I Paid An Old Lady To Scrub My Back: Public Bathouses Part Two

Yongsan Station

Okay, I’ve just got to say again how in love I am with jjimjilbangs: Korean bathouses. After my first visit to SpaLand in Busan, I absolutely could not wait to go to another jjimjilbang.

Tiff, Lisa, and I decided to head to Seoul for the weekend and opted not to book a hotel in favor of spending the night at a 24 hour spa. We decided on Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan, which is pretty easy to get to.

The front of Dragon Hill Spa

This spa looks like Vegas from the outside. It’s emblazoned with tons of lights and dragon statues, and overall looks pretty sketch. Walking up to the actual spa entrance is like walking through some sort of weird forest. I knew there was no way that it was gonna be as big or as amazing as SpaLand, but that’s because few things on this Earth are.

The statues at this place are epic.

We walked inside and paid 13,000 won (about $12) for 12 hours at the spa. I paid the same amount for 4 hours at SpaLand, so Dragon Hills is definitely cheaper. We were given our locker keys, took off our shoes, and headed into the spa.

Just like SpaLand, there were coed rooms, a movie theater, an arcade, and several snack bars and restaurants. We decided to soak in the hot springs before doing anything else.

We walked into the women’s spa area, took a shower, and jumped in a few baths. At the far end of the room we saw five beds where women in black lace underwear uniforms were scrubbing people down. Curious, we walked over. A full body scrub was listed at about $25, and an oil scrub and massage was $60. We decided that we absolutely had to experience it.

I chose the cheapest route and asked for the $25 full body scrub. We waited in a hot spring nearby until our key numbers were called. I watched the girls on the tables get scrubbed by these women within an inch of their lives. It was totally bizarre and yet somehow felt kind of normal at the same time. I felt like I was leveling up: first I had to get comfortable enough to strip in the first place that weekend at SpaLand, taking a bath in public, having a friend scrub me, and now being comfortable enough to have a complete stranger scrub me.

Tiff and Lisa were called up first, and I waited in the hot spring alone for a few minutes. I zoned off thinking about the impending scrub, and suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was time. I made a mental sign of the cross and followed the attendant to the table.

I hopped on top of a typical massage table in between four other girls who were getting scrubbed. Everyone had their eyes closed and looked like they were falling asleep. I decided not making eye contact with anyone was the order of the day, and pretended that I did this sort of thing all the time. Blase is my middle name. The attendant, a middle-aged lady, tapped me on the stomach and told me to lie on my back. I stared at the ceiling, eyes fixed intently on the lights above me, and when her hands touched me I jumped.

The front entrance

She dumped a bowl of hot water over me and put a scrub mitt on her hands and proceeded to scrub every single inch of my skin…twice. It felt awesome. She periodically gestured for me to turn over and scrubbed some more. The most uncomfortable part came in when she started scrubbing my ass cheeks. I can’t even explain the feeling of  a stranger scrubbing your ass down. I just can’t. I’m gonna leave that up to you guys.

Anyway, this lady was thorough. Even though I exfoliate daily, she scrubbed every part of dry skin off me til I was pretty much sparkling. No, you can’t get those results at home. She took about twenty minutes to do the whole thing, and then started to shampoo my hair and give me a head and neck massage. It felt absolutely incredible and I sagged against the table like a dead thing. When she was finished, she tied my hair up in a knot and slapped my thigh to let me know it was over.

My hair has never been and never will be again that shiny. It was incredible. Best $25 I ever spent.

Tiff being silly

We spent a few hours testing out different hot springs, charcoal saunas, and other areas in the spa; the movie theater had closed for the night because by this point it was 10pm. I was starving, so I headed to one of the restaurants in the coed rooms after putting my spa clothes back on.

The restaurant was a wonderful traditional Korean restaurant. I ordered bulgogi (Korean beef and vegetable soup). It was absolutely delicious, and probably the best food I’ve had in Korea yet. After stuffing my face, I was pretty exhausted from the day and decided to go to bed.

Dragon Hills has four different kinds of sleeping rooms: the first is a community sleeping room where both sexes can just lie down on the floor with a Kleenex box sized cushion for a pillow. All the floors in the building are heated, so no blankets or mats are necessary. One literally grabs the tiny cushion, puts it beneath one’s head, and lies down on the floor among hundreds of strangers.

walking up to the Spa

The second option is to sleep in the male or female separated rooms. These are just like the community rooms except only a single sex is allowed in. The third option is the best: each sex has a designated dark aromatherapy room, where the lights are shut off and it’s completely quiet and heated with scents. These rooms have mats for the lucky people who arrive early enough to snag one.

I grabbed the hard cushion and lay down on the floor. It was so hot in the room that I just could not sleep. There were dozens of women around me, but each one was sleeping as silently as a ghost. Every single square inch of the place was occupied by a sleeping form.

It got so hot in the room that I couldn’t deal and just walked downstairs. I bought a bottle of water and sat for a while in the cool air before returning to the lower level women’s sleeping room. The lights were on and dim; there was NO space to even lie down at all. I sat in a chair for a few hours before deciding to just make some space for myself to sleep.

I walked through the room, stepping over hundreds of girls, and picked my way to a tiny space at the feet of four older ladies. I put down my pillow and curled up on the floor. Thankfully I was able to sleep this time.

I woke up around 8am, showered, sat in a few hot springs outdoors, and then put on my makeup in the preparation rooms before leaving the spa. When I checked out, I had paid a total of about $40 to use the spa, to get the scrubdown, to eat a delicious meal, all while using it as a hotel for the night in busy Seoul. You just can’t beat that!

All in all, I’ve decided to only use jjimjilbangs as my hotels. Hey, you’re always guaranteed a huge bathroom, and if I hadn’t added on the other experiences it would have only cost me a total of $12 to spend the night. Man, I love Korea.

Dragon Hill Spa Info:

http://www.dragonhillspa.co.kr/

Address:
40, Hangang-daero 21na-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 용산구 한강대로21나길 40 (한강로3가)
Get off at the Yongsan Station stop

Inquiries
• 1330 tt call center: +82-2-1330
(Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)
• For more info: +82-2-792-0001

Yongsan Station

The front of Dragon Hill Spa

walking up to the Spa

The front entrance

Tiff being silly

The statues at this place are epic.

Sharing a bathtub with hundreds of people isn’t actually that weird: Spa Land, Busan’s Biggest Public Bathhouse

Note: all pictures are from the Shinsegae Spa Land website. Cameras are forbidden inside the facility for obvious reasons.

We’ve all heard the stories about Korean jjimjilbangs – a place where one can strip down and take a public bath and, if you’d like,  have an old lady scrub your back. The old Roman concept of the public bathing system has always intrigued me, and so, last Saturday, Tiffany and I decided to go to one of the biggest and most famous public bath houses (jjimjilbangs) in Korea: Spa Land, located in Busan. Below is the address for all you daring travelers.

Address: Spa Land, 35, Centumnam-daero, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea.

Phone:  Call Center: +82-51-745-1330
(Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)
• For more info: +82-51-745-2900

The co-ed lobby

Tiff and I rode the subway to Centum City, where Spa Land is conveniently located inside the MASSIVE Shinsegae Department Store, which is boasted as the biggest department store in the world. Spa Land is located on the third floor. It’s a massive complex of saunas, male-and-female showers and hot springs, and even massage rooms and a theater.

How do I even begin to explain this experience?

Tiff and I waited in line after staring at the signs that said in large letters “Persons with tattoos are NOT ALLOWED inside.” I have some huge tattoos on my arms, and I clearly had no way to hide them. We decided to go for it anyway and bought our passes (14,000 won each). We were each handed a magnetic key with a number on it and told to walk to the right.

The place is a maze, and we were totally confused and had no idea what to do next. The first room was filled with lockers to put our shoes in, coded by our keys. We removed them and headed to the next room, where an attendant handed us maroon shirts and grey shorts, color coded by sex. We saw a bunch of women heading towards the right side of the complex, and so we warily followed suit.

Women’s hot springs

Walking into the women’s preparation room was like no other experience I’ve ever had. Nude women from every age between 7-70 were walking around stark naked and unconcerned. Every body type was represented.

I saw older women with terrible scarring on their backs that looked like some kind of torture; women with massive c-section scars; girls my age that had proportions the like of which I’d never seen. There were only three other foreign women among the hundreds that were walking around.

Seeing all of these different bodies without the anonymity and protection that clothing gives really made me realize just how ludicrous the media makes women’s bodies look. Expectations raised by these magazines mixed with my own insecurity over my body shocked me when I saw hundreds of naked women with NORMAL and REAL bodies. Nobody looked like a model. Nobody was free of a little pudge here and there. Nobody had a perfect butt or boobs. And yet everyone was beautiful. Scarred, scraped, pudgy- it was all real. It really opened my eyes on how silly it is to define what a “real” woman looks like.

The changing room was comprised of lockers, vending machines, and two massive mirrored rooms equipped with lotions, hair tools, and makeup stations for women to get ready as if they were in their own bathrooms. The place was packed and every station filled.

We found our lockers and stripped down. I wasn’t particularly shy about it. Everyone in the room was walking around as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and the general attitude was catching. We threw our things into the lockers, and, fully nude, strolled into the next room.

Metal Room

We got a LOT of stares; we were both foreigners, had way different body types than Korean women, and I have massive tattoos. Tattoos are hugely frowned upon in Korea as being symbols of participation in gang activity. I tried to keep my arms down as best I could, but after a while the stares stopped and we became just a couple more women enjoying the day. I still can’t believe I wasn’t kicked out, but luckily they let me stay. I assume the warning is more to be traditional than to actually keep customers out.

Heated floors

The first half of the massive women’s hot-springs room has showers that are mandatory before entering the hot springs. Tiff and I waited in line to shower, and of course did it in front of everyone since there are no stalls. While waiting in line, naked women would squeeze past me to get to another area, completely unaffected by the fact that they had just rubbed their naked body all over a complete stranger and yet somehow it wasn’t even strange.

After showering, Tiff and I bought rough cloths to use to scrub ourselves down like everyone else was doing. I saw women pulling their buttocks apart to give them a good scrub, and it was all in front of God and everybody.

For an added fee, there’s an entire room where techs will scrub you down and massage you with oil. We decided to do it ourselves for our first visit, but I’ll definitely have a tech oil me up the next time I visit.

The women’s outdoor hot spring

It felt really freeing to perform such a traditional ritual that has been practiced since the beginning of time. It’s so strange how prudish the West is in comparison to how “free” and “forward-thinking” the world is led to believe that we are. In Korea, going with family members to a jjimjilbang and scrubbing them down is a custom that’s all about caring for each other and becoming c

loser. It’s not weird or gross or sexual in any way. Just like the Romans, we scrubbed each other down before hopping in the mineral baths of all different temperatures, ranging from boiling hot to ice cold. After enjoying the indoor hot springs for a while, we headed outside to the steaming hot baths and waterfalls located among some huge stones. It felt incredible.

The Pyramid Sauna

After we had become fully relaxed and sleepy, we put on our Spa clothes and headed out to the common areas. SpaLand has a huge room with comfy seats and private movie screens, massage facilities, snack bars and restaurants, foot baths, and an endless array of saunas that one can enjoy coed.

Tiff and I went into each sauna to try it out. My favorites were the traditional Turkish and Roman saunas, and Tiff’s was the Pyramid room. We sat on the floor and lay back, enjoying the peaceful heat.

Traditional Roman Sauna

After touring the rest of the place, we paid for a 2,000 won chair-massage. I can’t even explain how incredible it was. The chair felt like a professional’s hands and in no way like a machine. Nothing like mall massage chairs. After 20 minutes I was half dead I was so relaxed.

We stayed for the entire four hour period and left happy and warm. Most jjimjilbangs have no age restrictions and are not as big or as clean as Spa Land, but they allow guests to stay much longer (even sleep there for the night!). The price for Spa Land was so reasonable that I’ll willingly go back, even though 4 hours is just so short to enjoy all that the spa has to offer.

The existence of jjimjilbangs is yet another reason why I love Korea! I’ll definitely be heading back for a romantic getaway when the time comes. 🙂

Charcoal Sauna

Massage lounge

Snowboarding at Muju on New Year’s Day

Since I had New Year’s Day off, some friends and I decided to go snowboarding at a resort about two hours away. I’d snowboarded before in Maine, but this was a good seven or eight years ago and I had no idea how decent I’d be.

I had opted not to party on new Year’s Eve since I knew I had to be up at 5am. Being the idiot that I am I stayed up all night anyway. I got two hours of sleep before I had to get ready for the trip. Half dead and 100% zombified, I boarded a bus at 6:45 am and headed off for the resort. I decided to rent a ski suit since the zipper on my fake North Face

8:30 at the mountain

coat had given up the ghost long ago.

The resort was absolutely packed since it was a holiday, and the slopes were crammed. We had to wait in line forever to get our equipment and my ski suit, but finally everyone was ready to head up for the first run on the intermediate slope (I thought I’d be better than I actually was). Suited up and looking like a snowman, we all headed to the top on an incredibly long but gorgeous lift ride. Watching the  sun come up over the mountains in Korea? Totally breathtaking.

I was complete garbage at first, as expected, but a friend of a friend was incredibly kind and spent a lot of his time teaching me what to do. I did three runs before falling hard so many times on the ice that I opted to sit out for the last two hours, eating chicken and resting my knees.

I have pretty severe bruises on my tailbone and knees from constantly losing my balance – looks like I got into a car accident. Even though I feel like death, what an incredible start to the new year it was! I love trying new things and  having adventures for the first time in my life. I’ve definitely got to work out my legs quite a bit more before I come back to Muju, but I will definitely be going back!

Winter 2013

8:30 at the mountain

Nicest people ever!

I did the slope on the left!

riding up the mountain!

riding up the mountain!

riding up the mountain!

Ski Lift

View

2014: Resolutions, Promises, and a Look Back At The Best Year of My Life

Tonight is New Year’s Eve here in Korea, and I wanted to spend a little time  looking  back at this past year before I move forward with the new one.

My 22nd birthday was clearly a classy and elegant affair

To put it simply, 2013 has proved to be the most incredible year of my life.

The year started with my 22 birthday – the first I’d spent without being in a relationship since I was 18 years old. Constantly having a significant other was a burden that I didn’t realize I had. Between sharing the bills for a large apartment with my ex-boyfriend, working, and going to school full-time,  I never seemed to have time to myself to accomplish the things I felt I had to do.  After falling in and out of love for years, I finally gathered the courage to  do all the things I’d never gotten around to doing OR  being – and that included being alone.

I acted like a douche in front of the Palace of Versailles in France

I received some incredible grants and scholarships that allowed me to spend my final classes my senior year of college in a  summer studying abroad in France, England, and Belgium. I went from a girl who’d never even flown on an airplane alone to a girl who traveled through Europe by herself.

To quote Dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The worst of times came in during those four days in Paris that I spent in a sleazy hostel in the dixhuiteme – the red-light district of Montmartre, near Moulin Rouge. I’d booked it because I had no idea what I was doing. Only paying 12 euros a night in Paris sounded totally reasonable and safe to the novice traveler that I was.  After a few nights spent in a room with 4 bunk-beds occupied by myself and three strange men, I realized that I was a complete moron. Luckily the lessons I learned this summer will stick forever. Too bad I’m somewhat scarred for life.

But after it was all over, I knew myself a little better, and I definitely began to realize what I wanted from what I now realize is a frustratingly short life.

When I returned to America, I graduated at long last from my university. I had made the crazy decision to change my major from Photography to English after putting three years of my life towards a degree in Photography, completely switching directions and altering the path I’d wanted for my life since I was twelve years old. I didn’t love photography anymore. My then-boyfriend had cheated on me with my classmates, and we were both working at the laboratory. The grandfather who had given me my love for the craft passed away. I felt that I had no other option but to quit, and  I completely fell out of love with the entire medium and just walked away – bitter and hateful.

I graduated from college

English. It was a subject I’d always loved. I spent my childhood in libraries and even worked in one during college. I longed to be a writer like Dumas or Wilde and create either an epic adventure story or some poetry that awed. I changed my major immediately to English with a specialty in Writing. I published six poems in the University Arts magazine, won several creative writing scholarships and awards, and fell in love with Stephen Crane for the fortieth time. I worked for a glossy magazine for a year and published over 15 pieces.

I graduated from college

And finally, in spite of some obstacles I never thought I’d get around, it was over. I graduated. I was surrounded by the friends that got me through it all – the people who became my family; the people who let me live in their homes and in their lives for over 5 years. It was an  incredible and bitter-sweet day that I’ll never forget.

Immediately after graduation I received a job offer to teach English in South Korea for a year. I sold all of my belongings, quit my job(s), and stepped on a plane bound for the future and the other side of the world. My sweaty hands clutched my ticket and my hopes, plans, and many misconceptions.

It was an incredible decision that most people called me crazy for making. I moved to a small city in a country I’d never even visited. I began to learn a language that I’d never studied. I ate food I’d never heard of. I had been a student all my life and suddenly found myself a teacher.

Almost three months have passed since I stepped off that plane.
I learned that changing my home, city, country, and even continent could not change the me that I’d been for 22 years; that external circumstances rarely change the people who we are,  underneath the friends we’ve made and the persona that we’ve created for ourselves. It was a terrifying moment.  I stopped making excuses for not being the person who I’d always wanted to be and started really living for the first time.

I made a bucket list in my head and started to check them off:

Seeing myself in print as a regular contributor for the first time!

Live alone in the East. Check.
Climb a mountain in Asia at 4am. Check.
I forced myself to try new foods. I started living a more healthy lifestyle. I ate raw fish. I even bought  a motorcycle and learned to ride it (badly). I even wrecked it (gently)  and came out only semi-traumatized.

It hasn’t all been good; living alone in a foreign country means that when you get sick you don’t have anyone around you to hold your hand. I became very ill and underwent surgery in a hospital where I couldn’t even understand the language. Yet even that was just an experience where I continued to grow – even when the worst happens, it makes you who you are, and nothing and no one can take that away from you.

I bought a motorcycle

I watched a movie yesterday that ended with the words “We’re all traveling in time together. Live life as if there are no second chances.” The year I can say that finally began to do that was the year 2013.

Most memorable moments from the past 365 days
1. I appeared on the TV show Nashville with Hayden Pannetiere…twice.

I’m the redhead to the far left. Pilot Episode of Nashville on ABC

2. I went to Disneyland Paris.
3. I spoke French for an entire month and can officially say I can easily have a conversation in the language.
4. I walked through Flanders Fields in Belgium.
5. I climbed the Eiffel Tower. Yeah, the stairs.
6. I walked down London’s Portobello Road.
7. I walked through Westminster Abbey, a place with over a thousand years of royal history.
8. I stood in the same room as the bodies of Elizabeth I, Bloody Mary, Darwin, Dickens, and countless more.
9. I photographed Buckingham Palace.
10.  I ate Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolate IN BELGIUM.
11. I sat in the sun in the gardens of Versailles in France at the Palace of the Sun King.

I became a larper and dressed like a Knight Templar

12.  I took a selfie in the Hall of Mirrors in a palace.
13.  I got chased through the Paris metro by a bunch of men and I came out alive.
14. I graduated from college.
15. I became a Dagorhir larper, thanks to Storm,  dressed like a Knight Templar and (okay, kind of) learned how to use a sword.
16. I moved to South Korea.
17. I listened to  monks singing in the mountains as I toured a Buddhist temple.
18. I learned how to ride a motorcycle.
19. I became a teacher.
20. I lost ten pounds and started to get healthy.

That’s only a few of the crazy things I got to do this year. Making a list like this makes me question if all of these things really happened, or if it was all some crazy dream I had.

In 2014, I want to live every day doing things that I love with people I love. I’ve made goals for myself that I know I am now strong enough to achieve.

To do in 2014
1. Go jogging on the Great Wall
2. Walk barefoot through Australia
3. Become fluent in Korean
4. Go on a motorcycle tour of Korea
5. Have a strong and active body
6. Go snowboarding in Switzerland
7. Visit my best friend in South America
8. Write a novel
9. Write a book of poems
10. Read 10 novels I’ve never gotten around to finishing
11. Become the best version of myself this year without using any of my old excuses
12. Marry Daniel Craig

It’s a list that I’m sure I’ll keep adding to as the year goes on. I’m so lucky to be living a life I’ve only ever seen in movies, and for everything I have.

People often ask me about my long-term goals. Well, I’m keeping in mind that “long-term goals” only apply to the person you are RIGHT NOW, and that the things you think you want in your life can and will change at any moment. So RIGHT NOW, I plan to eventually study in Scotland and get a graduate degree in Creative Writing and Poetry. After that, I want to become a fiction editor at Random House books as my day-job. I want to get old and teach poetry workshops, and all the while continue traveling the world.

Are these dreams too big? Heck no. I’m not a wistful little girl. The world is mine for as long as I’m alive, and I’m going to see it all (except for the Daniel Craig part, but here’s to hoping.)

❤ Happy New Year!

I’m the redhead to the far left. Pilot Episode of Nashville on ABC

A screencap from the TV show Nashville, (Hayden’s walking up!)

I became a larper and dressed like a Knight Templar

LARPing adventures

Seeing myself in print as a regular contributor for the first time!

I graduated

View of Paris from the Eiffel

Westminster Abbey

Versailles

Versailles Palace

I’m sleeping on Marie Antoinette’s backyard, to put this in perspective

Disneyland Paris

Versailles

gate of Versailles

Versailles

being ghetto in Versailles

Big Ben in London

Buckingham Palace

Bruges, Belgium

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

I went to Disneyland Paris

Bruges, Belgium

Off roading at Storm’s

Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia

Jinju, South Korea

The Jinju Lantern Festival

Biking in Korea

Korea

I stood in a Buddhist Temple in the moutains

Korean fish market

Motorcycle creeping

I bought a motorcycle

Getting a free hug in Korea

Saturday Biking, Paparazzi, and Red Trees

Today was pretty sunny, so Lisa, Tiffany, and I decided to do something worthwhile with our weekend and ride bicycles by the Nam River. We rented our bikes at the cycling center and headed off. We rode for over an hour, and the riverside was a truly gorgeous sight because of the bright fall colors.

As we rode under a bridge, we saw hundreds of lanterns from the festival stored under it. They look so sad and faded in the daylight!

We took a break to sit on a bench and eat apples, and while we sat, an old man walked up and started taking pictures of us.

Being stared at in Korea for being caucasian is not something new to any of us, but this guy took it to the next level and spent about 10 minutes switching angles and photographing us. I snapped a couple of shots of him back. After he finally left, ANOTHER old man came up and started doing the same thing! We’re famous, y’all.

Lisa

Tiffany

The lanterns from the festival are kept under the bridges for storage

Lanterns from the festival

A temple

murals

The park is breathtaking

Our paparazzi in action

another member of our paparazzii

Fall colors

More lanterns

Tiffany

This hotel’s name never ceases to make me laugh

More murals