Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sam Spade]

Ok, I did do a search and got 130 possible responses. Most were just side comments.

Is there anyone who has lived/worked in this city who can give me some real insights?

For example: Is it easy to get around? Public Transportation? Milder weather? Do they have Emart, Costco, or other "familiar" shopping?
Are the natives "too" provincial?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers.

[Scouse Mouse]

I am currently living next to gangeung railway station and working at a public school nearby. I am new to Korea so this is my first experience of the country but so far I am loving it.

The area is part of Uijeongbu city and so if you search for that area you will get a better response. You can walk to Uijeongbu station in around 15 minutes.

My experiences are so far very positive. The area is small enough that you can find your way around without being overwhelmed, yet still large enough that you have some anonymity. The people seem friendly and welcoming enough, and the nightlife is reasonably healthy. There are a number of foreigner-orientated bars and the Korean bars are also very welcoming. The area was very much a US military outpost but apparently most of the bases have now moved away and now only 2 remain. I have yet to find any of the groups of US army that are supposed to frequent the area.

The area is close enough to seoul to ensure that hitting the smoke is not a problem. The transport links are frequent and the Seoul metro is good enough to make travel hassle free.

There is a Lottemart supermarket nearby, though I have yet to visit. There are enough local stores near my appartment to ensure that I can eat well and for those hard to find items there is a market in the area with a guy whose entire stock holding appears to have fallen off the back of a US army base... very useful for finding decent coffee, western luxuries and he even stocks goodies such as Jack Daniels and decent scotch, though after paying his prices for coffee I dread to ask the cost of the alcohol.

If you do decide to come to the area, there are a group of us foreigners who are meeting up and chatting (drinking) regularly so send me a pm and I will be happy to arrange a meet and show you around a few bars.

[Cohiba]

As far as I know, Gangneung is on the East Coast, on the Sea of Japan.
Uijeongbu is on the west coast on the Yellow Sea.

[rothkowitz]

Gangneung is over on the east coast,Uijongbu is north of Seoul(nowon-gu)

I saw a couple of blogs about Gangneung,I was thinking of going there at one point.

eg
http://roryrunsamok.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_archive.html

Other links on there.

[Scouse Mouse]

gah my bad... I am at ganeung, not gangneung :p

[pest2]

Public transit: some buses to get around the city. Taxis.
Intercity transit: Bus, train
There's an emart but its a bit away from the town center; you'd want to have a car to go there regulary, im guessng. There's a big downtown area with all same Korean "fashion" stores you'd find at any other similarly sized Korean city.... (overpriced for bad quality). Theres a big fish market. A University and a fair number of younger, uni-aged students. There are some foreigners there.
Not too far, there is skiing at Yongpyeong; there's a ski bus to get there. There are a few decent beaches within an hour.

Pluses: its near lots of mountains for hiking and skiing and beaches too..
Minuses: just like the rest of Non-Seoul Korea, it can be kinda lame, boring, and difficult to get a variety of products and services and entertainment ... for example, they dont even have movie theatre except a cheesy one that only plays Korean movies.

[clyde]

I went to Gangneung last summer. It was ok, but I would never be able to live there. After a long weekend, I wanted to back near Seoul. NObody speaks ANY English there. The beach is nice however. If you go be certain that you can exist on only Korean food. The plus is that the people are far more friendly and kind than in Seoul, but thats just the age old country people versus city people I guess. Good luck.

[ella]

The beaches are fenced with military lookouts and barbed wire... not my kind of beach. Just seemed sad.