About
Suncheon, my Birthday, Dec 30th 2011
Welcome!
I first came to Korea in the autumn of 2000 and on that occasion spent a year teaching in various schools in Daegu. I returned several times, 2003 for 6 months and 2005 for 3 weeks, always to the same area, Song-So. I returned again in 2007.
I have kept copious notes and diaries and Bathhouse Ballads is a means of giving such notes purpose. I am no authority on Korean life and as someone still struggling to learn Korean and understand Korea, I am more of an observer. Hence my notes are opinions though I do have areas of some ‘expertise,’ notably, education, bathhouse culture, food and taekwondo. Bathhouse Ballads focuses predominantly on the culture therein, which fascinates me, and the pondering I do while wallowing in water. Besides bathhouses, it is also a snap shot of life around Song-So (Daegu). Korea is a country in rapid transition and what is here one moment can very easily be gone tomorrow.
I taught taekwondo for over twenty years and trained in both the ITF and WTF styles. By profession, I am a teacher of music as well as history and sociology. I am interested in many aspects of Korean culture as well as British culture which Bathhouse Ballads often critiques. You cannot immerse yourself in another culture without attitudes to your home culture being amended, altered and reconfigured at exactly the same time as attitudes towards the host culture are being formulated. This unavoidable interaction has brought me closer to a personal understanding of my own culture. For this reason, the phrase ‘back in the UK, is a leitmotiv.
If you notice places where there are what appear to be random letters and symbols in a set of brackets, this is where I have written either in Chinese (Hanja) or Korean and which your computer has not been set to recognise. You can probably make changes to read these and it is straight forward but I forget how you do it and you probably don’t need access to them anyway.
Also, some pretty dumb people visit here often with quite retarded views and assumptions. I have a ‘no pumpkin people policy‘ which you can access here. To clarify the nature of this blog visit the link.
I have numerous other projects including:
Kimchi Gone Fusion - which focuses on kimchi, Korean cooking and especially fusion-Kimchi.
Mister Makgeolli – a blog dedicated to the art of Korean rice wine
Scumland UK – which is a hostile critique of British culture for which I should be ashamed
Band of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards Where I spent 15 years of my life
©努江虎-노강호 2012 Creative Commons Licence.
Greetings,
Chris in South Korea – always nice to meet seasoned bloggers / writers such as yourself. I just found your blog on the KoreanBlogList and thought I’d say hi. My blog is over at chrisinsouthkorea.blogspot.com, and I’ve added a link to you in my blogroll. Looking forward to plenty more of your excellent writing – cheers.
Chris, thanks for your response. I spend much time blogging though to be honest, most of my other blog topics are rants on various social and political issues. My Korean blog is actually positive and a change from my rantings though I do veer off into one at times especially if I am making a comparative analysis. You are the first person to make a comment on my writing and I will certainly be visiting your blog to offer support. Thanks. Nick.
Howdy,
Just stumbled across your blog through your sauna post. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like when you first got here. It seems like just walking the street is an adventure today so you must have been practically poked prodded and studied like newly discovered species when you arrived.
I’ll be dropping by often! You can follow me if you’d like at kissmykimchi.com.
peace
Thanks for your post. I have a mass of notes on various aspects of bathhouse culture. I am actually a very introvert person when it comes to nudity and in the west I still am. I glossed over my initial introductions to bathouse culture in my recent blog and at a later date will write a more detailed account of some very amusing, if not embarassing, experiences. I will be visiting your blog. Nick
Thanks. I enjoyed reading your blog… very entertaining. I especially couldn’t stop laughing while reading oral hygiene. I totally agree.
Dear Nick,
My name is Sharon, and I work for Huijun Communications (www.huijun.co.kr). I really enjoyed reading your blog, and I was thinking others could really benefit from reading your blog as well!
At Huijun Communications, we are currently in the works of creating a website (www.lifeinkorea.kr) that serves as a hub and a community for foreign nationals living in Korea. Our vision is to create a website where people can get all info and service they want through this website without need of searching and looking here and there, and through which people communicate with Koreans as well.
Many bloggers showed their interest and joined in our website by posting their articles to share with others, and I would like to invite you to do the same.
Your participation will be greatly appreciated, and we offer complimentary Culture gift cards for bloggers who work with us. For more details, feel free to email me at lucykim4323@gmail.com.
Best,
Sharon
Tried your links but couldn’t find any blog posts on Korean culture?
Hi,
Just found your blog last night (after returning from a week’s vacation in Korea) and have just finished reading all of your entries. Great blog! I started going to Korean bathhouses in 1992–my first exposure to casual nudity–and have been an addict ever since. At that time, it was the only place where I didn’t feel like a foreigner. In the 목욕탕 I was just another naked guy, at least that’s how I felt.
Keep up the good work. Charles
Yes, it’s strange how I feel more human as a fat foreigner in a Korean bathhouse than I do in a swimming pool or on the beach back home. Thanks for your response.
Hi Nick,
I just stumbled upon your website and have really enjoyed reading through it.
I most agree with your post about the E-bente-tang’s…I had heard so many people raving about the “tea” baths at the Time world Jimjilbang here in Daejeon, and was so disappointed to realize its just for the men! Not fair:(
But I guess guys also deserve to relax in tea baths every now and again
Thanks for the great insight into life from a jimjilbang perspective
Roxy
Don’t other bathhouse have tea baths? Any feedback or even contributions to the female side of things is very welcome.
Hi Roxy! I just found this blog and thus, your post. There are indeed other tea baths – I suggest asking your Korea female friends and co-workers. They often know tons about the local saunas and what they have to offer specifically. Otherwise, just head out and try a bunch on your own. Green tea is the most popular of course and the best by far is the Green Tea-Sea Water Sauna in Yulpo near the Boseong Green Tea Fields (율포해수온천탕 ‘Yulpo Haesu-Nokcha Oncheon-tang’). My review is here: http://saunasinkorea.blogspot.com/2009/06/boseong-yulpo-beach-yulpo-haesu-nokcha.html
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Hi Nick! I just stumbled across your blog while looking for information regarding Korean ‘skinship’. I am a 53 yr. old American mom who’s love for dance and music led me via You Tube, to becoming a fan of (believe it or not) Korean pop music.
Though I am the mother of a son who is gay, I have been completely mystified by the gay-like behaviors I’ve witnessed between male celebrities and further mystified by the desire of female fans to see what some adamantly describe NOT as ‘gay’, but as ‘skinship’, even ‘fan service’ and by others who wish to believe it as ‘gay’ or something more than ‘skinship’.
My American/western mind was having such difficulty wrapping itself around the idea, understanding it, until I began reading your blog. It’s so very difficult to ‘let go’ of a mindset that sees things only through what we’ve been taught to believe and see. But, I am trying and want to understand. I eagerly anticipate reading through all of your blog. I may be older, but I am not through learning! ~ Thank you for sharing your stories. Regards, Kim
Kim, having just returned from holiday, I was pleased to read your comments and indeed yours are the first I am responding to in Korea, in 2011. I suppose you don’t really consider the impact your writing has and I am pleased my posts on ‘skinship’ have helped you. Of course, these are my opinions as arriving at a conclusion is always problematic when you are writing about another culture, especially one so different from your own. I must say, western opinions on ‘skinship’ here in Korea can be quite hostile as indeed they can be towards bathhouse culture. Whenever I write posts on these topics I prepare myself for a few hostile responses. Both bathhouse culture and ‘skinship’ are interesting phenomena especially at a time when western cultures are perversifying what I would consider quite natural and healthy expressions of human behaviour.
I too enjoy K-pop but I do not follow it too closely. ‘Rain’ is an all time favourite of mine. I was recently reading about two young drama celebrities who on return from filming in Japan, decided to visit a bathhouse early in the morning. When they woke up a number of admirers had gathered and one of the celebs was prompted to do a dance routine – nude. I can’t imagine such a scenario in the west because unlike our respective cultures, nudity in a bathhouse has nothing to do with sex or being sexy. For many westerners, separating nudity from sex is an impossibility.
Thanks for your comments…oh, and I am actually older than you…
Nick, on your most recent entry about the five boys who meet death, there is a typo. Where you meant to write “galvanized” the nation, it appears as “calvinized.”
Charles, thanks for you observation.
hi, my name is mi a. from Daegu! 닉이 한국을 좋아하듯이 저는 영어를 좋아해서 외국인 친구를 찾다가 korean bloglist 에서 찾게 되었어요! 저는… i want u as friends! so if u help i would you help! haha
thanks so much for this website
it is so useful!! thank you thank you!
i am an architecture student in the UK, and my third year project will be designing a spa/bath house and leisure complex that’s open 24 hours a day..and at a cheap affordable price as well as other leisure stuff…for travellers, homeless, locals , everyone..
do you know any books/websites where i can find detailed plans and sections etc of jjimjilbangs?
my email is tiffany_wong91@yahoo.co.uk
i am be very grateful for this site! thank you
I do not know of any books though I have occasionally seen companies that plan bathhouses on Korean websites. I was searching in Korean at the time as I don’t think you will find them in English. Maybe I should write a post on that. Thanks for the comments.
Hi there Nick!
I’ve found your blog through jonnyontheroad and have noticed that you linked to my blog in one of your sauna posts – Thanks!! I appreciate any extra traffic sent my way and I’d like to feature your blog on my sauna-related links if I may. You have some funny stuff and I think all your links are great! I’d love it if my blog made it into your Bathhouse Websites list
Anyway, thanks so much for the link and be reading you soon! ^^
http://saunasinkorea.blogspot.com Jjimjilbang and Saunas in Korea
Sonia, thanks for your visit. Actually, I had your blog in my ‘Bathhouse Website’ category until fairly recently and removed it as I thought you’d gone ‘inactive.’ Indeed, I had a link for ‘Saunas in Korea’ on my front page for almost two years. I also sent a few comments to your site but have to admit that I always seem to have problems with Blogger when I try to comments to the point where I no longer bother – so any comments I may have made might not have arrived on your pages.
I followed up a few of your Daegu recommendations and especially remember one in Banwoldang. Anyway, I will now go and reinsert a link in my bathhouse category. Best wishes and thanks again.
Thanks a lot! Yeah, I go through periods of time where I don’t post much and then I’ll get a couple written up. But honestly, I still get a lot of reads and clicks on my older posts and I always reply right away to comments so people know I’m still around
Anyway, thanks again for linking to me!
Great to find your blog. I’ve been here in Korea (Seoul) since about 2004, and I only recently discovered the saunas. I’m loving it! I’m originally from the USA, and I loved to take long, hot baths, especially while reading a book. But as you know, having a bathtub in your home is rare in Korea, nevermind a large bathtub for the gravitationally challenged man!
How can I comment to you, without posting to your whole blog???
Chris, thanks very much for your comments. Yes, the bathhouse are indeed the most relaxing locations. I have added your blog, which I browsed through this morning, before going shopping, to my blogroll. I will send you my contact details via your blog.
Best wishes and thanks
I believe I ran into you tonight in Igok-dong… I was walking with my boyfriend and you said hello to us (around 8:30 PM). We had just gotten off work (hagwon) and didn’t register the “hello” for a second or two – usually it’s Korean children and not foreigners who approach us, believe it or not!
Anyway, just wanted to return the greeting and say hello to a fellow Seongseo-habitant. We’re in Yongsan so probably pretty close.
-Ashley
Ashley, that’s so funny! You probably think I’m crazy because my ‘hello’ was slightly rude. To be honest, Westerners here usually blank all other Westerners, as you seem to have noticed. I live right by where you saw me.
Anyway, I’m glad you said ‘hello.’ My hakgwon has no other foreigners and I miss chatting in regular English. Do you pass on that route very often? And how did you know it was me ( or is that ‘I’?)
Best wishes
Nick
My school is on that street (above the Starbucks and new Daiso) so I regularly make that trek. And I recognized you from some of the photos on this blog!
I will look out for you!