My town is known for 2 things: Maisan Mountain, and Red Ginseng Spa. Since I see Maisan everyday, it was time to check out the spa.
So I invited the girls down, and due to the snow Rachel (from Seoul) was the only one able to make it. So she, Marilize (from Jinan), and I headed to the spa for a ladies day.
Here's how it went...
Step 1 - Pay to play
The spa is 40,000\ (about $40) for the day. BUT, if you live in Jinan, you get a low price of 13,000\ ($13). Marilize and I both knew we got the discount, but they gave it to Rachel as well!! Lucky gal!
Then we rented our swim caps and headed in.
Step 2 - Lock it up
Using our magnetic bracelets, we unlocked the shoe lockers, stored those, then moved onto the clothing lockers. We changed into our bathing suits, and locked all our winter gear away for the day. No need for that in a spa!!
Step 3 - Shower off that winter weather
We headed to the showers (yes, like a group shower) and I am sure we were looked at strangely while we rinsed off in our swimming suits, instead of stripping to our birthday suits like the Koreans.
Step 4 - SPA TIME!!!!!
We head to the spa area on the 2nd floor (the 3rd floor was a rooftop pool, which I will happily use in the summer, but in the dead of winter - I'll pass). The spa had 6 areas, and here's how we did it...
Phase 1 - BUBBLES!!! Ever been to a foam party? Well, I've been
to a Korean one! We all gathered into a HUGE bathtub-esque style room,
and then the bubble foam started coming up from the floor. Yes, a HUGE
KOREAN BUBBLE BATH! We somehow were sitting by a GEYSER that spurted the
bubbles all the way to the ceiling, so I looked like a giant snowman
with bubbles from my head to my toes. The Koreans loved it, and they
even started a massage line. Oh - since it's Ginseng themed, the bubbles
were made from Ginseng, so it smelled GREAT and made our skin feel
silky smooth. After about 15 minutes, we headed to the showers to rinse
off, and this time our shower consisted of a huge bucket filled with
water that was dumped on our heads. If you can't imagine either of
these....here's an idea of what it was like:
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| Bubble Therapy |
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| Korean Bucket Shower |
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After the bubbles, we went to the pool for some recovery. No, no the rooftop pool, but the heated pool in the center of the spa. It had buttons all around the edges, so we tried them all out. Some were attached to pool beds that made you feel like you were in a jacuzzi. Others were attached to "pool chairs" that had jets in a chair setting (which was my favorite), there was even a button that was attached to a metal square that vibrated and shot water out of jets as you stood on it. All this was IN the pool, so we just floated around and tried all the jets. Then we tried "Sound Floating" which was a room in the middle of the pool. You got floaties for your head and feet, and floated around while the room changed colors. I didn't hear any cool sounds, so not sure what that was about....
Phase 2 - Ginseng Bath: We entered a VERY warm room with about 20 mini pools (they were like in-ground bathtubs). We were given a cup of Ginseng to pour in our pool, then sat in and relaxed. It was great being in the heat and then looking out the frosted window to see Maisan covered in snow.
Phase 3 - Stone Therapy: After the Ginseng Bath, we headed to the stone room. There were wooden beds covered with TONS of hot stones. We laid down on the stones, covered our stomachs with the stones, and napped.
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| Try napping on these! |
Phase 4 - Wind Therapy: After the stones, we played in the big pool for a little, then headed to the WIND therapy room. We say in a tube like room and let warm air blow on us. There wasn't anything special about this, except it dried us off with warmth, which was nice.
Phase 5 - Herb Therapy: No, not the "herb therapy" you are probably thinking of. There was no smoking of anything. Instead, we went into a room filled with beds of hay. Each bed was covered with a sheet, and once we were laying in the bed, they used the extra ends of the sheet to cover us. Then they turned on really quiet, peaceful music, and I passed out HARD for the 2 minutes we were there. I felt like a I was in a hay coffin, but it was DEF so comfortable. I can understand how baby Jesus felt when he was born off in that manger of hay. Good pick Mary and Joseph, good pick.
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| These kids have the right idea |
Phase 6 - MUD THERAPY!!!: That's right, what's a spa without a little mud??? We headed to the mud rooms, and sat on tiled thrones (yes, thrones) and then were given a small dish of mud to put on our bodies. They told us the mud was from Mudfest (which I can NOT wait to go to BTW) and then once we were covered we sat in the heated room for about 15 minutes. Then a soft trickle of water started to rinse us off, then it got heavier and heavier till I felt like I was in a warm waterfall! But it got off ALL the mud.
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| Mudfest....I can't wait!!! |
Then we took one more tour of the jets in the big pool, and we were done.
Step 5 - Transition back to Winter
We headed back to the women's showers to rinse off and use the Ginseng toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc). Then we layered back into our winter clothes (which felt weird after spending a day in the heat in our bathing suits) and we were off for home.
Overall the spa gets 5 stars!!! I will def be going back much more. And in the summer...GET READY ROOFTOP POOL, I will be spending DAYS bonding with you!!
Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)
