Rex bar is the only bar off-limits in Songtan

mike · #1 04-30-2006, 09:50 AM

According to the Osan Air Base official page, Rex Bar is the only establishment off-limits. It looks like The UN Club, My House Down and Apache Club are safe again.

Mike

joeninpo · #2 05-03-2006, 09:22 AM

You know...I must be TOTALLY missing the boat or extremely niave, but why in the hell are pharmacies, barber shops, and railroad tracks off limits? I can almost understand pharmacies, but barber shops? I freaking hate getting my hair cut on base!

mike · #3 05-03-2006, 03:22 PM

Back in the day, it used to be because the "Happy Endings." I believe now it is because they have no real FDA or sanitation rules. Even if a shop is as clean as can be, there are some that are not.

scrivenlking · #4 05-07-2006, 03:39 PM

The RR tracks are off-limits for force protection....Those lead to dark allesys and people's homes - the last place you want drunk servicemembers.....The pharmacies are to keep you from procuring non-FDA approved drugs....Bottomline: you're not at Guam or Hickam - the enemy is less than 50 miles away and could come south any time.....If you're on some stuff that makes you pee in 5 different directions, then you and the other 20 people who got the same bright idea can't fight tonight.....It's all about readiness...Look at like PRP-Lite.....

Crunk Panda™ · #5 05-07-2006, 03:50 PM

Based on speaking with people here years ago, barber shops provided more than just a shave and a haircut. I even heard from more than one person that the happy ending could come while blindfolded... and from a minor. That is all heresay though.
Pharmacies are farily common sense, it's not a pharmacy like a walgreens and if it is anything like Mexico, pretty much anything is over the counter.

mike · #6 05-07-2006, 03:56 PM

Welcome Scrivenlking!

The funny thing is when i went to the intro brief at Osan they said, "you could get hit by a train." I didn't want to shame him, but I don't think a train has been on those tracks in 20+ years.

scrivenlking · #7 05-07-2006, 04:06 PM

I think they've since gotten away from saying that.....If you look where those tracks lead, you wouldn't want our guys going there.....Just a bad set of circumstances for bad things to happen....

Powershot · #8 05-08-2006, 11:58 AM

Barbershops in Korea are nothing like Barbershops back home.

Most of them don't even provide a haircut. They do, however, provide a blowdry, but not your western-style blowdry, if you catch my drift.

If you see a shop with a spinning pole that has a photo of a woman with her hair being cut, THEN it is a real barbershop. The others -- 90% of them -- are prostitution fronts. It's something that took me 6 months to figure out, and something that 90% of Koreans will not admit to. I will even say that most Koreans purposefully ignore it or turn a blind eye to it (speaking of ajumma here). I was explained the entire process by some expat friends who have attended them on numerous occasions.

Be assured that nearly every spinning barbershop pole you see, and we all know there are many, are actually places for prostitution. If you can see a clear open-glassed entrance and windows where people are getting their hair cut, then IT IS A REAL barbershop as we know it. Most we would call salons. These are obvious haircutting places, and are just fine.

As for the barbershops tucked into the basements of buildings (other places as well), they are NOT places to get a haircut. The front entrance is usually a frosted-over door. This is exactly what happens:

An ajosshi enters the place, and takes off his shoes. Depending on how busy they are, he may or may not have to take a seat. Eventually, he is whisked away into a maze of darkened rooms with a barber's sink and a "chair" which is really a folding table. The sink is shaped like a barber's sink for washing hair, but it is never used for that. There are no haircutting tools. The women (usually over-the-hill 30 to 40-something types) then instruct the guys to change into a sort of pajamma garment. The women take off their socks, wash their feet in the sink, and then have them go into a room to take a shower. Once the guys does, he comes back, and lays down. The ajumma oils down his back, then lops several hot hot towels over him. She then gives him a full-body massage, followed by sexual services of varying natures, depending on what he either asks for, or she is willing to do. Most involve full sex. All of this costs between 70,000 and 90,000 won in total.

KOREAN MEN DO NOT WEAR CONDOMS IN MOST CASES, and a forienger patron must ASK for a condom, which may or may not be available! The women will say, "Lady Condom" if you ask for a condom, but my friend said that this is actually a farce, and the woman will simply lie to you that she has some sort of device inside of her body that acts like a condom.

You can see the potential for -- and the obvious proliferation of -- AIDS in Korea. When Koreans are sick with a medical condition which could affect getting a job, etc., they HUSH HUSH about it. I am almost certain that AIDS rates are phenominally high here in Korea, or will burst out to be in the near future. I used to date a woman who worked for a travel agency that provided tickets for Samsung workers. She had a list of thailand "pimps" in her desk because it was a requirement that ladies be provided for entertainment. You know what the #1 request was: NO CONDOMS!

Those same men then return to Korea and enter the barber shops on their lunch break, before returning home for dinner, or at night after drinking.

The prostitution industry is massive.

CEC32 · #9 05-11-2006, 01:11 AM

Back to the Rex bar: Do you know why it was placed off limits?
Also, I haven't been in the UN or My House down in months, and the last time I was, almost ALL the chicks working in those two places were Filipino. Still?

By the way, now isn't My House down just called "My House" and My House up is now Rodeo?

joeninpo · #10 05-12-2006, 01:27 AM

I have no idea about any of the clubs, but I have every intention of taking the bar review pages from here and making sure they are correct after I finally arrive in Oct. Not that I'm a big bar hopper, but hey, you gotta check these things out for accuracy...

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