Jinjibang - traditional korean bathhouse

I've always been confused about the idea of Korean hot spas - do people take off all their clothes? Do guys and girls share the same type of hot baths? What do people actually do inside besides just sitting down and bumming around?

entrance of dragon hill spa

at the ice-cold room! -5 degrees celsius!

little lambs! meh!

Towels that look like lamb horns

So I made a trip down to DragonHill Spa with my friend. We paid around $10 each to get in and we could stay there for about 12 hours. There were many different levels to explore. We started on the ladies-only level.

At the receptionist, they handed us some towels and our locker keys and they sold eggs! Silly me, I don't know where I got the misconception but I thought that we were suposed to crack the eggs on our face/ head and generously spread the contents of the egg on our body. Don't do that! You're supposed to let the eggs cook under the high temperatures, and eat it!

Um. Everyone started taking off their clothes and I was quite uncomfortable so I just stayed in the locker room while waiting for my friend. Until she came up to drag me down. We both had differing experiences of the sauna. I thought it was awkward, she thought it was heaven. They had pools of different temperatures from 10 to 20 to 30, up to 80 degrees! Some people alternate between freezing cold pools and boiling hot temperatures. There were ginseng pools, and pools that were infused with several traditional herbs to improve your health.

After I felt like a poached egg, we headed to the unisex floors where there were full of 50-90 degrees kilns and ovens for you to enter. It was boiling hot, it was sweaty, and there were many people inside - basically a mosh pit. After I felt my skin burnt to a crisp, I left the oven to escape the heat while my friend happily basked in the warmth.

It's also advisable to visit the jinjibang in the day, because some unsavory characters tend to spend the night at the jinjibang and I don't think it's particularly safe for girls at night. Many people also treat the jinjibang as a cheaper alternative to paying for accommodation.

Oh yes! They have this really cute thing in jinjibangs where they fold the towels to become lamb horns.

Try it!