Sightseeing in Okpo

On probably what was the last warm day here in Okpo we decided it is our duty to occasionally go somewhere sightseeing that is historic. rick chose this one and it is the Okpo Great Victory Commemorative park which was built in 1996. it describes the victory of the national hero admiral vi sun-sin who fought the Japanese invasion of Korea from 1592-1598. apparently he lead the torpedoing of 26 of 50 Japanese ships gaining victory for Korea. here are some pics, it really is a lovely place.

Our second sight seeing adventure, also chosen by rick, was a different experience altogether. on date night rick decided he would share with me the seedier side of Okpo that he has experienced with the work buddies he occasionally goes out with.

after a nice Korean style BBQ dinner and too much wine, we decided to go to a place called lounge. now depending on who you talk to, the pronunciation of this place is different. the women i know call it the lounge. the men who rick know call it "Loungie". like the street name thing here, restaurants/bars are pretty much the same. not many actually have names you use, they are all made up. for example, originally we were going to go to dinner at a place that is called "Micheal Jackson's". its not the name on the door, but the foreigners call it that because they give you one white glove to eat with (its a rib place).

so anyway, off to Loungie we went. i already knew about this place and that if you are a man and come unaccompanied by a woman, a Filipino woman with a lighted name plate worn around her waist will attach herself to you. rick nervously described this to me after it happened to him a couple of weeks before. apparently one of their goals is to get you to buy them a drink. all drinks you buy them cost 20,000 won (approx $18.00) no matter what it is. a shot, a beer, mixed drink, all the same. in return for this, they hang out with you, dance with you, whatever. the bar is making money because the drinks are so expensive and the men are happy to have the undivided attention of these women. rick lured me there saying they had live music and he knew i missed going to see bands play. plus it was close, very cold out and we were walking because we were drinking and because you walk everywhere here.

going into the door of Loungie was interesting. dark, Gothic looking place but in a good way. at the door before you can even get in are the women. about 7 or 8 of them, all wearing small dresses that as rick described it are "bad prom dresses", and all Filipino. broken English saying "haseyo" (hello in Korean) all at the same time giggling when you walk in. oh boy, i thought. thank god i was drinking.
i swear every man in the place looked at me when we walked in with the same look on their face. i was the only woman there besides the Filipino girls and everywhere came the look of guilt. i felt bad, like i was a reminder that maybe they were doing something wrong. not my intention, so we just found a place at the bar and hung out. i resisted the urge to ask rick which girl had attached herself to him last time and he did not offer it up. the girls became very excited when groups of men would come in and each quickly attached themselves to the men. big place, lots of pool tables and sitting areas. according to rick there are rooms in the back that you can pay for to go do karaoke in private for these woman. yes, this is what he actually told me .fortunately, i had just enough wine to believe him.

we stayed, watched the band( which wasn't half bad )and had a very interesting night by the end of it. i was thinking that maybe for my birthday i could inspire some karaoke singing from my husband. somewhere in my closet is an old prom dress. maybe I'll even buy a lighted sign that says "Lynn" and wear it around my waist. this could be a good stocking stuffer item. I can be hard to buy for.

anyway, here are some pics: