It was a struggle getting here, but it’s worth it. First of all, everyone went out last night, since it was Thursday, the start of our weekends (the plus of being a YISS student). So when we were supposed to leave campus by 7AM to get to the free foreigner shuttle, I was still napping. Luckily, my friend rang on my dorm doorbell and I got everything together in about 15 minutes. We knew it was too risky to take the subway in fear of cutting it too short, so we hailed a cab. It only took us 10 minutes to get to the shuttle. But it turns out, only two of us four going to Jeonju had a ticket. So we waited until all other people have boarded to see if there are spots for my other two friends. And once again, luck was on our side and we got onto the shuttle.
At 11:20AM, we arrived in Jeonju. We couldn’t check in to our accommodation utnil 2PM so we decided to just chill in a jimjibang (찜질방) or bathhouse. It was truly an experience. First, we stored our shoes in small lockers on the lobby floor. Then we went to the women’s floor to change. There were so many naked ahjummas! Clearly we had to let go of any inhibitions–we were seeing naked butts left and right! We were hungry so we went up the other floor to get food. It was also where the heated room and cold rooms were. The heated rooms went up to 57°C and the cold room was at 13°C. Staying in the heated room made us very drowsy, and we even dozed off! After about an hour and a half on the that floor, we finally decided to go back down to the women’s floor and off to the showers!
We really had know idea what to do. We stripped down and walked into the shower area. Everyone was naked. Women (mainly more elderly) were scrubbing, rinsing, soaking, or just walking around. Only two of us decided to stick with the program and figure out the cleansing routine. First we took a shower. When we tried to go into the 83°C sauna, an older lady told us to first soak our heads. She even gave us her shampoo to use! After we all showered (again), she told us we have to go to the warm jacuzzi, then dip into the cold pool, then into the sauna.
The warm pool was so nice! It was 39°C, a really comfortable temperature. Another lady at the warm jacuzzi told my friend to put up her hair. When she struggled to put her hair up into the towel, the first older lady walked over and actually helped my friend tie up her hair and put the towel around her head. Boy, this lady made us feel like little kids! It was so nice of her to care for us. After a bit, we hesitantly dipped into the cold pool. It was similar to jumping into a natural spring–very cold. We suffered the first minute, but after moving around, it wasn’t too cold. Next, onto the sauna! When we went in, there was a lady, sitting down with suction cups all over her body. When we struggled to find a spot on the floor that didn’t burn us, she told us to use the water. In the process of figuring out how to spray the water, I accidentally sprayed some onto her face! I couldn’t help but laugh out loud! She looked annoyed for a second, and then proceeded to actually get up and spray the water for us. Sitting on the water actually made the sauna so much more bearable. After about five minutes, we went on to the 103°C sauna. Gosh, it felt like we were drinking the air in there. The water evaporated so quick. I really couldn’t extinguish sweat from the humid air–all I knew was that I was completely wet, covered in a sheen of liquid. Lastly, we went to a pool like area, where you can push buttons to start water jets underwater. I assumed they were for massage purposes, but I’m still not sure!
Overall, this jimjibang experience was a wonderful first. Everyone was so nice and super helpful, and we got really comfortable about walking around naked and seeing other naked people. Not sure if that last part is good!
Seoul Cool, Seoul Ellen 