After my first trip to a jjimjilbang, I feel my Korean experience has been fully authenticated. A jjimjilbang is a public bathhouse with sex-segregated bathing pools, saunas, massage rooms, mineral saunas, ice rooms, sleeping rooms and an outdoor garden. They are popular with families and serve as all-inclusive relaxation therapy. My friend (and co-worker) Kat and I ventured to a nearby by jjimjilbang in Incheon called Spasis. As is true of many jimjilbangs, Spasis is open 24 hours and we arrived around 7:30pm.
We paid an 8,000₩ entrance fee and received a waterproof electronic bracelet with a locker number and key. We descended the stairs to the women's floor and removed our shoes. We turned the next corner and were met with a typical gym-style locker room with women and children of all ages nonchalantly strutting their naked selves about. Boobs, overgrown bush, funny birthmarks, sagging bellies, drooping buttocks, and everything in between. We found our lockers and stripped all the way down, as is customary. I expected to be stared at more than I was - as a Westerner, my lady parts could have been red, white and blue or I could have had dollar signs for nipples. But for the most part, everyone goes about their own business. I can't help but think such a laid-back, nude communal environment would do wonders for a young girl's self esteem. All the bodies in the room were a variation on a single theme.
Beyond the locker room is the bathing room. Showers lined the walls and five large pools offered temperatures ranging from 21°C (70°F) to 41°C (106°F). There were also two saunas, one at 56°C (133°F) and the other at 77°C (170°F). Relationships seemed predominantly mother-and-children or grandmother-and-grandchildren. We dipped into pools, then to the sauna, and back to the pools again. Typical spa-ing.
We felt like we were missing something beyond the pools, so we donned our jjimjilbang clothes (one-size-fits-all t-shirt and shorts combo) and ventured up a set of stairs. On the third floor we reached the communal level of the spa. Families sprawled out on the tile floor, resting their heads on small, firm pillows, snacking, or watching the news on a large flatscreen TV. There was also a nail salon, salt sauna, ice room, massage chairs, sports massage room, facial care, and foot massage. Beyond the pools and saunas, all the extra services (drinks, snacks, massages, beauty treatment) you want are charged to your id number on your bracelet. When you leave the spa, you pay any extra costs over the entrance fee. We bounced around to all the different areas before heading outside to the garden. It was a beautiful evening and the deafening drone of cicadas didn't entirely ruin the atmosphere. I endured the wood sauna (99°C, 210°F) for about 10 minutes, but it may have been more like 5. It was H O T .
After a bit we returned to the women's floor and signed up for... something (the menu was in Korean) in a room filled with massage tables. There were five ajummas (middle-aged married women, often seen hunched over pulling carts on the street and wearing distinctive sun visors) who were not, in fact, naked. Almost worse, they were wearing lacy bra and panty sets. When it was my turn, I laid down (completely naked) on a plastic table and the lingeried ajumma began scrubbing my skin with exfoliating gloves. Specks of dead skin soon littered the table. No inch of skin was left untouched - and that includes my butt crack, boobs, and nether region! This woman scrubbed it all without the least bit of hesitation. Just doin' her job, rubbing her gloved hands all over my inner thighs and unmentionables. And only 17,000₩, what a steal!
When we returned our bracelets to the front desk, the total cost of our three hour (but could have lasted all weekend) spa adventure came to 28,000₩. Pretty great deal for $9/hour. I wonder if my scrubbing ajumma misses me...
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