A trip to the Jimjilbang

 It was my second weekend in Korea after our compulsory training and I was eager to explore the country. A few weeks prior, I had met a lovely girl who always wanted to do a ghost tour in Seoul, but was too scared to go alone. Being the brave knight in shining IndoAfrican armour that I was, I decided to accompany her on the tour. It was my first time travelling solo in a foreign country and I had absolutely no idea how to book a train or accommodation. After going to the train station and getting help from a local, I was able to book a KTX bullet train to Seoul. (It had always been a dream of mine to ride on one of these 350kph trains) South Korea has an extensive passenger rail system that caters for all classes of their society, from the high end KTX and SRT bullet trains to the moderate ITX and Mugungwa village trains – I was fortunate to ride on all of them and have absolutely nothing negative to say. I later booked my accommodation on booking.com and I was ready to go.

On Saturday morning at 11:00am sharp, I boarded my train to Seoul. It was glorious – as smooth as a hot knife through butter was that train ride. The seats were as gentle and soft as a newly born’s cheeks and the feeling that flowed through me as I connected to the onboard, free, high speed wifi, can be compared only to the feeling that Hercules himself must have felt when Zeus bestowed Pegasus upon him… Long live the South Korean internet!

My fairytale had soon come to an end as I arrived at Yongsan Station in Seoul at precisely 13:38pm. It was almost as if I was being sent an omen to not leave that train – my accommodation had sent me a message explaining that it had been cancelled. I panicked for a moment and then realized that I, just one week prior, had slept in a public toilet… My eye caught sight of a Kebab place(don’t judge me). Everything seemed to fade away, I had not had meat for a month and a half, given that back home, in South Africa, I would eat some sort of meat at least three times a week. I could go on about the flavours that engulfed me with every bite, but my story has a way to go so I will continue…

After exploring the Gyeongbokgung palace, built in 1395, I decided to meet up with the lady I mentioned earlier, who was apparently waiting patiently for me to come and meet her at her accommodation(wink wink)...I was more interested in Korean history and Kebabs. Eventually, we met at the start of the tour. She seemed to be very cold towards me, but being the Indian that I was, I was not going to let anyone or anything dampen my spirits on the tours because I paid for my ticket. For those wanting to explore Seoul and find a few hidden gems, I strongly recommend the tour. The guide is really interesting and is a great story teller. One of the coolest things for me was touching a piece of the actual Berlin wall – It was gifted by the Germans to South Korea as being one of the last divided nations on earth and can be found in Seoul city centre.

Gyeongbokgung Pallace. 

A piece of the Berlin wall in downtown Seoul. 

The tour had ended and it was time for me to find some shelter. I had remembered many of my friends talking about Jimjilbangs and they described it as a 24hr low-cost spa. It sounded perfect. I was directed to Shiloam Jimjilbang, just a few kilometers away from my current location at that time. Apparently, it had great facilities for foreigners and was one of the best in Korea. I arrived at the entrance and was directed to follow the instructions:

Step 1:

Remove shoes and pay the cashier R 150.

Step 2:

Provide your receipt to the handler who will give you pyjamas, a towel and a key to a locker for your shoes as well as another receipt.

Step 3:

Enter the locker area. Put your shoes in the locker. Give your receipt to the new handler who will give you another key to a different locker in the spa area.

Step 4:

Get to the new locker, undress and place your clothes in the new locker before heading down to the spa to enjoy the facilities.

Step 5: 

After using the spa, dry off and change into pyjamas and head upstairs to sleep on one of the 3 themed floors.

The real story I wanted to tell takes place after step 2. You see, as a Muslim, we are encouraged to dress conservatively. As a boy, I can admit that it is not as strict on males as it is on females and whilst this is a general trend in society, Muslims tend to take it to the next level. Nevertheless, I was taught to cover up when I can and look away from nudity and women. Upon commencement of Step 3, I was greeted by penis….. I have no other way of saying it because it was as blatant as I say it. Penis everywhere. PP on bench. PP by the cashier. PP by the lockers. PP by the restaurant… I think that if I add up all the penis I have seen in my life including those in on TV and biology class, it still would not amount to the number of male appendage that greeted my eyes that day.

I was conflicted. I didn’t know if I should ‘man up’ and stay or cut my losses and leave, but then, my Indian instincts pulled through and a voice in my head said, “Naadir, you have paid R150, that’s bread and milk for the week….stay!” And so I did whilst simultaneously, remembering my dad once dressing me when I was younger, telling me not to be shy of the other men whilst I changed. I decide then and there that I would own my anatomy as strange as it would seem to the Korean eye. 

All Muslim men are advised to be circumcised as Sunnath(Something our Prophet, peace be upon him, said, did or said we should do.) It is usually done to us when we are a few days old so as to heal quickly and be over and done with when we are extremely young and ‘unaware’. We are also required to groom our pubic and underarm hair so as to not allow it to be longer than a grain of rice for cleanliness. Koreans on the other hand, from my visual experience, in general, do not share the same sentiment so you can imagine the look on their faces when, brown, hairless, cut man walked through those spa doors!

As I opened the doors, all eyes on me. Guys taking a shower, stopped to look and things went silent for a tiny second before it all resumed. In that moment, I felt like Simba being raised up before all the other animals with that famous lion king opening theme song playing in the background as I opened the doors. I was the chosen one! I went straight to the shower before getting a personal massage from the masseuse who spent rather long massaging my bum cheeks instead of my back or legs. I then went into the Jade sauna and sat next a local and his son. From the side of my eye, I noticed him glancing in between my legs and at my face before coming to sit next to me. (Let it be known that Koreans are very affectionate people. It is very common to see men holding hands and walking together with arms around each other. This does not mean they are homosexual.) He grabbed my waist and said, ‘very handsome’ before introducing his son to me…

(At moments like that, my ignorant self wonders about the meanings of words and their origin – The word ‘handsome’ for example comes from hand + some which comes from the phrase ‘easy to handle’. What would you think as a male, grown in a patriarchal society if you were naked and being looked at by another male who then comes and sits next to you grabs you by the waste and then looks at you and says, ‘you look easy to handle’ and smiles). I must admit, I was a little freaked out, but I tried to remove my biases and replied with a kind, ‘thank you’, before going to wash the salt of my body.

I then decided to try out the hot, bubbly Jacuzzi… I remember sitting across from a local Korean man. After giving him the routine head tilt in greeting, I sat upon a step leading into the water. The water was extremely hot so I thought I would ease my way in until I felt strange presence behind me – A feeling synonymous with characters in horror movies as they turn around to see the antagonist behind them. As I turned around, my eye caught sight of a long, dark pubes. I stopped mid-turn and looked up only to find a fellow Korean man staring down at me. Before saying anything, he grinned and as if the words dripped out of his mouth, the faint sounds culminated into the word, ‘Hhellloooo’. I replied, with a quick ‘anyanghaseyo’ (hello in Korean), shrank and melted into the water before swimming to the opposite side. I often wonder how long he was standing there for and what was going through his mind as he scanned me.

After a recurring use of the pools, sauna, shower and Jacuzzi, I decided that I had had enough and retired to the lockers to collect my pyjamas. I changed and wandered up to one of the 3 floors available for sleeping. I collected a futon and pillow and found a little cave to settle in for the night. Apart from the constant snoring, small, odd farts and constant alarm clock ringing from 5:00am onwards, I would say I had a pretty good sleep!

I am an individual that always believes that everything happens for a reason. I often think about the experience I would have missed had my accommodation not have been cancelled. Many might think that my experience was rather uncomfortable and to be honest, it was, but it is only in the greatest uncomfortability that the greatest learning takes place and that is what travelling is all about for me. Coming from a hyper-masculine society like the one I was brought up in, makes it easy to look at the individuals I shared my experience with and throw words like, ‘gay’, ‘homo’, ‘morphy’, ‘queer’ etc, but when we put ourselves in the shoes of the locals who live in the society we are travelling in, we tend to lose our biases and understand that human nature is fickle and fragile. It is not something that should be frowned upon from the outside, but instead cherished as a blueprint of our history, culture and heritage.