Friday was Buddha's Birthday, a national holiday. Naturally Danny had off from work again, but I had to work 10am-4pm instead of coming in at night. The students complained all day because they had off from their regular school, but they still had to come to CDI. After work I met up with Danny for an early dinner at Petra in Itaewon. We can't get enough of this place, and we might go back later this week too. We can get similar middle eastern food back home, but it's so tasty here and we can order a bunch of different vegan appetizers and side dishes to make a nice meal.
I have been begging Danny to try out one of the traditional Korean hot springs spas, and he finally agreed to go on Saturday. We took the subway and an express bus and about 2 hours later we were in Icheon, a city just south of Seoul. Icheon is famous in Korea for its natural hot springs, pottery, and sticky white rice grown in really fertile soil. We went to the Hotel Miranda's SpaPlus, which is supposed to be more foreigner friendly. It turns out that by foreigner friendly they meant some signs would be in English. Korean spas, or "jimjilbangs," are insanely popular here and entire families will spend the day together at one. There are two kinds of spas though. The urban jimjilbangs in cities like Seoul are open 24/7 and you can spend as much time as you want for only about $10. The hot springs spas outside Seoul are usually connected to a hotel and they are allow entrance from morning to night for about $20. The hot springs spas were more appealing to me because they use natural hot spring water rich in minerals that have tons of health benefits. When we entered SpaPlus, we were given an electronic bracelet to wear that would be used to purchase food and services (so no cash needed on the premises!) We were directed to lockers, where we had to place our shoes. After that we were clueless as to where to go next. We saw two signs: one for the men's locker room and one for the women's locker room. Finally, we realized that we first needed to pick up our mini towel and t-shirt and shorts from the counter in the lobby. I had read up on jimjilbangs before going, so I knew that the spa area was separated by gender. So Danny and I parted and headed for our respective locker rooms. In the women's locker room, I found the locker that corresponded to my bracelet ID # and put my stuff inside. That included ALL of my clothing, because you must strip down to your birthday suit before entering the female-only spa. Next step is to shower down, which I did quickly because I forgot to bring soap. The Koreans take this step seriously and they sit on stools in front of low shower heads and basically scrub each other with soap and abrasive towels. Entire generations of families will come to jimjilbangs together, and the grandmother and her grandchildren will help scrub each other. It might be considered strange by Western standards, but I guess it's good family bonding time. So after showering I was ready to hop in the baths. First I tried one that was about 30 degrees celsius, which was the perfect temperature. They had nice massaging jets all over this tub too. After I hopped in the 40 degree celsius tub, which is the hottest, so I only lasted 2 minutes. I finished my cycle with the cold tub, which actually felt nice after the scalding tub. Then I headed over the the herbal baths, which were all different colors and scents. One was green, so maybe it was green tea. Another was labeled as charcoal, which is really popular in Korea for skin benefits. Next I tried a walking bath, where you walk in a shallow pool with rocks on the bottom to massage your feet. I finished my time in the spa area with a hop in the cold bath, which is supposed to tighten your pores. I met Danny back in the lobby and realized he had been waiting awhile for me while I was enjoying the spa. Donning our SpaPlus cotton t-shirt and shorts, we headed upstairs to the second floor. This floor featured a rest area, where people were just sprawled out all over the floor with wooden neck pillows under their heads. I don't know how Koreans consider a loud area with tons of families and kids relaxing, but I guess living in a city like Seoul is never very quiet either. We realized we were a bit light-headed from sitting in the baths, so we ordered a variation of Korea's famous "patbingsu" dessert. The version we had featured shaved ice topped with sliced fresh fruit and drizzled with a lemony sweet milk. It was really refreshing after the baths, and it kept us cool before entering the saunas. We tried charcoal, amethyst, and jade hot saunas. These were dark and relaxing inside, and the walls were covered with huge natural rocks and minerals. There were mats on the floor, and everyone laid down while watching Korean dramas on the TV in each sauna. Danny and I sat up, because they were pretty crowded. They were hot, but not ridiculously hot, so I didn't get too sweaty or dizzy. After we finished in the cool marble sauna room. We forgot to go into the hottest sauna, which looks like a giant oven and is 99 degrees celsius! The second floor also featured an area with cucumber and charcoal face masks and massaging beds and chairs. These services were all under $5 each, and I wanted to try them, but Danny was being cheap! He was most interested in finding the Doctor Fish, which nibble on your feet and eat away the dead skin. This service was listed on the spa's website as only about $5 for 30 minutes, which is probably a bargain compared to what it would cost at a spa in America. We searched everywhere and found out the Doctor Fish room had closed down. We decided to head outside in our swimsuits to the unisex baths. It was lightly drizzling, but luckily the baths were filled with hot spring water. We tried the bade pool first, which featured all kinds of massaging jets. This was my favorite pool at the spa. Next we went in baths made of wood and stone. After we tried the lime green aroma bath, which smelled really nice. Then we went in the multicolored herbal baths, which were the same as the ones indoors I think. We finished up in the cold pool under a "cave." By this point we were starving and pruney, so we decided to get dressed and head out for dinner. We ate dinner at a restaurant across the street from SpaPlus that offered Icheon's famous "Ssalbap." Ssalbap is steamed sticky white rice served in a hot stone pot. It is the main course of the meal, but what really makes the meal are the dozens of side dishes that are included. We were served our first round of side dishes, and when we finished those the Ssalbap and tons more side dishes were brought out. The Ssalbap is eaten by immediately removing most of the rice from the stone pot and placing it in a small bowl. The rice left in the pot is crusty and browned, so it has a nice toasty flavor. But to eat it, you must pour hot water from a tea pot into the stone pot to loosen the crusty burnt rice. This makes a nice soup that you can eat after your meal. We filled up on the rice and all of the side dishes, and we were given a cool cinnamon and ginger tea at the end of the meal. Most of the dishes were vegan, and they reminded me of the offerings from the buddhist style restaurants in Insadong. The entire meal cost us only $10 a person. We headed home after dinner, and we were surprisingly tired even though we relaxed all day at the spa. Now I'm excited to try the luxurious Spa Castle in Flushing, NY when I get home. It's a multistory spa that's modeled after Korean style jimjilbangs. Unfortunately, it's not as cheap as the real spas in Korea, and it's about $40 a day.
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