The other night Chris and I went to a jimjilbang, a Korean bathhouse, that bears little to no resemblance to the 1920's American establishments adorning bathhouse row in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The first thing you do is you fork over your shoes when walking in and take a small key from the tiny locker you put your shoes in on the way in. You then give this key to a man at a desk (essentially they're going to be holding your shoes hostage) to receive a key to a larger locker in which you place all your clothing and belongings after stripping. These lockers are just off a common area where there are lots of naked men lounging about watching television and reading the paper. A small counter with toiletry products ran across one wall for those ready to rejoin the outside world.
Once your are naked you make your way to the actually bathing facility which in this place had a very modern, institutional, stream lined feel. It was made of primarily black granite, tile, and stainless steel with tubs made of a kind of smoothed polished concrete. As we walked in Chris told me, "Be prepared to be watched like hawks." They apparently don't get a lot of white guys... The first thing you do is you take a pretty normal shower just like you would anywhere. The key is to make sure they that you are a clean before you hop in the baths. From there you can go to any of the baths or saunas they have. Chris noted that there might be a particular order for doing this but he was unaware of it.
In the center of the room they had three concrete hot tubs with red LED signs noting the relative temperature of each. We jumped into one in which a Korean guy was hanging out and Chris noted, "I bet this guy won't last two minutes." Sooner than later (although he did last longer than 2 minutes) this guy left the pool. From there I went on to try most all of the baths facilities. You could hop back and forth between the hot pools that reached a total of 45 degrees Celsius. After getting all hot you could run over to this little area filled with smooth, black river stones that were supposed to be good for your feet and hit a small button the back wall this would start a torrent of cold water from a nozzle on the ceiling that beat down on you like a cold water fall causing you to lose your breath as your body struggled to make sense of the abusive temperature change.
After this you could run into a small sauna like room that functions as a cold room. Condensation from the bath has cooled and frozen as ice on the walls and over head there is a giant refrigerator coil creating the impression of being inside someone's ice box. If you run next door you'll enter a steam room filled with plastic chairs and a large boiler in the corner. It is primarily tile and drops of water have collected on the ceiling into hot little droplets that hang like a thousand little swords of damocles ready to fall on your naked skin. I set down in a chair a little ways away from the boiler only to have it shoot out a stream of steam in two directions barely missing me. I have no doubt that it would have seriously burned me had I been so unlucky and thoughtless as to sit directly before it. The hot damp air feels heavy in your lungs and those droplets can't be controlled and fall on the most painful and inappropriate places so you go on to the next room. The next room is a traditional sauna that reaches 178 degrees Fahrenheit. Note that this a grand total of 34 degrees difference from the boiling point of water. Suffice to say that one cannot stay in this room for long. Still it's uniquely beautiful as the owners had inlaid stones and crystals into the walls of this room that I suppose Koreans believe have special properties (this according to Chris). The air burns your nose so mouth breathing is essential and the heat causes your eyes to dry. Your wet hair shortly begins to feel like it's caught fire and you know that it's time for you to leave.
Out in the main room you can run to large "refreshing" pool that is filled with cold, clean water much like a pond in early spring. Your body doesn't really like the temperature change and you'll find yourself gasping. There is a large nozzle on the ceiling in this pool that if you press a button on the wall will shoot you with a stream of water so strong that it beats you back down into the pool like you are a protester fighting against a fire hose. Following this I decide that it was time to quit so I ran and jumped into a pool of tepid water with jets and hung out for a bit talking to Chris.
After this, when it was time to leave, you bathed again. This time you set down on these little plastic stools in front of a shower nozzle and you were given a bar of soap to wash yourself with. It's a bit different experience to do the whole sitting down bathing thing. It seems to so mundane yet odd for someone that has spent the last 20 years of his life on his feet while showering. I guess it makes it easier to wash your feet.
After that you get dressed and your back on the street all clean. What more could you want?
Once your are naked you make your way to the actually bathing facility which in this place had a very modern, institutional, stream lined feel. It was made of primarily black granite, tile, and stainless steel with tubs made of a kind of smoothed polished concrete. As we walked in Chris told me, "Be prepared to be watched like hawks." They apparently don't get a lot of white guys... The first thing you do is you take a pretty normal shower just like you would anywhere. The key is to make sure they that you are a clean before you hop in the baths. From there you can go to any of the baths or saunas they have. Chris noted that there might be a particular order for doing this but he was unaware of it.
In the center of the room they had three concrete hot tubs with red LED signs noting the relative temperature of each. We jumped into one in which a Korean guy was hanging out and Chris noted, "I bet this guy won't last two minutes." Sooner than later (although he did last longer than 2 minutes) this guy left the pool. From there I went on to try most all of the baths facilities. You could hop back and forth between the hot pools that reached a total of 45 degrees Celsius. After getting all hot you could run over to this little area filled with smooth, black river stones that were supposed to be good for your feet and hit a small button the back wall this would start a torrent of cold water from a nozzle on the ceiling that beat down on you like a cold water fall causing you to lose your breath as your body struggled to make sense of the abusive temperature change.
After this you could run into a small sauna like room that functions as a cold room. Condensation from the bath has cooled and frozen as ice on the walls and over head there is a giant refrigerator coil creating the impression of being inside someone's ice box. If you run next door you'll enter a steam room filled with plastic chairs and a large boiler in the corner. It is primarily tile and drops of water have collected on the ceiling into hot little droplets that hang like a thousand little swords of damocles ready to fall on your naked skin. I set down in a chair a little ways away from the boiler only to have it shoot out a stream of steam in two directions barely missing me. I have no doubt that it would have seriously burned me had I been so unlucky and thoughtless as to sit directly before it. The hot damp air feels heavy in your lungs and those droplets can't be controlled and fall on the most painful and inappropriate places so you go on to the next room. The next room is a traditional sauna that reaches 178 degrees Fahrenheit. Note that this a grand total of 34 degrees difference from the boiling point of water. Suffice to say that one cannot stay in this room for long. Still it's uniquely beautiful as the owners had inlaid stones and crystals into the walls of this room that I suppose Koreans believe have special properties (this according to Chris). The air burns your nose so mouth breathing is essential and the heat causes your eyes to dry. Your wet hair shortly begins to feel like it's caught fire and you know that it's time for you to leave.
Out in the main room you can run to large "refreshing" pool that is filled with cold, clean water much like a pond in early spring. Your body doesn't really like the temperature change and you'll find yourself gasping. There is a large nozzle on the ceiling in this pool that if you press a button on the wall will shoot you with a stream of water so strong that it beats you back down into the pool like you are a protester fighting against a fire hose. Following this I decide that it was time to quit so I ran and jumped into a pool of tepid water with jets and hung out for a bit talking to Chris.
After this, when it was time to leave, you bathed again. This time you set down on these little plastic stools in front of a shower nozzle and you were given a bar of soap to wash yourself with. It's a bit different experience to do the whole sitting down bathing thing. It seems to so mundane yet odd for someone that has spent the last 20 years of his life on his feet while showering. I guess it makes it easier to wash your feet.
After that you get dressed and your back on the street all clean. What more could you want?
I want pictures....
-Pablo
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