Korean Job Discussion Forums

dkteachlife · Joined: 24 Dec 2010

How much do they charge for the bath houses and massage? I heard it was really affordable.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

SeoulMan6 · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Location: Gangwon-do

The bath house (mo-kyok-tahng) is the single-sex bathing section. Entry costs around 5,000 won these days, though it depends on how new and fancy it is. In the bath area you will see the massage tables. If you don't see the masseuse, just hang around the tables and they will find you, or you could ask at the desk. They do everything from rip-your-skin-off scrubdowns to full-body massages. They are 100% legit and quite popular. I often see people waiting. I rarely get a massage, but yes, they start from 20,000 won usually.

The jimjilbang (jim-jil-bahng) is the coed portion where people wear the shorts and shirts provided. There are saunas, simple restaurants, PCs, TVs, sleeping spots, libraries, and more. People go there to relax and sleep, but honestly I don't find them all that relaxing because there is still a fair bit of noise. Consider earplugs if you want / need sleep.

Jimjilbangs cost 2-4,000 extra because you get the clothes to wear and also because you can stay their for 8 hours to sleep, etc.

PS Before bed, go to the bath house and change straight into your pajamas / sleeping clothes when you're done. Go home, crawl into bed, and sleep like a baby...

50ptoes · Joined: 05 Jan 2011

I highly recommend going. I used to get massages for 40,000 for an hour. I thought that was a steal. It was a really rough massage, so you have to be into that sort of thing. I think the jinjilbong was about 12,000. And it was really nice, clean, had all kinds of stuff to do. Of course the bath part, with many different temps of water, then saunas, again, many different temps, and a walk-in freezer with benches. They never spoke English to me, I would just go and say jingjilbong and motion for an outfit, and they would charge me and hand me my towel or whatnot and I was off.
one tip-make sure you shower off before you go to get into the baths. It's a courtesy/cleanliness thing, and if you don't do it, they will yell at you to do it.

Caffeinated · Joined: 11 Feb 2010

SeoulMan6 · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Location: Gangwon-do

NYC_Gal 2.0 · Joined: 10 Dec 2010

Also, bring some antifungal foot cream and socks to use immediately after the bathing area. You'll prevent yourself from catching some wicked athlete's foot. I caught it here my first month, and it took nearly 3 weeks to red myself of the stuff. I've carried slippers and antifungal every since, and have had no problems.

Caffeinated · Joined: 11 Feb 2010

Died By Bear · Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:48 pm Post subject:

If I remember correctly, athletes foot is "Mu-jom" and NYC gal is right. You don't want this really horrible Korean "hyper athletes foot on steriods" because it's wicked hard to get rid of.

I had my mom send me 4 spray cans of Tinactin and it got to Korea in 10 days. It took an additional 5 to get rid of it, and before that I was using the Korean brand of cream that never worked. Good luck.

9 out of 10 Koreans that I talked to about this problem had it themselves at the time I spoke to them about it. I am guessing a lot of Kmen just live with it. My brother in law had it so bad that it spread all into his toe nails and he had to see someone about it. Yuck.

After that one episode, I just had a pair of shower slippers and wore them inside and all around the locker area. Never had a prob after that. Just take an extra towel or two to dry off the slippers when you go out of the bath area and into the locker area.

Caffeinated · Joined: 11 Feb 2010

Did you wear the slippers while walking around the bath area?

NYC_Gal 2.0 · Joined: 10 Dec 2010

You're not allowed slippers in the bath area. You can get Lamisil (a popular brand back in the States) at many pharmacies, and other antifungal sprays and creams are always available, so you shouldn't have a problem.

Realize that these things don't prevent warts, though. I caught one on my big toe and was very glad that I'd thought to pack some wart oil before moving here. At many jimjilbangs, they offer wart removal service, which creeps me out because that means that they're very common. I only caught the one, and it's gone now, though. I rub that oil over my feet after public bathing as well, even though it's fairly expensive. It's not an acid, but an essential oil that works really well.

http://www.amoils.com/warts.html

My boyfriend caught one on his foot and it killed his as well. I had my mom send another bottle, because we make sure to apply it every time we go to the sauna.