A Good Scrubdown

Note:  This blog post involves the discussion of nudity.  It's nothing gross but maybe it will make some people uncomfortable.  So you've been warned.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to experience something uniquely Korean.  I went to a public bathhouse.

In Korea they have these places called jimjilbangs which are essentially saunas, spas, whatever you want to call them.  They're very common and serve not only as a way to clean yourself but also as a way to socialize and relax.  They're awesome.

I went to the jimjilbang with two friends from Danyang, Lolita and Mrs. Linden.  (Again, not their real names, I protect people on this blog).  We walked in, paid the $8 fee, put our shoes in a locker, and then went downstairs to begin what we initially thought was just going to be sitting in outdoor pools in our swimsuits.  We knew that jimjilbangs were nude-oriented things but we had heard that this place had outdoor hot springs and that you had to wear your swimsuit in them.  So we were prepared.  But when we went down into the women's locker room, we realized that we were not going to be in outdoor hot springs in our swimsuits.  We stood by our assigned lockers, looked at one another, and then agreed to get naked and then figure out what to do.

I realize that first getting naked and then figuring out a game plan is a strange thing to do but it was honestly the best course of action.  Luckily all three of us exercise at gyms in Korea with public showers so we kind of knew what we were getting ourselves into with this.

After stripping down, we were pointed towards the entrance of the jimjilbang itself, each grabbed a small towel (Koreans are not fond of large towels), and entered.  What I saw was incredible.  In the center of the room were four different pools of water.  To the right was one row of standing showers and rows and rows of sitting showers.  To the left were two saunas, another pool with a shower in it, another standing shower, and a corner nook with two tables.  And at all of these locations were naked women.  Of all ages, shapes, and sizes.  Honestly, all ages.  I saw infants all the way up to the oldest Korean woman I've ever seen.  It was insane.  If I had to guess I would say there were over 100 women and children in the room, all cleaning themselves.  And only 3 of these women weren't Korean.

We first took a shower, then tried to get into a pool in the center of the room and were directed to a different pool at the far end of the room.  We got in and just soaked.  And looked around, marveling at our surroundings.  We noticed that there actually was another pool outside and so we went out.  Just walked outside naked.  There was a privacy fence but honestly, in America that would not have cut it.  Paparazzi could have easily gotten over it.  But who cares!  This is Korea.  And sitting outside in the hot, bubbling water with the cool air, just chatting with my friends, was pure bliss.

After a while we went inside and tried both saunas.  Then we got some iced tea and sat in the pools in the middle of the room.  A few minutes later one of the two "scrubbing women" came up to us and explained through hand gestures and our broken Korean that if we wanted a scrub down, it would be $18 (This might be a good time to tell you that Korea does use the Won as a form of currency but I am doing an incredibly rough conversion here for the sake of convenience).  Lolita and I agreed to get scrubbed down, got our money, and waited our turn.

I went first.  I went off into the nook with the tables and laid down on one.  Then one woman, wearing a bra and underwear, the only clothing in the entire room, put on two body scrubber mitts, squirted soap onto my body, and started scrubbing.  Like scrubbing.  She went pretty much everywhere and she was not gentle.  I giggled and tried to stay calm but honestly, it was such an unusual experience that I couldn't stop laughing!  She effectively removed the top layer of skin off my body.  She then washed my hair and poured buckets of water on me to rinse me off.  It felt incredible, if not a bit intimate.  But I was clean afterward.  So clean.

Lolita, Mrs. Linden, and I went back outside into the pool and soaked for a while longer.  Then eventually we took one last shower, put on our clothes, blow dried our hair, and made our way back to Danyang.  All in all a great, relaxing day.