Jinjilbongs: Gettin' Naked with the Locals

If Ryan and I could live in a country with all the best aspects of the places we travel, we would definitely institute the siesta from Spain and those little enchiladas from Nicaragua, but right now, my number one pick is the Jinjilbong: Korean bath houses. Just about every Korean frequents the bath house at least once a week. Men and women are separated, given baggy clothes to wear after they bathe, and then everyone gets naked and gets real clean!! It's amazing! Why don't we have this in the states?
If you aren't sold yet, let me elaborate: first you head into the shower and bath room where you scrub yourself clean, brush your teeth, wash your hair, etc, etc. Then you head over to the various baths--warm, hot, really hot, cold, massage tub, dumping-water-on-your-head tub; each bath with different medicinal additions: mugwort, jade, charcoal, salt. After you are done scrubbing and soaking you can sit in various saunas and steam rooms, then put on the clothes they've given you and enjoy the restaurants, internet cafe, play room, gym, massage chairs, real massages and more saunas. Once you've had your fill, take a nap on one of the coed floors, or go to the single gender sleeping room where everything is dark and warm and you can sleep on a pad with a sort-or-pillow. When I say, take a nap on the floor, I mean: take a nap anywhere on the floor. There are folks passed out on the floor by the water cooler. Men face-up, mouths-open in the children's play room. It's a little weird, but you've got to understand, you have never been so relaxed as you are after spending an hour and a half soaking in the jade bath. Trust me, you could sleep anywhere.
Yes, you do have to be naked, but when everyone else around you is doing it, why not? It's great to be uninhibited. I don't get anymore stares than is normal here (which is a few), but for the most part, it's very comfortable. There's the two old ajumas (older, married and respected women) scrubbing eachother down with exfoliating cloths, the girls splashing around in the cold pool, and the teenage girls washing their hair in the shower. They're all there. Bet you're wishing you were too...

p.s. sorry no photos to offer. you understand.