Roadblock in Korea

I hit the first little roadblock on my journey. My flight in Honolulu was delayed a couple of hours on the runway and as a result, I missed my connection in Seoul. Korean airlines only flies to Yangon once a day so I was consigned to waiting in Seoul for 22 hours until the next flight. 

As they usually do, the airline put me up in a hotel near the airport and gave me some meal vouchers. While I did have piles of work to do, it would be a shame to be in Korea and not get out of the hotel a little bit, so the next day I took a local bus to a nearby jjimjillbang or Korean bathhouse. 

The Jjimjillbang is a place where people gather to unwind, socialize, and get clean. The existence of a large one near my house in DC made me familiar with the routine. These places are usually open 24 hours and offer a number of a la carte treatments. If you go for the basic package, you get to use the treatment rooms by yourself. 

When you check in you place your shoes in a small locker. The locker number is assigned to you throughout your stay and you get a little bracelet with locker number, key, and sometimes an embedded microchip that tracks the food and drink you consume while in there. The spa gives you a pair of soft coton pajamas to change into. 

The co-ed areas are full of pajama clad people going in and out of different sauna rooms, heated to different temperatures, and with different mineral and herbal infusions. One room in this jjimjilbang was a hot rose quartz room where the floor was comprised of hot rose quartz gravel that you lay down in. You can take a break and go into an AC room or have a snack and watch TV. 

The wet areas are gender segregated and nudity is mandatory. There are different hot tubs, a cold tub, showers, and steam rooms. One characteristic that differentiates Korean Spas is the emphasis on exfoliation. People take these rough cloths and vigorously scrub off the top layer of their skin until they are rubbed raw. 

I was definitely the only non-Korean in the place but people were very friendly and it was nice to put my laptop down for a few hours and refresh myself before the trip to Yangon. Here are a few pictures of notable Korea things. 

I made a trip to an e-mart (like a Korean K-mart) and got the following items for my trip to the jjimjillbang. Face masks and exfoliation gloves especially important.

If I had more time I would have eaten one of these eels. Food is very important in Korea. Makes me think about what they find tasty to eat in the US. 

This seems like a simple map of the airport, but its actually a giant touchscreen you can use to navigate around. Just an example of user-friendly tech easily integrated into everyday life. Wonder when these will become more common.

This picture seems quite random but note the girls in the foreground with the expensive camera equipment. When I came out of the airport it was a papparazzi attack. I looked to see who they were photographing and it was a k-pop boy band that had just flown in. There were literally around 40 -50 teen girls surrounding them and photographic them with these professional cameras. After the group was gone, they sat down and waited for the next celeb spotting. I guess this is a common hobby in Korea.