Korean Bath Houses or the Jjimjilbang

Ever since we started talking about coming to Korea I have been excited for the bath houses. Once you get over the idea of being completely naked in a semi-public place (it's cultural), they seem like the perfect way to relax and pamper yourself. Today we went to the Dragon Hill Spa, and it may have been my favorite Asian experience so far.

We started on the floor with all of these very cool sauna rooms. The sexes aren't separated here, so people wear shorts and t-shirts that they give you, and I was able to take pictures ;)
We had a little map of what each room was, but I was never quite sure how hot or cold they would be until we walked in. There was the salt room with tiny salt pebbles covering the floor to lie on. Then there was the meditation and relaxation room that smelled of honey and herbs and had little alcoves to lay inside of. Or you could sit in the fire sweating sauna that made you hot enough to sit in the ice room for a long time afterward.

Then we ventured upstairs to the baths that all had names like ginseng pool, natural sea water bath, or children's rainbow tub.  I thought about how bath houses would be received in the US where body image is such a sensitive thing. I think it needs to be one of those things that has been around for 1000s of years for it to really work, but I think any visitor of Korea should take advantage of it being an important tradition in this society.

Fire sweating room. Even my camera starting sweating before I could take the picture.

The ice room. The roof was covered with the a bunch of ice crystals.

The relaxation and meditation pyramid. It smelled so good. This and the salt room were definitely my favorites.

The main room. It is kept fairly warm and people will sleep here overnight sometimes.

The yellow mud pyramid exercise room.