Korean Love Motels

During Jeff’s stay here I thought what better way to show him the seedier way of life here in Korea, than to take him to an infamous Love Motel. Despite the fact that South Korea is a modern and ever expanding metropolis of technology, some of the people here are a bit slower in catching up to the fast paced world they are now caught up in.

Korea in so many ways is still a very traditional country, for example, it is normal practice for the children to remain living at home with their parents until they are married, women here are expected to be married by the time they are 30 and women also still take on the traditional role of mother, wife and housekeeper.

Casual relationships are frowned upon and sex before marriage is not an easy topic to broach when you are still living at home with your parents.

This is where Love Motels come in handy.

They were originally seedy, back alley type places that were not only available for nighttime trysts but for pay by the hour pleasure as well.

Now with times changing and more and more tourists coming to Seoul, the Love Motel circuit has turned into somewhat of a trend in certain areas. You can get rooms that are themed, with Jacuzzis, styled in a vintage manner, and elaborately funked up. They are now much more of a fun place to stay than just a stop over for secret lovers.

I took Jeff to one in Sinchon, following a recommendation from a friend. The thing about Love Motels is that they tend to all be on one street, so there is no need to book, you simply move on to the next if one is full. We ended up staying at one called Lexy Motel. It was great.

Dark corridors, walls decorated with old black and white pictures and the room numbers where lit up if they were occupied. When we got into the room, we were greeted with a huge bed, a flat screen TV, 2 computers, an amazingly deep bathtub and an array of freebies. These ranged from the expected condoms to facemasks, make up remover, moisturizer and other pampering necessities for ladies.

The computers were a great idea as well, not only can you play games against each other on them but one is connected to the TV which allows you to stream TV shows and movies in what ever language you need. The room came with air con, was spotlessly clean and bottled water was provided. It was definitely a fun experience and when my contract for my job and my apartment is up on the 29^th of November I fully intend on staying in one again before my flight to the Philippines.