My original plan to visit the old imperial city of Gyeongju
was vetoed and we went to try the famous Korean spa instead.
Our hotel manager recommended Spa-land in
Shinsegae Department Store.
It is a very
upscale and new establishment.
The
admission fee of W17000 includes 4 hrs of hot/cold pools, various hot sauna or
steam rooms, relaxation room, outdoor foot bath, and sleep area.
Only the bath areas are sex segregated and we
have to bath in our birthday suit!
After
paying the entrance fees, we were assigned a locker each to put away our
shoes.
Next we took the locker key and a
set of spa clothing given and went to find the lockers to lock away our valuables.
Then in our birthday suits, we have to take a
shower before getting into the hot or cold pools.
There are pools with different hot and cold
temperatures you can choose from.
The
only complaint I have is that the temperatures are not extreme enough to cause
the needling sensation like we felt in Cuenca, Ecuador.
We met up again after bathing to try out the
different hot/steam rooms.
They even
have an ice room for you to cool down.
In
acts similar to K-drama, Yiling ordered two eggs to crack (on my head) while relaxing in the
steam hall where people gather to chat, eat, and relax.
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| Sun room where patrons can just rest (and actually sleep)! |
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| Very spacious and new facilities |
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| One of the hottest hot sauna rooms in the building - at 77 C |
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| This hot room is built with Turkish atmosphere |
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| There are a total of over 10 hot sauna rooms in the building, all with different twists |
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| Another one of the hot rooms |
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| Relaxation room where you can relax to listen to music or watch TV. There is even a cinema room |
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| Relaxation room |
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| Steam hall where people congregate to eat, chat, and relax or sleep. Make sure to order some eggs to crack |
Our hotel manager told us that this Spa-land is very popular with Taiwanese or Hong Kong tourists. They would hop on cheap red-eye flights and arrive in the morning. The hotel would store their luggages if the rooms are not ready and off they go to Spa-land to take shower and relax plus catch up on their sleep! This explains why there are so many patrons actually sleeping there! Also, it explains why some patrons there took the pre-showering advice to heart and scrubbed their body so hard that it seemed they had not showered for days!
In the middle of our foot spa, we heard fire trucks
approaching. Soon, we saw firemen
rushing into the women locker room to sweep.
The guests were then ushered back to have a shower and leave. We later learned that they closed for the day
in order to do clean up and inspect any damage.
To our surprise, we were reimbursed our entrance fee and given an
apology, making it a very cheap entertainment for the day. However, it also brings into sharp focus on
what would happen if something more serious happens in the middle of our nude
activity. We could end up appearing nude
on Korean national TV!!
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| Walk path for foot spa |
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| Even foot spa has pools with different temperatures |
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| Our beautiful feet - all rejuvenated! |
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| Fireman patiently waiting for all patrons to leave before finishing their clean up at Spa-land |
The rest of the afternoon was spent on shopping and this
time, Yiling finally got something she liked.
Other than it is a bit bulky to bring home, it was a terrific
bargain. A Canada Goose type of down
coat marked down from W1.5MM to a mere W0.4MM!
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| Food market in the basement of Shinsegae Department Store |
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| Cute looking icecream cakes |
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| Yummy snacks in tofu pockets |
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| Pig family ready for your BBQ |
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| Our dinner was a version of Shabu Shabu - seafood, noodles, veggies, rice cake in a spicy hot pot |
The fire at the spa was one of the crazy and unforgettable experiences in Korea. It definitely could had been much worse 😣.
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