Cleanliness

If there is one thing I can say with certainty about Koreans, it's that they are thorough. Today a good friend agreed to watch Sarah for me while I hit the Korean bath house (thanks, Doris). I've had this horrendous pain in my neck and shoulder and am even considering acupuncture to relieve it. Almost exactly a year ago I visited my first bath house with Cha. If you can get over being completely in the buff around other women; sitting in scalding hot, boiling hot tubs; being scrubbed down to the bone while watching chunks of dead skin being sloughed off; and being massaged and scrubbed in areas of your body that are sacred between husband and wife, then this experience is for you. For a third of the price of a Western spa I had THE WORKS. I signed up for a body scrub and massage, which was possibly the hardest scrub and massage of my life. As a bonus I also had my head massaged and shampooed (why is getting a shampoo so soothing?), a cucumber mask and facial, AND I just noticed while I was relaxing in front of the TV at home that the inside of my belly button is sparkling! Now THAT'S what I call clean. Detailed clean.