tea diaries ~~~~~ groooooovy

THE BATHHOUSE!

So last weekend a group of us ETAs decided to check out one of the Korean-style bathhouses here in Chuncheon. As it turned out, there were maybe 12 girls in on this trip, and ... me. Hey, I love getting naked. The adventure began when I actually had to take a different elevator up to the baths from the lobby. A few of the girls could speak passable Korean, and I ... can talk about going to the store and say things like "I am hungry", which I don't think would have helped me much. ;) So I get up to the men's floor and the man in charge ushers me around, gives me a key to a locker for my shoes and my clothes, and then disappears. I get changed into the little tshirt and shorts they give you, and I go wandering around ... the plan is to meet up in the co-ed sauna area, so I start to explore. I actually almost tripped over a few people, even though there are amazing leather chairs and tree benches all over the place, there are middle-aged women sprawled out all over the floor everywhere, watching TV or just staring into space. I can't find anyone right off the bat, so I decide to go one floor down ... and as my foot touches the first step, a group of old women by a pillar start yelling and waving their hands at me ... apparently it's bad form for a wayward young man to go wandering down into the women's area. ;) So I went back up to the men's section and after swallowing my American modesty, joined Koreans young and old in the naked hot tubs. Surprisingly, the most popular age was late teens. It would certainly be weird for a bunch of high school guys to go to the bath together after school, but these guys were dunking each other in the pools, chilling out and just having a great time. We haven't been swimming the whole time we've been here and its been beastly hot, so the cold tub (maybe like 3 feet in depth) was great to swim around in, and it had a mini waterfall in it as well which felt amazing. Eventually found the girls in the co-ed section, but that initial time to decompress on my own turned out to be exactly what I needed. Downstairs they had a bunch of different rooms with different heat settings, including one that both looked and felt like the brick ovens they cook pizza in at Bertucci's. Oh my god. My favorite were the leather massage chairs (best massage received in my life so far, for the equivalent of US$1 for 8 minutes!) and this really crazy belt massager in the gym area. You would have had to be there for that one. Can't wait to go back, what a relaxing day. :)