On an overcast Friday afternoon a couple of girlfriends and me decided to make the trek to Jinan for a Korean spa experience. Nestled at the base of Mount Maisan, Jinan Red Ginseng Spa’s modern design makes for a striking contrast against its picturesque, rugged background.
On arrival the front-desk receptionist spoke no English but ended up giving us a discount on the spa entrance price. Using a JB Bank card gives you a 10 percent discount, so we ended up paying 35,000 W per person.
Before heading into the spa, the receptionist gave each of us a paper wristband. The wristbands were printed with five small icons symbolizing each of the stations. Before walking into the station, the attendant would mark our wristbands, allowing us to visit each station only once.
The spa is co-ed. Once we were inside the women’s locker room, we changed into our swimsuits, did a quick rinse off in the communal showers and put on our black, spandex swim caps that we rented for the day at \2,000 a piece.
Friday afternoon was busy; there were numerous families milling about the spa with small, excited children in tow. We appeared to be the only foreigners in sight, so it was not surprising that we attracted attention. We made our way into the Aqua Zone, or what my friend Katherine describes as the womb: an enclosed pool with dim lighting that slowly rotates ambient blue, green and red colors. I could feel subtle vibrations as I stepped into the water, and when I dipped my head in, I could hear mellow, classical music piping throughout the pool. We didn’t stay in the womb long; there were five different stations we wanted to get to before the spa closed at 7 p.m.
First we headed to Yangsaeng herb therapy, or the mudroom. We sat in a small, tiled room with ambient lighting and music, similar to the womb. The attendant gave us a concoction of mud and something I thought was ginseng powder, and we proceeded to rub it all over our faces and necks. After about ten minutes, a powerful shower of warm water burst from the ceiling, rinsing away all the mud in a matter of seconds. After the facial rejuvenation was completed we headed to a beige and white circular room filled with body-sized boxes of straw. It seemed a little strange at first, but lying these warm boxes was oddly comforting. Next was the stone therapy room, which was similar to the straw room, except that the boxes contained warm stones. The only non-relaxing part was the random shrieks from impatient children who didn’t seem particularly interested in these relaxation rooms.
This photo of Jinan Red Ginseng Spa & Villa is courtesy of TripAdvisor
One of my favorite rooms was the "bubble sense" therapy room. It was a circular, blue-tiled room where we sat in a reclined semi-circle with six other people. Strange metal spouts were situated between each person. Huge globs of white, ginseng-scented foam came spurting from the tubes. We were instructed to rub these bubbles all over our bodies. An older Korean woman sitting next to me patted some onto my back.
Including showering off with ginseng-scented shampoo, conditioner and body wash, our whole experience lasted about three hours. I left Jinan Red Ginseng Spa feeling relaxed and sleepy. Overall it was worth the two hours of travel into the mountainous town and I can’t wait to go back.
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