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gruegoo
Joined: 15 Mar 2007
Location: Toronto
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 Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 6:41 pm Post subject: Most Quiet Part of Seoul? |
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Short Version:
What's the most quiet, peaceful part of Seoul? (relatively speaking of course)
Long Version:
I'll be heading to Korea in a few months so I'm in the process of looking for work. I'm not going there to party, drink or find girls... seriously! Actually I don't drink, which I'm told will make things hard in Korea.
Instead, I'm going to reconnect with a culture that is at times both startlingly familiar and utterly foreign to me (I'm a gyopo). Also I'd like to start getting some business connections for an international work placement that I need to do as part of my MBA in a couple of years.
Therefore...
I need to be in Seoul, as many of my friends are currently there, as well as some family, and of course the business connections. BUT... I'd like to avoid the busy drinking and clubbing areas as much as possible.
Ideally I'm looking for a more quiet, peaceful area where I can jog in the mornings before going to work, and take walks around at night. I realize that Seoul will never REALLY be quiet or peaceful, but I'm looking for a bit of a middle ground.
Any help is greatly appreciated!  |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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Northern Seoul near Bukhansan or Suraksan mountains would be my recommendation.
Not drinking won't make your life tough in Korea, though there will be some peer pressure for you to do so from the adjossis you meet. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Namguro has some fairly quiet places. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Up in Samcheong-dong it's pretty nice and peacefull. Plenty of trees and the mountain is right there, cafes and wine bars aplenty. Nice place for a jog or a bike ride, except for in front of the Blue House... the guards are only doing their job but the one time I walked around Kyungbok Palace with the gf, they kinda broke the mood with their 3rd dregree. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:27 pm Post subject: Re: Most Quiet Part of Seoul? |
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| gruegoo wrote: |
Short Version:
What's the most quiet, peaceful part of Seoul? (relatively speaking of course)
Long Version:
I'll be heading to Korea in a few months so I'm in the process of looking for work. I'm not going there to party, drink or find girls... seriously! Actually I don't drink, which I'm told will make things hard in Korea.
Instead, I'm going to reconnect with a culture that is at times both startlingly familiar and utterly foreign to me (I'm a gyopo). Also I'd like to start getting some business connections for an international work placement that I need to do as part of my MBA in a couple of years.
Therefore...
I need to be in Seoul, as many of my friends are currently there, as well as some family, and of course the business connections. BUT... I'd like to avoid the busy drinking and clubbing areas as much as possible.
Ideally I'm looking for a more quiet, peaceful area where I can jog in the mornings before going to work, and take walks around at night. I realize that Seoul will never REALLY be quiet or peaceful, but I'm looking for a bit of a middle ground.
Any help is greatly appreciated! |
I like the area around Yangjae-cheon, just south of Seollung. See, we got some pictures of it two weeks ago and are going there tomorrow to see if the tadpoles have become frogs yet:
http://wiki.galbijim.com/Yangjaecheon |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| Around 뚝섬 (Ttukseom) is alright, it's near the river, and a great place to go in the summer. It's somewhat central, and easy to get anywhere in Eastern Seoul quickly. It's near some noisy areas, but it isn't too bad in itself. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:04 am Post subject: Re: Most Quiet Part of Seoul? |
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| gruegoo wrote: |
Short Version:
What's the most quiet, peaceful part of Seoul? (relatively speaking of course)
Long Version:
I'll be heading to Korea in a few months so I'm in the process of looking for work. I'm not going there to party, drink or find girls... seriously! Actually I don't drink, which I'm told will make things hard in Korea.
Instead, I'm going to reconnect with a culture that is at times both startlingly familiar and utterly foreign to me (I'm a gyopo). Also I'd like to start getting some business connections for an international work placement that I need to do as part of my MBA in a couple of years.
Therefore...
I need to be in Seoul, as many of my friends are currently there, as well as some family, and of course the business connections. BUT... I'd like to avoid the busy drinking and clubbing areas as much as possible.
Ideally I'm looking for a more quiet, peaceful area where I can jog in the mornings before going to work, and take walks around at night. I realize that Seoul will never REALLY be quiet or peaceful, but I'm looking for a bit of a middle ground.
Any help is greatly appreciated! |
So peace & quiet are at the top of your list. And you also want the morning jog.
The Morning Jog: Some areas of the city are naturally going to be better than others, but you have to inspect it on foot at the sub-neighbourhood level to be sure. In any case, Koreans who want to will job just about anywhere they live. If you absolutely need a designated park to jog in and other joggers around you, then that narrows your search considerably. If not, then assume anywhere is pretty much as joggable as anywhere else. Not that you didn't already know it, but Seoul's not a very clean city wherever you end up living. That is, except for high upon the Jongno-Seongbuk Escarpment, where the air is rarefied. You'll just glide. Starrrrrry-eyed.
Peace & Quiet: As your friends and relatives living in Korea can tell you, "peace & quiet" comes in several different flavours here. For example, you can live in an otherwise peaceful neighbourhood, no grinding red-light district a street away, no nightly drunken serenaders or fistfights -- but the apartment itself is noisy as hell with shouting next-door neighbours, wigged-out women screaming in the halls at 3 a.m., strange pounding sounds coming from upstairs, barking neighbour dogs and... well, adequate soundproofing isn't exactly one of the proud claims of Korean apartment construction. I've lived in places here where I could hear the bodily functions -- every tinkle, grunt, hork, belch & fart -- of neighbours on both sides. Oh yes, and every flush from upstairs. You can sleep through it, but it's hardly pleasant.
Conversely, you could end up with a nice, quiet home a couple streets off the main strip in Itaewon or over in Shinchon/Hongdae and be amazed at the tranquility you enjoy despite being so close to those romping, stomping epicentres of Seoul nightlife.
Personally, I've never minded the noisy streetlife wherever I've lived in Seoui, and I've lived in some pretty lively areas. Just so long as *I* controlled the volume at home.
gruegoo, you don't even know where you'll be working yet, so I'd get that nailed down first, and then go looking for an acceptably quiet and attractive place to live that's w/in a feasible commute to your office. |
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gruegoo
Joined: 15 Mar 2007
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:24 am Post subject: Re: Most Quiet Part of Seoul? |
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Thank you everyone for your great suggestions!
| JongnoGuru wrote: |
Peace & Quiet: As your friends and relatives living in Korea can tell you, "peace & quiet" comes in several different flavours here. For example, you can live in an otherwise peaceful neighbourhood, no grinding red-light district a street away, no nightly drunken serenaders or fistfights -- but the apartment itself is noisy as hell with shouting next-door neighbours, wigged-out women screaming in the halls at 3 a.m., strange pounding sounds coming from upstairs, barking neighbour dogs and... well, adequate soundproofing isn't exactly one of the proud claims of Korean apartment construction. I've lived in places here where I could hear the bodily functions -- every tinkle, grunt, hork, belch & fart -- of neighbours on both sides. Oh yes, and every flush from upstairs. You can sleep through it, but it's hardly pleasant.
Conversely, you could end up with a nice, quiet home a couple streets off the main strip in Itaewon or over in Shinchon/Hongdae and be amazed at the tranquility you enjoy despite being so close to those romping, stomping epicentres of Seoul nightlife.
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I currently live in Toronto's Chinatown above a grocery store, so I'm no stranger to random shouting, screaming and industrial garbage trucks driving through the alley beside my window at 3 am. It's nowhere near as bad as you describe your experiences, but like you I've learned to live with a certain amount of noise (and the sound of rats running through the walls).
| JongnoGuru wrote: |
| gruegoo, you don't even know where you'll be working yet, so I'd get that nailed down first, and then go looking for an acceptably quiet and attractive place to live that's w/in a feasible commute to your office. |
I was hoping to find a general area first so that I could look for work in the vicinity. Hopefully I'd even be able to walk to bike to work if it's close enough. Is biking big in Korea? Or will I just get run over by a car?
Thanks again! |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 5:53 am Post subject: |
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Biking is big for exercise down by the river, and in some of the newer areas of Seoul. The ones that actually have sidewalks.
In other areas, you are risking your life riding a bicycle. Also, bike theft is huge, and the police don't care. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| If the Olympic Park area, Songpa Gu, has not been mentioned yet, I'd say that is a good area, on the southeast outskirts of the city, spacious, mostly apartments, not hectic, perhaps my favorite area of the city for a bit of quietness. |
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flakfizer
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 7:46 am Post subject: |
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| A classroom full of high school students after they've been instructed to speak English only. |
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