If you spend any time at all outdoors after dark in Korea you’ll quickly notice that the usually fairly clean streets are suddenly littered with large immovable objects. They lie on benches, curbs, sidewalks, streets, subway platforms and anywhere else large enough to accommodate them. If you move in for a closer look, you’ll have no trouble identifying them: Korean men.
They come in all shapes and sizes, dressed in everything from shorts to business suits, but they all have one thing in common: a belly full of soju. For those who don’t know, soju is a distilled beverage that tastes like a sweetened version of the cheapest vodka you can find (in other words, it’s horrible). Despite the taste, it is widely consumed in Korea due, in large part, to the low price: a 375mL bottle costs as little as one US dollar.
Soju generally contains about 20% alcohol and Koreans suck the stuff down like they’ve been lost in a desert and someone handed them a bottle of kimchi flavored water. Then they pass out. On the spot. Wherever they happen to be.
Name a place and chances are, I’ve seen a Korean guy passed out there. Benches, sidewalks and the like are common, but I’ve seen guys sleeping in parking spots, using the curb as a pillow and I’ve even seen a few balancing lengthwise on the parking lot curbs themselves.
I once saw a business man lying in the middle of a fairly busy street as cars drove by on either side of him. After a few minutes, a cop car pulled up and two officers got out and began nudging the guy with their feet. When he didn’t respond, they kicked him a bit harder. No reaction, so they picked him up by the arms and legs and carried him over to the sidewalk. They laid him down gently, leaned his briefcase against his lifeless body and drove off.
I guarantee you when he woke up in the morning, that briefcase was still there and that’s perhaps the most unusual part of this story. In any other country not named Japan, passing out in public would, at the very least, cost you your phone. In many countries, you’d wake up in your underwear and perhaps your socks. In Seoul, I regularly saw guys passed out in business suits next to their laptop bags. Remember: this is one of the world’s largest cities.
The best (or is it worst?) one I saw was actually up and moving, although not on his own. He looked like a college student who had passed out somewhere, but who had friends to watch over him. They had obviously decided to drag him home and when I noticed them, they were at the top of the stairs leading into the Hongdae subway station. Anyone who’s been to Hongdae on a weekend night knows the mass of people streaming up those stairs and the difficulty you’d be faced with in trying to drag a limp body down them.
I was one of the five thousand or so people slowly making their way up out of the station, when I heard shrieking and noticed everyone near the top clearing out. I have no idea how they managed to find the space to go anywhere other than where they were being carried by the mass of people, but lucky for them, they did. No sooner had they moved to the side than the limp figure hanging onto his friends’ shoulders lifted his head and exploded, spewing barbequed meat marinated in soju, digestive acid and kimchi several meters down the stairs. Amazingly, only a few people were hit and even then, they weren’t direct hits.
Reading this, you might think I’m exaggerating, but the number of Korean guys you’ll see passed out around Seoul is so high, that there’s even a website dedicated to publishing people’s photos of them. It’s called Black Out Korea and hilariously carries a warning not to pose for photos with a blacked out Korean (or to at least blur out your face if you do pose with one) as that is apparently frowned upon.
I don’t know if many people are aware of that fact, because posing in front of a passed out guy seems to have become a tourist attraction in its own right. So come to Korea, come for a night out in Seoul, pose with a few dead-drunk soju victims and perhaps even have a few shots of soju yourself. Just don’t overdo it or you might find yourself starring in a new section on that website: “Blacked-out idiot tourists.” And perhaps you’ll even be joined in the photos by large groups of smiling Koreans flashing peace signs in front of your lifeless body.
Alice says
I love this post! I watch a lot of Korean Dramas, and always see the stars make it home somehow after three or four bottles of soju, so after I have seen this post, I see the real effects. I can’t wait to visit Korea, and it is good knowing how safe the city streets are after dark. Enjoyed the post immensely!
Alice recently contributed to world literature by posting..Best Charbroiled Burgers in Town!
Daniel McBane says
Yes, Korea is quite safe and I think that’s actually why you see so many guys just pass out wherever–they know they can safely do so and nothing will happen to them.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Conquering the Annapurna Circuit’s First Hill
Hogga says
hahaha soju is the best!
Daniel McBane says
I don’t know…I think I could live a perfectly happy life never tasting soju again.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..This Is How You Cruise the Streets of Marrakech
Shalu Sharma says
Is this what too much booze does to you? Didn’t realise Koreans too are into partying hard.
Shalu Sharma recently contributed to world literature by posting..Facts about the Taj Mahal and and how to get there
Daniel McBane says
The young ones are into partying; the middle-aged ones are mainly into escaping from a life of nothing but work.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Being Mooned by China’s Toddlers
anshul says
Just below the 2nd photo : ” ….korans suck the bottle ….” i was like wtf drinking booze is illegal under islamic law…. spell check dude!
btw just found your site today and cannot stop laughing. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
Daniel McBane says
Oops….good catch. Thanks.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Winter Photos of Berlin and the Hell I Endured to Get Them
amar says
this is ace! u didnt need to pixel my head out im not that ugly u bugger!
Daniel McBane says
I didn’t want to pixel out too much of the photo, so it was either your face or Ian’s ass. Not a hard decision. Besides, what if that guy on the ground saw this and decided to come hunt you down? I may have saved you a beat down…
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Don’t Let China Into Your Home!
John says
I remember this night, haha! I have some great pics of you morons on the subway… Mostly Amar making friends with ajumas, but a few of Ian making out with a Chilsung vending machine. Much love!
Daniel McBane says
That’s the only photo I have from that night (probably a good thing) but I think I have one from a different night of Ian lying on the ground eating chicken skewers, while cuddled up with a vending machine (also Chilsung)…he definitely has a type…
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Bargain Prices on Elephant Torture in Chiang Mai
Tara O'Gorman says
I go running late into the night in the summers to beat the heat and cigarette fumes, and jump across the bodies of these saps regularly. It’s like a Tough-Mudder obstacle course, Korean style.
As an aside, I have no idea how you think Korea’s streets are “generally clean.”
Daniel McBane says
That’s because I spent several years in China and another year or two traveling through India, Nepal and southeast Asia. Compared to Japan, Korea’s streets are filthy.
Your obstacle course actually sounds a lot more fun that normal jogging.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..The World’s Saddest Zoo (If Not, I’d Hate To See What Tops It)