But if you really want to learn about the Asian sex life, "Love Land" in South
Korea is the place to visit.
"Love Land" is a theme park, about the size of two soccer fields, located in
the north of Cheju Island. And it's crammed with soft porn memorabilia --
statues, photographs and sculptures that seem like something halfway between a
post-modern version of those temple phalluses and a Jeff Koons installation --
just more trashy, if that's possible.
Salacious Disneyland
Just behind the entrance to Love Land, an acrobatic, oral-sex ensemble greets
visitors. It shows a man and two women -- one woman has her legs wrapped around
the man's neck and looks like she's going to break her own neck any minute. The
acrobatic threesome is illuminated at night, just like the other exhibits here:
the nipple mountain crowned with pink nubs or the sturdy erect penises that
rise up from the goldfish pond like a fountain. The sculptures are so explicit
you can't help stopping in front of them with a mixture of disbelief and
amusement -- even as a jaded Western tourist.
What's the point of all this? And why is this salacious Disneyland located here
of all places, right between the planes of volcanic Cheju Island, whose other
attractions are a traditional village turned folkloric theme park and a teddy
bear museum?
Even people who know next to nothing about Cheju Island are aware that it's
also known as South Korea's "Honeymoon Isle." The small island with its 600,000
inhabitants has held this honorary title since the end of the Korean War,
thanks to a double coincidence. On the one hand, Cheju Island is the
southernmost and hence warmest part of Korea to have been properly settled. On
the other hand, most South Koreans were unable -- for financial and political
reasons -- to travel abroad until the early 1990s.
Cheju Island, with its beaches and mighty volcanic mountain, became the
destination of choice for those who didn't want to go hiking and
temple-spotting in the country's interior. That was doubly true for freshly
married couples, who are still drawn to the island today.
The "island of sex ed"
During the last few decades, many of these marriages were arranged by the
parents of the spouses. The lucky ones might have had a brief chance to meet
each other -- under the watchful eyes of relatives -- before exchanging vows.
And then, after their wedding, they were immediately flown off to the south --
to Cheju Island. As they got used to the notion of being bonded for life, they
spent their wedding night and the following days on the Honeymoon Isle, which
thereby also became a kind of "island of sex ed."
As late as the end of the 1980s, journalist and travel writer Simon Winchester
reported that some hotel employees on the island performed as "professional
icebreakers." In the evenings, the hotel would offer an entertainment program
featuring lap dances and others raunchy or risqué highlights. Its purpose was
to help the intimidated, freshly married novices relax -- and perhaps to give
them some ideas for later. Winchester remarks wryly about one of these hotel
entertainers that he probably deflowered more women than any other man in Asia.
So perhaps it's no wonder then that Korea's Love Land should have been built
here, just a short taxi drive from Cheju City. Whoever has meandered about
between the gigantic stone labia and climbed the 10 meter (33 feet) marble
phallus probably feels a little less repressed afterwards.
Still, none of this is proof of an unusually open or relaxed attitude to sex.
The opposite is true. A few thoroughly rule-governed exceptions apart, the
things that are shown and imagined in Love Land are kept under cover elsewhere
in South Korea. In this sense, the theme park is not unlike Asian porn mags or
fertility rites: It's a small isle of freedom in an ocean of taboos.
A picture for the album
Of course, Korea's newlyweds now have other destinations they can travel to
besides Cheju Island. South Korea has gotten wealthier, and flights abroad
aren't a political issue anymore either. Still, the island has remained an
important travel destination for young couples.
Besides tourists on an afternoon outing, you'll still see many shy young
couples in their early 20s idling through the love park, glancing about and
giggling nervously. They'll sit down next to each other on the phallus bench,
set up their camera tripod and use the automatic release function to shoot a
photo for the family album. We're in Korea, after all, and no trip would be
complete without a picture. Maybe they'll even stop by the Loveland Store and
purchase a few souvenirs to use later.
If they're not too embarrassed, that is.
