Jim Jil Bang

I took another trip to Busan over the weekend with some good friends. The trip consisted of everything we usually do in Busan, except this time add in the Jim-Jil-Bang (Korean Bath House). We arrived fairly early on Friday. Nolan and I discovered a new Indian restaurant near Sasang station, which is the place the bus drops you off in Busan. After finishing our lunch/dinner we went back to Sasang station to meetup with our friends Shawn and Stephanie. We had to take the train to Haeundae Station so we could get to the beach. It was a long ride to the beach. I'd say about an hour.
This is one of the ads in the train station. It reads, Small Face/Lovely Breast. Despite all the American friends I was with, this is was just another marker of the fact that I was still in Korea. Once we met up with everyone else that was already by the beach, we purchased our beers from the nearest convenient store and claimed our places on the boardwalk and hung out for awhile.

We realized we should get ourselves over to the JimJil Bang and make sure we have a place to stay for the night. Jim Jil Bangs are public Korean bathhouses. It's about the cheapest place you can stay other than spending night away on the beach and hopping on a bus the next morning. The Jim Jil Bang gives you pajamas that you dawn on for the duration of your stay at the spa. They have showers, baths, and saunas -- I saw lots of naked Korean women that night, who just walked around without a care in the world. At first, it was a little weird, but after awhile you just see so many naked bodies you get used to it.

Anyways, to take a step back our first try at reserving a spot for all of us at the JimJil Bang failed. We wanted to pay and then leave so we could go downtown and visit the bars. But the lady at the front desk said once we paid we could never leave. NEVER. So we got our money back and said we'd be back around 2am.

We went to Gwangali, the other beach in Busan. It was 11pm and we decided it was time for dinner. One of our Korean friends, Jeong Ah met up with us luckily. It was a good thing for us because she helped us navigate through the streets, and helped us order our food. And overall, she's just a fun Korean to hang out with. We stayed out pretty late.

This is a girl on a weird looking skateboard that we spotted. The skate board is kind of split so one half kind of tilts when you put more weight on it. I guess it's not captured here in this picture. This girl was awesome. She was playing her little game and skate boarding back and forth on the streets.By the end of the night, it was Nolan, Shawn, Malcolm and I that were ready to go back the JimJil Bang. We were afraid that they wouldn't have room for us, but we lucked out. The place was still packed. There are no beds at the JimJil Bang. You sleep on the floor. Shawn, Nolan, and I stepped our way through everyone sprawled out on the floor, and found a spot where the three of us could sleep for the night. We laid out our thin mats and conked right out.

The next morning we woke up to this.
This was the view from the floor we were staying out. There was a huge window overlooking the sea. There was also a balcony on our floor. We went out there and enjoyed the scene from the balcony as well.

This is Gwangali from the balcony.

This next set of pictures are of just two girls I was observing that morning. They were absolutely adorable in their bright yellow pajamas. They were running around with the block pillow the bathhouse provides, and building towers and trails with the pillows. The girl on the left started crying and the other girl was trying to console her.


Eventually the girl on the right side of the picture built her friend this fort, so she could sleep soundly.