Jjimjilbang In Jinhae

Figured with the hordes of tourists descending on Jinhae for the cherry blossom festival, that the usual local BnBs would be full up and the prices jacked up. On that assumption, I decided I wouldn’t even bother to check out the yeogwans or minbaks and made straight for a 24 hour jjim - jil-bang ( 24 hour public bath cum sauna cum relaxation area where I could also sleep for a fee). This option had a few drawbacks though:

1. Location – it wasn’t central; in fact it was on the eastern side of the town. Had to take a twenty-minute bus ride from the town centre and get off near a shopping mall which housed the jjimjilbang. I’m sorry I didn’t note down the bus number or the name and exact location of the jjimjilbang. However it was within walking distance of the eastern end of the famous Anmin Road ( give or take 30 minutes)

2. The jjimjilbang was also quite crowded but I was mentally prepared to share sleeping floor space with seventy or so Koreans. What I didn’t expect was that we’d be woken up in the middle of the night ( or was it early morning?) by a pair of women arguing fiercely. It was a bit difficult going back to sleep after that.

3. Once I paid the entrance fee of 7000 won and entered the place, I had to be sure that my sightseeing activities were done for the day. Unless I was prepared to fork out another 7000 won, I couldn’t go out again. So it required a bit of planning and a lot of lugging of my backpack the first day I arrived in Jinhae because I was busy catching the sights before I took the bus to the jjimjilbang. Fortunately for me, some kind ajummas in the small restaurant inside the place kindly agreed to look after my bag on the second day so I was spared the trouble of hauling my load all over the town again.

The benefits?

First it only cost me 7000 won per night ( cheaper than a yeogwan or minbak which would have set me back anything between 30,000 and 150,000won a night and the entrance fee wasn’t not jacked up for the 2007 festival). For that modest sum, I had the opportunity to soak my weary carcass in tubs of hot water and to sweat some toxins in various sauna rooms with various temperatures and theme. I could also do my laundry and hang my washing on a line in the ladies’ bathing area, check and send emails in the ubiquitous mini-PC bang facilities, watch the latest TV drama sprawled out on the floor beside similarly-dressed Koreans and enjoy a bowl of bibimbap or naengmyeon in the in-house café.

Biggest plus? The nice lady who ran the eating joint even offered to give me a ride to the western end of Anmin Road the following day!

I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you’re not prepared for some inconvenience and some roughing it out ( no comfy mattresses!) but it is certainly something to consider for a more authentic local experience.
Sources:
http://www.jaunted.com/country/kp/2
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=626600
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang