Interesting weekend

I wrote a little while ago about the gym I have joined and how it has a sauna as part of the facilities. On Saturday I finally made it to a proper Korean bathhouse. I went with Sonia (another Canadian), Stotesbury, Ange, their friend Pam who is visiting from Toronto. Its up on Dalmagi hill, which overlooks Haeundae beach. If you go to the bottom of my blog you can see a picture of me in a green shirt with Haeundae beach behind me and Dalmagi on the right side of the photo. Because of it's location it is one of the most beautiful areas of Pusan. At night you can see across much of the city, including both Gwangali beach and Haeundae beach.
The bathhouse is a lovely five story building that looks straight out over the water. The second floor is the change room and bathhouse for women, and the fourth floor is the change room and bathhouse for men. There are a series of 5 pools that move from icy cold up to 45-46 celsius. There is even an outdoor hot pool with a protected balcony which looks out over the entire city. There are also several steam rooms and a cool waterfall for when the hot tubs become too much. Some Korean bathhouses offer massage, but a full body scrub is more traditional. This involves having someone take what amounts to a brillo pad glove and scrubbing your whole body vigorously for 15 minutes. I didn't get one. but the girls said it's right on the edge of outright pain, but that afterwards your skin and body feel incredible.
Part of our time was spent in gender groups in the bathhouse, but the third floor is a co-ed area where there is a series of hot and cold rooms. Some of them have huge windows looking out over the city. Others are made of natural crystalline stone, so that some of the walls look like they are embedded with rough gems. There is also a large social area with huge TV's, snackbars, hairdressers and even a restaurant with a small menu. In the end we spent about two hours enjoying the facilities. Afterwards I was so relaxed and fatigued that I felt almost drunk. We ended the evening with barbequed duck in the nearby Haeundae beach area.