don’t mean to scare you with such a title but I finally decided to publish these very embarrassing experience and pictures of me because they are the most horrible pictures I have of myself in Korea hahaha. taking a cab down to the cab’s recommendation of the BEST JJIMJILBANG in town in the middle of the night costs a lot of kaching kaching. so I shall not waste my experience and money.
we found ourselves at SILLOAM SAUNA/ Silloam Land (실로암 랜드) when we get off. and to my Korean’s friend surprise, he told me he had never been to such a huge jjimjilbang before either. I guess it’s too huge (few stories high!!!) to be called a jjimjilbang but oh well.
JJIMJILBANG = sauna. but instead of just having lockers, baths and of course, a sauna, Korea has much more to offer.
okay. so, you ready?
1# upon arrival, you will have to pay. and here’s the pricelist I copied from their site as of today.
Daytime (05:00~20:00) :
Bath – 8,000won (adult) / 6,000won (below 10 years old)
Bath + Sauna – 10,000won (adult) / 7,000won (below 10 years old)
Night (20:00~5:00) :
Bath – 9,000 (adult) / 7,000won (below 10 years old)
Bath + Sauna – 13,000won (adult) / 9,000won (below 10 years old)
that’s right! it costs 13,000won (almost RM40 wth. normal ones costs around 6,000won only!) at night! and what sucks is, many facilities are closed at night. only good thing is that it has less people. when I went it was 12,000won =D.
2# upon paying, you will get keys and a set of clothes and two towels. mind you, the towels are very tiny. those that you use to wipe your hair. except even smaller.
JENG JENG JENG JENGGGGG.
here’s where my cultural shock started. I already know about the having to get naked with everybody in the bath. but.. as soon as you get your keys you will be at the “Rocker room” (locker room isn’t it haha). and at the “ROCKER ROOM”, you’ll find many ladies walking around naked already.
FUH. WHAT A SIGHT. especially when you did not expect that. what’s more shocking is that if you wear your lingerie/try to cover yourself there, you’d be look at. so it’s better to just strip everything.
to my horror the girl who was changing just a few lockers away is Malaysian. we were chatting a bit before the bath (when I was already in the comfy jjimjilbang outfit and she just arrived). but when I went back to get something. she suddenly walked up all naked and wet and smiled at me. that was the most awkward moment in my life. smiled back and I just kept telling myself DO NOT LOOK.
if you find cleavages a disturbing sight while having a conversation, you’d understand me. I mean, if you want to show off your cleavage, you’d have to accept that people will look at your boobs as they talk. I applied the same mentality when I went in and it was a wrong thing to do. I don’t want people to look. that is why it was the most embarrassing night of my life.
3# not a wise choice to wear make up into the sauna. haha. I went straight from town. so I hadn’t even had time to remove any of my make up. there’s no make up remover there and sweating on make up is truly disgusting.
the orange jjimjilbang outfit! they kind of have a uniform because every jjimjilbang has its own colour and design of clothing. and that’s what it looks like to have melted make up. hahahhah. I still remembered it was already 3am when I took that picture!
#4 eat patbingsu after sauna! it’s super refreshing *ahhhhhhhhhh* but friggin’ expensive. costs like 5,000won (around RM15. standard price in Korea though. haha) for shaved ice with red beans!
#5 you dip yourself in these awesome bath before you go to the sauna. and after you go to the sauna. and that’s the MANY TYPES OF BATHS AVAILABLE (I only inserted a few fyi). no doubt why the taxi driver said it’s the best.
just so you know, you have to walk quite a distance NAKED all the way down to the baths. =3.
oh! don’t be surprised if an ajumma/ajeosshi asks you to help them scrub their back out of the blue! it’s normal I heard. @________@.
#6 off to the SAUNA ROOMS!! and if you watch a lot of dramas, you might want to prepare the sheep head. will do a tutorial on how to make this when I’m in Korea. hahaha.
the charcoal cold room is a room made with charcoal walls! you can kind of smell the charcoal but it’s very relaxing.
the oxygen room is my 2nd favourite. after being in there for like 15minutes, you’d be fully replenished with energy! it’s trueeeee. but the effect doesn’t last too long though. I got tired very soon again. U___________U. came here a day before leaving I think. so my energy was pretty drained. especially with all the lack of sleep pfft.
AND MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE!!!! THE SALT HEATING ROOM! it’s bigger than it looks. and you will literally be lying on a bed of salt. those that are as big as pebbles and OHHH SO COMFORTABLE. I don’t know if it’s mental, but I really thought my skin felt nicer.
didn’t go into the Den room. though it looks interesting. too little time and TOO MANY ROOMS! they did not post it on their site, but there was an ICE ROOM TOO!!! =3. I went in for a minute and I couldn’t stand it anymore!!!
these facilities below were all closed when we were there. but just so you know WHAT THEY HAVE in this huge jjimjilbang. you’d be surprised. really.
theres a gym and kids room don’t play play!
KARAOKE AND INTERNET CAFE SOME MORE!!! there’s a barber and beauty parlour as well! (like I said, I did not include everything HAHAHA)
do you remember how in drama’s those people sleep in the jjimjilbang when they have no where to go? because it’s cheaper than a hotel/guesthouse. and this jjimjilbang is so advanced that they have a room just for those who snores. hahahah. usually the normal ones doesn’t have them and if you were to overnight, you’d probably not get any good sleep. for this jjimjilbang, it might be fine but there were cases of horny old men trying to peek into ones pants while sleeping before. as the whole area is unisex other than the bath and locker section.
the Movie room is the hugest area (not including the sleeping area.) with the most people in my opinion. there are rows of wood placed on the empty space in the picture for guests to lean on =D.
lalalalala. how would you like having steam on your butt? =3.
that’s all for now! check out their website for more information!
I am dissapointed, there’s no nekkid pictures despite the title…
hi jamie,u sure really shock about the naked ladies..when i read it, i pretty shock 2,coz i ever see it in the drama that they stay at the sauna when they dont hav anyway to stay but im have no ideas about that they be naked even in the locker room too,..is it true that they can stay there for a few day in the sauna?-p/s im really love to read about your travel=).. where else will u go after this?
In America all females shower together in group shower-rooms after every gym class at school. So I’m completely used to and comfortable with female nudity in a group setting. Nude conversations are not uncommon in the ladies locker room at the gym that I go to.
i had no idea there’s such a thing there, this place is huge…! LOL
i think d local koreans really love these places
William, HAHAHHA. oh my. I don’t want to have to close down my blog you see…
mar, hi mar! glad you love my posts! I will be heading directly to seoul. and it will be only seoul soon T_______T. but I still hope you like it. they can stay there a few days but they have to keep paying consistently haha. and of course, there’s no privacy =S.
Ashley, lucky you! there’s no such culture here in Malaysia.. =S.
uf, you must try it at least once in ur lifetime!
Jamie.
Yes. It’s actually liberating in many ways to be nude in a completely non-sexual setting such as a ladies locker room or spa or sauna.
I was not aware that Malaysia is so conservative about nudity in places like ladies locker rooms? It’s not against the law to be nude in a locker room in Malaysia, is it? I like learning about other cultures.
I miss onsen not for the naked but the enjoyment i had in japan.
Wilson
Didn’t realize that you have to walk naked inside the jjimjilbang. That would be awkward for me as well since we don’t have that culture here in our country unless you grew up together and of the same gender. We asked our seonsaengnim before if you have to be naked inside the jjimjilbang, she said not since they might get arrested for illegal exposure or something but maybe, she meant that when you are already in the common area.
Hi Jamie. Thanks for the detail post about jimjilbang. I have been to Korea a lot of times but still haven’t been to a jimjilbang…maybe next time..hehe
Hiii, may I know whether male n female cn go into those salt room etc tgt?
hi jamie. just need to know if i can bring my own towel or not? not really dare to expose my body. I mean it will be damn awkward though. So can i go into the public bath with my body covered with my own towel? Since the one they gave us is small.
I was pretty shock too when i had my first naked bath with other ladies. When i went into one i didnt know what to do when i saw a naked lady in front of me. i went out to build my courage first >..< when i went back then people were staring at me while i strip and i think they smirked at me! OMG. Gawd that was sooo embarassing~! But i did enjoy it :3
Hi! May i ask, if you have to pay separately to go into one of those rooms, say the ice room, the oxygen room, etc? Thanks! 🙂
Hi, Jamie,
The one they called it sitz bath, what does it do actually?
We just sit naked, and there some hot steam air warm up your butt?
Hi Jamie,
I wonder how’s the toilet in jjimjinbang? It is like we have to squad where everyone can look at each other when they do toilet business ?