KOREAN SPA

One of the things I did during my trip to Korea last year was go to a typical, local, Korean spa...and boy it wasn't anything like I had imagined it to be!! It was so different and brilliant!

For approximately 6USD, you can spend an entire day in this haven of relaxation and rejuvenation where you come out feeling like a new person.
From what the locals tell me, the whole family goes to these spas together. Its a whole day family affair. Cameras are strictly not allowed hence no pics but I can take you through the goings-on from what I remember.

You pay the money and you get a key to the locker which is yours for the rest of the day. There are separate sections for women & men. You go inside the spa, strip (you are not allowed to wear ANY clothes inside the main spa / bath area) and wrap a towel around you. You then enter the baths where you can choose from warm aromatic baths, to ice cold showers and a whole lot of other I-cant-pronounce things. There were at least 6 to 7 varieties of baths!

Then there is sauna. I remember sitting in one of the saunas with a bunch of korean women..they knew very little english and kept looking at us and giggling. I suppose they were as amused to see us as we were to see them! they were using something called the "Cupping Method" on their skin. They are basically plastic cup like small structures. They plaster this on your skin to form a suction and release this suction after 5 mins. It leaves the skin with a red and round mark (like a ring worm has bit you). It looks hideous but apparently it is suppose to do wonders for your skin including increased blood circulation.

So here's how it goes: you start with taking a shower, then you get into one of the baths to relax, this is followed by sauna or steam to open the pores and relax the muscles...THIS is followed by the mother of all scrubs!!! So..standing there in a separate enclosure are these middle aged women (they would easily pass of as our aunts or grand mothers) in their undergarments, next to these massage beds. I lay down in one such bed and what followed was nothing less than a roller coaster ride..these women splash water on you and then the scrubbing starts! they use a locally made scrub and they go at your body like there is no tomorrow...there was nothing hidden, no body part was too intimate...these women have obviously done this for a very long time and it shows in their skill of scrubbing!! I swear I felt as I grew a new layer of skin by the time I was done.

Once you are done with this followed by a quick shower, you go to your locker get dressed and now you are ready to join the rest of your family in the common area where you have various things of interest. There are yoga classes, mani-pedi, facials, cafe, comic book stores..all meant for you to indulge in together as family. They also have these small "igloo" type enclosures where you can slip in and take a nap! its sooo warm and cozy in there that you feel like snoozing a bit.

Once you are done with all of this, its time to go out and meet the world again :) and I kid you not...after all this indulgence and pampering you truly do feel like a new person :) Koreans really know how its done!


Here's one my favorite pics taken from the 55th floor of my hotel in Seoul :)