Day 5: Ski & Spa

Didn't sleep that well the night before due to the oversized mirror in the room, was afraid that something weird would happen. Oh well, in the end, it was all my imagination. That morning, it was another breakfast buffet, the quality and quantity as good as that in NamSeoul. That day was a special one as we were having our ski lesson. Dressed in our rented ski suit, we went to the ski site to rent the rest of the equipment. Firstly we had to get the shoes aka dark boots. Walking in the dark boots wasn't easy as it cut into the shin. Then we had to get the ski and the ski poles.

For our first ski lesson, we learnt how to about turn, slid down a small slope and importantly, to brake. Most of us had not ski before, so were not able to achieve braking on the first try. You could see the most of us falling down on the cold snow. Only Eugene was able to brake on his first try, together with his 'mini-me' attire. After many tries, most people achieve the standard. Yet, I was only able to brake on gentle slope. Any steeper, I would fall. In the process of learning and falling (they say the more you fall, the faster you learn), I think I injured my knee, could hear the cracking sound audibly. It was quite painful, had a little difficulty walking. Although the ski lesson was only three plus hours long, it was exhausting. The waterproof ski attire may be thin, but most of us were sweating. We returned the ski equipment before riding up the beautiful icy slope via the gondola.

Up, up and away

Pristine snow

The snowy slope was magnificent and we had so much fun throwing shards of ice at one another, with raymond being as cunning as possible. I thought we could make some snow angels and snow man but the snow was too compact and hard. Oh well, the place offered a beautiful scenery for photo-taking. After the tiring but exciting ski experience, it was time for lunch.

For lunch, we had some sort of mushroom steamboat, with many varities of mushrooms. It was a refreshing meal, the soup ever so light and subtle. After lunch, we checked in at Seorak Hanwha hotel. The room was so cold, like a cold palace, and everything was falling apart. To think that it was labelled as a four stars hotel, the supposedly same standard as the Pheonix Hanwha hotel. After the basic inspection and complains about our rooms, we changed into our swimming attire (that's right) and proceeded to Waterpia. (according to Chris, don't need to wear anything one, right...)

Spa Haven

Waterpia, a place for sauna and hydromassage. There were many varities of massage such as those targetting the calves, back or lower back. A good way to remove the stress. According to Chris, who seemed to be an expert in beautification, the full body massage is highly recommended, but it is not free. Thus, the big deterrant factor. There was also a ginseng steam room, the room oozing with a strong herbal smell and heat. I could only endure the heat for a couple of minutes. The sauna was very hot, at 41 degree celsius, but very relaxing if you are able to withstand the initial heat. Those daring ones would try the sauna at 45 degree celsius. Although a mere increase, it was a totally different experience, according to resident blonde aaron. Other than sauna, Waterpia also have a tide pool and a swimming pool that led to the outside, where the surrounding temperature cooled the water greatly. Risking hypothermia, we ventured couragiously to the outside. Wow, it was a chilling experience and we quickly went back in. In Waterpia, my favourite was the outdoor sauna as it had a different, almost natural-ly looking backdrop, the one Jolin Tsai was in for the Taiwan advertisement. One warning for sauna though was not to stay in the water too long or risk looking like a boiled crab.

After the ralaxation in Waterpia, we had bbq pork for dinner.

Yummy-licious

Bbq pork, super delicious, super good, made me miss bbq back in Singapore. After dinner, it was back to the 'cold palace', but not before we bought chips and 'cigarette-taste' rice drink.

Seorak Hanwha aka 'Cold Palace'

Only 3 more days to go, and already feeling that time is running too fast.