the first time, I didn’t feel sexualized and if anything I felt empowered that I was there for no one but myself. However, I soon perceived that my pool mates were nonetheless judging me…for not wearing a hair net. While there were signs in English throughout the bathhouse the translations were contradictory and confusing. Women in the pool began pointing at us and yelling in a language we didn’t know. They were gesturing at us to put on a hair net. Two women who didn’t speak English helped Amy and me tie up our hair so we could return back to the baths.

Despite being called a bathhouse, the facility actually had only one pool and three floors full of three types of saunas: Eastern, Finnish and Russian. Each sauna has its own rules, with the English translations contradicting the images on the signs. Amy and I quickly made another mistake of wearing shoes into the wrong sauna, and we were promptly met with looks of disgust'.

TheNODmag (Jul. 14) likewise, visits the same bathhouse in Almaty:

'In Almaty, the bath and sauna is an all-in-one ritual: a massage on top of a marble slab, a cold plunge, a hot, steamy sauna, and then a cold bath again makes up the experience at a traditional bathhouse. And the best place to enjoy these saunas is at Arasan Wellness and Spa (or just Arasan).

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For Indians like me, nudity can feel a bit awkward or discomforting, but the place has a way of making you feel comfortable in your own skin. All around, women of all ages walk about with purpose. Everyone is naked, and nobody cares. Some sport a tea-cosy-like sauna hat on their heads, others sport temporary tattoos made from the leaves of the venik—a small bundle of leaves like birch, juniper, linden or oak—which are part of the Russian steam experience. And their confidence is contagious, so, naturally, our swimsuits are left behind'.

alex_klishina

Это мы уже довольные собой отогреваемся в радоновых ванночках.

Очень сложный, но запоминающийся поход 2024, когда сквозь туман, дождь, снег, борясь с внутренней злостью, ты всё-таки доходишь до такой удивительной красоты.

Finally, the go-to hot spring website,Thermalsprings.ru, has been visiting the central Asian republics and reporting back via Facebook and (sporadically) Instagram. As usual a raft of hot springs are visited, not really experiencing the soaks themselves, all a bit chaotic.

August 2021, Under the ongoing Himalayan orogeny, the unstable structure of the northern Tibetan plateau undergoes intense internal activity giving rise to a non-zonal climate and dozens of hot springs at the earth's rooftop. Every year, when Venus (god of medicine) rises, the 7-day bathing festival starts. All the villagers in the area around Banei village come to bathe in this hot spring to heal body and mind and wash away fatigue and diseases of a whole year. It is an occasion when you see the true nature of these beautiful people. It is for them, I realize, that I circle the mountain and water and wander in the plateau for all these years ...