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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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 Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:02 am Post subject: No foriegners allowed in Busan sauna - I was refused entry |
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I have lived and worked in korea for 7 years.
I have travelled over almost every inch of the country and enjoyed saunas all accross the land, even in Jeollanamdo and never once been turned away.
Tonight this happened to me for the first time.
I thought I might have misunderstood, so I asked her explicitly in Korean if any foriegners were allowed regardless of race nationality etc and she confirmed that they are not.
I explained that I am an Englishman and an English teacher for a Busan governemnt sponsered school in Busan. I offered to show my id proving as much to show I wasn't a Russian gangster etc. She still refused.
The irony: the sauna is in 'Choryang FORIEGNER'S shopping zone' in Busan opposite the station.
The name of the sauna is 'Bally Land.'
There are reputedly a lot of Chinese / Russian 'gangs' operating there, hence my mentioning my nationality and proffession.
Will post pics of the place tomorrow. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:09 am Post subject: Re: No foriegners allowed in Busan sauna - I was refused ent |
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| The Floating World wrote: |
I have lived and worked in korea for 7 years.
I have travelled over almost every inch of the country and enjoyed saunas all accross the land, even in Jeollanamdo and never once been turned away.
Tonight this happened to me for the first time.
I thought I might have misunderstood, so I asked her explicitly in Korean if any foriegners were allowed regardless of race nationality etc and she confirmed that they are not.
I explained that I am an Englishman and an English teacher for a Busan governemnt sponsered school in Busan. I offered to show my id proving as much to show I wasn't a Russian gangster etc. She still refused.
The irony: the sauna is in 'Choryang FORIEGNER'S shopping zone' in Busan opposite the station.
The name of the sauna is 'Bally Land.'
There are reputedly a lot of Chinese / Russian 'gangs' operating there, hence my mentioning my nationality and proffession.
Will post pics of the place tomorrow. |
Well one sauna out of all Korea over 7 years is a pretty darn good ratio!
AS a former longterm resident of Busan I can tell you that you picked one of the worst saunas in Busan to try and visit!
There are tons of choices in Busan when it comes to Public Baths, Hot Springs and jimjilbangs...but around good ole seedy Texas street you will get what you will get!
Good luck out there in Busan and you can certainly find many good spas all over that city. If you want suggestions, let me know as I have been going to these places regularly since 1997 and on every visit since 2008!
Cheers. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:16 am Post subject: Re: No foriegners allowed in Busan sauna - I was refused ent |
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| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Well one sauna out of all Korea over 7 years is a pretty darn good ratio! |
I really hope you aren't serious. Being rejected from a business due to your race even once makes for a pretty bad ratio.
Wasn't that naturalized Central Asian woman rejected from a jimjilbang in the same area? |
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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 6:21 am Post subject: Re: No foriegners allowed in Busan sauna - I was refused ent |
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| northway wrote: |
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Well one sauna out of all Korea over 7 years is a pretty darn good ratio! |
I really hope you aren't serious. Being rejected from a business due to your race even once makes for a pretty bad ratio.
Wasn't that naturalized Central Asian woman rejected from a jimjilbang in the same area? |
That he defends things like this so damned glibly and is allowed to do so on this site saddens me.
No doubt it's an attempt to draw a flame war so the thread gets locked, a trick of certain posters on this site in any thread that makes Korea not look positive.
With that in mind, I ask people keep their responses civil. |
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coralreefer_1
Joined: 19 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 7:39 am Post subject: |
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I say file a complaint with the human rights commission. I have always been one that many here might call an "apologist" (time for a new term folks) but this kind of crap will never change as long as the folks it happens to come to vent about it here or a blog, but otherwise do nothing.
Even if a formal complaint will garner no reaction or otherwise any formal action, it is one more drop in the bucket that will eventually cause these types of places to either go out of business, or allow foreigners. I say post the name of the place, post the pics all over the web, send it to every newspaper and tourist agency that deals with Korea and Busan, let them know that this particular establishment while that may in fact be in a seedy area, is ALSO across the street from Busan station, and a few hundred meters away from the port. Every travel agency in Japan/China should know and let their customers know that this particular place will not service foreigners, thereby saving the neighboring business of potential income from tourists who will likely go to some other area to get their sleep/bath/dinner/shopping on. |
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joelove
Joined: 12 May 2011
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 8:33 am Post subject: |
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| Jump Kim Crow, jump Kim Crow, how do you do, you move so slow... |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:41 am Post subject: Re: No foriegners allowed in Busan sauna - I was refused ent |
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| northway wrote: |
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Well one sauna out of all Korea over 7 years is a pretty darn good ratio! |
I really hope you aren't serious. Being rejected from a business due to your race even once makes for a pretty bad ratio.
Wasn't that naturalized Central Asian woman rejected from a jimjilbang in the same area? |
It is wrong and darn frustrating but it reprensents nothing more than that one dumb place, hence the ratio comment.
By the way that area around the train station is a hub for some of the less than stellar foreign crowd in Busan and has been that way for years. That has a sad impact on certain business and some react badly and wrongly (ex: rejecting all foreigners). Once again this is not cut and dry.
Floating:
I am also NOT defending what this spa did because it was wrong and insulting so learn to read before you react like this (those of you who reacted that way). I was saying that ONE GOD DAMNED SPA in 7 GOD DAMNED years in an entire country is a pretty good ratio as in it demonstrates this is NOT some national behaviour.
Best thing you can do: GIVE YOUR BUSINESS TO ANOTHER SPA, that is the surest way to stick it to that particular place. You could file a complaint with the human rights commission, that will cost you nothing but time.
By all means go to another spa and let THEM know how stupid the other one was...word will get around as it tends to do in tight Korean neighborhood. Hit the spa where it hurts: in their wallet.
Finally I was not looking to start some lame flame war as I did not dispute what happened to you, diminish it or deny it. I did not insult you either (you however did just that in your response) and I honestly offered to tell you about some of the good saunas and spas in Busan.
You prefer to roll out the apologist line, thats your choice pal. I hope this thread does roll on and I hope this spa does lose business and changes their stupid policy. |
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Rutherford
Joined: 31 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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OP are you sure this spa was just a spa? You picked a seedy area of Busan to go have a soak. There might have been something going on there you didn't know about.
Next time you might have better luck in any other area of Busan. Even if you were catching a train at Busan station and just wanted to have a soak first you should probably pick a different neighborhood. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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| That area is a sewer! Rutherford i think is on to something. Spa's usually do not care who uses their facilities. Why did this one reject you. Probably something that they did not want you to see was going on. They are used to foreigners in that area, so I doubt just race played an issue. |
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Malislamusrex
Joined: 01 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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| That place is a brothel, plain and simple, the only reason people go there is for sex. |
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Setaro
Joined: 08 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Malislamusrex wrote: |
| That place is a brothel, plain and simple, the only reason people go there is for sex. |
Quoted for truth. If you don't know that area well, it's pretty much made up of gogo bars and brothels. You were trying to enter the latter, you got refused because you aren't Korean.
Should really change the thread title to 'Got refused entry to a brothel, HOW DARE THEY!" |
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Rutherford
Joined: 31 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| I can't get over how funny it must have been when the OP tried to get into a brothel by saying he's an Englishman and an English teacher in a government school and showing his ID. Oops! |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: No foriegners allowed in Busan sauna - I was refused ent |
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| northway wrote: |
| PatrickGHBusan wrote: |
| Well one sauna out of all Korea over 7 years is a pretty darn good ratio! |
I really hope you aren't serious. Being rejected from a business due to your race even once makes for a pretty bad ratio. |
Your logic doesn't make since. The OP was rejected do to his being a foreigner.
Last I checked, Foreigner is NOT a race.
That sauna would've rejected whites, blacks, southeast Asians, Indians, Chinese, and Japanese also. Your "race" argument is not valid.
And yes, it is perfectly fine for a business to refuse service as long as the groups they deny service to are not protected by law. |
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Woden
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Location: Eurasia
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| coralreefer_1 wrote: |
| I say file a complaint with the human rights commission. |
I second this. You can file individual complaints to the commission and they are bound to investigate it, although their rulings are not legally binding. There has been some controversy recently around t he level of interference from the 2MB administration, but the way forward is to utilise them more and embarrass the government into some kind of action. Also, the case of the Korean-Uzbek was also taken up by the NHRCK so this would provide extra weight to that. As you probably know there is no law against racial discrimination in Korea as the government claims it is covered under Article 11 of the Constitution, on equality. Many NGOs and UN agencies have been calling on the government to change this and cases like this need to be publicised to increase the pressure for this. There is an Act sitting in parliament which would outlaw racial discrimination but it has been left to gather dust.
Here is information on how to make a complaint to the NHRCK:
http://www.humanrights.go.kr/english/guide/complaint_01.jsp
Please let us know how it goes. |
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wjf1
Joined: 14 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:45 pm Post subject: |
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| I've never had a problem entering jimjilbangs, although there is a less-than-friendly feel in some of them. I don't complain though because after they all empty the bath/pool one-by-one I soon have it all to myself. |
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