Korea - Then and Now

[Written at and posted from the World Hotel in Songtan, Korea] When I was but a baby Captain in the US Air Force, I had the pleasure of serving my remote tour at Osan Air Base, Korea [1992-93]. When I look back at my short AF career I can say that the Osan tour was one of the best assignments I ever had. I had some great people working for me, some of whom I am still friends with today. There were quite a few very bright people, so being their boss made my job extremely easy. It being an overseas tour, the togetherness we all shared was unmatched by any other assignment I had. The only real downside to the whole experience was that I missed Carol terribly. We had been married only five years at the time, and it was tough being away from her. Some of the people I worked for were great, some of them were assholes, but then you find that in any walk of life. Just as there was much change at Osan from the time before the 1988 Olympics to when I first set foot in Korea 19 years ago, much has changed since then.

There are many clubs that I used to go to that are now gone – ancient history. The Golden Gate, Eagles, Smitty’s, Easy Riders, Heavy Metal, the Hilltop, the Phoenix, the Batman, the Paradise, the Playboy, the Penthouse – all gone. The Golden Gate and Eagles were always numbers one and two on the ITO. We dropped lots of Won on Soju colas there. Some dropped even more Won on the Korean juicy girls. The UN Club [catty-corner from the VFW], the Stereo, Xanadu, My House Up and My House Down – they’re still there. But they are all shadows of their former selves. Back when I was stationed here, the girls who worked the bars were all Koreans. On one of my return trips in 2002, I found the Koreans were replaced by Russians. THAT was interesting. That was solid proof that we had won the Cold War – the Russians were dancing for us! I asked one of the Russian girls how long she had to be in Korea. She told me “we do one year tours just like the GIs do.” Since then the Russians have been replaced by Filipinas. The main place for GIs to change money off-base [the Doll House] is no longer there. In its place sits a 7-11. So many places are gone, but then again, so is my youth.

During my time at Osan, a curfew was in effect. From Sunday through Thursday, you had to be out of the bars by midnight. On Friday and Saturday you had until 2am. Now there’s no curfew. When the curfew was still in effect you’d see people down in the Ville starting around 7pm. Now the pub crawlers don’t come out until much later. A good friend of mine lived off-base and he used to watch the girls walk to work every night around dinnertime. Now, without the curfew, one is lucky to get a drink before 8pm. It used to be that once you walked into a bar, the juicy girls would swoop down on you like vultures, wanting you to buy them a drink. Not so anymore! On one night several of us went into the Stereo Club to get something that had Soju in it. A female Lt [Danielle] with us was celebrating her 24^th birthday [ouch!] and never had Soju in her life. After we had our sushi we went to the Stereo and waited…and waited…and waited. After waiting for awhile I just got up and said “screw it, I guess they don’t want my money here.” This would have been unheard of back in the day. We went to Xanadu. I ordered a Soju cola. To my surprise and disappointment, I could barely taste the Soju. It was so watered-down that if I drank Soju colas continuously between now and then, I still wouldn’t feel a buzz. And get this – Xanadu serves Soju slushies! Oh the humanity!

Some things are still the same. You can still get Miss Kim’s sloppy burgers. These would be regular hamburgers, only with a Far East twist. Instead of special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun, a Miss Kim burger would have some mystery sauce, cabbage, carrot strips, and a fried egg thrown on top, thus making the burger “sloppy.” These burgers taste better when you’re slightly toasted, and you’ve got a raging case of the munchies. A Miss Kim burger sounds like a much better idea at the time when you’re hammered. Miss Kim used to have a little mobile stand that even had a McDonald’s logo on the top. Now she has a stand without wheels right in the middle of the Ville, and not only does she still sell her sloppy burgers, she’s branched out into other pub-crawling fare like Yakitori and yaki mandu. The Flowwa Lady is still here, but she has some assistants now. The older Madames still approach guys and ask them if they want a “nice lady.” Ma’s Boogie House is still there for you to drink your snake shots and get your t-shirt. There are still plenty of places to get bootleg copies of new movies. The orange Soju tents are history. The barber shops and the massage parlors are still off limits, as are the local pharmacies. There are still plenty of places to get blankets, cheap shoes, knock-off Rolex watches and Coach purses. There are still plenty of places to by knock-off athletic apparel of your favorite sports teams. Mr Lim still makes party shirts for your mess dress. You can still go to the marketplace and get happily lost in the maze of alleys as you look at all the different kinds of raw seafood [squid, cuttlefish, mussels, shrieking eels, octopus], about 20 different kinds of kimchi, all kinds of stuff.

There are still lots of great places to eat. In fact, there are more places to eat here now than when I lived here. There are Brazilian churruscara places [I counted three of them]. There are Filipino restaurants where there used to be none. There are still plenty of bulgoggi houses to choose from, but my favorite [Sam Il] is gone [a moment of silence please, I need a moment…]. Instead of serving great Korean food, they now sell blankets where Sam Il used to be. The Mud Hut bulgoggi house is still here. My favorite Thai place, Thailand 2, is still here and still serves great food. My favorite Chinese place [Kum Yung], which is upstairs from where the Burger King used to be, is still there. They still show movies on the big screen TV while you eat. There’s a new Japanese Sushi place on the main drag. We took Danielle there for her birthday – she’s a sushi fanatic. I’m happy to report the Sushi is outstanding. There’s a Japanese Fusion restaurant called Izmir [isn’t that a city in Turkey?] at the end of Aragon Alley. There’s a Vietnamese Pho place at the end of Young Chon alley. There’s a McDonald’s in the Ville. They serve the normal things, but they’ve also got the “bulgoggi burger.” Do yourself a favor – DON’T TRY IT!!! Yes, it’s that bad. There’s a Popeye’s chicken place where the Wendy’s used to be.

The biggest [and most shocking] changes are on-base. Instead of the “Wild West” show that used to be Osan, it is now more like Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The first thing you notice when you get on-base is the high-rise buildings. This used to be a one-year remote tour for most people, and “command-sponsored” billets [those two- and three-year assignments where you can bring the family] were few. There are so many families here now, the Air Force had to build more places to put them. It looks as if the condo developers from Destin came over here and had their way with the place. There is a high school and a middle school next to the dorm I used to live in [Bldg 736 next to the hospital]. Dependent children used to have to ride the bus to and from Seoul to go to school, but that is not necessary now. La Cantina [affectionately known as “La Can Kill Ya”] is gone. Now if you want Mexican food, the base has a Chili’s Restaurant. Popeye’s and Burger King had to re-locate because the school buildings now stand where those two fast food places used to be. The BX has moved. It’s bigger and better than it was, just not on the scale of that huge monstrosity at Ramstein. The arcade shops that used to be down the street from the base theater are now located at the BX. The food court is fairly large. Instead of just Anthony’s Pizza, Robin Hood and 31 Flavors, GIs can now choose from Pizza Hut, Capt D’s, Taco Bell, and Subway. There’s a Krispy Kreme here. We don’t even have one of those in Fort Walton Beach! The last sign that it’s not “my” Osan anymore is the presence of Starbucks. The Oriental House at the golf course has a new building. With all of this new construction and the presence of a lot more dependents, I guess the Air Force has assessed the North Koreans won’t be paying a visit anytime soon.

Yup, it’s not “my Osan” anymore, but that’s ok. Nothing lasts forever...