the ultimate bath house experience

this next post is not going to even come close to summing up the experience we had at the bath house. Also, this is not meant to be inappropriate in any way, I am merely trying to clue you in on the events that occurred...oh and there are no pictures for obvious reasons.


It started after eating our Thanksgiving meal...we mentioned that the three of us planned on going to a bath house on Friday, and then it turned in to us going that day with my mom's cousin. 


A ten minute walk from the apartment and we were beginning the bath house adventure. As soon as you walk through the door you are handed a pink ensemble consisting of pants and capris, 2 small green hand towels, and a key. Unsure as to what to do, we walked to our lockers and started to undress. Gina, Aunt Shin, and I were all set to walk into the bath area with the pink outfits on when their cousin stopped us (I mind you she was completely naked): we were not to wear ANY clothing. The three of us looked at each other and awkwardly giggled, each of us with the "are we really gonna do this" look on our faces. YES of course we were going to do it...so we walked back to our individual lockers and undressed for the 2nd time. This time we walked towards the bath area in the nude, trying to be discrete about it, but unfortunately the minuscule towels were not covering anything.


Phew, that was a big step out of the comfort zone. Little did I know the next series of events would basically be leaping miles outside of my comfort zone...


Walking through the doors of the bath area felt like walking through the doors of the first day of high school. Completely unsure as to what to expect and worrying way too much about how I looked and what other people would think.

First step in the bath house process: shower/rinse before entering the sauna/steam room/or any of the tubs. Immediately to the left of the entrance was a line of about 12 showers (very locker room like) where we were provided with a scrubber and an exfoliant. Awesome. I was standing next to my 3 relatives hovering around the age of 50. Still completely unsure as to how to go about this whole process, I followed emo's lead: scrub.rinse.sauna. 


The sauna read close to 66 degrees Celsius. As soon as I walked through the doors I knew I was going to be uncomfortably hot. The sauna was basically a little cave with some wooden stools and benches to sit out. The ceiling and walls were constructed with specific materials in order to provide the driest/hottest temperature possible. A special clay covered the ceiling and a type of wood covered all of the walls leaving a dark and very cave-like ambiance. There were 2 other women in there with us, and one of them immediately commented on us. She must have sensed our uncomfortable energy and said something to gina about her hair. We then proceeded to chat a little in English and she asked us where we were from and such. This got me thinking...is it really normal to have sauna small talk? As I sat there on my wooden stool, I kept thinking about how this was so "normal" for them. Lounging in this sweltering room willing to spark any conversation with the next nude person...hmmmm quite interesting.


But either way the lady wanted to make sure that I remembered her even if it was as "the woman with 2 stomachs." She grabbed her stomach while saying this and we all burst out in laughter. She kept chatting with us talking about weight gain and hair styles and other personal feminine things...I suppose bath house small chat isn't so bad.

Sweating profusely in a room with ladies double my age was getting a little overwhelming, so after making eye contact with Aunt Shin and looking towards the door, we decided to bail on the sauna. Emo walked right over to one of the larger pools and started scooping small dishes of the water on to her body then jumped into the pool. I hopped right into the pool and was very shocked. My entire body tensed up...the water felt like ice. It must have been close to 50 degrees F colder than the sauna. Watching Aunt Shin and Gina pop into the water was hilarious. If any of you know Gina Lee, her and cold water do not mix. Her face was priceless; mouth wide open while letting out an extremely loud yelp- I couldn't help but die laughing. 


After less than a minute in the freezing bath, we made our way over to the "normal" tub. The temperature felt quite similar to that of a bath I would take at home...so there we were, the 4 of us in the nude finally getting comfortable.


Emo suggested we get a body scrub done and at that point we were so far into the experience we figured why not. While waiting for the woman who performs the scrubs to arrive, we put on our pink jump suits and laid in the lobby area. We ordered some shaved ice and lounged on the mats while indulging. It felt very roman like...hanging out at a bath house while being served flavored shaved ice and just chatting. I could definitely get used to that lifestyle...


Aunt Shin was the first to head to the body scrub. I only got to see the end of it, but was slightly mortified by what I was about to get into. I soaked in the hot bath as her scrub came to a finish and it was quite a site to watch. This little topless Asian lady dressed in black, see-through shorts showing a thong was standing over my aunt scrubbing ferociously away.


My turn. I hopped up onto the pink, patent leather table and it began. She started on my legs and began peeling away at my skin. Using a rough cloth, the woman peeled about 2 layers of my dermis off...my entire body. She touched on about 98% of my body. At certain points (like when my legs were close to being spread in front of her) did I feel slightly uncomfortable, but then I figured, this is her job, she must see tons of types of bodies on a daily basis and it was irrelevant how I looked at that point. As the scrub neared the finish, the woman lathered my entire front with oil then asked me the flip, at this point I literally thought I was going to slide right off of the table. A bucket of water was splashed over me and i got one last scrub down and I was done. I stepped off the table in a daze, a little discombobulated and had to laugh. WOW. I have had the pleasure of receiving the Maple Sugar Body Scrub at The Spa at the Mirror Lake Inn, but this took the term "body scrub" to a whole different level. 


After this, I quickly showered and rinsed off all of the oil...I then proceeded to return to the lounge area and order an ice coffee. Gina finished her scrub about a half hour later and when all of our eyes met we just died laughing. Each of us were thinking "did that really just happen??" This post does not even do our experience justice, and to be honest, I don't think I could put the experience down in words...it was hilarious/uncomfortable/awesome all in one. 


This became quite a laughing point through our trip...when looking back on the week with Aunt Shin and Gina, the bath house might take the cake on the biggest culture shock we took part in. I loved it...we had quite the Korean Thanksgiving to say the least.


Quick update: so it's Sunday morning and Gina and Shin left yesterday...what an awesome time we had...I will post another blog about the remainder of our trip in the next few days