Fun under the Sun Sarah Friday, April 27, 2012

Class was cancelled this whole week for midterms, with the exception of KLI (Korean Language Institute), where I have my Korean class 4-6pm Monday to Friday. As much as I like this class, its at such a bad time during the day and gets in the way of my activities planned.

However, I still made the most of these past two days without skipping Korean. On Thursday, I tagged along some friends who had to do a project at a historical attraction for their Korean culture class. We headed to Changdeokgung palace in Insadong and had a lovely morning taking photos and befriending nature. This is my second trip to a palace (there is at least 5 at the top of my head in Seoul), and though most of them are similar, it was really nice to take a stroll and gain an insight on the traditional homes and buildings. It made me wonder what it was like back in the day, and what it was like to be a palace princess wearing hanboks (traditional Korean gowns-I'm not lying when I tell you I'm in love with these dresses).

For a while, I had been craving dim sum of all things. One of my friends said Ding Tai Fung, a reknown Taiwanese franchise of the dim sum world, had a location in Seoul. I have personally never heard of this restaurant before, not even when I spent three weeks in Taiwan two summer ago. However, they're supposedly known for their signature dim sum dishes and one or two local fusion dishes depending on their location. So we headed to Myeongdong to give this place a shot.

It wasn't hard to find at all and you were able to spot it at a distance as it is two storey and was quite fancy among the mediocre looking restaurants on the block. Aesthetics always has a higher price point, and surely, the menu agreed. They didn't serve your typical four dim sums/ bamboo basket type of thing in carts; everything was ordered via menu. They were known for their 'xiao long baos' and for about 10 (rather small), it was $9Cad. We opted for their signature dumplings and their spicy kimchi dumpling (one of the two 'fusion' items). The xiaolongbao order was freshly steamed when brought to us, and as juicy as it was, I was a little disappointed. I had tried another 'xiao long bao' place for only $5 Cad in the area, made with a lighter dough, with the dumplings being bigger in size. The 'siu mah' was oddly, but interestly shaped, and like the xiaolongbao, had a savory and juicy taste to them. Overall its worth trying, but I prefer sticking to less popular Chinese restaurants in Seoul as this place was overrated and overpriced.

Friday

I have been in need of a massage and some relaxation time the whole month, especially after exam week. Upon recommendation, this jimjjibang (naked spa) in the basement floor of Good Morning City building in Dongdaemoon (hot shopping central), was my long awaited treatment. Ann and I started the day early, grabbed a quick snack at Paris Baguette (our favorite Korean bakery, so GOOD, one day I will write a blog just about PB!), and headed to our destination, Sparex. We arrived at the building at 10am, but the main doors of the building, the shopping floor, didn't open until 10:30, which didn't make sense as this jimjibang was opened 24hours. How were we suppose to get to this place if we couldn't get into the building it was in? After minor confusion and almost choosing to wait for the main doors to open, I spotted a hard to notice sign on the side of the building with an arrow pointing to a back door that would lead you to the spa. At first, it seemed a little tricky to find this place, but once you get into the building, it was pretty straight forward as there would be more arrows leading the way.

Admission was only $7 for Adults during the day ($10 for overnight), and was similar to our last experience at Dragonhill spa in Yongsan. Once paid, you received a set of clothes to change into after your spa, towels, and a waterproof watch-like key you wear on your wrist that would unlock your shoe and change room locker. One thing that is usually not provided is body wash, shampoo and conditioner so remember to bring these things to save money.

Once we took our clothes off, we scrubbed and washed ourselves cleaned before heading into the hot and cold tubs. For the hot ones, there was three flavored tubs: seaweed, salt and herbal. I stepped foot into the seaweed one first, which was 42C and it felt like my whole body was being boiled. It stimulated circulation and I felt my heart rate increase. When I couldn't take it no more, I rinsed and moved on to the other tubs. I did it the other way around, but usually your suppose to soak in the lower temperature tubs first and gradually make your way to the hotter ones. It felt so good just to sit there and relax. Best part was that the spas wasn't that busy today and only consisted predominantly of adjummas here and there, so at one point, I had the hot tub all to myself.

The cold tubs were not flavored, but standing underneath where the water was coming out from felt like heaven as it would hit your back hard and give you a free massage! Initially, I had wanted to get a massage here as I heard it was $30 for 90 minutes on any three parts of your body. It turned out it was only for 60min, but still an amazing deal compared to the price of North American massages, and they had a bunch of other amazing services as well. Ann got all her facial hair threaded for only $10 and her skin is as smooth as a baby now. However, after standing under this water powered massage-like experience for as long as I could, I was relieved of all my muscle pain and decided to save the massage for next time.

If your looking for a spa experience, I would definitely recommend this place as the admission fee is lower than that of Dragonhill and less busy (taking into consideration that we did go fairly early). They also have a restaurant, sauna rooms, a fitness room, and a common area where you can gather or rest. Here's a tip for travelers,  if you ever need a cheap roof over your head, jimjjibangs are common for one night travelers as all your necessary amenities are provided at a cost cheaper than a hostel.

It was such a great way to start off our day before heading back to Edae to do some last minute shopping for our weekend getaway.

An Easy Day Sarah Saturday, February 25, 2012

(yesterday)

We started our day a little later than usual and headed to Dragon Hill Spa. It’s known to be a spa for foreigners as it has had a handful of publicity in the media and it's also popular with the locals too. A day to relax and regain our energy from the past week was necessary so we decided to head to this place to rejuvenate ourselves. The three of us trek to Yongsan station where we found this place really easily. Prior to entering, we decided to eat something to fill our stomachs and prevent ourselves from having to fork out our wallets on overpriced meals at the spa. We opted for one of the busier street food tents and had ddeokbokgi and some fried snacks across the street.

Dragon Hill Spa is very organized and structured. Once you enter, there is a man who briefs you on all the details and services you can get from this spa in every language possible; a walking google translator. He talked really quick as if he memorized the spa information pamphlet and replayed himself as if we had pressed the rewind button. We got a personal locker number and an electronic, waterproof wristband each to keep our shoes in after we paid. This wristband gave you access to your lockers and acts as a proof of payment when you buy food from the spa.

As this was our second time (Ann and I), we didn’t think it would be as scary as our first time in Japan. However, we didn’t acknowledge that there would be guests of all ages though, from toddlers to teens, to ajummas. The change room was quite a sight, but thanks to Chloe who has been here before, she helped us two terrible vision girls navigate around the place (we had taken our glasses off). First, we had to scrub ourselves to make sure we were absolutely clean before entering the variety of tubs. There were tubs filled with natural sea water, body temperature water, ginseng infused water, and so much more. It was so relaxing to just be able to sit and let yourself go or let a conversation take the stress away. An hour and a half later, we rinsed ourselves, changed into the oversized t-shirt and shorts provided and went to explore the saunas and common (unisex) area. This was another startling sight since I didn’t expect to see so many couples and families just sitting around talking, eating snacks and drinking juice from a plastic container. We got ourselves drinks as well and just sat and chitchatted. The warmth from the baths and the rooms were sufficient for us so we didn’t go into the saunas to get warmer.

For the cost of $12 Cad, you were able to stay a maximum of twelve hours and if you came at night, you were able to stay overnight to sleep on designated floors for each gender. It was a new Korean experience and I believe my comfort level has gradually increased since the time in Japan. We only stayed for three hours before we called it a day and headed to the National Museum of Korea. This museum was a stop away at Icheon and offered free admission. Despite being tired and wanting a nap post-spa, we still went with our plans. When we found the place, we were in awe of the beauty and naturalistic elements of this place; a man made pond, state of the art architecture, pagodas, a gorgeous view, and the huge spacious area available. It consisted of such lovely and generous spacing that a picnic would be a fabulous idea in the Spring time. The three of us explored the 3^rd and 2^nd level of this museum; Southeast Asian art, sculptures, and paintings of Asia exhibition. It was very educational to gain an insight on the artistic side of Asia and neat to see artifacts dated back as early as the 3^rd or 4^th century.

The Mentor Club had planned a welcoming party for us exchange students that night, so after a Japanese rice bowl dinner, we went back to our rooms and got ready for our first at Barfly.

(today)

As it is Sunday, I decided to join Emmaus (English-speaking Christian club) for the first time and headed to the church they are affliated with, New Philly, an English speaking congregation. The church was at Seoul National University station, about a 20-25min away from Sinchon station. The service was different from my home church, but a fresh experience indeed. Afterwards, we all went to one of the Emmaus staff members' apartment and played board and group games after a pizza dinner. The rest of the day was a great time of chilling and meeting new friends and I foreshadow many more moments like these as the term begins.

Another easy day well spent.