Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

I'm in Seongnam, between Bundang and southeast Seoul. It's like Korea in 1998 here. Only been here 2 weeks, have not seen a white person in the neighborhood yet, though 20 minutes or so on the subway is like going to the future. It seems strange how it's rather different and looks like older, more traditional Korea here, sandwiched between more modern areas.

[eamo]

I did a year there myself.

Yeah. Seongnam seems to have accepted it's role as Bundang's ugly sister. Just the lack of hagwons in the place indicates that there isn't a lot of money about. It's like a defeatist attitude. 'We don't live in Bundang so we won't share in the new dynamic Korea'.

But, three is nothing like eating at night around Moran and watching the drunken ajeossi's fight while the delicate aroma of the dog-market wafts over the table!! Good times......

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Moran, Moran, Moran. Moran has it all.

[gang ah jee]

[jdog2050]

[ajgeddes]

It is amazing how going from Yatap to Moran, one stop away, puts you in a different time. I worked a part time job at Taepyeong for a while and I couldn't believe how ghetto is was, and then I scurried back home to Sunae dong. I guess what is even stranger is that it is the same city, but the city doesn't seem to care about the "Seongnam" part. Long live Bundang.

[jinju]

[Unposter]

Moran has a traditional market. It is nothing special but you can see dogs live in cages (and dead ones on top) for the making of dog meat soup. It is worth one look.

If you know Korean people in Seongnam, it can be a fun place. Definately a seedy place if you know what is going on, otherwise it looks like any other place in Korea.

It is not very old. Park Chunghee, the famous 70s dictator, decided to clean up Seoul so all the nefarious types (prostitutes, etc...) were "relocated" to Seongnam. You can still see signs of this infamous beginning but there are plenty of middle class types too.

There are also a number of small factories and 3-D workers from all over Asia there too. There is a special immigration house there to house and care for many of the lost souls. It is also worth a visit. I went there once and I was shown the urns of all the people who had died but didn't have money to get their remains back to their home countries -- very eerie (sp?).

Namhansan is a good place to take a hike and kill some time. Sometimes historical dramas are filmed there.

Enjoy Seongnam!

[jinju]

[rothkowitz]

[ajgeddes]

Unposter summed it up nicely.

Get off at Moran station, or transfer and go one station on line 8, but I just can't remember the stop right now. The Moran area is a Mecca for the over 100 crowd

[Saxiif]

Yeah that's exactly how I felt when I moved to Seongnam from Apgujeong, like being in a time-warp. I love this place, people are cool and not uptight like in Gangnam, everything is cheap (two bedroom apartment for 300,000 won/month for the win!), I can get lots of Chinese stuff easily and its a hell of a lot more colorful than Seoul And its not too bad of a commute in to Seoul for work and whatnot (18,000 won taxi ride from itaewon isn't too bad).

Moran, except for the traditional market, one of the more upscaleish bits. Over where I am by taepyeong station it gets very poor once you get off the main streets.

[Smee]

Haha, but Seongnam is like the Jeollanam-do of the future.

I kind of liked visiting Taepyeong. A nice market there that connected to Moran. It was always nice to get away from the staleness of Migeum/Bundang, and go an entire night without seeing another white face.

That said, I wouldn't necessarily want to live there. The people I've talked to who had to live there have done nothing but complain about their accommodations. Moran gave me the creeps, as basically the entire area is a product of the sex industry.

[blynch]

[jinju]