A jimjilbang is were Koreans let everything ( really....everything) loose and relax. How exactly do they do this? Well, they get naked and relax in steaming hot baths of course! Jimjilbangs
are gender-separated public bathhouses with hot-tubs, showers, saunas. Here you can enjoy the spas, showers, and saunas but also sleep overnight at an affordable price. They are a popular relaxation getaways for Koreans and many of them are open 24/7. You can enter various heated rooms each designed with a particular theme. You can relax in cold and hot sea water. You can get a nice massage. You can enjoy a cup of tea. Sounds nice, huh? Well this is all available for you to enjoy, while you are BUTT NAKED.
Yes, you read that right. This is why I had hesitated on going to a 찜질방 for the past 12 months. The idea of prancing around in my birthday suit made me nervous but I did add it to my Korea to-do list. It's all about cultural immersion! I had no intentions of going anytime soon....but I did. I also told myself that I would NEVER go with anyone that I know because well, I didn't want them to see me naked and I didn't want to see them naked. :) But that changed, too.
Our faculty retreat was held in September at Daecheon Beach. Close to Daecheon beach is Boryeong. The Boryeong Mud Festival is held every summer at the city of Boryeong in South Korea. This event has pulled over 50 million visitors and people drench in mud during this festival as the name indicates. The mud here is said to be full of minerals and a great product for skin rejuvenation. It's also a big tourist event.
Being that the festival is held during the summer, I was unable to go because I was home in the States. During our retreat, a few of my colleagues had gone to get a massage at a local sauna. They spoke highly of this place and said it was a great massage and very affordable. They also said that the mud from Boryeong was used for their massages. So what did I want to do? Go get a mud massage, too! The catch: it was a jimjilbang which meant I needed to get over my fear of nakedness. EEEK!
A few of us headed over and I was freaking out on the way there. Here I was on the way to hang out at a sauna and get a massage with colleagues and they were going to see me naked. Awesome. We entered the establishment, paid for our entrance and then received our keys to our lockers. Next, it was time to strip down. My heart was pounding...my palms were sweaty.... then, clothes came off. Out of the group I went with (about 5 of us) I was the last one to get undressed and head out to the bath area. OK, now what...well I had to walk into the pool area area with nothing but a towel. This was not a regular sized towel but an itty, bitty one to cover important parts:) I slowly stepped into the room with all the different pools (hot water, cold water, sea water, mud water, etc) and tried to embrace the nakedness. It took a while to get comfortable but I eventually I did....kind of.:)
After relaxing in the different pools for about a couple of hours, it was time for our massages. One word: wow. The Boryeang mud was fantastic. Yes, it was awkward having an older woman massage me while naked but it was a great massage. All in all--it was worth it! I do plan to go at least one more time during my time here....I think. :)
Let's do this! |
Funny statue outside of the jimjilbang |
Of course I couldn't take my camera in with me so this is a picture of an advertisement at the entrance of the sauna. Here you can see people enjoying Mudfest as well as some of the different pools |
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