magazine

Luxury at Seoul’s Dragon Hill Spa… hip or hype?

Filed under * Korea tips & stays, Accommodations by Christine Ka'aloa on February 10, 2012 at 9:15 am {11 comments}

: Why does my face look like it’s going to explode? You don’t really want to know, but keep reading to find out …

One of the things I occasionally enjoy are the jjimjilbangs and bathhouses. It’s not that I enjoy being naked in front of others, but I do love the pampering of a good soak and scrub, whilst relaxing with the Asian bathing community. In fact, being naked in a bathhouse is actually more comfortable than wearing a bikini on a beach! Seeing bodies of all shapes, sags and sizes, parade around non-chalantly and matter-of-fact, I get to feeling less judgmental in general, about a pinch of fat here, cellulite there…

On my return to Seoul, there was one “luxury” jjimjilbang I’d heard hype about. Dragon Hill Spa has been raved about by CNN.com, The New York Times and bloggers being one of the deluxe spas in Seoul, where celebrities frequent and TV broadcasts like Yoo Jae Suk‘s show, Happy Together (I think), occasionally film. It was a spot I’d been dying to try. (more…)

White Sheets Review: A most unique stay at Beung Pai Fish Farm, Thailand

Filed under Accommodations, Chiang Mai by Christine Ka'aloa on October 27, 2011 at 8:10 pm {2 comments}

thai fishing hat

A” catch-and-release” fish resort?

This was the first time I heard this term.

I was on a minivan bus, thrilled by my last-minute decision to whisk away for a two-day weekend to a place, I’d known only from a paragraph in a guidebook. It was like a blind date. I didn’t know what to expect and I was nervous; I hadn’t a clue where I’d be staying!

Pai, the Thai-hippie backpacker town, just three to five hours north of Chiang Mai and 362 road curves to survive, was my mysterious destiny. Little did I know then, that Beung Pai Fish Farm would be the destination that sold me on the entire place!

“It’s not in the guidebooks and there’s so many resort and guesthouses in Pai. It’s spread mostly by word-of-mouth. It’s a little outside of the main antics of the town- in the middle of some rice fields- but trust me, staying there is worth it!”

Graham, a 40-ish expat from the U.K., sitting next to me, eagerly divulged his secret hideaway. My curiosity was hooked. I held onto it like a college kid waiting for SMS text directions to a secret rave.

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Inside an Indian ashram

Filed under India, Kerala / Karnataka by Christine Ka'aloa on June 2, 2011 at 8:55 am {18 comments}

At 6 AM. the morning fog was lifting off the lake. Devotional music poured joyously over the loudspeaker of a neighboring temple and echoed eerily, as fly by birds bore life to the serene setting. Sitting in silence I felt the sun spreading its rays across my body with an exquisite orange and gold. I inhaled.

OM.

Kerala was a perfect escape from the heat, haggling, piss-perfumed stains and madness I know as India. Lush green foliage and forest, the Keralan coast was degrees cooler and more welcoming. I’d seen the film Eat Pray Love and told myself I’d have no aspirations to it. Still, an epiphany was coming through– that there were spots in India which could be peaceful, clean, beautiful and serene!

Universities, nice roads, lush forestry, posh and brightly colored mansions backed by Saudi money all seemed to say – Hey, this state’s got money! Yes, “God’s own country” (as the saying goes) was truly rich.
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Finding my Inner Buddha at Templestay (Day 2)

Filed under Korea, Unique Stays by Christine Ka'aloa on April 19, 2011 at 4:43 am {4 comments}

Musangsa Temple, Day #2, South Korea.

3:10AM

The wooden moktak is struck and it’s barely audible. Fortunately, someone had set their alarm. Monks must be light sleepers. We get dressed and go to the meditation room.

Emerging from my crusted vision, I recognize my cushion just a few centimeters before my feet. The room is toasty and tinged with a faint incense. A two foot tall golden Buddha sitting in lotus position in the center of the room, mediates the sexes- men on one side, women on the other.

The monks file in.

Our teacher, the foreboding but jolly Lithuanian stands by, keeping an eagle eye on us. The wooden moktak is struck again. Some sticks are clacked and in unison, we begin…

108 prostrations in silence. Standing prayer position, down, prostrated bow on floor, stand up again, standing prayer position, down…

Somewhere between the sweat and your legs turning to rubber, you lose count. You go with the flow, thinking, “Tomorrow I’m going to hurt like hell…” (more…)

Finding my Inner Buddha at Templestay (Day 1)

Filed under Korea, Unique Stays by Christine Ka'aloa on April 16, 2011 at 10:20 am {2 comments}

Musangsa Temple, Day #1, South Korea.

Buddhist meditation: Becoming Nothingness.

The mind must be a clean slate, an empty cup.

Blank mind, empty cup. Yes, I could feel it…the Zen was sinking into me.

Listen to the sound of your breath.

I could hear it alright- deep, tranquil, low…

Lose attachment to all sound and body.

Definitely losing it. Walls were losing focus, limbs had gone beyond numb. Outside, the birds, wind, trees, the sound of my neighbors’ fidgeting,… it all passed through my ears, falling right through me.

This wasn’t my first meditation retreat, but it was my first Templestay. Yet sitting in my buddhist temple robe (more…)

Written by Christine Ka'aloa Korea

My Accidental Overnight stay at a Buddhist temple

I was in the home stretch with only two hours to go. Each bent joint in my body wanted to scream with spasms.

What the hell was I thinking?

Staring at the wooden wall before me for the past seven hours, the knots and natural grain of the wood were beginning to form a cackling witch.

Who am I?

This was a good one. These past weeks I’ve wrestled with the rocking crests and uncertain footing of that question. Nearing 40 and still single, the world is mine to create and to accidentally slaughter. Stay in Korea and develop a career in education? Follow my passion for travel and yoga to India? Root down, find a husband and make babies? Everything felt like it should be the right answer.

December 22, 2010 6

Written by Christine Ka'aloa * Korea tips & stays

Review: Naked in a Mineral Bath (Chocksan Spa, Mt Seoraksan)

We arrived in Sochko at Chocksan Spa around 11PM. The spa had already closed, so we checked into our room. A small room, there was no traditional bed (well no, let me take that back)…there was a traditional yo (a Korean floor bed, where comforters are put down for padding), and just enough floorspace for a five-person squeeze. The room was well-sized for either the standard four-person Korean family or a midget. We got a coffee table with a hotpot, some cups and a hotel refrigerator stocked with items “for purchase”. While the latter is common to hotels in the

November 7, 2010 1

Written by Christine Ka'aloa * Korea tips & stays

Finding love in the Korean Love Motel

Home is where I lay my head is a true saying for me, but “I just want somewhere to lay my head for the night” are words you’ll seldom hear uttered from my lips. While I enjoy staying at guesthouses/hostels, as much as I do a 4- 5 star resort hotel, what inevitably tips my excitement scale is an accomodation, which carries a unique experience or exceptional flavor. Enter the Korean Love Motel.

June 30, 2010 9

Written by Christine Ka'aloa * Korea tips & stays

Sleeping at a Jjimjilbang (a Korean bathhouse & sauna)

For all you travelers and expats looking to tour Korea on the cheap, a friend once mentioned staying overnight at a jjimjilbang as a way to hurdle hostel and budget hotel costs (which may run anywhere from a low $18-40); since then, the jjimjilbang culture has been a phenomenon to me.