Jim jil bang

 Jim jil bang

I am currently laying in an igloo-type sleeping cubby hole; with a single naked red bulb to dimly illuminate it. It's 12:47am, and I've got to get up at 5 am to get a flight back up to Seoul tomorrow morning. My best friend, Jewely and I came to Busan for the long weekend holiday for Bhuddas birthday, and tonight is my second time sleeping in one. This is by FAR already better than the first time, which was Friday night. That one was over crowded to the point that I felt like goldilocks looking for the things that are just right; in that first we tried sleeping in the playground. Too hot and too noisy.

Next up was outside on a pagoda on the rooftop where there were scattered couples. It was kinda cold but do-able.. That is until the mosquitoes found me, so we finally settled where the majority of the people were; inside on the main rooms floor, with one thin blanket to sleep on, and one to cover with and all donning matching jim jil bang issued clothing. I had my friend to one side of me, and the other was a mans feet, the owner of which was snoring nice and loudly. This was the only spot where we could cram two bodies in next to each other as the stairwell, other rooms, and every inch of free space was already occupied. It was so surreal - kind of just dead bodies littered everywhere and some Korean tv program playing in the background.

Tonight we did our first shower at the sauna as they are reffered to in English. You are segregated by sex, and then from the change room get undressed and go naked into the area usually only a few steps away where there is a communal shower area, large hot spa, and even massages and body scrubs can be done for you by women who work there. It's definitely a whole new experience for those of us who haven't grown up with this type of thing.

We are still a bit western and are each sleeping on about 4 blankets each rather than just one.I know we should tough it out and get used to it, but it's not easy to sleep on a solid marble floor and not have half your body go numb if you lie the wrong way. Here's hoping these four hours of sleep are solid!

 Busan flight

 Sky view of Busans islands