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Snowflak<br />
Experience Jeonbuk<br />
Brrr... Warm yourself up at the<br />
Korean Public Bath<br />
Words by<br />
Silayan Casino<br />
Jinan Spa piece by<br />
Aaron Snowberger<br />
When I first arrived in Korea in<br />
November 2008, it was the<br />
start of winter. It was snowing<br />
at the Iksan bus terminal where I was met by<br />
my hagwon owner and her family. After some<br />
time, she took me to a “public bath”. I had no<br />
concept of what a public bath was. In my mind,<br />
it was an open place, like a beach or a park,<br />
where people would bathe. How wrong I was!<br />
The public bath has become one of my<br />
personal favorite treats. After working hard all<br />
day or having a long week at work or school,<br />
it’s the perfect place to leave those problems<br />
behind, relax, and feel the healing sensation<br />
of the hot bath. You can spend a good long<br />
time by yourself just soaking, or giving your<br />
body a thorough scrub, but it’s also a great<br />
place to go with friends or family.<br />
So, what exactly is a public bath in Korea?<br />
Public baths are called saunas, jjimjilbangs,<br />
or mok-yok-tangs in Korea and typically<br />
include a red, circular icon with three heat<br />
lines rising out of it.<br />
When you enter building, you go to the<br />
reception desk cashier, pay the entrance fee,<br />
receive some towels, and if you’ve opted to<br />
venture into the jimjilbang area (a large, open,<br />
public space with snacks, entertainment, and<br />
hot - or cold - rooms), also a uniform.<br />
Next, you take your shoes off, put them in a locker,<br />
and get a key to open another locker inside the<br />
gender segregated shower and sauna areas.<br />
Once you find your locker, strip down<br />
completely naked, grab your little basket<br />
with bathing amenities like your toothbrush<br />
and toothpaste (if you’ve brought one), and<br />
head to the bathing area with your towel.<br />
The first thing you should do before stepping into<br />
one of the hot tubs is go to the shower area. These<br />
shower stations may include both standing and<br />
seated showers where you sit on a large plastic<br />
step stool and bathe. Koreans usually take a full<br />
shower, put on masks, scrub the outer layer of<br />
dead skin off their bodies with rough cloths, and<br />
do all kinds of other pampering before rinsing<br />
everything off and going into the tub.<br />
30 Jeonbuk Life <strong>Magazine</strong> / <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2018</strong> • Issue 13
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