A Korean Prostitute's calling card (anyone know Korean)? - threadomanced

[Ed Cha]

It says on the front:

"Pure Water Massage Treatment Center
The nation's best relaxation spot is located in the Munlae area.
If you bring a friend, you'll receive 20,000 won for the referral.

672-5728/9

The nation's first complete service for instant effects on nerves, fatigue.
Traditional Korean medicine sauna / cold & hot bath facilities
Various free refreshments, including ginseng tea

Open 24 hours"

On the back, it says:

"The nation's best masseurs and masseuses available 24 hours."

3F means 3rd floor.

Can I ask you though why you thought it was a calling card for a prostitute? Is this based on a picture of an attractive woman's face, the number "24", and Korean writing?

It sounds like a massage center for both men and women. There is a chance it could be sexual as with any place that offers massages, but a lot of businesses run 24 hours in Korea. There are several big shopping malls that are open 24 hours, 7 days a week, in fact. It's a bit crazy, but you'll see young people buying clothes after partying or clubbing all night.

 

[der_kluge]

Ed, you rock! I had no idea you were from Korea.

So, it is something from Korea then? So, that phone number is probably a phone number in Korea?

Well, there were many reasons why I always felt like it was a calling card - the picture of the woman's face, the "open 24 hours" - unusual in America, and the directions on the back appeared to lead to a residential area.

I guess my translation of the word "sex" as the first symbol is probably taken out of context, I guess, huh?

Can you make out any of the street signs on the back?

 

[Ed Cha]

Ed, you rock! I had no idea you were from Korea.

So, it is something from Korea then? So, that phone number is probably a phone number in Korea?

Well, there were many reasons why I always felt like it was a calling card - the picture of the woman's face, the "open 24 hours" - unusual in America, and the directions on the back appeared to lead to a residential area.

I guess my translation of the word "sex" as the first symbol is probably taken out of context, I guess, huh?

Can you make out any of the street signs on the back?

Glad to help out.

It's definitely located in Korea, probably Seoul. All of those other locations are the map are businesses ("LG Gas Station", "Hanvit Bank", etc), except the one in the square which reads "Kukhwa Apartments" and the one in the upper right corner that says "Munlae Subway Station".

Most neighborhoods in Seoul and most other cities in Korea have mixed residential and commercial areas. There are no street names, except for major avenues and boulevards which can make it very confusing. So nearly all business cards and advertisements have maps. It's just like in Tokyo and the rest of Japan actually.

I think you might want to change the title of this thread though, since it seems a bit inappropriate now.

 

[der_kluge]

Well, inappropriate, but certainly more interesting than "Korean massage therapist!"

 

[drnuncheon]

Er...is it only in the US that massage parlors are often covers for illegal brothels?

J
...or so they say.

 

[D.Shaffer]

AHA! It is a Korean calling card - I guarantee it. That very first symbol that looks like a stick figure next to a tree, standing on a donut, is the Korean symbol for the word "sex"!

Useless fact time.
Just to be a nitpicky little SOB, but Korean uses an alphabet. It's not symbolic like kanji would be. Thus, its possibly the word for 'sex' but not really the symbol for sex.

 

[Ed Cha]

Er...is it only in the US that massage parlors are often covers for illegal brothels?

J
...or so they say.

Of course, there are massage parlors that are fronts for brothels everywhere, but you should know that there are literally thousands of saunas and spas in Korea. The people there just love to go take a bath. There are always a few in each neighborhood and sometimes entire families go together (sexes separated though).

My mother goes every day to get a massage and sit in the hot and cold water tubs. Most people go about once every week or so to get a body scrub and relax. When I visit Korea, I usually go at least a couple of times and it's quite nice.

This place on the business card seems a bit more specialized and yet somewhat vague. I've never been to a "pure water massage treatment center", but my opinion is that it is legitimate. It's probably some kind of therapeutic spa.

 

[Ed Cha]

Useless fact time.
Just to be a nitpicky little SOB, but Korean uses an alphabet. It's not symbolic like kanji would be. Thus, its possibly the word for 'sex' but not really the symbol for sex.

Yes, you're right. In fact, the Korean alphabet is believed to be one of the most scientific languages in the world because it uses an alphabet in which the letters are always pronounced the same. You could literally learn to read and write Korean in a day.

Koreans often incorporate Chinese characters in newspapers, literary pieces, and academic journals like we use Latin phrases. Not as much as the Japanese do, but more than Americans use Latin.

The word "sex" does not appear on the business card.

 

[silentspace]

I've been to the bath houses in Korea and Japan, and no, they are not prostitution houses. Actually, as Ed said, whole families go there together. I don't know about the "pure water", but there are many different types of soaking tubs, often with different types of herbal infusions in them. There are also aromatic steam rooms with different herbs. A friend tried to explain it to me once, it's very detailed. Different types of tubs and herbs for different things. They also use natural springs.

These places can be quite large and elaborate, with gardens, restaurants, etc. I was at one where they built a giant waterfall (like four stories tall and two hundred feet wide) which you can watch through giant windows as you sit in a massive dry sauna room.

They are also pretty expensive. I don't recall exactly, but the better ones were like $50 dollars just to get in. And that doesn't include food, massages, or other special treatments. They have giant furnaces with different types of bricks that they heat. In one place there were railroad tracks inside the sauna, and many men pulled a small flat bed car piled high with heated bricks into the room. It was incredibly hot. You couldn't get closer than 10 feet to the bricks. Some of these places are huge.

Not that I'm an expert, but I suspect the prostitution "massage parlors" someone referred to are for US soldiers and what not.

 

[silentspace]

The one on the card seems like it's a small place, on only one floor. Some of these places are palatial.