We set off at 5am (on a Saturday!) to head into Seoul where the bus left at 7:30am for Yesan. Lucky for me, I've gotten used to sleeping on buses, planes, etc. I snoozed most of the way there. Our first stop was an apple winery (i didn't know they existed either!) where we took a tour, tried some samples, and made some homemade apple jam to take home with us! It was a cute, quiet, peaceful place. I even got to see a big, white, fluffy dog which may or may not have made my day!
Next, we drove to Seoduksa temple. We walked through a cute little village and up a small mountain/hill to the temple, stopping along the way to take pictures. The whole area was beautiful. I was, however, briefly overcome with a bit of sadness when I realized that the entire thing had been rebuilt not too long ago. Tragically, most of Korea's beautiful, ancient temples and monasteries were destroyed during the Korean War. Very few were spared, and those that were are in the southern-most provinces. It made me feel very grateful to have grown up in an area with so much preserved history. I may have moaned and groaned about trips to the Liberty Bell and Smithsonian when I was a kid, but one of my favorite things to do when I'm in a city now is walk around and see all of the old buildings, churches, statues, etc. I grew up in "Historic Newtown", just miles from Washington's Crossing, Trenton, Philadelphia...places full of history that dates all the way back to the American Revolution and before. It makes me sad to think that the kids I'm teaching now and generations to come will have nearly no authentic evidence of their beautiful country's history. That being said, I took pictures of the temple that is there now. Ancient or not, it was still a sight to see and reflects the peace that radiates from all things Buddhist.
Our next stop was the Duksan Hot Spring Festival. In spite of its name, it seemed to be more of an ice festival to me. There was a giant hot bath you could soak your feet in, but the main attraction was a huge man-made ice rink where people were playing games and "sleigh riding" on the ice. We gave it a go!
Last but NOT least, was the most interesting and best part of the day! We headed over to the Duksan Spa! For those of you who I haven't told, a "jimjilbang" is a large, public bath house furnished with hot tubs, showers, saunas, massage tables, etc (thank you Wikipedia). It is a heavenly place of relaxation. The only drawback for some foreigners is that you must go naked (don't worry, it's gender segregated!). Once you get past this little detail, it is like I said, a heavenly place of relaxation. This one in particular was huge and quite crowded as it's attached to an indoor/outdoor water-park so it's a popular tourist destination. My friends and I got right on the bandwagon and went straight for the hot tubs in our birthday suits. It was great! They had bubbly hot tubs with chairs and massage jets, a green tea hot tub, several steam rooms, a dry sauna, an ice bath (yes, I even did that!), and a ton of showers to use before and after you indulge yourself in pure bliss for hours. We stayed for hours. I haven't felt that relaxed in ages...even after my weekly Steve massages (that I miss so much). Obviously there are no pictures from this part of the trip. You're welcome.
Afterwards, we hopped on the bus and got back home in time for some delicious Korean BBQ! It was a fantastic, relaxing day with two awesome girls. I'm looking forward to more trips just like it!
On a different note, my friends and family will all be amazed to hear that I've officially adjusted to the cold! After walking to the grocery store and realizing it was a "WARM 38 degrees", I decided to go for a nice run...outside. I kid you not. This girl, who thinks anything below 50 is cold, ran outside in 30-something degree weather. I was shocked too.
One last thing even though this is already a ridiculously long post. I've started using Picasa and Google+ to share my photos because I don't post them all on Facebook or this blog. If anyone wants to see the random pictures of buildings and signs and funny things and animals (if I ever see any) in addition to the pictures with humans in them, this is where you can find them: http://plus.google.com/photos/114810979859376257861/albums
Much love!
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