Love hotel

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Location: Busan, Korea

I went to the beach city of Busan in the middle of winter, which was a stupid idea. I was there for one night. I walked along Haeundae beach in the evening. The temperature was literally freezing and nobody was on the beach or in the nearby bars, restaurants, etc.

I needed somewhere to spend the night. Before leaving for Busan, several people had recommended that I spend the night in a Korean spa ("Jjimjilbang"). I'm told they're cheap, clean, comfortable, and that it's common for patrons to spend the night sleeping on the wooden floors. So in the back of my mind, I had planned to stay at a Jjimjilbang.

But when push came to shove, I didn't have any idea how to find a Jjimjilbang, nor was I excited about sleeping on a wooden floor with a bunch of strangers.

I started looking for a hotel on the beach. The Korean writing system is phonetic, and I knew enough to sound out the Korean word for hotel, which (lucky for me) is "hotel."

I decided on a budget of $30, since the beach was deserted and the hotels would be desperate for business. Besides, I had the Jjimjilbang idea as a fallback.

The first hotel I found looked nice, but they wanted $200 per night. Getting them down to $30 seemed like too big of an ask. I moved on.

The next hotel I found was a "love hotel." Love hotels cater to couples who want to have sex. I suppose you can have sex in any hotel, but love hotels have sexy themes and decorations and so forth. They're mostly a Japanese thing. I suppose a lot of Japanese couples have trouble finding privacy.

The guy at the front desk wanted $120 per night. I told him I could pay $30. He laughed at my counteroffer. I apologized and walked out of the hotel. I got about 20 feet before the guy chased me down and agreed to $30.

The hotel room was great. It was clean and comfortable and I enjoyed my stay. Only a few features suggested that it wasn't a normal hotel room. The color palette was dark. There was a lot of purple. One wall had a large painting of a naked couple making out. And there was a tray of lotions and lubricants on the dresser. (At least, I assume that's what they were—the labels were in Korean.)

Five stars.

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