Friday at the Ban-Po Sauna

This past weekend I had a blast. I dropped Maggie off at a kennel for the weekend and headed out for adventure! Now seeing as how I don't love groups of big people that I don' t know, I was actually pretty surprised that I got off my keister without coming up with an excuse - but I did it!! I'll tell you all about the adventure, but first I have to tell you about the sauna.

Friday night I dropped Mags off and took the subway into Seoul. Since the bus was leaving in the at 6:15 in the morning and there's no way I could get there on time from home, I spent my first night in a jjim-jil-bhang (Korean Sauna), this one was called the Ban-Po. The saunas are giant bath and sauna houses where people go to relax (and often to escape their families I think!). You pay your $8 and get a robe and towels, and then you're on your own! There are heated dry-sauna rooms, restaurants, movie screens, singing rooms, spa services - lots to do! Since I arrived quite late (it was almost midnight as I'd had to finish my paper before I left - argh!) I didn't explore much of this particular place. I just had a quick shower and then lazed for awhile in the baths. Haha, well, attempted to laze...

This room below is the tub and shower room, and when it's NOT 5a.m. it's full of a bunch of women hanging out, chatting, showering etc. As is usually the case with having a bath and shower that all happens naked, so that is certainly something you have to get over when you first get in! You think they stare at us foreigners when we're clothed!? Well, actually, it's about the same, lol...

When I arrived there were about 20 women total in the whole place, with most of them at the showers. 2 women were in one of the tubs, and 1 very bold naked adjumma (older Korean woman) frantically waved me over while gesturing to which tub I should get in. I had been reading the signs to see which one I should soak in (one was a green tea tub, one a specialty of the BanPo Spa, and the other, well, I think it was the tomato skinning tub myself... more on that in a second), but I abandoned my translation efforts and slowly made my way over to the tub she 'suggested' I try first.

See those tubs in the foreground of the picture - the 3 of them grouped together? The rear one is the one she was gesturing quite wildly to, so in I climbed! At first when I stepped in I was sure there was something wrong with my senses, as my feet and legs were registering "HOT! BOILING! BAD! OW! RUN AWAY! GET OUT YOU CRAZY WOMAN!!!" even though the little old adjumma didn't even flinch as she got in. The 2 women in the other tub were watching me with mild curiosity, and the adjumma had busied herself with a hose and adding more water to the tub. Then of course, she plunked herself down and immersed herself up to her neck, gesturing for me to do the same!

Okay, so if she can do it certainly I can do it, right?? "Legs, toes, suck it up you're fine, you're not melting off, I promise... oh wow owowowowowow..." Once I'd sucked my eyeballs back into my head and forced myself to stop hyperventillating I eased myself down into the water. Strangely, once I was in it up to my neck I couldn't feel anything any longer. I wondered, "Is this what the frogs in my high school science class felt like when we boiled them by slowly turning up the heat??" Then an image of tomatoes bobbing around in a pot of boiling water came to mind... you know how you quickly scald them so you can take 'em out and peel the skin off all nicely when you make salsa? "Yep, time to get out now... I like my skin where it is!"


The VERY HELPFUL adjumma then pointed me towards the big cool in the far back corner. There was no steam drifting over it so I assumed it wasn't another hot one. Nice big tub, nobody in it, sure - why not, what could be wrong with that??


1 word: Sulphur.


About 20 seconds after I submerged my angry red body in the mild (phewph!) temp'd water (maybe my senses were recovering from the burning! burning! burning! of the last tub?) I was thinking it smelled a little funny... a little mind you, not a lot. About 30 more seconds in the tub and I lefted my arm from the water to smell it... damn if I wasn't soaking in a sulphur spring - ugh!!!!!! I snapped my head up to see if anyone was staring and sighed, ahhhhhhhhhhh Korea.


I'd had enough by this time and decided to just get out an go to bed since it was nearly 1am. I went back to the showers and got all scrubbed off (I'm sure I left a couple of layers of skin back there!) and then went out to get my robe and find some water. My skin felt super-soft when I was wrapping up in my robe (please don't tell me that was the sulphur??), and with all the excitement I was happy to be heading to bed.


In the sauna you don't sleep on a bed, you sleep on a mat on the floor. Sometimes it's in a small room with herbs or other medicines packed in the walls, others it's in a large cave-like room, all with a bunch of other women. While I was walking through the long many-doored hallway trying to decide where to sleep, a NEW helpful adjumma came padding along the hallway at full-speed saying "Ching-Goo! Ching-Goo! Ching-Goo!" (= friend! friend! friend!) and shoved me into one of the doors that she's just opened, closing it behind me. The room was dark and I couldn't see anything, just the outline of an empty mat on the floor of a small room that seemed about 10x10 lit from the very dim light of the small window in the door. I waited about a minute for my eyes to adjust before moving. I could hear the sounds of sleeping and I really didn't want to step on anyone.


Now, I didn't arrive at the sauna with anyone, and I didn't know anyone going on the trip. I had planned to meet up with a couple of girls by email earlier in the evening who also signed up, but it was too late when I arrived, so I hadn't sought them out. So, either NEW helpful adjumma knew something I didn't, or this room was full of random foreigners (that it's assumed I must know since we're all in the same place at the same time!). Excellent. Oh well, one mat's as good as another, lol... what's a girl to do, right??


I layed down on the mat with my big towel for a pillow and my water bottle, and prepared for sleep. I set my alarm to wake up around 5:30 (bus nearby at 6:15) and snuggled into my towel. Just as I was drifting off to sleep I heard the call of "Ching-Goo! Ching-Goo! Ching-Goo!" in the hallway and the door was flung open, a new body shoved in through the door (this one not so quiet, saying 'what? huh? wait? what? but I~' as the door was closing and the adjumma was giggling and muttering while waving her hand). Scared-girl did pretty much the same thing I did, barely moved for a bit. In the brief flash when the door opened I'd noticed that there were 4 of us already in the room, and there was no mat for the 5th - what the monkey? I was about to get up and see if I could help, but seconds later the adjumma was back flopping a new sleeping mat on the floor for scared-girl. Once we'd all settled in again I waited for sleep to come...


1:20am... 1:45am... 2:05am... up to get some more water, and to get another towel... the fan was blowing in the room and once my skin had returned to normal I was chilled, so I went to rent (yes, rent!) a towel to sleep under. 2:25am: enough looking at the clock... the little adjumma must have gone to bed because FINALLY it was quiet in the hallway... it was gonna be a short night...