Korean Job Discussion Forums

[maddog]

For those of you who have lived in Seoul and decided to try another city or town, do you regret it or not? Have any of you moved back to Seoul, or have done the opposite and moved even deeper into the sticks.

I've been in Daegu for 6 months and I bitterly regret leaving Seoul. My vision of Daegu was a city similar to Seoul was with less pollution, traffic, etc. How wrong I was.

It's every bit as polluted, and the heat/humidity actually makes it worse. International cuisine is hard to find, the night life is shite, and the people are rude.

Also, I thought I'd save more money in Daegu. But because I go to Seoul so often, and go nuts when I do, I actually save less.

I have six months to go in this arm-pit of a city and it can't go quickly enough.

Rant over
MD

[blurgalurgalurga]

I'm pretty happy where I am now. I miss Seoul and definitely over-do it when I go back there but right now I can hear four different kinds of birds honking away outside my office window, and there is actually more greenery in the surrounding area than there is grey-ery or brown-ery.
I'd go crazier than a toilet rat if I couldn't go away for one or two weekends a month though.

[nicholas_chiasson]

I've been to Seoul 4 or 5 times in the 9 months I've been here. I hate the place. If I move to a city next contract with more than 45,000 I'll be happy. I'm glad I didn't start in Seoul, it will always be there if I need it, and I'd hate to get attached. I prefer the Busan vibe.
-My friend lives in Daegu, and I was not impressed.

[Draz]

Did you research the place at all before moving there? One day trip was all I needed to know I would never live in Daegu.

[kiwiduncan]

I'm in Yeosu at the moment and I'm looking forward to getting back to Seoul or at least being in a place nearby (even Chuncheon is only an hour and a half away from Seoul).

Yeosu's got its good points in terms of lovely scenery, beaches and clean air but I really miss the diversity and variety in Seoul. Yeosu people are quite friendly too, but I've always felt that Seoul has some pretty friendly people too and, very importantly to me, it has a far wider range of people who are into green issues, different ways of thinking, activism and so on.

And despite the air pollution and overcrowding, I found the mountain biking in and near Seoul was much better than down here, where there's basically no-one to ride with.

[Newbie]

I lived in Seoul for 2 years. Moved to Daegu to be near the wifey's family. There was no real choice in the matter, but MAN how I miss Seoul. When I take trips up there I'm just blown away by the buzz, electricity, excitement, and variety (compared to the hole that is Daegu). I get super giddy when I take the KTX up.

My biggest problem with Daegu is those 3 dirty little Western bars downtown - the ones that are pretty much replicas of the Toronto bars I snuck into when I was 16 . Always have the same 30 frickin people in them every night. (yes, I'm a bit of a snob). Shouldn't complain too much though. Becoming a famliy man has cut down the hours I've had to find better places to drink. Sadly, the odd time I do go out with the co-workers, we end up at one of those dirty places.

[matthews_world]

Seoul is way too fast-paced and expensive. I love the smaller towns and cities around Korea.

I loved my time in Daegu. There are some ethnic foods downtown. Very easy to get to Seoul from there or any other town by train.

Cities around Korea are slowly improving their construction, infrastructure, amenities and services.

I doubt I'll go back to Seoul unless I got married or somethin'.

[SarcasmKills]

I figure once you have lived in Seoul you can never truly be happy anywhere else in Korea.. everywhere else is a step back..

All these people talk about living by mountains and beaches - but being happy because they can easily get to Seoul whenever they want...

Yet, living in Seoul and being to access these mountains and beaches whenever you want is even better... Seoul is better in everyway - entertainment, food, convenience-wise, etc.. etc...

The only people who are truly happy to not live in Seoul are those who have never lived here... and those who hate it based on their short visits only hate it because they only go the same districts over and over again...

the end.

[spliff]

Rural Korea is better for your Soul.

[Chris_Dixon]

i couldn't handle Seoul, its a crazy place....way to busy for me. I'm actually in Daegu, don't mind it at all. Its all about the people you surround yourself with i reckon. I do miss international cuisine though, as it is abit limited here.

I am looking at moving to Busan for a future contract, but got the missus to consider.

[ajgeddes]

I couldn't imagine living outside of Seoul or the suburbs around Seoul. I have visited quite a few places and they are fun to visit, but I wouldn't want to live in them. The only city which I didn't really like was Daegu.

[Davew125]

after spending 7 months in Seoul i couldnt wait to get away from the pollution, traffic, crowded streets/transport and rude people. I now live in Changwon, it s a much 'nicer' city though in most places still just as ugly as Seoul. theres many more trees and parks and we even have a lake.....pond near my 'house'....you cant even see any tower blocks from where i live!! theres pretty much everything you want here but im lucky cause im here with my girlfriend, on my own and i think id be very bored. Was in Seoul for the weekend just gone and had a great time and spent a fortune. id forgotten how great it is to have access to so many different and wonderful types of restaurant, the shopping in general is much better as well. it made me wonder if it was Seoul i hated or just the area i lived in (Suyu) i think it was probably the latter.....but what can you do? I think i'm probably happier here but the lack of variety in the food does get me down on occasion.

[Benicio]

My first year was in Seoul.
It was a good to start my Asia experience there. I saw and did a lot, but after a year, I felt I was done with the place.
Next was a small village near Chungju, Choongchungbuk-do.
That was small town hell! I hated it and went up to Seoul at least once a month.
8 months later, I moved down to Busan and have been here for 9 years.
It's something about the sea air. I love Busan far more than I ever liked Seoul.
It's a big city, which I like, but it's not a bohemoth rat race like Seoul.
I like the people here better, too. They're much friendlier- expat crowd included.
Seoul is not bad to visit for restaurants and nightlife, but that's about it.
As I've always said, if I was gonna move back to Seoul for the restaurants and nightlife, I would just move to another country which had way better restaurants & nightlife.
Busan is my favorite place in Korea.
I've been to Daegu a few times and I have to say I'm not impressed with the place. I've met very few who are.
I have no real desire to live in Seoul again, but if it were between that and a dull country town, I'd have to go for Seoul

[asylum seeker]

I was down in Busan last weekend and I was pretty impressed. It had most of the kinds of international restaurants you could find in Seoul but with the major added bonus of having a decent beach (Haeundae) right near the main center. The attitude of the people down there seemed somewhat more relaxed and friendly than the Seoulites too.

[sunnyvale]

Everyone's saying how easy it is to get to Seoul from whatever backwoods outpost they're teaching at... The same goes the other way, it's also easy to get to your small town from Seoul, so I wouldn't consider that good argument.

If you want to live near Seoul but don't want the huge crowds of pushy people I'd recommend either Bundang or Ilsan.