I'd booked a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone- the border between North and South Korea) tour for today and actually got up on time, but while I was brushing my teeth, I started to feel really sick- to the point that I was hanging out at the toilet in case I threw up, though luckily I didn't. When I was in high school, I used to sometimes get sick exactly like this; I'd try to get up in the morning, but would feel like I were going to throw up or faint and I'd start to see black, with little but very bright points of light pricking the darkness. It's strange and really bad, and now I only get it about once a year and usually because I didn't get enough sleep, but I had, so I don't know why it had to happen today, but it did, so I had to go back to bed.
I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't do it because I'd heard it was really interesting, but, oh well. I stayed in bed until about 12, then went to the corner restaurant to get food. Retro Mama was a burger place, but it was cheap, and when I can, I try to eat meat because I don't get enough protein regularly.
Sitting at the table next to me was a darling old Korean couple who I talked to a little bit, though, since their English was limited, and my Korean was non-existent, it was difficult. At one point, the woman ordered something, went up to the counter and put a drink in front of me. Her husband, who spoke more English than she, told me it was special Korean tea for my health. The woman pointed at me and then raised both arms as if flexing her muscles, indicating that it would make me strong.
So I said thank you and drank it. It was basically just room temperature, regular tea. Nothing remotely special about it, but it was a very sweet gesture so I drank it all. My cheeseburger was quite good though, so I was very happy with my lunch.
Sandra and I couldn't match our schedules up, so sadly I didn't get to say a proper good-bye, but that's okay. I went to the train station, bought a ticket to Busan, and left Seoul. The train ride was fine, rather uneventful, but watching the scenery, Korea looked like quite and ugly country. It was all hills and mountains and more hills, covered in dark, almost black, dead-looking trees.
At around 8:30, I got into Busan and took the subway out to the general area I wanted to stay in. I wanted to try a jimjillbang, which is basically a public bathhouse that's very popular (and non-skeezy) in Korea. I wanted to go to Vesta, one I'd heard was good, so I got a cab to take me there, where I saw that it was closed for renovations. Completely closed. Crap. The nearest jimjillbang I knew of was quite a ways away but I really wanted to try it so I told the driver to take me to one, any one. He took me to one that was much closer, and was totally, truly Korean.
Picture of the building my jimjillbang was in, showing an ad for the inside- best I could do.
It was quite strange. I took an elevator to the tenth floor of what looked like an office building, paid around $5 and was given a key to a locker, a pair of prison orange shorts and shirt and two hand towels. I had to then put everything in a locker, undress completely and walk into the Womens baths area, carrying only my locker key and a hand towel. It actually wasn't as awkward as it sounds because everyone else was naked too. The only thing different was that I was the only non-Korean there, probably because I'd ended up at this random jimjillbang instead of an advertised one. Some of the women stared a tiny bit, but barely. There were several pool, spa and sauna options: a mild hot tub, a very hot tea bath (though I couldn't smell the tea), a small, hot mineral pool, a very cold wading pool, a cool/mild pool with extremely strong pressure jets for two people to use, a small cold body contoured rock pool, and many, many showers. There were also three saunas with the temperature of each shown outside: 42*C, 67*C and 92*C! On either end of the room, which was fairly small considering everything in it, were rows of vanities, each with short stools and a detachable shower head.
I tried everything out, took a shower and dressed in the prison outfit, took an Ambien and headed up to the sleeping room, which is just a large room with mats. I used two mats, three blankets and my own travel pillow, and still slept just okay, but I guess that's what you get for $5.
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