SEOUL SEARCHING

A poster child for Asia’s modern metropolis, South Korea’s cool and chic capital fascinates many and repels some at the same time. Mavis Teo shares the highlights of her recent trip so that you may plug into the city’s finest experiences.

- Mavis Teo

I am falling asleep as I lie on a soapy vinyl-covered bed in my birthday suit while a stranger contorts my limbs to access every nook and cranny of my body with her exfoliation-gloved hand. In a warm and steamy room of around 34 deg C, I am completely putty in the hands of this ahjumma (Korean aunty). I didn’t expect to get this cosy with her. Dressed in a matching black bra and panties – apparently the standard “uniform” for what the Koreans call a scrub mistress, the middle-aged, pint-sized therapist nudges me into a pretzel as she sloughs dead cells and gunks off me.

It could be her kind and disarming smile, or maybe it’s the relaxing ambience at the Korean Sauna of Four Seasons Hotel Seoul where I am staying. Outside my treatment room, a few local women soak in oversized hot and cold baths made with 18-carat Italian Bisazza gold mosaic tiles, in between trips to the sauna or steam room. Most are enjoying quiet time, while two ladies chat softly between themselves. The atmosphere is a far cry from what I have seen on the telly of traditional Korean bathhouses – known as jjimjilbang, where people sit on the floor in t-shirts and shorts provided by the spa, busy chatting and snacking.