[Phoenix]

Hi Rooshv'ers,
I've been using this forum for advice for a while now, so I thought I'd start contributing with this report. Whenever I travel to a new country, my first two google searches are 'wikitravel <country>' and 'rooshv <country>' .
I found my Seoul trip pretty amusing and perhaps readers here will too. If you're thinking 'TL;DR', just skip to the last section.

Intro
I was in Seoul, Korea for about 10 days. Having read many a warning on this forum about South Korea (especially LeightonBlackstock's reports), I knew what to expect with the women there and had accepted there was a good chance I would come away empty handed.

Impressions
I spent most of the time in Hongdae, and some in Itaewon, but visited the usual tourist attractions too. Personally, the city doesn't do much for me, but the women are very beautiful. Did I see lots of evidence of plastic surgery? Yes. In fact cosmetic surgery practices seem as common as dentists. I also saw straight dudes wearing makeup, girls constantly fixing their makeup in every reflective surface they came across, girls wearing high heels and dressed up in the morning just going to work, and witnessed rows of guys fucking around with their hair in the subway bathrooms in the middle of the day. It is true, in South Korea, image is everything.

Basically, I would describe my pickup experience in Seoul as 'bizarre'. There is something seriously socially weird about Seoul, in my opinion. I don't know how to describe it, the Koreans are just so different (guys and girls) it's like there are no words in the English vocabulary. In the rest of Asia, everyone else seems relatively normal (including the much mocked Japanese, frankly the foreigners there are often the most wack). I will say, however, that in Korea at least the guys have balls. They actually approach, they have Australian-level cockiness, there are even body-builder types there.

Experience
I went out with some friends in Hongdae who I made in the hostel (including with one ultra-thirsty South American guy who was so angry he had failed to get a Kgirl while he was there I thought he was going to smash someone). I also tried some online apps, a half-assed attempt at meeting girls during the day (haven't really got into this yet), and went out alone in Itaewon. For the times I went out to clubs/bars I will only cover 'wins or near misses' as I see everything else as irrelevant (seriously, I don't get dudes who think a make-out or a contact detail is a 'success').

Online was a bust. I tried some tinder and blender etc for the first time since I couldn't find any well-frequented online dating sites, and like numbers, matches mean nothing. My usual pushy 'get them out' approach went nowhere. In fact based on comparative success to other avenues (not in Korea), I'm pretty sure girls mostly use tinder for validation. That said, if I was ripped maybe I'd find otherwise . The 'rating' feature on Blender was useful though, especially in that if you 'rate the men' and then just skip them, you can see the ratings women are giving them. Basically, if you looked like a Korean movie star or a baller, you might reach an 8, normal dudes were getting 3s & 4s etc. One American guy on there who would be Brad Pitt level in the US only got around 7. I also think Blender especially is a waste of time for dating, since many girls are just on there to get their photos rated so as to find 'the best one'.

In Hongdae we mainly stuck to foreigner-friendly bars since this gave the best odds for a short trip. I did see some foreign dudes in those bars with Korean girlfriends (some who were hot), but I met foreign dudes (there are a LOT of English teachers in Seoul) who had gotten average looking foreign girlfriends in Korea - perhaps there is information in that. In one of these bars I met a girl I shall refer to as insane Korean-American chick.

This girl approached me saying 'she wanted to tell me she thought I was very attractive', and then quickly started to walk away. Following the rule of 'take control when a girl shows attraction' I grabbed her, and chatted with her briefly before bouncing her out of the bar for a walk. She was a cute uni-student, who had lived in America, and who I could hear in her voice was very intelligent (which unfortunately for me is a major turn on ). Attempted to take her to a DVD room (which are the 'love hotels' of Korea), but her friends called her back. She started messaging me at 5am. Took her out again the following day and tried again, got her in the room, and to cut a long story short, 'she had a boyfriend (korean), who is now in Turkey, who she loves, and who she had gotten permission from to make out with me (WTF?) and that we can't have sex'. Normally would have persisted, but had made the rookie mistake of choosing a comedy movie (NEVER do this - sexual tension becomes impossible), and combined with her cockiness, the bizarre nature of the whole thing, and my impatience, I just walked out.

The 'how did that happen?' pickup
However the most bizarre event came a couple of days before I was scheduled to leave Seoul. It was Saturday night in Itaewon, and I figured 'my last chance to get a girl'. I might point out that at this point, I was pretty jaded and tired, my sleep pattern having been completely fucked up since the beginning of the trip and people had been asking me 'why you so tired?' constantly. I went to a club, danced and hit on girls for a while to no avail, then decided around 2am to take a break. Bought some beers in 7-11 and sat in this alley where everyone seems to sit and drink and throw rubbish. Then this Korean guy next to me starts talking to me. We chat for a while, talk about how hard it is to get Korean girls etc. He whines about how girls only like men with money or foreigners. I tell him it's not actually that easy for foreigners (although as an aside, my research found that it did used to be last decade, in the same way it used to be easier in Roppongi).

Then he turned to a girl sitting next to him with her friend (I think about 30, awesome legs, looked good to me but I'm hopeless at the 1-10 rating scale), and asked her out of the blue 'do you like money?' in English. I almost spat out my beer in surprise. She then proceeded to ask him something along the lines of 'WTF? Why have you started talking to me like this'. Their conversation goes for a while, him complaining about how Korean girls only like foreigners or guys with money. Eventually all 4 of us are chatting about various things. I even mentioned to the girl 'yeah, Korean girls are the hardest' to her face . Her friend soon decided to go home, leaving the 3 of us. I suggested we go to a club (the one I was at before), and we went there. The guy had to buy a ticket to get in, but she already had one. When we got in we didn't even buy a drink, and went straight to the dance floor, but the guy said he had to go to the bathroom. At that point my actions just became automatic and almost brazen. Perhaps I had subconsciously picked up on her horniness or something. I started dancing with her, and straight-up went for a kiss (got front of her cheek) after 1 minute. We had only been talking about 20 minutes before then. Her response was surprise but not repulsion (which I read as 'Go!'). I said 'lets go for a walk', and she complied. Just as we were leaving the Korean guy came out from the bathroom, and I said to him 'we're just going out for fresh air, stay here, we'll be back in 10 minutes'. We then walked back to the alley, chatted for a few minutes, sitting up close etc. The Korean guy then came walking past (she told me but I didn't look). I can only assume how pissed he was by the whole thing. I then brazenly just said 'you want to go to a motel'? She seemed taken aback, I then dialed it back to 'shall we buy some more drinks and have them at your place?' remembering she had her own place. She complied, so we walked to the street and went to grab a taxi. Korean taxis at this time of night want more than the meter, so I had to haggle for a price to her district. She was affronted by the price even though I was paying ($20, which is nothing in Australia for a taxi), so I opened the door, grabbed her, and literally pushed her in. After that it went well. I can only imagine how enraged the Korean guy was when he went home, the whole event seemed to make a mockery of him.

[Kangaroo]

Nice report, what days are the clubs open and which area is best for clubbing Hongdae or Itaewon?

[Travesty]

My first reaction after reading this is that it seems like a lot of effort to pick up a 30-something in an alley where people throw rubbish and drink beer.

Seems like being a Korean player could be a bad ROI.

[Phoenix]

(08-08-2014 11:32 PM)Kangaroo Wrote:  

Nice report, what days are the clubs open and which area is best for clubbing Hongdae or Itaewon?

Hongdae is where all the hot young girls parade around like fasion models, worth it for visiting and viewing the hotness, but as for meeting the girls just search for 'foreigner bars in Hongdae'. Everywhere else in Hongdae I don't recall seeing one foreign guy with a Kgirl (and I look out for these things). I forget the names, but like everywhere, any bar known for having foreigners attracts girls who are into that. It will also attract loud douchebag military guys mind. As always, you do have to approach.

Itaewon is known for being popular with foreigners so pretty much any (straight) club or bar is fine. I saw one successful pull by a foreigner in a club here (again, I look out for this stuff, from his physique/haircut and the rest of the crowd I think he was US military). There are a lot of US military guys in Itaewon, and you regularly see MPs on patrol, so one easy way to stand out would be 'don't have a crew cut' .

[RedpoleQ]

Ok, so not having spent much time in Seoul, it's not surprising that you have the wrong idea. Hongdae is the poor student area.

There are some hot girls there, but most foreigners I know won't even go because the quality level of girls there is so low.

Itaewon, has gotten quite upscale over the past decade, and it's almost unrecognizable compared to what it used to be just 5 years ago. And TOTALLY unrecognizable compared to what it was when I first went there in 2001.

It's become quite a good option for gaming, especially if you don't mind women in their late 20s/early 30s.

The real action is in Gangnam though. That's where all the megaclubs are and you see Ferrari's and Lambo's outside the clubs and dudes dropping serious cash.

Girls in Hongdae aren't about cash...it's more the bohemian artsy area and no girl who is about money goes looking there(though you can find, very occasionally, a hot girl there though she's likely to be a Japanese tourist!)

[15th Century]

I would stay away from Itaewon as much as possible. As it is just overrun by foreigner disgraces who you just cringe at whenever you see them. Hongdae is great place for a night out if you are looking for a cheap and chill place. No doubt that the hottest girls frequent Gangnam at night and that place goes off.

However, Korea is not to difficult at all if you know how to play it. Social game works well so make some Korean friends or even if you can try and get some work there to make some kind of social circle. I was street-casted to do some modeling for some indie Korean brand. while I was there the Korean girls modeling were all very sweet and easy and accommodating to flirt with. Teasing game almost works to well and I set up a date and later on a bang with one of the girls all these beta guys at the shoot were falling head over heels for.

The country is a blast compared to the dullness of Australia. Can't wait to go back!

[Global_Cocksman]

(08-10-2014 02:37 AM)15th Century Wrote:  

I would stay away from Itaewon as much as possible. As it is just overrun by foreigner disgraces who you just cringe at whenever you see them. Hongdae is great place for a night out if you are looking for a cheap and chill place. No doubt that the hottest girls frequent Gangnam at night and that place goes off.

However, Korea is not to difficult at all if you know how to play it. Social game works well so make some Korean friends or even if you can try and get some work there to make some kind of social circle. I was street-casted to do some modeling for some indie Korean brand. while I was there the Korean girls modeling were all very sweet and easy and accommodating to flirt with. Teasing game almost works to well and I set up a date and later on a bang with one of the girls all these beta guys at the shoot were falling head over heels for.

The country is a blast compared to the dullness of Australia. Can't wait to go back!

I've seen theories flying around that K girls like to be smothered and beta game actually works with them. For example, sending them lots of texts each day, saying you miss them, etc. This seems to be pure bullshit and backfired on me the few times I tried it with hot Korean girls.

What's your take on it?

Agreed though; Seoul is awesome.

[Global_Cocksman]

(08-10-2014 02:58 AM)Global_Cocksman Wrote:  

(08-10-2014 02:37 AM)15th Century Wrote:  

I would stay away from Itaewon as much as possible. As it is just overrun by foreigner disgraces who you just cringe at whenever you see them. Hongdae is great place for a night out if you are looking for a cheap and chill place. No doubt that the hottest girls frequent Gangnam at night and that place goes off.

However, Korea is not to difficult at all if you know how to play it. Social game works well so make some Korean friends or even if you can try and get some work there to make some kind of social circle. I was street-casted to do some modeling for some indie Korean brand. while I was there the Korean girls modeling were all very sweet and easy and accommodating to flirt with. Teasing game almost works to well and I set up a date and later on a bang with one of the girls all these beta guys at the shoot were falling head over heels for.

The country is a blast compared to the dullness of Australia. Can't wait to go back!

I've seen theories flying around that K girls like to be smothered and beta game actually works with them. For example, sending them lots of texts each day, saying you miss them, etc. This seems to be pure bullshit and backfired on me the few times I tried it with hot Korean girls.

What's your take on it?

Agreed though; Seoul is awesome.

People are people no matter where you are. In my opinion running beta game is fucking retarded. However maybe hold back on the aloofness and anything to standoffish. The things that i found really made an impressing were having a playful cocky vibe mixed with some teasing. Going back to beta game i think running it would be foolish just because these women are from a different country and culture doesn't mean they are not women, and coming from someone who did well running his usual game i would not recommended it.