Naked Women Everywhere. Oh The 짐질방 Experience..

If that title didn't peek your interest, you must be crazy.

It just occurred to me today that I have yet to write about this, for it happened more than a month ago.

짐질방. Pronouned "jimjilbang," or public bath and sauna.
Jimjilbangs are a large part of Korean culture, so after many stories from friends and a big deep breath, I decided that it was time I needed to experience it. So one weekend in August after my return from Japan, a few friends and I decided to stay at one while in Busan, instead of booking a hostel or love motel. We chose Haeundae Spa Center, for it was a short 10-minute walk from the beach.
http://www.haeundaespa.com/

First thing we do: Walk in
Second: Freak out.

Okay, no matter how comfortable you are with your body in front of friends and family, it's a whole other ball game when you are a naked foreigner (most times... the only foreigner) amongst 100+ naked Korean women.

A few facts:
1.Men and women are separated by floor. You can't even press the women's floor from the men's floor and the communal floor on the elevator, and vice-versa. They mean business.
2. You can stay overnight or just do a spa day.
3. It cost us a whopping 9,000won, which is not even $8. AMAZING.

So as I said before, I was told countless stories, both involving good and bad experiences. The one major piece of advice I received  was to get over and accept the fact that these ahjumma's WILL stare at you. We're westerners. We have hips. They don't. Get over it. And in this place, there is NO where to hide. So as we paid for our stay, we said goodbye to the boys and walked in to the women's floor. We were met by a woman at a desk who gave us our robes (baggy linen capri type sweat pants and a button up shirt. Really fashionable.) She also gave us a locker key and two towels. We thought, oh well at least we have towels to cover ourselves up with. No. They were legit hand towels, more for drying your hair/face. That idea was shot down quickly. We quickly realized we were really going to do this. As we walked to our lockers we had our first sighting of the nakedness. Women, girls, everywhere. Fully comfortable and fully naked. Bizarre is the word that came to mind. We have nothing like this in the States, and I think that's why it was so very interesting more than anything. We actually didn't use the baths until later, but we did decide to do a little bit of exploring before getting ready to go out. This way when we came back that night, we would know exactly what it was all about. Now keep in mind we were fully clothed at this point amongst all the nakedness, so that was a bit uncomfortable. Beyond the lockers were bathrooms, a huge vanity room, with mirrors on three walls, equipped with hairdryers, q-tips, and combs, A t.v. area with benches, and women outstretched, completely carefree in their nakedness watching the Olympics. Then you hit the main attraction- the sauna and bath room. Of course we couldn't go in yet, because we were still clothed, so hold on just a tic...

As we took all this in, I had a feeling of, oh my god I don't think I can walk around like this in front of all these strangers and be okay with it. It's a definite test on how comfortable you really are. It's not like I'm not comfortable with my body. This is was deeper than that. In our case- the stares. And boy did we get them, but surprisingly unlike walking on the streets, in here you're a celebrity for a mere 3 1/2 seconds and then you're just like everyone else. I didn't really experience many lingering looks. Good thing.

So as we came back from our night, we made the great leap. I was a nerd, counted to three and stripped down. I took my 2 towels with me and headed into the spa area. It really was a beautiful sight. Think of an enormous room, with dimmed lights, and water reflecting off each corner. To your right there were about 10 showers and bath areas to your far right (personal stations holding their own shower head, sink, stool to sit on, and a vanity with a large bowl on top.) You bring your shampoo and body wash etc. to these stations or the showers (whatever your preference.) It's a cardinal rule to shower/bathe before stepping into the pools. In the center and all along the left and back walls are pools of differing temperatures. One of them even had 2 waterfall type shower heads above them. You can stand underneath it and a flood of water falls on you for like 3 minute intervals. I actually didn't do that, but it looked intriguing. In the center there are stations where ahjummas who are employed by the jimjilbang will scrub you down. I believe it's an extra expense, and after seeing it done, I plan on doing it the next time I'm at one. I've been told they're pretty rough, but that it feels amazing once you're done. Definitely a twist on what we think of as pampering. I spent a good amount of time in a cold pool and an extremely hot one. As I turned on the jets and sat back, I looked around just taking it all in. First of all, not even believing I was actually doing this, second of all, admiring the stares turned into smiles from ahjummas, third of all lauging at the children who were splashing and playing with their friends/sisters in the pools, and fourth of all, intrigued by the relaxation on everyone's faces. They all seemed like they had not a worry in the world.

After an hour or so, we made our way back out to the lockers to change into our beautiful bed time attire and headed upstairs to the communal sleeping floor. This floor is basically a huge open space where people are relaxing, talking quietly amongst themselves, watching tv in the corner, but mostly sleeping. It literally looks like a hospital ward that had no beds for their patients. You don't know who anyone is because they are all lying down with the same attire. It took us forever to find our friends the next night because the place was so packed. It was like walking on broken glass, stepping in between people's heads and feet. Along the sides of the floor and down short hallways are about 15-20 tiny rooms. They include massage rooms where you can pay for full-body massages; sauna rooms that vary from ice-cold rooms to such intense heat, that I opened the door to one and had to shut it right away because the air was so thick I couldn't breathe. Down the short hallways are private, quiet, sleeping rooms, some unisex, and some seprated. There are no English signs, so we really needed to pay attention as to who were in the rooms. The first night we slept in one of the unisex private rooms and the second night we made our way out to the patio.  I have to tell you, waking up to sun shining on you, on a balcony overlooking Haeundae, was pretty amazing.

Yes. I would do it again. This experience is one westerners really can't get bak home. I'm not sure if they exist at all in the States. If they do, I'm sure you really have to go searching. By the end of it, the nakedness was no longer a problem and I became quite accustomed to the whole ordeal. This is a MUST for anyone visiting Korea for an extended period of time. Even if you don't stay... 5,000won or $4 for a day at a spa is pretty damn good. You really can't pass that up.