Indulgences

I really miss it not being able to go to the sauna after I cancelled my membership at the gym. But last week, the Korean lady that owns the cafe at my office building told me about this place that has a "different rooms of sauna." I asked her what she meant by different rooms, but because her English is limited she said "just come with me but it's very expensive." I asked how expensive and she said 18 dollars. I thought she meant 80 dollars. So we went and wow!!!

There's nothing like this in Dallas, this is the first and it just opened in October. It's called King Spa and Sauna. It's not located in the prominent area of Dallas but positioned for the convenience of the Koreans who are concentrated in that part of town. It's quiet a drive for me but it was all worth it. I was there twice last week already. For 18 dollars you have the free use of the facility all day, you only pay extra for the massages if you want one. There's a very nice restaurant inside that serves of course, Korean dishes only.

Of the nine different types of sauna rooms, I really enjoy the salt, the pyramid and the base rock bath room. I love laying there, relaxing and detoxing by sweating then I go to the ice room to refresh. Then I go to the restaurant and drink sikhae - a fermented rice drink with crushed ice. Then I go back again to the 3 different rooms for 20 minutes each, then order lunch. I was there 4 hours but you can really stay there all day because there's a computer room and karaoke room and a movie theater - if you understand Korean movies of course. All these comes free with the entrance fee.

There's one service that you can indulge in, if you can call it an indulgence, it's called "wormwood steam hip bath". For 30 dollars, you sit for 45 minutes on this chair with a hole in the middle with a steaming pot of medicinal herbs under the chair, while you're covered in a cape. Yes, the steam fumigates your genitals. It must really be good because women were lining up for it. But I have to pass on that one.