Thursday, August 16, 2012

To Seoul on My Own... My first night in a Love Motel.

      See that sign straight ahead with the red Korean letters that look like this 모텔?  That's "motel" in Korean.  Usually, it refers to a "love motel."  When I first heard anything about "love motels," a person was providing me with some recommendations about accommodations for when I travel in South Korea.  He said something like this.  "Stay at Love Motel."  So, I went around looking for a motel called "Love Motel."  
     I had received an invitation to attend a Korea Gay concert to be performed in a place called Hyehwa.  I had only a few weeks to prepare, so I began doing my homework.  I found out that Hyehwa was what I would call a university section (not the only one though) of Seoul.There, after having visited the area, I saw many universities and businesses that typically make a lot of money off of university students and faculty.  Not only that, I saw lots of delightful street entertainment (FREE of course).  I had found English directions to the auditorium where the concert would be, and I found that a few subway stations were nearby.  However, I hadn't figured out where I would lodge, so I asked my boss and co-workers about it.

     "Why don't you stay at a "love motel?" they asked.  That was when I began to find out that "Love motel" was not the name of a motel.  On my computer, I searched for "love motel."  I learned that a lot of loving goes on in those motels. Well, I didn't care about anyone else's business.  All I wanted was an inexpensive place to lodge, and "love motels" (as I learned) fit the bill perfectly.

     Below, you can see pictures of the room I got for 40,000 wons. That's about 35 US d's.

     Since that day, I've stayed at many such motels.  Many of them furnished me with a better room for the same price, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.  Some of them furnish me with a room not as good at, usually, a less price.
      





































     Although none of it was in English and no translations were provided, I did enjoy the concert.  Every seat (I would guess over 500) was filled.  Once it was finished, everyone disappeared just like that!

     On the next day, Sunday, I woke up early and began doing some venturing on my own.  That was in the middle of October, 2009.




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