By Zach Kingsley
Contributing Writer
A hard day's work deserves a mini vacation. After meeting the demands of your busy life, you've got to be able to find a place to relax and let your stress melt away. Well, in Korea, there's no better place for that than the jjimjilbang.
Jjimjilbang are the equivalent of health spas in Western culture, but with a few added kicks and cultural differences.
Equipped with all the standards of a health spa like sauna, hot tub, pool, work out room and massage therapy you'll find everything you're used to in your home country. But you'll also find a lot more.
Jjimjilbang have all your one stop health spa needs. As well as the regulars mentioned above, you'll find PC rooms, play centers for kids, a restaurant, a snack shop with great juice drinks and fruits, a large communal area for watching TV and relaxing; book, sleeping, meeting and group rooms; dozens of different kinds of saunas and hot tubs, a hairdresser, a skin care center, and all the toiletries and amenities you will ever need.
One of the specialties of the jjimjilbang in Korea are the sauna rooms or ``hot rooms.'' Typically made into the shape of an igloo or clay hut, these rooms range in temperature and theme and bare a great resemblance to the sweat lodges and smoke rooms of native Americans and other indigenous cultures. That is ― with a Korean twist.
Koreans believe it is beneficial to one's health to put different kinds of minerals or stones and other materials in the hot rooms. You'll find rooms full of rock salt, coal, jade, clay pellets, crystals, wood logs, and other materials.
The aim of these rooms is to sit and sweat and let your stresses melt away. There are varying degrees of temperature to the rooms ranging from the highest that is well over 70 degrees Celsius, to a much more laid back environment where you can just relax in a moderately warm room.
Another notable feature of the jjimjilbang is the bathing area. Depending on the size of the jjimjilbang you'll find a large or moderate bathing area.
There are different kinds of tubs to sit in and soak away the day. Similar to hot rooms the tubs are filled with different kinds of minerals and range in temperature.
From freezing cold water to extremely hot water you can pick your tub of choice. After you've soaked enough in the hot tubs you can go to the personal scrubbing area where you can completely clean yourself using a scrub brush you get at the locker room counter. And if you have a good enough friend with you he or she might help you get your back too!
So for a nominal fee of 4,000-8,000 you can spend a whole day, a few hours, or even spend the night at the jjimjilbang. You can bring the whole family, go with a friend or even go alone. Whether you want to relax in the saunas and hot tubs, work out, read a book, watch TV or just get away from the busy pace of life, the jjimjilbang is a great respite for anyone in Korea!
The writer lives in Seoul and works as an English teacher. ― ED.