The Gingi Bon Experience + Seoul Tower and Korean Baseball

A gingi bon, known as the Hilex Spa, is a wonderful Korean innovation. I experienced this greatness on Tuesday evening, after returning to base and playing soccer. Let me enlighten you all...

The Hilex Spa is one of the coolest concepts I've yet to enjoy. It is a place of relaxation and rest, and pure enjoyment. It has two floors, the bottom with hot tubs and saunas, and the top room with hot or cold "huts" with varying temperatures. You pay your 7000 W ($7) and get your blue clothes (pink for females) and head into the shoe room. You put your shoes in your locker room, and then head to the clothes room. You then put all your clothes in your locker and head to the jacuzzi/hot tub and sauna room (because they're nude, they're segregated, naturally). They have 3 saunas, varying in temperatures from 55c, 70c, and 90c (142, 170, 212 degrees Fahrenheit respectively), and 4 pools, with temps of 11c, 35c, 40c, and a 30c. (The conversion for Celsius to Fahrenheit is rather easy. C= Temp x 2 + 32; example, 30c; 30x2 = 60 + 32 = 92). Our routine, (our being Les, a professor from Canada and I) included trips to the 55c sauna, the 15c pool 3 times, and a trip to the 90c sauna the last trip. It was quite refreshing!

But that's only half of it folks :) You dry off and clean up and put on your clothes, and head upstairs to the co-ed section. They have a series of these "huts" that you go in and relax, much like the sauna, but its drier heat. We took a trip to the 55c "hot" room, which has a lot of hot rocks on the floor. You lie down and relax, which includes a nice sweaty nap! We then headed to my favorite room, the "freezer room." 11c of great cool a/c! After that trip we went to the 88c hot room to finish the night off. The trip took 2 hours in total, and was well worth the $7. If you wanted you could spend the night there in a bed with no extra charge. What a deal, right!?

Upon returning I went to bed. I got up on Wednesday and enjoyed the two lectures, those being Religion & Thought and Korean Movies. They went pretty smoothly, and the evening activity was Seoul Tower, the 3rd tallest structure in the world. We headed to the tour in the afternoon/early evening, and arrived a little before sunset. The site was breathtaking. After experiencing New York and a rather grandiose site from the Empire State Building, I thought I had seen the epitome of a large city. Boy was I wrong. Let me draw this quick ratio: Seoul is to New York as the World is to the US. Basically I'm saying Seoul makes NY look like a village. From the Seoul tower, i literally could not see the end of the city. Buildings and skyscrapers expanded as far as I could see with my eyes, and when the lights came up I couldn't see beyond the city lights. It was a truly amazing site! That was truly an amazing experience. We barely made it back by curfew that night, but did. I hit the sack and got ready for...what? Korean Baseball! (Yes, its THAT different)

On Thursday morning we listened to a North Korean Defector (one who fled North Korea for a free country) as he explained the struggle he and his fellow brothers experience in the nation of North Korea. It was riveting to listen to his story and his struggle, all to obtain what? The freedom we in the US take for granted daily. We had the afternoon free, so we decided to do something in the evening. The winning activity? A Baseball game! Yes folks, the LG Twins were going up against the Doosan Bears in a big time rivalry game!

We arrived at the game with the idea of a regular baseball game like that in the States. Then I saw some cheerleaders. Cheerleaders? Difference #1. I took a photo with them (as you can see) and found my seat with our group. When the game started I saw those same cheerleaders again. Who else was that? A man with a whistle who acted as "conductor" for the Doosan Bears!? Difference #2. As soon as the Bears got up to bat he began to lead the fans in chants. Home team making noise when their own team is batting? Difference #3. It was like it was choreographed, and everyone knew the 10+ cheers that the Bears had; everyone except us Americans. This cheering and chanting continued through the game. It took me a few innings to realize that the cheerleaders I took a picture with were from the other team. Then after looking at the other side, I realized the OTHER team had cheerleaders and a whistle blower too. It dawned on me: Each team was "battling" the other to be louder with their cheers and chants. Difference #4. Wait, is that the peanuts guy? Oh wait, those aren't peanuts. She's carrying squid around. Squid? Yes, Koreans are in tune with their seafood. The squid was like jerky...so that means its squid jerky? Difference #5.

The Doosan Bears clinched a solid victory of 4-0. The game was under 2 hours, which was a record for any baseball game I've ever attended. Amidst the cheering and chanting and whistle blower and other crazy stuff I was entertained the whole time. Seeing a man in his work clothes - a suit and tie - and holding noise makers is just something we don't see in the US. Oh beautiful South Korea... :) Be sure to leave some comments :) 벤