A Bath

Sometimes you just want to soak! Natural hot springs are not common in Korea, but you can find little bath houses everywhere which may have small sauna rooms and like onsens in Japan, are divided between male and female due to the lack of swimwear. The traditional Korean saunas (Jimjilbangs) provide everyone with loose-fitting shirts and shorts to wear into the igloo-shaped hot rooms and resting areas that are often open 24-hours. They usually have female and male bath houses as well. So to clarify some Korean bath vocabularly:
Oncheon = Hot springs/ Onsen
Jimjilbang = Sauna/ Sauna
Sauna = Bath house/ Ofuro
Lacking bath tubs of our own, Kayla and I were both craving a good soak, so we ventured to a place called Ocheonjang (literally hot spring place) that has public foot baths in the street! I was trying to find one of the biggest hot springs in Korea, but apparently I didn't follow directions well and we ended up at the smallest, most crowded bath house I've ever been to. It's quite the experience being in a steamy area filled with naked women and children soaking in hot tubs and scrubbing each other down at the shower stalls. And this place also had a powerful, caramel-herby smell to it that I think came from the steam rooms. But it was still nice to soak!