Public Bath

I went to the public bath for the first time the other day and it was an interesting experience to say the least. Korean apartments are pretty small and the bathrooms only have showers in them, if even that. So a lot of Koreans just go to the public bath to bathe. You pay your five won and are give a towel and a locker key. The women go to the right and the men go to the left. Upon entering the door on the right I was in a locker room for only shoes. So I placed my shoes in a locker and continued into the next room. The next room was a loungish area and had more lockers. I found a locker, took all my clothes off and walked to the room with all the baths. It was a different experience being naked with a bunch of other naked women. I was definitely stared at by everyone, but I sucked it up and enjoyed myself. The room itself was interesting. There were maybe four or five bathing pools of different temperatures, two saunas, a massage area with two massage ladies, and then lining the walls of the room were mirrors, shower heads and little plastic stools to sit on. The women would sit on a stool and scrub themselves in front of the mirrors, then they would was off and go sit in one of the bath pools. I didn't realize this so I just went straight to a bath pool and was yelled at by one of the women. After that I did what the other women were doing and scrubbed myself off first and then sat in one of the warm pools. After a while people stopped staring and I was able to relax in the hot pool and observe all the people around me. A lot of the women brought their little girls with them. They would hold the little girls down, scrub them good, rinse them off and then let them run wild around the bath room. I think it'd be a great way to clean your kids because you've got plenty of space and it ends up being fun because after you are clean you can have fun in the water, all the while never having to wear clothes. One of the girls even had bath toys with her.