At first I am struck by how organised it is. It’s a little like Amsterdam though where the red light in Amsterdam does have an erotic quality; in Daegu it is more sterile. Row upon row of rooms with bored looking girls in sitting on floors watching TV. The brothel 'madams' stand outside, drumming up business which involves hauling any passing men inside. I imagine them rugby tackling potential clients, the ajummas (old married women) are a force to be reckoned with.

While we are there the police walk past and without blinking an eyelid. I find it hard to believe that in super-conservative Korea prostitution is this organized and that the law is not enforced.

Prostitution is illegal in Korea and yet their sex industry accounts for 4.6% of their GDP. The Lonely Planet guidebook points tourists to the red light district in Daegu, saying it is worth a look. I have to admit I was curious; I discuss the topic a lot with my students (they're adults not five year olds, I've not gone totally insane) and am interested by their various perspectives so I decided to go to Daegu and see the reality.

Working as an English teacher in Busan, I have learnt that sex is a huge taboo here in Korea. Forty years ago it was expected that Koreans would be virgins when they married (well the women at least.) If a man kissed a woman outside of marriage it was expected he would marry her as her dignity and honor were at stake- I mean who would want her if they knew she'd played tonsil tennis with someone else? Public displays of affection are still frowned on and sex education is virtually non-existent. One of my students couldn't even say ‘condom’ without bursting into laughter. He was 26.

Although conservative, the attitude towards men’s sex lives, especially cheating husbands, is that as long as the wife doesn't know, it doesn't happen. If a man works for a big corporation it is common that the corporation will entertain foreign clients, corporate hospitality bills in Korea are huge and entertaining clients often involves a lot of drinking and a visit to a hostess bar where pretty girls are often requested in advance by the host. Also military service is compulsory for men in South Korea as it is still effectively at war with North Korea. It is commonplace for young men to visit prostitutes during military service; many lose their virginity this way. However the belief that women should be virgins when they marry does persist. Some women even go so far as to have hymen reconstruction surgery to make it look like they are still virgins on their wedding night.

I once asked in class “If all the men are having sex, and yet the women were still virgins, who are the men having sex with?”
“Prostitutes.”
“And do they use protection?” I asked.
“Men don't need to use protection, only girls should worry about not getting pregnant.”
“And what about STI's and AIDS?”
“Korea doesn't have a problem with that....”
Admittedly at the moment it doesn't but it strikes me as a sexual health time bomb… the lack of information about sexual health and lack of access to contraception (it is considered shameful to buy condoms at a pharmacy which leaves only toilet vending machines) is worrying to say the least.

However things are changing here quickly. I saw an advert for the contraceptive pill on TV yesterday (at least I think it was the contraceptive pill- it looked like a pill pack and there were a lot of happy babyless men and women swanning around) and sex among the younger generation is no longer as taboo. They didn't even wear bikinis a few years ago in Korea but the times, they are a changing...I read before I came that there was no decent sexy underwear to be had n Korea...now underwear shops are opening at the rate of knots.

After visiting the ladies of dishonorable persuasion we return to our sleeping quarters....a love motel. Love motels can be rented out by the hour or by the night. Yes the love hotel is indeed somewhere people go to, erm, love and they're actually very common in Korea and in Japan. We step out of the elevator to find a vending machine that sells sex toys.

Although love hotels have a seedy reputation they are also used as cheap and believe it or not, clean, accommodation. For one room it's only 26,882 South Korean Won or $33 Australia and it did seem very clean, not that I was particularly keen on scrutinising the sheets, ignorance is bliss.

I was just happy to be sleeping on a round, faux leather bed with a mirror in the headboard. Upon telling my students about the bed they asked if it rotated. I didn't even check, I mean who checks their faux leather circular bed in a hotel to see if it rotates? Korea you’re not the wallflower I thought you were.