"On the count of three.."

On Saturday I finally experienced something that I've been wanting to try for a long time but have been putting off because, quite frankly, I was too scared. I bet the suspense is killing you, isn't it?! Well to put you out of your misery, I'm referring to my first Korean jimilbang experience. In English 'jimjilbang' means public bath. And at public baths in Korea, you get naked. Very naked. Cringe. Fest.

Ruth and I (actually the worst part about it was being with a friend. It was much easier when I had a similar experience in Japan with only strangers around me) encountered this 'getting naked with each other' experience at Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan, central Seoul. Before the nakedness we spent time chilling out and relaxing in the sauna rooms. There are a few different sauna rooms to choose from: some hot, some very hot and there is also a cold room and a central relaxation room where families and groups of friends tend to hang out.

The central room leading to the little sauna rooms.

 After we'd had enough of the sauna rooms we decided it was time to go and experience the baths. It was so funny in the changing rooms (well actually not entirely! The fact I had three little, old ladies undressing and practically rubbing their bodies up against me was not all that great!) when it came to taking our clothes off. All the Koreans were whipping their clothes off at the speed of light, no problem but it took us a while longer. It was just so weird. Finally we decided that we'd do it on the count of three and after a little hesitation we did and off we went.

It's so strange to walk around inside the baths completely starkers and what's even more strange is how comfortable Korean women are with it, given how conservative most of them are in day to day life. They stand around chatting, or play in the pool together seemingly unaware of how exposed they are. We even saw one mother and daughter duo in quite possibly the strangest act of showering I've ever seen! But it's nice that they can be so relaxed and carefree. Being that naked and not caring is empowering and liberating. GIRL POWER!

The cold pool.
It was FREEZING!

When you get in there, there are numerous pools to choose from ranging in temperatures from very hot to very cold. There's also a Jacuzzi type pool which has individual seats that you lay back on which we thought seemed fun until we looked up and saw our naked selves in the ceiling mirrors above us! Needless to say we weren't in there for long! Open showers are also in the same area.

While we were in one of the pools we saw a massage parlour at the back of the room with about half a dozen old and half naked Korean ladies giving various massages and treatments. We decided in the spur of the moment to be spontaneous and have a full body scrub. And my, oh, my was that an experience! #1 weirdest experience of my entire life! Hands down! I don't even want to go into details. It was just weird on so many levels and I was glad when it was over. They washed our hair for us though which was nice and saved us the hassle.

The jimjilbang experience is like no other and I'm so glad I went through with it before I left. Albeit very strange at first, if you mange to relax, it can be a nice, relaxing experience and one everyone should have!