If I have to talk about Spa World, I have to talk about nudity. This is because nudity, while not the focus of the facility, is a crucial, unavoidable detail of the experience of Spa World.
Spa World is a Korean style bath house facility, and if you go, you will get naked.
And it is awesome.
I had a great time. I didn’t think I was going to have a great time, I had my own cultural conditioning, hangups and body issues to overcome. But it was the last chance to hang out with a friend who was leaving the country and I wasn’t going to miss out on seeing her before she left.
When I first got to Spa World, I wondered if we had come to the right place. It’s two mirrored doors in a strip mall with a garish “SPA WORLD” sign hung up on the front of the facility. Once I stepped inside, it was a different story altogether. It is fancy. No lie. I was greeted by a long hallway that led to rows of small wooden lockers. On the other side of a counter that had giant rocks in it, friendly hostesses greeted us in both English and Korean.
I looked outside at the black tarmac of the parking lot, and looked back in towards the dark wood and marble floors. I walked towards the counter, in towards the spa, and left an entire culture on the other side of the door. Continue reading →