Many years ago, I was posted abroad for a period of time as a representative of a company in Moscow, Russia, where I was mainly responsible for Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe and Northern Europe.
Our work is not simple to say simple, but it is not complicated to say that it is complicated, that is, to import the distinctive products of these countries to China to meet the needs of Chinese customers and consumers.
At that time, there were also a lot of Chinese companies stationed abroad, and they mainly sold China's cheap industrial products to all over the world, while we were the opposite, buying things in these countries, these practices were very good, and the competition was not fierce, so it was relatively easy to make money, and there were more of them.
I opened up the Finnish market and I can still remember my first visit to Finland, especially the famous Finnish baths for the first time.
It was in 2015 when our office was going to develop business in Finland, before that, we didn't know much about Finland, and no one had ever been to Finland, but according to our friends in Finland, there was a lot of timber in Finland, and there were all kinds of seafood, dairy products, which were needed by our domestic customers.
So, we got in touch with the local customers in Finland, and I led a team to Finland for a business trip, which of course was my first business trip to Finland.
There are many flights from Moscow in Russia to Helsinki in Finland, at that time the relationship between Russia and Finland was not bad, because Russia is Finland's largest neighbor, although Finland is a member of the European Union, but obviously, Russia's influence on Finland is relatively large because of the proximity, Helsinki is the capital of Finland, basically it can be said that it is the southernmost tip of Finland, bordering the Baltic Sea, and it is also the political, economic, cultural and transportation center of Finland.
The population of Finland is very small, only about 5.5 million, so the population of Finland as a whole is equivalent to the size of a medium-sized city in China, so even the capital of Finland, there are not many people on the streets of Helsinki, and the whole city seems quiet and deserted.
Our business trip itinerary was arranged in advance, starting from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, from south to north, and inspected several places along the way, looking at their factories, their production lines, and their products.
After dinner on the first day of the tour, the Finns, as the hosts, said they would take us to their most famous Finnish baths to experience an authentic Finnish bath.
I asked our accompanying interpreter, a Finnish female college student, what does an authentic Finnish bath mean, isn't it a sauna, the beautiful translator was stunned by my question, thought for a while and said to me, what you said is not wrong, the Finnish bath is indeed the origin of the sauna, but not exactly, you will know when you arrive.
So, our group set off from the hotel, drove for about an hour, at first there were sparse houses on both sides of the road, and then both sides of the road were completely covered with snow-covered primeval forests, and just when we were full of doubts, we arrived at our destination.
It was a rather large geothermal hot spring, and there were many small wooden houses scattered around the hot springs, and the beautiful translator told me that those small wooden houses were saunas, which were equivalent to our VIP rooms in China, and there was an extra charge to go there for a Finnish bath.
Soon, our group also unpacked our clothes and came to a separate cabin under the leadership of the Finnish host.
Unlike in our country, the sauna is co-sexual, but don't think about it, it's a public place where everyone covers key parts of the body with special clothes, just like we do in a public pool, but we wear a little less.
The cabin is not very big, although it is a VIP treatment, but it does not have a tall and brilliant appearance, but compared to our domestic sauna, this sauna is more distinctive.
First of all, it is indeed made of the finest Finnish logs, because as soon as we enter the bathroom, there is a strong smell of wood, and I asked through a beautiful translator, and they told me that the wood used in this wooden house is all made of a special kind of cypress wood produced in the region, and the fragrance is also the fragrance of cypress.
Secondly, this sauna is not very large, I visually inspected it, and it is less than 20 square meters, which is said to be to save energy, which is also reasonable.
Thirdly, there are two rows of seats against the wall of the bathroom, which are similar in style to those in China, but the difference is that the wood used for the seats here is also a special wood.
A group of us entered this VIP Finnish bathroom and began to steam in it, both men and women sat casually, and the Finnish beauty translator sat next to me in order to make it easier to hear what I said.
I have to say that in the matter of sauna, the Finns are indeed super endurance, and after about twenty minutes, most of the Chinese who came with me couldn't hold on, and I was okay, and I held on for more than ten minutes, and I couldn't stand it, so I came to the sauna outside.
Outside, there are plenty of service options to sit in a chair and drink an ice-cold drink, a cold beer and chilled fruit, a swim in the pool, and more.
I chose a project specially recommended by the host, I was lying on a massage table, a Finnish grandfather held a handful of branches with leaves in his hand, whipped all over my back, the strength of the whipping depends on the tolerance of everyone, I inquired, the whipping of my branches is also a local pine branch and cedar branch, also specially treated, there is a strong fragrance of leaves.
This kind of whipping also played a role similar to cupping or gua sha in our country, and it didn't stop until the Finnish guy pumped my back red, but it was very comfortable.
Later, I joined the crowd and sat together drinking cold beer, cold drinks, and eating cold fruits.
There are a few Finns who came with us who have super stamina, and they have steamed back and forth in the sauna several times, but they are still full of energy, and some people say that Russian men are polar bears, and I think Finnish men are more like polar bears.
That night, we played until late and then went back to the hotel to sleep, and that was my first experience of a real Finnish bath.
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