Naked Korea

During my first trip to Seoul, I spent the night at a 찜질방 (Korean sauna) in Gangnam--yes, as in the song "Gangnam Style"--with the other American teacher from my hagwon (private school). He had been to one of these before, but it was all new to me. 

We paid for our one-night stay at the front desk, which was 5,000 Won. Then we were given a small locker for our shoes. At the end of the hallway was a bigger room with taller lockers for our clothes and backpacks. ALL of our clothes. The adjoining room was what you might call a bath house. Shower heads lined the left wall. There were two hot tubs in the middle of the room, and a small cold pool in the back. Oh, and all the men were naked. But not just men--males of all ages. 

This was a prime example of culture shock. I had entered a world where nudity was the norm. Nobody paid any attention to anybody else. I felt invisible. 
I sat in one of the hot tubs with my American friend and a few Korean men. Once the shock washed away, it was quite relaxing. 
The sleeping situation, however, was awful. 
Everybody slept in one room with a ceiling that was about 4 feet high, so the average person couldn't even stand up. Everybody slept on a plastic mat with a single thin sheet and a plastic cube for a pillow. There was no air-conditioning or fans, so it was very hot and stuffy. I didn't sleep. 

My second experience with this was in a different district of Seoul a few months later. I was traveling across the country by myself. When I checked in, it was so late at night that the sauna room was almost completely vacant. That was nice, but again the sleeping situation was awful. This time the beds were made of marble. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw men sleeping on them. There were no blankets or pillows, so I just had to curl up with a towel on the wooden floor against a corner of the room. Once again, I didn't sleep. 

Please feel free to share your experience in the comment section below. 
Thanks for reading, and safe travels!