jim jil pang

Beard, Christa and I went to a nice jim jil pang in Gumi today. It was a bit different than the first (and only other) one I had been to. We paid and split up. We got undressed and headed into the shower room. This one had a lot more options. There were 6 tubs. One was cold and one was a green tea bath. The rest were between 35 and 50 degrees. There were 3 saunas also. The far one had a tv and each other room had a big window so each room could view. And everyone was naked as a jay bird (where ever that expression came from). I didn't feel shy at all this time. I think these things don't exist much at home b/c people are afraid of being coined as gay. (oh no...puh-lease get over it people.) Beard said there were men chasing each other around and hitting each other. The women were much more reserved. They would scrub each others backs and pour water on each other but no frollicking.
Into the common room. We go in and sit on the marble floor and wait for Beard. He comes in and we check out one of the dry saunas. The first one we go into at my request (I'm usually not one for hot rooms). It was 30 degrees celcius. There was a TV but it was in Korean so we had no idea what was going on. We didn't stay long. The next room was 51 degrees and had crystal rocks on floor to ceiling. I don't know the actual name but they are the kind you want to buy when on vacation and at a tourist store--the flat ones that come with a stand. Anyway, they were all different colors and on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Very nice. We left here after a while and had some lunch at the little restaurant--there is also a PC room. Then we went to check out what was upstairs. At the top we felt like we were on the 31/2 floor from Being John Malkovich. From floor to ceiling was exactly 5ft 4 inches--I know because that's how tall I am. Beard and Christa had to scrunch down. HA! Shorties rule! This was the sleeping area. There were mats and pillows. We went back down and sat in a hotter room--this one with whole crystal rocks on the ceiling and walls and what felt like potato sacks as "carpet." After this we sat out in the main room and read out books. Christa and I sat in the warmer big room and Beard sat out where drinks are sold. We looked up and Beard had a friend talking to him. Pretty soon said friend brought Christa and I candy and then an orange. He didn't speak any English and Beard was practicing his Korean. After a while I was getting a bit bored and a bit annoyed--there are children running around everywhere so Christa and I left.
Back to the oh so relaxing shower room. This time we checked out the wet saunas. The first one was hard to breathe in. It said it was only 40 degrees but I don't know. We left that one pretty quickly and went into the 70 degree one. This was more like the sauna rooms I remember from home. Wooden floor and walls. Every one was facing the same way which kind of freaked me out at first until I remembered the TV. We were watching the dibby dibby dop show. The one where 2 contestents have one large hand that is pointing and they say "dibby dibby dop" and move the had to the left or to the right and the opponent has to turn his head the correct way or something very funny happens. Either he gets hit on the head with a plastic mallet or he gets air blown in his face very hard. "And the crowd goes wild." My kids like to play this game, too.
And now--home.