Is Tia still alive?: The beginning of my winter break

January 26, 2011
Status: Alive and happy

I finally get my two weeks of winter vacation. Wooohoooo. So far, I'm having a great time. On Monday, my friend, Steve, took me around Seoul. We went to Gangnam and had delicious spicy bbq chicken. I don't know if it was really delicious or if I was just hungry but it was the best chicken I've had in Korea. Anyways, after we had lunch, Steve took me to a really nice coffee shop. It was a big fancy looking coffee shop and every drink was about 6,000 won. He got tea and I got hot cocoa and a caramel waffle. That waffle was so AWESOME. We also decided to be adventurous and try the Dr. Fish for 2,000 won. I will let the pictures explain itself....

They eating the dead skin but it doesn't hurt. It tickles more than anything. I couldn't stop laughing.

Since we were around the area, we went to CoEx Mall. Umm... the mall wasn't that exciting. There were a lot of restaurants. Usually in the states, the restaurants inside the mall are in one area (food court) but in this mall, they're every where. We ended up taking pictures in a booth. It was fun.

Picture booth

I went to Myeongdong. The outdoor shopping district. It was very lively and fun as well. Tons of people, tons of shops, tons of street food, and tons of vendors. I bought a hat :)

I also got to see the river nearby.

this was below one of the bridges. very unexpected and awesome.

Tuesday: I went to a Jimji Bang. It's a Korean bath house where people go to scrub down and relax. Woman are separated from men and everyone gets completely naked. I've never been completely naked in front of anyone since I was in the 7th grade so it was really embarrassing at first. After a while, I didn't feel so conscious because no one cared. I got scrubbed down by an old lady and then an oil massage. She was not shy about scrubbing my boobs or butt either. I felt very very surprised. I would have felt violated but I paid for it and I knew she was just doing her job. Haha. The bath house was huge. They have an arcade, a computer room, sleeping areas, saunas, restaurants, snack bars, swimming pool, nail salon, etc. The spa area was big too but I couldn't take a picture of it. I would definitely recommend the jimji bang to people who are trying to experience the Korean culture.

1. Go in and pay 10,000 won. You get a wrist band with a key attached. They will also give your clothes to change into and towels.
2. Put your shoes in the shoe locker
3. Go into the "woman only" area and find your locker
4. Open your locker and strip completely
5. Go into the spa area and scrub down
6. If you didn't bring anything to scrub down with then you can purchase them with your wristband. They also sell snacks, drinks, and everything else.
7. Relax in the spa and get massages and scrubs if you want.
8. When you're done relaxing you can go back to the locker and change into the outfit they provided.
9. Go into the main area where families meet up again to hang out. Take a nap, go to the arcade, eat, etc.
10. You can sleep there over night if you want. When you're ready to leave you can change your clothes and go back to the front. They will scan your wrist band and charge you for the things you've bought.