Usually when Joe wakes up early, he’ll go for a walk alone. Today, he and I both woke up “late” (7am), and the girls were both awake! So what do we do? We go for a family walk to start the day!
Once outside, we decide to walk uphill on the south side of the beach. There’s a hill and an outcropping of rocks in the ocean, and we think that if we walk to the top, we’ll find the path out to the rocks, so that’s what we aim for.
When we get to the top of the hill, we’re met by a ticket office and a locked gate. Oh well, we tried! We are not paying to go out on those rocks, what’s so special about them anyways? Apparently something must be, because every day there are multiple tour buses parked where this road meets our beach…
It just so happened today that our fridge was empty and we had nothing to make for breakfast, and instead of buying ingredients and cooking our own breakfast upstairs, we wanted food right away. Joe had his mind set on the beef congee from Pansy’s, so we ended up there again, just like our first morning here.
I don’t know what a Van-style breakfast is supposed to be, it was pretty similar to the English one, but the soft dough rounds were delicious! I can’t call them bread because they were softer, and they weren’t pancakes, they were both crustier and more savoury.
Back upstairs, it was a quick turnaround because we were heading out for today’s adventure: mud baths at I-Resort! Joe had investigated and found this spa, where they offer therapeutic mud and herbal baths, in addition to multiple mineral pools, along with kids pools and a water park for adults. We hopped in a Grab taxi, and headed out.
Once we had purchased our preferred combo of treatments (mud and herbal only), we picked up our loaner suits and towels. Mens and womens locker rooms were separated, so us girls quickly got changed and then met up again with Joe on the other side. I should have brought my flip flops into the area, because there were pebbles and rough walkways throughout.
We started with the mud baths. This is the whole reason for loaner suits, this mud can discolour and stain everything and anything. Joe had brought his phone in a plastic bag, so we were able to take a picture here and there. The mud tubs were clean when we approached, and then a staff member first rinsed out the tub with mud, and then started the hot mud tap. I got in while it was filling up, it was so hot and honestly felt like getting into a tub full of chocolate, minus the aroma.
The girls are very quick to yelp “it’s hot”, and not want to get in, but they actually both got into the mud! It’s a 20 minutes maximum experience, before you are shuffled over towards the showers to rinse off.
This is where the phone kind of went back into the bag and took a break for a bit. We rinsed off in the gender separated showers, and then, the herb bath was up next. The tubs were similar, but in addition to really really hot water, they dumped two large buckets of what smelled like delicious tea into the mix. We sat and soaked for as long as we could (this one was way too hot for the kids, and even I didn’t last more than maybe 10 minutes), and then the spa treatment portion of our day was all done. Next up: pools!
We found a pool in the middle of our area that was a comfortable mid-thigh depth and pleasantly warm temperature. It’s meant to be a relaxing, rejuvenating and restoring experience, but some families let their kids run rampant, and no staff do anything about it. So you enjoy what you can, and live with the rest. (I would totally come again sans kids, there are pools for adults only which we weren’t able to try this time. But they were also PACKED!)
After lunch, we did end up taking that shuttle to explore the other areas of the resort. There, we found the adult water park, with crazy looking slides and a full kids playground in the middle of a icy cold pool. There were sheltered sun loungers for parents who wanted to sleep in the shade while their kids played, and everybody spoke Russian. It seems like we’re surrounded by 75% Russians, then a healthy mix of Korean, Japanese and locals, and us. I don’t hear English spoken by any other families while we’re at the resort.
Once we decide that we’re done for the day, we leave the amazing kids’ playground pool and walk around this furthest area of the resort. Most of the pools are adults only pools. There’s even a half pool, half badminton court! There is an infinity pool, but you can’t tell that’s what it is, because the edge, the infinity portion, is so crowded, it should be called a people-edged pool instead! Then we find this enormous bear:
Tired and happy, we get changed and get a Grab taxi home. At home we shower and change, and then Joe cooks. It’s an easy pasta type night, and Joe bought a loaf of (very soft) sourdough bread at the store downstairs. We don’t have a bread knife. We had to buy a new cutting board, as the ones here stink to high heavens of the bug spray they’ve treated the lower cabinets with. I dread storing anything in the lower cabinets, it smells so bad. So our new cutting board is the size of a side plate, and all I have are fairly dull straight knives. And a sourdough loaf needing slicing. Luckily, this sourdough is so soft, it easily squishes down to the thickness of a pancake, and I am able to slice it with the knife. I bruise my palm heftily while doing so, but at least we now have bread to mop up the pasta sauce with! The slices kind of puff back out, but not completely. It’s as good as we’ll get with this loaf and this knife…
Once dinner is finished and cleaned up, we pop some popcorn in the microwave and watch some TV to round off the night. We’ve discovered some cool new shows for Maylin. The t-shirt she designed at Uniqlo in Osaka features a raw egg character called Gudetama. He has his own TV-show, believe it or not! There’s also Pokémon Concierge, which is one of the only Pokémon shows she’ll actually sit still to watch. Téa loves all things TV and movies, and will devour any show you put on. She happily giggles along with her sister’s shows, and is just as engaged if you put on a nature documentary. One day she’ll have a career in tv/film, I’m sure of it! (Remember back in Osaka, when I said she toys with the idea of becoming a Foley artist? She gets new ideas daily, as any healthy 10 year old would, but the tv/film industry is top of every list.)
We collapse into bed at the end of the night, and wonder what tomorrow will bring. We’ve half way planned a morning at the beach, and are looking forward to that.
Could those little round things you mentioned at breakfast be similar to English muffins?
I had mud baths in California. They were very relaxing. I don’t remember them being really hot but they were natural, hot spring-fed, so perhaps that’s different.
They were unlike any other breakfast bread/muffin/pancake/crumpet I’ve ever had! The mud portion was warm, the herb portion was HOT! I tend to pass out if I get too hot…