Big Sauna

Let me begin with a disclaimer. If you get squeamish thinking about an area filled with pools and naked men then please discontinue reading at this point. Everybody still on board? Okay lets proceed.

So Wednesday night I joined 3 of my fellow male staff members and took part in an aspect of Korean culture that is definitely foreign to me. We went to what is called a sauna. This is a large health club type place filled with all kind of hot tubs and cold tubs and steam rooms and actual saunas. These places are very common in Korea. The particular one that we went to was especially large. It probably had 10ish tubs, several steam rooms, 5 or so saunas, and even a sleep room where you can spend the night (on a 1 inch foam mat with a wooden block a for pillow).

So here's how it works: First off, it is basically just on a floor in the big mall type shopping buildings that they have here. We walked up to a desk and purchased our tickets. Next we headed to the male locker room. When you walk into the locker room the first thing that you see is a bunch of rows of small lockers. You pick one, open it, put your shoes in, and take your key. Then you head over to another part of the locker room and find the big locker that corresponds to your key. Then you strip down naked.

Yeah, it is a bit strange at first. But then you look around the room and you just see tons of naked Korean dudes walking around and you begin to feel a little weird having you clothes on. So then you head into the actual Sauna. Before you enjoy all the attractions you are supposed to shower off. No stalls, you just line up along the wall... naked... one of a few white dudes in the room.

Then, you can basically choose from all the options above. There were some wicked hot hot tubs. One which advertised in poor English translation that it provided a "full corpse cleansing." That was a bit creepy... There were also luke warm tubs, jet powered tubs, cold tubs... all were very pleasant. At one point we stepped into a sauna that registered 94 C (about 200 F) for 3 or 4 minutes. I have never felt like that before and don't desire to again.

At the end of the night you shower off again. You can shave, brush your teeth, and do basically whatever hygiene activities that you want. And then you leave feeling like a new man and you go home and sleep like a baby.

You may think this sounds a bit strange and awkward but surprisingly it really isn't. Just think about it this way: If you would feel strange naked in a room full of clothed people, then wouldn't you feel strange clothed in a room full of naked people?