Saunas

Perhaps the single most relaxing thing I have ever done is Korea is to spend a couple of hours at the sauna. It's very very nice. There is one large area which is co-ed and has several dry saunas. I usually pop in and out of the saunas half a dozen times over an hour - with a lot of lying around in the common area watching TV. Then in the men's area (and I'm assuming in the women's area as well), there are more dry saunas and steam baths as well as hot, warm, and cold tubs for soaking. The hot baths are great, but the cold bath in the winter is really cold. I think there were little ice cubes floating around tonight. Two hours at the sauna leaves me limp as an overboiled spaghetti noodle.

The social aspect of saunas was for me a real eye-opener. Although I live in Korea and teach Koreans, I don't often see the happy, relaxed interaction of families, couples, and groups of friends that you see at the sauna. For many people, it is an all night or all day experience. People come into the large co-ed area, go into the sauna, laze around and watch TV, eat, sleep, go back into the sauna, chat, sleep, eat, and so on endlessly. Because no one seems to have anywhere to go or anything to do, they are all very relaxed. All the people are in their uniform t-shirt and shorts - often with a towel wrapped around their hair, so there is no concern over appearance. All in all - a very cool experience.