Jjimjilbang

Remember, I asked you to stay overnight at a jjimjilbang when I was writing about taking a city tour bus to see the sights in Busan. Well today I’m going to tell you all about the jjimjilbang.

Jjimjilbang are large, gender-segregated public bath-houses in Korea, complete with hot tubs, showers, Finnish-style saunas and massage tables, similar to what you may find in a Korean sauna or mogyoktang. However, in other areas of the building or on other floors there are unisex areas, usually with a snack bar, ondol floor for lounging and sleeping, wide-screen TVs, PCs, noraebang where you can sing to your hearts desire, and sleeping quarters with either bunk beds or sleeping mats.

In Korea, the jjimjilbang is a place where one can not only enjoy the spa, shower, and sauna but also sleep overnight at an affordable price. Jjimjilbang operate 24 hours a day and are popular weekend getaways for Korean families to relax and spend time soaking in tubs or lounging and sleeping, while the kids play away on the PCs. Since most young Koreans live with their parents until they marry, jjimjilbang have become popular places for couples to spend time together.

After you pay the initial payment at the front counter of the jjimjilbang,, you will be issued with a t-shirt and shorts and a towel. You are required to take a shower before you enter the jjimjilbang. Showers are communal and separated by gender. So make sure you look for the right hallway to enter the correct gender shower rooms. After the shower you are free to enter any of the various heated rooms, each designed with a particular theme, including: a salt room, and a series of rooms with different temperatures ranging from 60 to 100 degrees Celsius. There is even an ice room. Be sure to check the temperature sign outside before entering.. These are great places to sweat and relax. After you’re done with sweating it out or soaking in a hot bath, you can leave those rooms to watch television or browse the internet. You can also eat in the specified rooms or just relax in a rest area where you can find pillows and blankets for a nap. Or if you don’t feel like taking a sauna bath just yet you can always go out to the unisex area and find your friends as long as you are dressed in the “uniform” given to you at the front counter. In the cafeteria, you will find cold beverages such as ice green tea, ice coffee, or ice sikhye (a traditional, sweet Korean drink with floating rice), snacks, or simple meals. You can also sleep in the sleeping room or read in the book corner. Also available for free is a fitness room and a movie room where you can watch the latest movies. There are lockers for storing large-size bags, shopping bags, and other items.

The reason why some Koreans like to come to a jjimjilbang is because they miss the ondol, the heated floor most families slept on before they adopted the Western style of sleeping on beds.. The floor is enough of a draw that some families occasionally spend the night in the bathhouse’s common rooms. Because they are open around the clock and are relatively inexpensive, the complexes have attracted a lot of budget-minded travelers, who stay in the communal sleeping room.

But calling the jjimjilbang a bathhouse hardly begins to describe its attractions. According to a Korean national, a frequent visitor to jjimjilbang , “Here, you not only can take a bath and a sauna, but you can also eat, sleep, date, watch television, read, play computer games. It’s a one-stop total service in the Korean way of relaxing.” “The first thing we Koreans think of when we’re feeling stiff and sore is lying on a hot floor,” said another Korean who works for a television station.

How did these jjimjilbang come about? The first public bathhouse was built in 1925, mostly to cater for the Japanese colonialists, but the institution quickly became part of Korean social life. Most urban neighborhoods had a bathhouse, as did small towns. Inside, patrons sat in or around large, sex-segregated baths filled with extremely hot water, gossiping and scooping water on themselves with gourds. Scrubbing other bathers’ backs, even strangers’, was a common practice.

Many Korean adults share a childhood memory of being taken to public baths for no-nonsense, sometimes tears-inducing scrubs by their mothers. By the late 1990s, many bathhouses had turned into true recreation complexes, and going to one became as much a part of Korean social life as going to the movies. In 2006, there were more than 13,000 jjimjilbang in the country, more than 2,500 of them in Seoul some of which can accommodate thousands of people. The pioneers of jjimjilbang were inspired by the ancient Korean custom of sitting in giant charcoal or pottery kilns for heat therapy. Many Koreans believe heat can help cure some illnesses.

You’re allowed to stay for 24 hours after the initial fee that you’ve paid. After the 24 hours are over, you must either pay again to stay longer or leave.