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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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jeffkim1972
Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Location: Mokpo
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 Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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many misguided posts here.
No rent AND low or no taxes are the reasons you are doing ok here.
17K average income, but korea's income gap is pretty large. average income in Ulsan is around 35K. All the company presidents and directors live in Bundang.
rather than the 20/80 rule, (20% of the people worth 80% of the wealth), korea is probably 5/95.
you can find cheap motels even in Kangnam, as well as cheap food.
From Mokpo for instance, bus ride (lowest) is around 19,000 won. then take subways and its' not expensive.
only if you drive, it could get expensive to travel. Taking the highway from mokpo to seoul round trip is about 130,000, gas and tolls. but for just about an hour more, i know the countryside roads and you dont' have to pay tolls (save 30K but add probably 30K more for gas). But airfare is only 70K one way to Gimpo, KTX 40K.
most western restaurants in Korea in general will rip you off. |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
| I've been to Japan six times and had no luck finding cheap food. I simply eat Korean food and find a plethora of full meals cheap. if you want to eat Western food at the Hyatt or wherever you think it's expensive then of course it can be. |
Strange, I found the food in Korea to be similarily priced as Japan. I would say on average, the cheapest REAL meal you are going to have is about 4,500 won. When I was in Tokyo, I ate decent meals downtown for about 700 yen. 700 yen is about 5,200 won. Not a big difference, but even at those prices I found the food to be better quality in Japan, so in the end, to get equal quality you would have to pay a similar rate.
Too many people have this huge perception of really expensive Japan, but it doesn't have to be. Yeah, it is definitely easy to spend a tonne of money very quickly there without even knowing it, but you don't have to. |
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pest2
Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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Seriously, tell me where I can find these cheaper hotels! That would be actually using this forum for some puropse that is not a complete waste of time.
The problem I usually have is that I take the bus to Seoul and then go around forever trying to find a non-love motely where I can stay Friday and Saturday night. After wasting alot of time doing this, I end up paying 90,000 (which is too much because even at that price the place still blows). If you guys can provide some specific place at a specific location, that would be great..... |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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| pest2 wrote: |
Seriously, tell me where I can find these cheaper hotels! That would be actually using this forum for some puropse that is not a complete waste of time.
The problem I usually have is that I take the bus to Seoul and then go around forever trying to find a non-love motely where I can stay Friday and Saturday night. After wasting alot of time doing this, I end up paying 90,000 (which is too much because even at that price the place still blows). If you guys can provide some specific place at a specific location, that would be great..... |
http://www.asiarooms.com/south_korea/seoul.html?sort=rates&extraSortRate=20-50%20US$
Also, just stay in love motels. They aren't that bad. |
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pest2
Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:26 am Post subject: |
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| ajgeddes wrote: |
| pest2 wrote: |
Seriously, tell me where I can find these cheaper hotels! That would be actually using this forum for some puropse that is not a complete waste of time.
The problem I usually have is that I take the bus to Seoul and then go around forever trying to find a non-love motely where I can stay Friday and Saturday night. After wasting alot of time doing this, I end up paying 90,000 (which is too much because even at that price the place still blows). If you guys can provide some specific place at a specific location, that would be great..... |
http://www.asiarooms.com/south_korea/seoul.html?sort=rates&extraSortRate=20-50%20US$
Also, just stay in love motels. They aren't that bad. |
OK, I'll look at the link. Problem with love motels is most wont let you stay for consecutive nights. You have to check in and out after a certain time each night of the weekend. That means you cannot check in Friday night, leave your stuff in the room and go around Seoul all day Saturday, come back Saturday night to sleep, and wake up Sunday and leave... You must check out by 10 on Saturday and then come back after 9 or 10pm Saturday night IF they have vacancies. That means you have to carry all of your stuff around all day which could be a pain; especially if you have a bike.
Love motels want to keep rooms vacant during the day for obvious reasons. |
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cangel
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: Jeonju, S. Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:44 am Post subject: |
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| As mentioned, these results are directed toward big business expats living a middle to upper-middle class existence in a foreign country. Total rubbish for 99.9% of all expats around the world. |
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DCJames
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:19 am Post subject: |
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I think Korea is fairly expensive if you want to live a middle class lifestyle.
English Teachers here who don't own a car, eat cheap low quality meals and have free humble housing from their employers might think Seoul is cheap, but their lifestyles are so far from what they would accept living in their home countries.
If these people wanted to live the same quality of life in Korea as they do in their home countries, they'd have to make more than twice their current salaries.
Seoul is cheap if you live like a monk. ANYWHERE is cheap if you live like a monk. 
Last edited by DCJames on Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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pest2
Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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| DCJames wrote: |
I think Korea is fairly expensive if you want to live a middle class lifestyle.
English Teachers here who don't own a car, eat cheap low quality meals and have free humble housing from their employers might think Seoul is cheap, but their lifestyles are so far from what they would accept living in their home countries.
If these people wanted to live the same quality of life in as they do in their home countries, they'd have to make more than twice their current salaries.
Seoul is cheap if you live like a monk. ANYWHERE is cheap if you live like a monk. |
This is what im sayin... And what if you dont want to drive a Korean car? Say you want to own a Chevy... cost is maybe 1/3 more. And what if you travel out of Korea regularly? Cost is maybe 1/3 more as compared to other countries in the region. What if you want to join a gym? Cost is 2x as much at least. The list for this kind of thing goes on and on...
Also, Korea is sort of like China in that customer service and product quality is sort of bad and in a more primitive stage of development -- ie its still in the 'supply stage'... But in China, cheaper quality implies cheaper prices. In Korea, most thing are of pretty cheap quality but at expensive prices...
All these things combine for us to make buying things in Korea generally undesirable. We dont pay rent. Therefore, many boast about their savings power here... but actually, the place just forces you to become miser, like it or not. Thus the real reason ppl save money in Korea. |
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pest2
Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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| ajgeddes wrote: |
| pest2 wrote: |
Seriously, tell me where I can find these cheaper hotels! That would be actually using this forum for some puropse that is not a complete waste of time.
The problem I usually have is that I take the bus to Seoul and then go around forever trying to find a non-love motely where I can stay Friday and Saturday night. After wasting alot of time doing this, I end up paying 90,000 (which is too much because even at that price the place still blows). If you guys can provide some specific place at a specific location, that would be great..... |
http://www.asiarooms.com/south_korea/seoul.html?sort=rates&extraSortRate=20-50%20US$
Also, just stay in love motels. They aren't that bad. |
So, I tried to use that site you gave me to book a hotel. Here's what happens. They block your credit card for the amount of the reservation, but dont confirm the reservation. Here's the email I got:
Your credit card was approved, and now has been blocked for the the total of 122 USD. Your credit card has not been charged, because your reservation has not yet been confirmed. We have only obtained confirmation from your credit card company that the total amount will not cause you to exceed the credit limit on your card and that funds will definitely be available if your reservation is confirmed. If we are unable to confirm your reservation, your credit card will be unblocked within three to four days. Your credit card will only be charged if and when we are able to confirm your reservation.
Confirmations normally take 24 to 48 hours, but may take longer during holiday or festival periods, weekends, busy seasons, or special events. We will notify you by E-mail as soon as your reservation is confirmed. You can check the status of your reservation request at any time by clicking here.
So, they hold your money, but they dont promise a room for at least a day. That means you may NOT have a place to stay in Seoul if you are coming from elsewhere. But you still may not have access to all your funds because of how these online booking systems work. Often, places get booked up on the weekends.. And because of that, its not very desirable to come to Seoul with out any reservation at all because you dont want to spend your entire weekend walking around looking for a place to stay....
I'll give an update on whether or not the rm was confirmed... I am still thinking its not easy to get a cheap room in Seoul (like, less than 100$ per night).
Compare that to, say, Bangkok or Shanghai -both cities that are also alot more fun - where you can walk in to almost any hotel and get a room on a weekend for less than 30$US.
Seoul blows. Its way too expensive. Not sayin Tokyo isnt more expensive.. but in the big scheme of the world, Seoul blows. |
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peacemaker
Joined: 19 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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| I never make hotel reservations when I go to Seoul. There are about 400 billion yeogwans everywhere you look. Sure, they aren't that nice, but are you really going to spend a significant amount of time sitting in your room? They are usually 40k, sometimes less, and I have never had a problem booking consecutive nights. |
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