Travel Journal: Jjimjilbang Visit in Seoul, South Korea Trip

I would say that when visiting South Korea, it is a must to spare a day in a jjimjilbang, which is a traditional bathhouse where locals go to relax. It is one of the highlights of my Seoul Trip. and I was a little bit hesitant to go there but I am glad that I did.

I went to Dragon Hill Spa just few meters away from Yongsan Station. It has different kinds of saunas, baths, sleeping rooms, outdoor pool, restaurant and arcade. Unfortunately, I didn't try the baths because I was too conscious being naked in front of strangers. Also, I fell asleep at the female-only sleeping room for quite a long time.

These are the traditional charcoal kiln saunas. I spent more time here than in any other saunas just lying on hemp mats while sweating. There were also few people sleeping behind those doors and at first I was worried that they might die out of dehydration. Well, they seemed to really sleep in peace and I'd rather not bother waking them up.

I also went inside the pine tree firewood sauna and red clay pine tree sauna, which was full of women. I tried to sleep in the crystal sun salt room like the other old people there but I was afraid that I'd get burn marks from the hot crystals on the floor. The ice room was not as cold as I anticipated. Lastly, the Nephrite Jade Energy Room is the room that I will never forget. Before entering that room, I skimmed through some information about it from the paper placed on its door. I remember seeing the words 'king', 'queen', 'jade', etc. There was no one inside and I continued looking around the room. It was kind of cool because of the walls made from jade so I thought I could rest in there. Then I heard a roar from a corner of that room that isn't visible to me. My imagination ran wild and thought that there was a giant king there and he doesn't want me to stay in his castle. I always feel like a child whenever I'm in a foreign country. I ran outside to the main area and took a pillow block so I could lie down on the floor. A cold sweet rice drink and a couple of boiled eggs calmed me down. Of course, the roar that I heard was from a snore of a sleeping man. The jade wall just amplified the snore in a way that it sounded like it's coming from an animal.

After few minutes, I went to the restaurant to grab some lunch. I was still a carnivore back then so I had this special bulgogi.