Fast Love is Big Business

Cell phones aren't the only thing you can pay for as you go in Korea. When we first landed in Seoul, Seokchon ECC put us up in a love motel called, the Wow.

We were wondering why the alacritous desk staff was so tickled to see us coming and going. At first, I thought it was because we were foreigners. By day 5, our relationship with them matured, and we realized that maybe we were on a short list of repeat customers.

Some things that should've keyed us in earlier:
1) Free condoms being dispensed at the desk.
2) A DVD rack filled strangely enough with porno.
3) A tucked-away parking area
4) The entrance is draped with low hanging tassels
5) We never actually saw any other guests.

In their line of work, a 5 day stay must seem like a marathon.

Luckily for us, there is no shortage of English speaking missionaries who, "discouraged and disheartened with the world," are ready and willing to share their plaintive and depressing dogma with us.

When they see us coming, it's a two for one special: They get to spread the gospel and brush up on their English at the same time.

After we moved into our apartment, we spent a good amount of time trying to wash off the "WOW sleaze," and just when we conceeded that it would never come off, a friend told us that love motels don't carry the same stigma here in Korea.

Children typically stay on with their parents until they get married or acquire enough key money to make an outrageous deposit on their own place. And despite our cultural differences, bringing some one home to your parents' house to shag just isn't cool.

So love motels are OK. So are DVD rooms. That's why we still haven't been to one of those.

Some say extra-marital affairs are also a common occurrence here. It's not only "summer lovin" going down. Unsurprisingly, love motels are conveniently located in the ally ways behind big office complexes.

Are the motels mainly just for randy and repressed twenty-somethings, or is something else afoot here?