The main girl was from a place called Busan which is a large port city in the South East corner of the country. We used to go down on the train together, spend some time causing trouble in my run-down hotel room by the beach; then go off on our separate ways for most of the day. Due to these frequent trips, I became very familiar with the city by the ocean and was comfortable navigating everything from the fishy markets to the puke-stained streets of the party district.
One fine day, I decided to hike up this mountain located just outside the city with the purpose of checking out this temple at the top. I'm not religious at all, but it is nice to have a goal when you work your ass off dragging an alcohol polluted body up a steep incline.
I reached the top fairly quickly and then started asking around about the temple. After talking to about half a dozen elderly people, the only people you really see on mountains in Korea, I was given some rough directions towards a partially overgrown footpath. The sun was setting so I set off on a light jog in order to cover more territory quickly in order to beat the falling sun.
After about an hour of intermittent jogging and walking, I finally saw a lone man hiking in the same direction I was going. I stopped behind him and inquired about the distance to the temple. Unlike most people I've dealt with around Korea, he was not phased by my presence and instead just told me to follow him. We tried to talk a bit, but my Korean was better than his English which meant we could hardly communicate anything in detail. A short time later, we popped out of the side trail, scurried down a dirt cliff and bounded off towards his car; which ended up being parked at the temple I was heading for.
I pulled open my satchel and pulled out a bottle of soju, the standard Korean liquor, and gave it to him. He smiled, took it and then gave me his phone which had some lady at the end of it. His daughter spoke much better English than her father, but seemed a bit perturbed by the situation. She continued to grill me on why I was there, if I had met her father before and whether or not I was trying to steal any of his stuff. After a minute or so of me explaining the situation, she calmed down and said that her father was going to take me to the nearest subway stop and drop me off. I told her thanks and handed the phone back to her father.
We got in the car and rolled off. I just about nodded off until I realized we had just shot by the subway station. I asked him where we were going and he said we were going to get some food. I was immediately calmed and resumed space out mode.
We got out of the car in front of a standard BBQ place and walked towards the entry way. Instead of going inside though, the man walked up some stairs that lead to a sauna. I stopped and thought for a second, but then just said
"What the hell"
and followed him inside.
He paid for both of us, gave me my key to the locker then stripped off all his clothes. I followed suit and walked off into the communal bathing area. I opened a door into a room full of naked men that were either laying down getting a massage or chilling in water baths of various temperatures.
These saunas were not a new experience for me, but the fact that I was with some strange man that I could not communicate with was a bit odd though. We walked over to a hot tub where lots of guys starting yelling at the guy I was with. Apparently they were his friends so we hopped on in. At this point, the oddest thing wasn't what had previously happened, but it was the fact that nobody there seemed to give my presence a second thought. It wasn't that I was the only foreigner in there or the fact that I was the youngest guy by at least 30 years, but the fact that all these guys must have known that this dude I came with had never met me before today.
We had a soak, got a bit drunk then headed off towards the showers for a rinse. As I was rinsing I all of a sudden felt some hands on my back. The man, had begun washing my back in a brisk manner and it actually felt pretty good. When he finished he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed towards his back; I began washing in a brisk fashion.
I felt great when we got out and the only thing that put a downer on the mood were the 6 missed calls and one angry message from the girl. As we got into the car he called his daughter again who in turn told me that he was going to take me to his house for dinner and then he wanted us, by us I mean me and his daughter, to meet. I told her that I can't because I have to meet this girl and she promptly asked to give the phone back her dad. With a heavy heart, the man ended up dropping me off at the subway station and gave me his card.
Next time I was in Busan I did end up giving him a ring, but to no avail. In retrospect, I probably should have sent him a picture of my back as a friendly reminder.
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