Alien Base: The Evidence for Extraterrestrial Colonization of Earth – RELAXATION
Pallmann was invited to visit the bathing tents on the plantation. The Itibi Rayans, he learned, bathed at least twice a day: before going to work and when work was finished in the late afternoon. ‘Their bathing habits are a combination of the Finnish and Japanese,’ claimed Pallmann. ‘The normal bath is like the Finnish sauna unit, and they have both wet and dry bath units. Because of their lack of inhibitions about nakedness, men and women bathe together. ‘I noticed that Xiti, who is meticulous about her personal hygiene, was scrubbing furiously as if she had done filthy work in the laboratories. I remarked upon this, and she frowned a little. “Can you not smell?” she demanded . . . then she told me to my face that I had eaten meat. I laughed like an idiot. On two occasions I had eaten chicken in Barranquilla. Xiti grinned and pulled a face at me . . .
The domestic arrangements on board the spacecraft also drew Pallmann’s admiration.
The dining quarter and ‘health‘ lounges were bright with decorations. Lovely, soft divans and deep cushions, gay with floral patterned covers, invited relaxation after the day’s work. I admired the way in which the women, some being the wives of the astronauts, who shared similar jobs to the men all day, could shed their technical role during off-duty hours and revert to an essential feminism such as one experiences in Japan. They even took it upon themselves to see to the domestic side of the expedition.