Booking

I have a friend at HLS named Namsun who is from Seoul (although he's in DC for the summer). When I told him I was going to Korea, he gave me the contact info for his sister and his best friend, and promised me that they would show me a real "Korean" good time. Boy was he right.

I had dinner last night with Namsun's mom and sister, as well as a few of his close friends, all of whom were exceptionally nice. Namsun's mom (NM) took us to this incredible Japanese restaurant called Akasaka in the Hyatt hotel, which sits at the foot of the hill in Namsan park. We had a great jellyfish salad and a hot egg custard with mushrooms and fish, followed by some of the freshest sushi I've ever had, as well as excellent sake. I'd like to publicly thank NM for such a tremendous meal. You all should be very, very jealous.

After dinner, Namsun's friend whom, for purposes of anonymity we'll call KJ, took me to a nightclub in Apugjeong, which is a trendy area just south of the River. We walked through the entrance, past the dance floor and main floor. There was not a man to been on the dance floor--all girls dancing together, and most of the people sitting at the tables were women as well. We went into a small room in the back that had a horseshoe-table with room for probably a dozen people. There was a karaoke machine with both Korean and English songs, and a small bathroom within the room. There were probably twenty or so of these rooms throughout the club, although there could have been more, as there were several wings of the building that I didn't see.

This type of nightclub practices a process known as "booking" (although I don't know where the name comes from). KJ, his friends and I sat in the room drinking copious amounts of alcohol (which arrived shortly--no soju, thankfully, but plenty of beer, whisky and eventually champagne) and eating. Periodically, one of the club employees, identifiable by a loud paisley vest, would knock. We opened the door, and the employee would be holding one of the girls from outside by the elbow. Looking either unhappy or quite nervous, she would be sort of shoved into the room with us, where she would then sit down and have drinks and food with us. This happened until there were an equal number of guys and women in the room.

I will admit that the whole thing was sort of jarring at first, and I didn't really know what to make of it. It was hard for me to tell if some of the girls who looked unhappy were truly unhappy or if it was part of the way they were expected to behave at first. Most of the girls, once they sat down, giggled nervously and then began to eat and drink and talk with the rest of us, and certainly everyone relaxed a little once the male:female ratio became equal. A few girls who did not want to join us simply didn't come in or got up and walked out. Certainly nobody stayed against her will or was in any way prevented from leaving or anything like that. Many of the girls ate and drank with us, and one who spoke English, when we were both drunk enough, joined me in rousing renditions of both Billie Jean and Yeah! (although I don't remember how we split up Usher, Ludacris and Lil John's parts). I wound up taking a cab home a little before two in the morning, and though I paid for my efforts in the morning with a nice, Korea-style hangover, I had a great time.

Final thought on booking: While it's very different from what we're used to in the States, I think at the end of the day it's just a different culture's way of having men and women meet each other. By introducing a middle man, they cut out the awkwardness of two people meeting at a bar. From what I gather (from talking both to men and to women), both sexes come to booking clubs knowing that this is the practice, and it allows them to meet people. There are other types of nightclubs in Seoul for those who aren't interested, but certainly this was a uniquely Korean experience, and a great night. So thank you to Namsun, KJ and everyone else for a promise certainly well-kept.