Korean chimchilban.

At first it was clear nothing. That is all. At the reception knew single sentence in English?
Ouen Knight? Eight out sauzand pliz!
Paying on a price equivalent to three hundred rubles a Korean, I got a locker key and a set of clothes, which is prescribed to walk on chimchilbanu. Boxes were not so, as in this photo, but three times smaller, similar to a bank safe deposit boxes. It is obvious that in addition to shoes there just could not get into, but the fatigue of a day behind the wheel, apparently affected my wit that evening. I tried to push back not just a camera, a laptop, a large backpack and a set of clothes and linen in the morning. I desperately tried to explain the Koreans from the reception that box a very small, whether it is possible to choose a bigger size (a little farther they were), or give at least a second! Finally, some incredible way it dawned on me that this is just a box to put there only SHOES!
When this epiphany happened, we finally went to the next room where the boxes were again, but normal size. And I almost stumbled on the body in an orange robe. No, it's not Lovygin again hamming in the photos, but just some visitor bath suddenly fell asleep. Met in the locker room explains passable English Korean explained:
- The first rule chimchilbana - in chimchilbane sleep where they want. In the steam room, in the pool, in the toilet - but at least in the locker Get in. This is chimchilban!



Dressed in orange pants and matching dimensionless shirt, I could not help thinking that it is very similar to a prison uniform from the movie. And then he remembered once spent a night in jail Mono County, California. Also memorable is night was :)



As it turned out, I hurried to get dressed. In the bathhouse, in fact, part of chimchilbana allowed only naked. These pictures I made late at night, when the visitors had gone. That's the way it would be strange, I fetch a full bath naked Koreans great camera! But the brave Peter lovigin took with iPhone and secretly filmed what was happening. Maybe the network will soon have my naked pictures :)



The man with the scar, severe Korean attendant. Here you can buy soap, shampoo, razor, if you forgot or did not take special. A towel and so free.



Need to talk a little bit about the history of chimchilbanov, so bear with my tediousness :) Korea was not always rich and highly developed. Mass housing with amenities here began only in the seventies of the last century. Prior to that, about any personal bathrooms in homes out of the question. People bathed in a basin in the yard, and went to the bath. Public baths were very many, and with the advent of the apartments with the souls of all of them were on the verge of extinction. Who will go into a common shower with a bunch of other people, and more for the money, if you can do it at home, where no one sees, and for free? Then the transformed classical public baths in the leisure and recreation clubs. About as American pharmacy turned into mini-markets with products arranged under the circumstances.



In Korean bath rooms a couple of guys with different temperatures, from thirty to eighty. As well as several small pools in warm water. I did not think that the difference of one degree may vary so much on the perception of the body. Thirty-five - very hot, especially with the habit. Thirty-three - acceptable, you can get into the pool and sit there behemoth.



Chimchilban usually located on several floors. Directly bath complex can attend only people of the same sex. For obvious reasons, because everything around naked. At the same time, the baths are positioned in Korea as a club for families. Just wash separately, vacation separately :)



Since there is an entrance fee, and spend a lot of time inside, with bath are several cafes. In the menu, a lot of positions, but how to choose anything? No translation, no pictures, and the staff does not speak English, of course.



- We vooon those instant noodles to eat, please! Explains on his fingers, the saleswoman shakes his head.
- Hot, HOOT! - One word still learned. Apparently not the first foreigners.



Finally, choose the noodles, which "is not hot." Dinner meager, but it's better than going to bed on an empty stomach.



Suddenly, at the next table sits Korean. It turns out that the food here is not only instant noodles. But we need to know the language. And what to take. Not sure we would be able to eat such food.



On the TV show a football match. South Korea played with the North. No kidding. In Seoul. The main derby of the season. Better than Barcelona to Real Madrid. The match of the century! But Koreans seem completely indifferent to football. TV watching alone Lovygin.



Peter looked for all sipatichnyh koreyanochek, because Bath - best place for meeting. But there was something he did not like either one.



Children clothes give a different color. If ordinary visitors looked at us with silent interest, the kids did not hide the excitement of what he sees aliens in this ancestral Korean place. They shouted to us "Hallow, Mr.", laughed loudly and ran away. And then come back and solemnly began to explain that which is and how it works.



Library to come to the bath.



Computer room for a dollar an hour, you can sit in the inernet. In chimchilbane a lot of additional services. In addition to the Internet for a small fee for a massage, fitness room, game machines, ice cream.



That's the main common room. Place for socializing and dating. If Russian baths and Finnish saunas always functioned extremely hygienic, Korea chimchilban always been a place for a pleasant stay with friends and family.



People in the same orange robes, reclining on thin mats, talk to each other, watching TV, or just sleep. But to sleep in the common room is not necessarily: in chimchilbane there are dozens of secluded places where you can not fall asleep in public. Pay attention to the "stone tent" at the corners of a large hall.



Inside the circular room encrusted with intricate mosaics. Here you can also drag mats with pillows and sleep. But not everyone's liking the night in a tent. Because it is almost a sauna.



Each of the bedrooms has a temperature of from thirty to seventy degrees. The coolest room is just a common lounge, where about twenty-five.



The study of each room for a comfortable temperature and load bodies, we found the best place to stay. Plus twenty-nine, but almost deserted. Hot, of course, but was offset by a small number of people. There is a "capsule" for those who are shy.



Mat and pillow. No bed linen. To make it soft, take a few mats or pillows.



For sissies - massage chairs and beds. But for the extra money.



And fell asleep. After midnight chimchilbane was quiet, with only some snoring came from afar. And I woke up surprisingly good and refreshed! Climbed into the cold pool, steam room ran through, took a shower and got ... cheerfulness to lift up the evening! The next day was also unusual in terms of the night, I slept in a Buddhist monastery. But this is another story.



You may be wondering what it looks like outside the Korean bath? And just like that, a normal office building. And besides two floors chimchilbana, there still are a lot of other tenants.



If you will be traveling to Korea, and want to experience such sleep, better prepare in advance and get you in the right city chimchilban. Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is written as 찜질방. Or just look for the sign hairdresser (spinning tube right) next to the numerals "24".



Source: macos.livejournal.com