So we began the day by walking over to a local mountain for a hike up to a temple (temples love mountains), and then proceeding to work our way to the top up a steep trail. I think it's my regular diet or something, but I can hike mountains for hours without getting too tired, and since I exercise even less here than I ever did at home, I can only assume it all comes back to how I eat. I'm starting to rethink how I eat these days, usually finding that if I do indulge in some western food, I feel noticeably shittier. You really don't have to exercise all that much if you just eat well, and that's a lesson I've taken a long time to really grasp. Anyways, let's see some pictures, because words are hard. These are all from the top of the mountain, 'cause who the hell has time to take pictures as they're hiking up a mountain? Not this guy.
Close to the summit, where a few people were setting up for paragliding, which looks fun as hell
The temple at the top of the mountain. Definitely one of the coolest ones I've seen so far
You can buy a tile and do it up however you please, then stack it to build the wall up higher
It's got sort of a nice view, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing..
This monk was just hanging out in the temple chanting over a PA system. You could hear it through the trees in the forest on your way up, so it set an effective mood. He doesn't take requests.
Zac setting up his hammock before a celebratory mountaintop makgeolli session
The lookout pagoda at the very top
We could have just stopped after the hike and still have had an unusually pleasant day, but after a hike not a whole lot sounds nearly as good as a few rounds of hot tubs and saunas in an outdoor spa with beer and pools scented like peppermint and rooibos tea. Not a whole lot ever sounds as good as that. So we grabbed some Chinese food and headed to the spa.
I've been to spas where there's a common area for men and women (and the child equivalents) to congregate together, but usually it's an area separate from the pool area itself. Typically you'll spend time together in the sleeping/relaxing zone in your spa-assigned linen shorts and t-shirt, which are shockingly comfortable. Here however, the common area outside had a bunch of hot tubs and cold pools, so we got to experience public bathing in Korea. It's not nearly as interesting as it could have been, because they make you wear the same sort of linen shorts and t-shirt as a bathing suit. Men, women, and children all wear the same gear, and coming from a country where bathing suits are normal to see and people bathing in regular clothing isn't, it was a little unusual. The other guys with us brought their own bathing suits, and I just opted to keep the spa shorts and ditch the shirt, which made us stand out all the more (as if that was possible, really). I'm still unsure as to what degree that would be considered socially inappropriate, since literally zero Koreans had made a similar fashion choice. As a people they seem to possess an unusual blend of modesty and complete comfort with their bodies. Gender is more segregated here than it is back home, and any sort of intermingling feels very rigidly constructed. If you're a man at a spa, you're going to see about three dozen pairs of balls in the sauna area, each displayed as openly and in as well lit an environment as if each was part of the latest exhibition at your local public arts museum. They will scrub their nethers with more gusto and pride than most people in North America will dedicate to raising their own children. Yet, they will dress themselves in bathing clothing that, with its material and total surface area, would make drowning a certainty if the pools were deep enough. I love this country.
I've been to spas where there's a common area for men and women (and the child equivalents) to congregate together, but usually it's an area separate from the pool area itself. Typically you'll spend time together in the sleeping/relaxing zone in your spa-assigned linen shorts and t-shirt, which are shockingly comfortable. Here however, the common area outside had a bunch of hot tubs and cold pools, so we got to experience public bathing in Korea. It's not nearly as interesting as it could have been, because they make you wear the same sort of linen shorts and t-shirt as a bathing suit. Men, women, and children all wear the same gear, and coming from a country where bathing suits are normal to see and people bathing in regular clothing isn't, it was a little unusual. The other guys with us brought their own bathing suits, and I just opted to keep the spa shorts and ditch the shirt, which made us stand out all the more (as if that was possible, really). I'm still unsure as to what degree that would be considered socially inappropriate, since literally zero Koreans had made a similar fashion choice. As a people they seem to possess an unusual blend of modesty and complete comfort with their bodies. Gender is more segregated here than it is back home, and any sort of intermingling feels very rigidly constructed. If you're a man at a spa, you're going to see about three dozen pairs of balls in the sauna area, each displayed as openly and in as well lit an environment as if each was part of the latest exhibition at your local public arts museum. They will scrub their nethers with more gusto and pride than most people in North America will dedicate to raising their own children. Yet, they will dress themselves in bathing clothing that, with its material and total surface area, would make drowning a certainty if the pools were deep enough. I love this country.
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