Wooden block pillow

I've stayed at hostils, I've slept on floors, on the grass, in a car in the middle of winter (Stolly, Frio), but this is about as uncomfortable as it gets. After my Saturday night sleep in Seoul, I think I could pass out in between two warring armies. Ryan and I went to Seoul to see the largest bookstore in Korea, the largest market, Itaewon (the foreigner district of Korea), art galleries and to eat some international cuisine. Seoul has it all and 10 million people to share it with. We spent a large portion of the weekend on the subway. Stairs leading to the subway can be found on every corner so you're never really lost and you'll never wait more than 5 minutes for the ride. I marvel at how well Korea's public transportation was planned and I dread having to wait in another Chicago traffic jam. We arrived in Itaewon around 11pm on Saturday night. Both Ryan and I were exhausted from a day of sight seeing and were satisfied going to a couple bars, drinking a few beers, and finding a place to sleep. I'd been told that Itaewon was the place to go if you missed speaking English. And after leaving amongst nothing but Koreans, seeing so many "white people" was a major shock. Itaewon was swarming with American GIs off duty and drinking their military butts off. This is what Itaewon is- the American soldiers playground. This is easily the most seedy, dangerous area in Korea and the only place you'll ever consider running into some trouble. I believe Itaewon can only be enjoyed, like Vegas, if you're in a party all night type of mood. Otherwise, you sit and watch the overgrown Americans trash Korea and it's more embarrassing than anything. A little after midnight, we began inquiring about places to sleep. A Korean man told us about a Jim Jay Bong near that would house us for only 10,000W. A Jim Jay Bong (that's a pathetic attempt at English translation) is a spa house where you go for rest and relaxation. These are real popular in Korea and serve as tourist attractions. They are a spectacle and, any white person that dares go, becomes an even bigger spectacle for the masses. Upon paying the entrance fee, we were handed a white shirt and white shorts and told to change before entering the sauna area. The building was enormous, double sided (one side of men, the other for women). The first floor was the spa and a community TV-watching room. The next floor was a cafeteria/library. The third floor was a large workout room. Finally we make it up to the fourth floor and there is a gigantic movie room showing "Meet the Parents" and Koreans of all ages enjoying the show. I'm kind of sick and real tired at this point, so I'm just in search of the beds. hahaha, beds. We open a door to a dim lit hallway and I'm relieved to hear people snoring. The hall is sectioned off into sections large enough to fit a lying down person and nothing more. I climb into my tomb and feel the hard marble floor under me. Ok, this is comparable to sleeping on a kitchen floor, I can do this. Then I notice we are each giving a wood block pillow. 10,000W is beginning to appear too expensive for this. And the room is heated to an unbearable degree. I lay for about an hour, sweating and preparing to just pass the night walking from bar to bar. I would have left but all around me Korean men were sleeping soundly, enjoying a weekend retreat at the spa. What is like sleeping in hell to me is a vacation to them. It was with these cultural considerations than I eventually dozed off. I woke up in hour intervals but managed to immediately re-enter dream land. After around 6 intense sweat-soaked hours of sleep I got up and wandered around. It felt great to notice myself and Ryan were the only foreigners. I can't help but be conscious of the bad image Westerners often portray (the previous night in Iteawon was enough to give up and consider our stained reputation a lost cause). Whenever I am participating in some authentic aspect of Korean culture, I feel proud. Anyways, I mentioned how much of a spectacle we are here. The stares get much more un-nerving when your naked with 20 other naked men analyzing your body. They are amazed enough by the color of my eyes, my large nose, but, a chance to see a white man naked, is a bonus to these weekend vacationers. I'd been warned about this earlier and it hardly bothered me. It would be easy of you at least could drape a towel around you, walked up to the sauna, drop the towel on the edge and get in. No, the towels they do provide and more like rags- not nearly big enough to wear around the waist. I stripped, walk past all the TV watchers, through some rooms of shaving men and into the open sauna room. I was actually quite amused by the whole thing and didn't rush, but efficiently showered and left. By now I'm used to being in front of the cameras, the flash just a little brighter in the Jim Jay Bong.