Cleansing From The Yellow Dust

Every March about this time, East Asia experiences what is called "Yellow Dust Season". The yellow dust comes from the deserts of Mongolia and northern China where high speed winds pick up the dust causing the fine dust to be carried east. To add to the nasty yellow dust, the pollutants from China and India are combined with it to make it a pretty nasty cocktail of air. According to Wikipedia, there are many things that are combined in this cocktail such as, "Sulphur (an acid rain component), soot, ash, carbon monoxide, and other toxic pollutants including heavy metals (such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, lead, zinc, copper) and other carcinogens, often accompany the dust storms, as well as viruses, bacteria, fungi, pesticides, antibiotics, asbestos, herbicides, plastic ingredients, combustion products as well as hormone mimicking phthalates". Doesn't this sound wonderful? I finally realized why Koreans are so crazy about having umbrellas. Me, I don't really care much and love to run in the rain, but maybe I should stop being a tightwad and spend the 50 cents on an umbrella. Also, the yellow dust has been known to cause healthy people to develop asthma and other respiratory problems. But in the case of people who already have asthma and respiratory infections....it can be fatal. Things are looking good. But, never fear, I can wear an Asian medical mask and strap my nebulizer to my back and go about my business. If you would like to see more stats on Asian/Yellow Dust, Google it. I posted a satellite picture of yellow dust drifting over east Asia.



With all this dirty dust and cold temperatures trying to hang on, I thought it would be good to go to the Jjimjilbang (찜질방), the Korean public bathhouses, saunas and hot tubs. Most Jjimjilbang's are open 24hours and Korea families love to go there to relax on the weekends. The men and women have separate, fancy locker rooms that have many sit-down showers and stone hot tubs in varying temperatures. In the locker room, you usually don't wear much for clothes and in the hot tubs, you do not wear any clothes or suits. I think that these places are very relaxing and enjoyable and I am sad that we do not have them in the States. But, the difference in cultures is what allows them to be in Korea. Many Koreans will just lounge around the room and lay on the big wooden benches while watching tv, putting on face masks, and other various beauty activities. The locker room is only one experience of the Jjijilbang. When you pay (about $4.50, by the way!), they give you a bulky set of shorts, t-shirt, and towels, therefore matching everyone else there. You put these clothes on to go into the main sauna area. The Jjimjilbang that I was at on Sunday night is one of the better ones in the area. It has five different temperature saunas that you lay down in and have special massage rocks on the walls to push your feet or back against. The floor is covered in grass mats and you have the traditional wooden blocks to put your head on (with a towel). Some of the saunas are heated with wood and some are electric. The first time I opened the door and started to enter one of the wood saunas, I shouted out, "It smells like home!" I was quickly shushed because I did not realize the Koreans were in there sleeping. The Koreans will fall asleep in the saunas, but they also sleep all over on the floor outside of the saunas. The stone floor is heated and some have special glass parts where there are heated light bulbs to lay on and relax back muscles. Also, there are usually big-screen tvs in these areas and families or couples will curl up and hang out together. Along with these things, there are also mini caves you can sleep in, exercise rooms, a lap pool, massage chairs, and bunk beds if you want to stay the night. Jjimjilbang's are hard to explain and I hope you get a picture of what they look like and how it feels to visit one. If not, here are a couple pictures below to help you.


Outside of saunas.


Ice Room!


TV room with mats and heated flooring.