One part of the spa has large public "tubs" or baths, with separate areas for men and women. Kai and I went to the men's side while my wife went to the women's. Before we parted, I asked my wife how long she wanted to spend in the bath before we would meet up in the common area, and she said she thought she would want to stay in the tubs for 45 minutes to an hour. I was astounded... how would I keep Kai occupied for that long?
The area with the baths are very much like a Japanese onsen where you clean yourself off before entering the bath (without clothing). As Kai and I had been to several onsens in Japan, we were familiar with the routine.
In this place, there were three separate baths. One large one was filled with cold water, while two others had hot water and then another had one with even hotter water. Here is a photo from their website:
When we first got there, the cold water felt way too cold and the "even hotter water" tub was way too hot. The "hot" tub was just right. After several minutes in that tub, Kai went over to the cold water tub. He started to go back and forth between the tubs, and as time went on he spent more and more time in the cold tub, only occasionally coming back to the hot tub. I, too, found that the cold tub was refreshing after soaking a long time in the hot tub, and also was able to go into the "even hotter" tub after a good dip in the cold water.
And so we stayed, soaking and going from tub to tub. An hour went by and I asked Kai if he was ready to leave and he said he wanted to stay a few more minutes.
And after a few more minutes, he said he wanted to stay a few more minutes. This went on for quite some time. I think we were in the bath area for about an hour and 45 minutes, and near the end an employee came up to me and said that my wife was looking for us.
When we went out to the common area, my wife was wondering what had taken so long. I told her how much Kai was enjoying the baths and that I didn't want to cut the time short.
In the common area, they have hot rooms where you can lie down and relax. There are about 7 or 8 different ones, each with a different theme (such as Pyramid Room, Charcoal Room, Salt Room, etc.) We tried a few different ones but were getting hungry.
The spa has a Korean restaurant so we went there for dinner.
The food was pretty good and Kai enjoyed it. As we were eating I asked him how he liked this place. He said it was his favorite place, better than Six Flags or going to Florida. Ha!
After dinner, we went back to one more hot room and I shot the following selfie.
My wife really enjoyed this place, too, and we made plans to come back on Mother's Day.
It wasn't great that our water heater went out, but we made great lemonade with that lemon.
What a great place. Just like in Asia. I especially like that they have a restaurant. Although I am not a fan of public baths, or baths of any type (I only take showers)...I think that Swedish saunas would be more to my liking.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good and fun experience for your family. I am surprised they have such a thing here in America.
The place was very reminiscent of a Japanese onsen, and with the restaurant, it is easy to spend a good amount of time there. You can bathe, eat, and then go to a hot room to relax. They even have another room with a theater showing movies, though we did not try that.
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