The
marathon of spring festivals have started!
The cherry blossoms are out and the sun can occasionally be seen through
the ever-present smoggy haze.
This
weekend I went down to Busan for the Holi Hai festival which was held on
Haeundae beach. It's actually the Indian
festival celebrating the coming of Spring.
I'm usually not a 'party on the beach' kinda gal, but who can resist a
beach party where you get to throw fists full of coloured powder at
strangers? It was also the largest
gathering of foreigners I've seen in the 7 months that I've been here! It's
always nice to find surrounded by your own language for a bit when you live in
a foreign country. It's funny how you can't help but look up and locate the
source of your own language when you're not used to hearing it on the street or
in a store. It's always a treat to be
surrounded by it when it's not just your friends talking (not that I don't love
hearing my friends talk…).
I slept
in a jimjilbang (I'll get back to that later) the night before and was on the
beach by 8. Registration started at 9. Everyone got a packet of coloured powder
and samosas (yumm) when they register.
Extra powder could, of course, be bought throughout the day as
needed. It was essentially a huge beach
party with a colour throw every hour when everyone got together for a count down
and then went crazy with the colours. I
think the colour throws kept the energy up throughout the day, which is probably
why I didn't end up ducking out early as I would normally do at a party.
It was very strange to have strangers throw
colours at you. They also had 'face'
paint circulating around and I lost count of the number of times I had people
come up to me and rub their hands all over my face, or touch my nose, leave
hand prints on my shoulders… etc. Very strange but quiet entertaining all the
same. I'm pretty sure Holii's the only
place where a stranger (or friend) could get away with it and have it not feel
super inappropriate or intimate (though I did have one ass grab… by an older
Korean gentleman… not quiet sure why he was on the beach...). Anyways, fun
times were had by all.
It WAS
interesting to see how different ethnicities acted in that atmosphere
though. The few Koreans who were there
were quite timid and threw small pinches of powder at people and then would
scurry off. I mentioned to my Korean
teacher that weren't many Koreans there and she said that Koreans don't like
getting messy and the thought of being covered in paint and powder was not an
appealing prospect. The
American/Canadian crowd were rambunctious but in a 'we're here to drink' sort
of way. The Indian/Middle Eastern crowd were much more joyful and celebratory
in their partying and dancing. Holi Hai is supposed to be welcoming the coming
of spring and the Indians sure do give off that vibe. They certainly believe in
the celebratory and playful side of the festival.
After the
festival came to an end, we all crammed into the washroom to try to de-colour
our faces and bodies. I'm sure the people who went in to use the washroom after
us were shocked and very confused by the muddy greyish water that was left
behind on just about every surface. Once I got home, I did more thorough scrub
down though, despite my best intentions, my snot was still a disconcerting blue
colour for a few days afterwards. Hahaha. Gross.
Jimjilbang!
I mentioned earlier that I slept in a jimjilbang the night before Holi. A Jimjilbang a Korean Spa/Sauna, or public
bathing house. This was my first jimjilbang experience and it was certainly
something that you would not find in North America!
I got
there around 8 on Saturday, and once I paid my 15 000 won ($15) for the night,
I was issued a key, a shirt, and a pair of shorts. I put my shoes in a small
locker on the main floor and was gestured upstairs to the second floor, where
the women's bathing area was. After
self-consciously stripping naked by my locker, I walked into the steamy bathing
area. IT was surprisingly empty for a
Saturday night but there were enough naked Koreans to make it no feel too
intimate a gathering. There were designated scrubbing sinks with handheld
shower heads and small stools to sit on.
Koreans really like scrubbing… They're quite thorough in their
cleaning. There were 4 different baths
in the room to choose from, varying in temperature. There was also one outside
on the balcony where you could breath some fresh air while sweat it out in the
hot tub. There was also a water fall muscle-pounding 'bath' so you could work
out those pesky knotted back muscles. I
didn't go into the hot and dry saunas, but they were also available for your
baking pleasures.
Once I
had had my fill of the baths, I dried off, put on my designated t-shirt and
shorts and headed to the sleeping/lounge area the next floor up. Here, I discovered that there was a
restaurant and a snack bar! The locker key also somehow kept tab of the money
you spent while you were there… which was convenient because you didn't have to
carry cash around with you. I sat and
alternated between reading my book and people watching for a few hours as the
rest of the bathers filtered in. I was
surprised at the number of families with young children were there… Just a
casual Saturday night visit to the Spa and sleep over! When I first got to the leisure room, there
was a father playing with three young kids. They had gotten their hands on a
pile of square cushions/pillows and were happily using them as building blocks. When the mother came in, she chastised the
kids for making a mess and I saw the father discretely disassemble his own
pillow creation before she noticed that he had been an active participant in
making the mess. Haha. Classic marriage and parenting.
Around
11, the staff brought out small quilts that were to be used as sleeping matt
and blanket. I grabbed a few quilts and
pillows and staked out a spot of flooring in a small room just off of the main
one that was quieter and darker than the larger room. As you can imagine, it was a little noisy in
there and I was happy that I'd remembered to pack my ear plugs! It took some
time for me to get comfortable on the floor but I did manage to finally fall
asleep, surrounded by strangers.
I woke up
uncharacteristically early and decided to go back down to the baths for a bit.
I then went back up and ordered some rice and boiled eggs for breakfast. Koreans boil their eggs in tea, so they're
always a strange brown-ish-yellow colour on the inside which is really not overly
appetizing looking… but still tastes OK.
As I was
sitting enjoying my modest breakfast, I noticed that there were sauna rooms on
this floor as well! There was a red-clay sauna, a salt sauna, and two hot rooms
as well. I hung out in the salt room for a bit and then cooled off in the ice
room (another morning discovery). I then
made my way back to the change rooms to put my Holi attire on (white shirt of
course), paid off my key bill, retrieved my shoes and headed down to the beach
to wait for Holi to start!
It was an
awesome weekend :)
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