Weekend Part 1: Yunseong Foot Spa (9-25-11)

Whew!  Another nice weekend in South Korea.  We are saving money and hence not a lot of trips outside of Daejeon yet but we are getting there.  Promise.

On Saturday, Joseph, Amy and myself went to the "tourist area" in Daejeon called Yunseong Special Tourist Zone.  We did not notice anything particularly touristy in this area.  We did pause at the Yuseong Foot Spa which we later discovered was the tourist zone.  This is a natural hot springs that goes as hot as 41 degrees Celsius which in my world is 105.8 F.  We studied the people sitting around the spa with their legs in.  We discovered that their legs were almost beet red from how hot it was.  Surely that cannot be safe?

We were encouraged to try it and after a bit of deliberation we decided to give it a try.  It was HOT.  All of our legs turned red where the water touched them after about 5 minutes and the local patrons had been sitting around this spa for at least an hour or so.  We were told this is healthy for our legs and circulation and known to cure all manner of skin ailments and an effective treatment for neuralgia and related maladies.  I searched for more information about this spa and learned that written accounts of the Yuseong hot springs first appeared more than 1,000 years ago. It was only after the Gyeongbu and Honam railway lines began passenger service in the early 20th century that Yuseong began to attract the public′s interest. After the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Office was relocated from Gongju to Daejeon in 1932, the Yuseong area came to be developed into a tourist resort..  The video below we found on You Tube which will give you a good idea about this foot spa.  It is a smaller area and was filled with older people and some of their younger counterparts the day we went.  A few families would have their feet in the spa then picnic for awhile and then get back in.  Just another social day in Korea!


Spa Here

Not us, a local :-)

Not a very large place but very nice and relaxing

Joseph's new friend

We were regaled with entertainment

Everyone was clapping along