Hot and Cold

I went to a jimjilbang (찜질방), a public bath house and sauna. It was awesome at the cost of mild awkwardness. You pay like $10 and then walk into a locker room. You take off your shoes and put them in a locker and then get some prison type clothes. My shoes didn't quite fit because they are large, and I had to do some wrangling.

Once done with cleaning up downstairs, you put on your prison clothes and move to the common sauna and activities areas upstairs for both genders together.  They had restaurants, massage areas, ping pong tables, hot rooms, cold rooms, nap areas and you can pay a little more and stay in a hostel on the top floor for the night.  It was really cool.  We worked our way up to the 86C hot sauna from 50 to 60C (on a bed of salt).  It was pretty intense.  I went with my Korean friend, 준일 or Joe, and got schooled in ping pong.  We got ice cream after the hottest sauna.

There's also a really cold room for cooling off.  It was pretty chill.  It seems to be a big everyday cultural experience here in Korea.  Maybe a barber shop in America could be comparable to the experience.