a weekend of luxury

this weekend we decided that since we couldn't find a single ticket out of this country for the lunar new year, we would splurge on a weekend getaway.

we stayed in a fancy hotel that was ridiculously expensive.  it was only one night, so we made the best of it.  we got a bottle of wine and took advantage of the jacuzzi and big puffy white bathrobes.  in the morning we even got a delicious american-style breakfast.

we went to a nice restaurant for lunch with some new friends.  we ended up staying there for four hours, because we were having such a wonderful time.  for dinner, ryan and i went to a korean restaurant for some dimsum.  dimsum comes in these terrific wooden bowls full of a variety of noodle dumplings filled with all sorts of seafood or vegetables.

it's funny to us that whenever we order water in a restaurant, they only bring a half full glass...if that.  it's not very common to drink any beverage during a meal in korea.  we always stand out, because we are constantly ordering more water.

the next morning i forced ryan to go with me to a spa.  it was quite the experience.  first we had to change into these outfits and slippers.  then we stuck our feet in a small pool of warm water full of fish that eat the dead skin off your feet.  it was difficult for both of us since we are both very ticklish.  we squirmed and laughed a lot.

after the fish, we went to a separate foot bath with aromatherapy.

while we were soaking our feet we were served warm herbal tea and given english magazines.

after our foot soaking, we got a couples traditional chinese massage.  it was so fun to be in the same room during our massage, although there was a point during our session when ryan let out a little moan, and it took everything i had in me not to burst out laughing.  we both agreed that it was the most painful massage we had ever had, but also the best we had ever had.  there was a lot of punching and slapping and our massage therapists climbed all over our bodies.  after the massage they stretched us.  that was one of my favorite parts of the whole experience.