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One of the quaint things about Seoul is the enthusiastic desire of its citizens to pass out without reservation on city property... flopped out on benches, lying in gutters, that kind of thing. In fact, just tonight I had the jolly good fortune to step over a soju-steeped man in a wrinkled business suit, unconscious and comfortably sprawled across a public walkway. Everyone just sorta looks the other way, although I've noticed that many take a quick peek just to make sure that isn't their uncle or husband or a loved one gnawing the pavement.

The subway is also a good spot to catch public embarrassment. Those long, boring Line 4 trips are vastly spiceified with the addition of a dude sitting and holding his head, moaning and rocking back and forth. Without fail, he will rock too far forwards and topple skull-first into the aisle. After some twitching on the floor, and a fine display of every spectator present studiously examining the ceiling, he will blearily crawl back to his seat. Onlookers (or not-lookers) will breathe a sigh of relief that they don't have to perform CPR on him.

Other pertinent sightings of public pass-out ribaldry:

-A wealthy looking man spooning a garbage can in a side alley

-Two guys in fancy suits shouting fiercely at each other and then slumping down in tandem for a quick nap between rounds

-A man asleep on a bench in the middle of a main street, cell phone precariously balanced on his ear. The flashing light indicates that he has passed out mid-conversation, perhaps while telling his wife that he'll "be right home".

I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected when your national liquor costs $1.50 a mickey, and an exceedingly macho culture demands that colleagues harangue each other to get absolutely shitfaced.

[Korea] [soju] [passed out businessmen]

Posted by Chris at 11:24 AM >> Commentations (2)