Bad Movies, Huge Turtles, and Salaciousness

Well, second day here. Little tired from being up from 4am EST to 3am Korean time, but somehow I'm functioning. Last night after coming home from the airport, we went to my friend's apartment (which has a bathroom that is the shower...I have a picture, you'll have to see it to believe it) and rested until we went out to this "Ice Bar," a huge open pit filled with domestic and "imported" beers like Miller Light and Stella Artois. I ended up having a Tsinghao, a Chinese beer, and a Pilsner from the Czech Republic. Not too bad, little bit of an aftertaste, but OK. My friend got a chicken wing and mozzarella stick combo (they actually serve that here), but he said the sticks tasted like fish sticks and the chicken wings were greasy as hell. The bar was actually supposed to be a "Western" themed bar, complete with the waiter wearing a "Texas Palm" button down shirt and speaking a bit of English and also told me I was "very handsome." So continues my streak of men saying compliments to me. Actually I am such an American snob; I expected more people to speak at least a little English; but basically besides a stray word here or there, I am the outsider. Luckily my friend knows a bit, but even his knowledge has a limit...so we just hope we're not getting screwed over anywhere.

After dinner, we went to this other part of the city to look for some salacious things...the initial place we went to was shut down, so we had to take another cab (the problem here is that you must take a cab almost everywhere...the subway shuts down at like 11pm and doesn't reopen until 5am) to what was like the Times Square of the city... a lot of bright lights and barber poles outside that symbolize where you can get everything but a haircut. We met up with one of my friend's friends, a person who had a better grasp on the language than we did, and had him negotiate a rate at a very nice establishment to the attractive cashier who clearly hated us due to our lack of the language. I was led into a small clean room with a shower and tub, with mood lighting and a massage table. I sat there on the table, with the establishment-provided slippers, fully clothed, unsure of what to do. After all, I had never been to a place like that, and wasn't sure of any rules or protocol to follow. So I waited, a little nervous and shaking, but more because I went out with a light button down shirt and it ended up raining hard and became extremely cold and wet. Finally, after what appeared to be hours but ended up being like 2-3 minutes, the "help" came in. A fairly attractive (probably about a 7, 7.5 with nothing on) woman walked in. Not knowing what to do, she quickly instructed me to disrobe. Even though I had to brush my teeth (Koreans appear to have a big thing for oral hygiene, which I don't mind), I was led into the bathroom/shower, and was washed for the second time in the day (took a shower earlier before I went out), though it's not as infantile as it may seem. Pretty erotic, actually. After the shower, I was led into the massage table, and laid down. From there, the kindly woman began to rub her oiled up body all over my back, and even sucked my toes, which again, sounds weird, but feels pretty great. I won't paint you a picture with what happened after, but suffice to say, it was great. They bath you after (don't jump in the tub, to my dismay, just wash you down), and then you basically leave. I had to wait in some waiting room for my friend to finish (you can actually sleep there if you want, and a blind person, a woman but unfortunately sometimes a man massages you the next day), and wasn't allowed to sit in the lobby, as apparently it looks bad, even though everyone knows why they're there. You're not there to sing karaoke, that's for sure. Not too expensive, thanks to my friend's friends bargaining, and certainly worth it. Everyone must try this at least once, but I can see how it can become addictive.

After, we went to a bar to discuss our evening and drink some authentic Korean beer, Cass...bit of an odd aftertaste, but cheap. It was like 40 KRD, but that transfers to about $4 USD (basically the way it works out is you take the first few numbers and that's the USD equivalent). I wanted to swipe the mug and accompanying bottle opener (every beer is not a twist-top...wow, Americans are so lazy), but decided against it...damn my morals. We ended up taking a cab back and went to sleep. Overall, I woke up at 4:30am EST, and went to bed for good at 3:30 Korean time, Friday. Somehow, I didn't crash and burn. More tomorrow.

Update on Saturday: we went to the biggest Skyscraper in Korea. It has a Seaworld, an IMAX movie, and an art exhibit. Before, we went to a Korean BBQ, where I tried numerous things, including squid. It has a weird texture but is not horrible. You have to eat almost all your meal here or it's looked on as being rude. Then off to the skyscraper...to summarize, Seaworld was good (saw the biggest turtle in my life, and also took a picture with two decent looking "princesses" although in the picture it appears that I have a pair of man-breasts), IMAX movie was basically a PSA wrapped into a kid's movie (global warming is bad! Also, women on other planets dress very sexy), and the art was good, except for a few odd ones that I didn't even really consider art, and continues to promote my idea that anyone can be an artist. We left there and came back before going out, first to a burger place that is fairly American (Kraze Burger), and then off to a place called a "Soju Tent," where you drink this vodka-esque Soju drink in, of all places, a tent. It tastes like a bitter vodka; it doesn't go down all that bad, but if you drink enough of it (which happened), it can make you feel drunk. I also ate a bit of a potato pancake, even though it was spicy as hell (all Korean food seems to have a lot of spice in it). Then off to a Korean club/bar, I forgot the name, but it was cool. I thought it would be easier to approach women here because of the language barrier, but therein lies the problem. I approached a few, but had no luck...they're quite dismissive if you're not from there and speak the language. So, somewhat dejected, I left and went to another bar to grab some food and chill. I ended up staying there for a bit with my friend and his friends (two pretty cool guys, both teachers like my friend), arm wrestled all three of them (and winning, in case you wanted to know), and leaving. We actually went back to the first bar, to give it another crack...I don't remember why; I wasn't that drunk, but the lack of food and sleep was probably cutting off the oxygen to my brain. So we went back, and I still wasn't having any luck. Then my friend put his wingman cap on and went to work. He approached this somewhat attractive (he'll say she isn't...but she is) African American gal, and I went up to her friend. Now, this is where things started to move very quickly. I approached her, maybe got her name, and all four of us went to the dance floor. Then, while there, I proceeded to make out with her hardcore 6-7 times, and grinded for at least 4-5 songs non-stop. At the end, I was dripping sweat with sore legs (I actually picked her up a few times...this is typically a risky move, but somehow I pulled it off), but I kept going. It was one of the few times I felt like everyone was watching me out there, jealous, and were powerless to stop it. Felt great. We went outside where she had a cigarette (I unfortunately joined in...actually really regret this), and talked a bit. I really don't remember anything about her; my friend had to tell me her name and where she lived...but I did get a number. I may see her again Friday. For now, whatever, I had my fun with her, but obviously, doing more would be great. We'll see what happens...keep you posted. I better run now; it's like 4:22am, and I need to get some sleep (or lack thereof). Later.