Several of the ladies who went with us had been before, which was great because they showed us exactly what to do and where to go. When you first enter the spa, there is a reception desk where you pay your admission fee (10,000 won) and are given your uniform ( a shirt/short set & hand towel). They also give you a red or blue key ring, (red for women/blue for men), that is water and heat proof. You use the key ring to open your lockers and to electronically scan anything extra you may purchase during your visit ( massages, facials, body scrubs, food, etc).
Next, it was time to place our shoes in the shoe lockers and head to get changed into our "uniform" for the day! This is where they separate the men from the women ( more about that later). We then proceeded to get on our respective elevator and head to the 3rd floor to change our clothes. The 3rd floor is pretty much a big changing room with lockers to keep your belongings in, vanity tables, and a counter where you can purchase toiletry items, if you did not bring your own.
After we changed clothes, we went to the common area to enjoy some of the sauna rooms. The common area is a place where men, women, and children can go. It had saunas of different temperatures, arcade games, snack bar, massage chairs, sleeping rooms, etc. A lot of families come here and spend the day just to relax.
A small group of us decided to try one of the "heated" rooms...it was 54 degrees C (127 F). We stayed about 15 minutes and then decided to go try out some different ones...(don't you love our uniforms..lol)
The outside of the sauna...
and inside...
Since we were so hot, we decided to try the cold one....it was 4 degrees C (39 F). Some of our friends were in this one and telling us how cold it was, but after coming from the hot sauna it felt GREAT!
(yes, that's ice all around me)
Now, at the beginning of my post were you wondering why they separated the men from the women? Well, here's your answer. This is also where I believe my stomach climbed up into my throat..lol. In order to do the spas and to "truly" experience a Korean spa you have to get totally naked! You heard me right, completely in the nude. I'm a pretty modest, southern girl and when I first heard we were going to the spa, I swore up and down I would not go down to the bottom floor..that is where all the spas are, where you can get a body scrub, and where you have to be naked! After a little encouraging from my friends and their good advice... "just keep the little towel (and I mean, handcloth they give you..see pic above) in front of you and look straight ahead", I decided to go. So, half the group stayed in the common area and the rest of us went to the bottom floor. This is also where we left the cameras..sorry folks.
So, down the stairs we went! The first thing we did was go to the showering area and clean ourselves. Then it was off to the various spas...there were cold water ones, various hot ones, herbal spas, aroma spas and more. We chose to get into two of the hot spas. Honestly, after I got over the whole nakedness thing, I really did have a very relaxing time.
Next up, some friends wanted to do the body scrub...another adventure I said I would not do, but since I made it this far I thought why not!! I handed the lady my key ring so she could scan it , then she motioned for me to lay down on the massage table. Then she proceeded to throw a bucket of lukewarm water on me, place scrubbing pads on her hands and scrub my entire body. Now, when I say scrub...scrubbing she did. It felt like she was using brillo pads on me! I thought for sure she had scrubbed an entire layer of skin off of me & I would look like a lobster when she got finished.....lol. I will have to say though my skin is super soft!!
After our scrub it was time to head back to the common area and get ready to leave. I was really nervous about the whole "Korean" spa thing, but truly ended up having a wonderful, relaxing morning!
Thank you ladies for a day I will never forget.....!!!
Until Next Time,
Michelle
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