The population of Seoul is over 10 million (almost half a million Utopians live here).

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• Erotic Art Museum and Gallery
  Behind the Hyundai department store near the Sinchon subway station. Stand at the entrance to the car park at the rear left side of the Hyundai building. Across the street you will see a rather severely paved, triangular park. Cross the street and enter the park and follow the diagonal yellowish brick pathway (we're off to see the whizzers!) to the lane at the opposite side of the park. There, just to the left you will see a large glass case at street level displaying a gold copy of Michelangelo's David (only the Koreans have given him a partial circumcision and a bath towel instead of a slingshot). Enter this building and take the elevator to 3/F (erotic art gallery) and 4/F (erotic art and sexuality museum). The museum is small, but nicely laid out. The fascinating artifacts and folk curios are unfortunately overshadowed by the many explicit photos showing every sort of sexual freakism that you never wanted to know about. Then again, what better place than a sex museum to view the extremes of human physiology and behavior?
• Tapgol Park
  Gone with the wind! This once-lovely little public park with garden nooks and crannies that attracted all sorts of happy locals, as well as gay cruisers, has been hideously paved over into a windswept plaza of overblown historical dioramas that you'd expect to see in North Korea, not South. The intricate, carved stone stupa that gave "Pagoda Park" its fairytale nickname, has now been entombed in a grey steel and glass coffin forcing worshippers who come to give offerings to pray as if outside an office building. Why use unobtrusive large pieces of non-glare glass when you can further obscure this national treasure with a checkerboard of small reflective panes held together by a clutter of metal trussing? Shame on the city planners that got it so completely wrong and ruined this pretty little oasis. New nickname: Eyesore Park.

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• Cinemas
  • Jung-Ang DVD
    B/F Daewon Bld, Gosan-Dong 543-3, Ansan-city, Kungi-Do. Subway Line 4 (from Seoul), Jungang Station. Gay cruising cinema. Underground level acess through staircase and/or garage.
• Parks
  • Namsan Park
    Top of the hill behind Itaewon, between the Hilton and the Hyatt. After dark.
  • The small park on the opposite side of the Hyatt, near Namsan, has become a cruising area at night, not exclusively yet though, and you have to be discreet as plenty of straight people come for a walk with their dogs or friends, even at late hours in the evening.

• Buddha's Belly (Thai)
  673 Itaewong-2-Dong, Yongsan-Gu, 793-2173. Not far from Itaewon main drag. Gay-owned.
• Our Place
  Itaewon. Restaurant and gay hang-out on the top two floors of the same building that houses Equus sauna. From Itaewon subway take exit #3. Walk straight ahead to the first intersection, turn right and immediately enter the building to take the elevator up to the top floor. From Hamilton Hotel, cross the street and make a left, then follow the same directions. This place is owned by the famous Korean gay actor, Hong Suk-Chun, whose public drama coming out of the closet and then being fired from his job woke Korean society up from its former denial that gays existed here. It also brought him the support of international human rights organizations and helped stimulate GLBT anti-discrimination protections. He's a hero and he's often here.
• Jule's Kitchen
  225-94 Kyung-ri-dan, Itaewon-dong, 02-749-9903. From Noksapyeong Station - the one just before Itaewon - take Exit 2 and walk down till you come to an underpass. Go through the underpass and take the exit on you left. When you come out you will see Istanbul (a Turkish restaurant) and Buddha's Belly (the Thai restaurant) - both of which are gay-owned. Walk past these and take the first right. Jule's Kitchen is about a five minute walk up this hill, on your left hand side just after the intersection. Popular with gays (Korean and foreigners). The owner (a straight female) speaks fluent English and some French also. She went to culinary school in the US and now sells her homemade cakes (carrot cake, double chocolate cake, apple pie, cookies, etc). She also has brunch with coffee and juice, waffles, pancakes, eggs and a variety of fresh sandwiches. It's a nice place to hang out and grab a coffee and enjoy the eye candy. Weekends are busiest, especially brunch. Closed Tue.

  Sanchon (Korean temple cooking) 14 Kwanhoon-Dong Chongro-Gu, 735-0312. Extraordinary traditional Korean vegetarian temple feast served in dozens of small bowls in the charming environment of an old courtyard home. All sorts of unusual grasses, herbs, fermented soy soups, kimchee, rice noodles, tubers, roots, seaweed, vegetable pancakes, garlic paste, and on and on. End it all with your choice of delicious teas and light rice puff sweets. Come a bit early for dinner if you want to avoid the more expensive seating with traditional dance show.

  Comments from Utopians:

  "Tartine Bakery & Café has opened in Itaewon, 3785-3400. From the Hamilton Hotel, walk west to the 2nd alley, turn right. They are halfway up the alley on the right. Homemade pies, cookies, New York Cheesecake, clam chowder, hot dogs with all the fixings, or chili con carne wuth cornbread. Closed Mon." -- zytz, Apr 21, 2008

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