BJ Jargon
Event pools outside
In Korea you will find various types of bathhouse, jjimjilbang and saunas. Often there is confusion about what they offer and the experiences that can be expected in them.
Bathhouse (목욕탕) – exactly as the name suggests. Simply a place to wash.
Jjimjilbang (찜질방) – while bathhouses often provide solely water related ‘entertainment, jjimjilbangs provide a space where families and friends can mingle.
The Italy Towel (이태리 타월), that little green scrubber everyone seems to have.
The Bathhouse Bucket Seat Yes, it’s undignified but you quickly get used to it.
The Bathhouse ‘handbag’ and ‘shopping basket. Which is the campest?
The Bathhouse Wooden Pillow – mok-ch’im (목침)
The Bathhouse Naeng Tang – cold pool (냉탕)
The special event pool – (이벤트탕)
The Bathhouse Yeol Tang – hot pool (열탕)
The Hinoki Tang (히노끼탕) - a bath made from the hinoki cypress
Wet sauna – 습식 사우나 – a sauna where the air is continually misted or kept wet so the humidity is high (doesn’t use steam)
Salt Sauna – 소금방 – 소금 사우나 – though they differ a little, these are found in bathhouse and jjimjilbang
Ice Room / Ice Cave 어름방 / 어름굴 – the ideal place to chill in summer
The Massage Pool 안마탕 – for all those aching muscles
No-ch’eon – real and otherwise (노천) – where bathing, the elements and nature are combined.
The Hwangto-bang (황토방 – aka: yellow mud, loess, loess clay) – a dry sauna appearing independently as well as in bathhouses and jjimjilbang.
© 林東哲 2010 Creative Commons Licence.
