Naked in Korea

I recently joined the exodus of early twenty-somethings who’ve left the country to teach English abroad. While this is almost becoming a cliché (think the post-college Europe backpacking trip), I decided to take what I thought would be the road-less-traveled….teaching English in Seoul, Korea. Ok, I’ll be honest. It was a total compromise because China was too daunting and Spain was too easy. But, I do like to think of myself as a traveler, not a tourist, which, to me, means that I would rather have a difficult experience that is rewarding versus having everything handed to me on a Club Med silver platter.

I am certainly up for new experiences and consider myself adventurous (although you won‘t catch me sky diving anytime soon). Living in South Korea has been pretty easy thus far - there is a convenience store on literally every street corner. I was a little disappointed that the only difficult part of my day was deciding which new, exotic, popsicle I would enjoy in the sweltering summer heat. However, I soon had far too many close encounters with the moped drivers who opt for the sidewalk as soon as the traffic gets heavy on the road. So, I decided I needed some R&R.

I wanted to go to the famed Korean saunas. But, these aren’t your mama’s saunas…they’re $5 stay-as-long-as-you-like spas, with delicious hot tubs and cool tubs and sauna rooms. They are affordable, fabulous, and downright decadent. So, another easy, comfortable experience in Korea, right? Wrong. My girlfriends and I walked into the relaxing atmosphere, paid our money and went into the main locker room. Here, the women sipped green tea and watched Korean soap operas (a cultural experience in and of themselves), and lounged around…in the nude. I was up for iced green tea, but being naked, at all, in front of anyone, is not my idea of relaxation. In fact, I have nightmares about that sort of thing! At first, being an American woman descended from Puritans, the whole being naked in front of strangers thing was not the ideal social situation. Because I went with some girlfriends, I assumed it would be an even more highly embarrassing event. After all, it’s one thing to chat about our body issues over lattes, but it is quite another to hang out naked together for three hours! To put it even more plainly, I was the girl who wore a swimsuit during group showers after gym class. Of course, that wasn’t going to deter me from a well-deserved pampering and junior high was a long time ago. My girlfriends and I silently looked at one another and shrugged. When in Korea….

After changing, or, rather, stripping, I walked quickly with my eyes down and opened the big glass door to the tubs. It was then that I had the most bizarre feeling. The situation was completely foreign, yet what I saw was the most familiar thing in the world- the naked female body. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen was this conglomeration of women's bodies in all their glory. I saw stretch marks, caesarean scars, post-pregnancy tummies. Old women were squatting on the floor scrubbing their wrinkled skin so that it would look like the flesh of the teenage girls whispering to each other in the hot tub. Women were holding their naked babies and little girls were splashing each other. There was a mommy-and-me date where the mom taught her daughter in this secret, beautiful world, about the mysteries of womanhood. Two very pregnant women rested with their feet up, chatting about their back pains and comparing swollen ankles (to be honest, the conversation was in Korean, but I am making a fair assumption here). I felt my biological clock starting to tick and I decided I’d better enjoy being a childless woman relaxing on a late Sunday evening, and quick!

The initial plunge was a bit awkward, the stroll from the door to the tubs was a bit like the college “walk of shame” times ten. Not only was I completely naked in front of friends and strangers, we three were the only white women in the place. After I lowered my naked ass into a luscious warm hot tub, I quickly got used to being in my birthday suit for our Girrrls Nite Out- and it was damn freeing. We even scrubbed each other's backs! Of course, we stood out a bit, but the gawking Korean women quickly got used to us. First, they quit staring. Soon enough, we were even chatting with one another as if we were in the accessories aisle at Target! It’s amazing how comfortable you can be sitting naked in a sauna discussing the pros and cons of tampons with a new friend in Konglish, a combination of Korean and English (Korea’s official second language). I’d like to propose to the Washington bureaucrats that all international relations should be conducted in saunas instead of stuffy chambers. The world would be a much better place if all its leaders chilled out and got down with their bad selves.

I felt that everything here was laid bare (pun intended) and I realized, sadly, that we were far less self-conscious than we could ever have been with our clothes on. I had the feeling that if we were all wearing our carefully chosen outfits and brand name shoes, the atmosphere would be quite chilly. Fortunately, you just couldn‘t judge in the Sauna. It’s like the Switzerland of the girl universe- neutral territory. In fact, one of the best parts of the saunas are how accessible they are. People of all ages and income levels bathe together for as long as they like for the equivalent of a few bucks. My girlfriends and I go once a week and now I‘m practically unbuttoning my shirt as soon as I pay my money in the lobby! I love leaving my inhibitions at the door and getting nakie with my girls. It's (literally) good, clean fun.

Tips for a Good Sauna Experience

(This applies for both Korea and Japan)

All the saunas have a symbol of a bowl with steam coming from it on their signs. Beware that some of these places are actually clubs for MEN only, so if you walk in and it seems posh and sexy, you should leave right away as that can be pretty uncomfortable. It's best to get a reccomendation, but really, you can just keep checking out places until you find the right one. In Korea, the jim jil bang is the word for the actual sauna, not the baths. Most places have the baths and the actual sauna in the same place.

1. Don't be shy...no one else is, so you'll just draw more attention to yourself.

2. Do not wear sandals or any clothing whatsoever inside the actual sauna. You may bring a small handtowel and have a hair band to keep your hair out of your face.

3. YOU MUST WASH BEFORE GETTING INTO THE BATHS OR SAUNAS. If you don't, you will weird everyone out and they will think you have dirtied their clean baths. You can usually wash at a shower near the entrance or at the main washing stations.

4. While most places have a bar of soap and maybe some shampoo, it's best to bring your own bath things so you can really get clean.

5. Buy a scrub cloth at the sauna...everyone scrubs themselves pretty hard and that could be the secret to great skin here in Korea.

6. Stay as long or as little as you like in any one tub or sauna.

7. Don't be weirded out by their stares...they are as curious as you are.

8. Beware if you have tattoos like me that some saunas (called onsen in Japan) may not allow you inside...this seems to apply only to Japan.

9. Make sure to check out the common rooms, where men and women can mix (wearing the pajama-like clothes you get with your entrance fee to the sauna)...they usually have massage chairs, a snack bar, and other fun stuff.

10. If you can splurge, many saunas also offer massages (if you're OK being naked and massaged in front of everyone, which many people don't seem to mind).

How It Works

When you pay, they will give you two towels (one for taking inside, one for when you finish). They will also give you pajama-like clothing (a shirt and shorts) to wear in the common room, should you choose to go there.

You will put your shoes in a locker in an outer room.

Then, you will put your clothes and purse in a locker in the inner room. The key for this locker goes on your wrist and it is, of course, water proof.

If you go to the common room, you can use the pajamas they give you when you paid at the front desk.

When you are all finished, the clothes they lent you go into a big visible bin and you can retrieve your shoes on the way out. Don't put them on until you get back into the lobby where shoes can be worn!

ENJOY!!!!!