Korean Job Discussion Forums

[panfilm]

After a stay of almost ten years in Central Europe, I'm pretty convinced of the need for a new experience, partly out of a desire for a few amenities that are absent hereabouts and which I have a serious craving, and because I really need a change of climate. I was wondering if a few kind souls might fill me in on a few things in this regard...

1). Does Korea feature, as a rule, fitness clubs / health clubs
a). with respectable weight rooms,
b). aerobic exercise equipment that isn't a total joke,
c). pools in which serious vigorous lap swimming is the norm,
d). have steam saunas?

..if such are not a regular feature everywhere, are there cities that do have them? Can anyone speak of the better/worse of such clubs? Or, is exercise in Korea a more or less hopeless? In lieu of American-style health clubs, are there martial arts academies / clubs that would serve exercise purposes?

2). What might be the situation with respect to outdoor activities, such as jogging, bicycling, and swimming in natural settings, such as lakes, rivers, and the seaside? Where I am presently living, the roads are as dangerous as they are absurdly inadequate for motor vehicles; road biking is a form of Russian roulette and by the looks I have gotten, a jogging is so alien that it is mistaken either for a murderer in flight or a flight from a murderer.

2). The weather / climate where I have long been living has a legendary reputation as really miserable for at least half the year, and is literally unique, a system not shared by any country to the west, south, or east. A solid gray mass seems to park itself over the whole place from December to the end of April --sometimes blue isn't visible for six, eight weeks at a stretch-- and the ground is alternately an immense sheet of ice or of slush, and the dampness fosters respiratory ailments like nobody's business.

a). Does Korea offer something different? I'd happily take much lower temps and deeper snow in exchange for the six months of shoot-myself dripping wet gray
b). Are there major differences between more northerly areas and those to the south? Between interior and coast? Between eastern and western coasts?

3). My present home had a couple decades ago been known as one of the most heavily industrialized places on earth, with ferocious pollution. The industry and its pollution is much diminished, but the heavier wheeled transport is still based on Soviet-era designs whose engines produce unbelievable clouds of dense purple exhaust, and in wintertime especially, visibility is often less than 500 meters due to the super-thick coal smoke, and although I do not smoke (anything), in winter especially I'm always hacking up black stuff. How does Korea compare?

Sorry for the verbosity, but I was hoping it might give some background...

[santafly]

Well, everything is relative and I have never been to Eastern Europe but here goes:

There are gyms everywhere in Korea (not that I've been everywhere but they are extremely common), as far as i can tell they all suck compared to what you would get in America. I work in dowtown seoul, leave nearby: the most expensive/nicest gym i could find in Seoul's financial district is 200,000 won a month (price goes down a little if you pay for longer periods of time) - it doesn't even come close to what I get at home (santa fe, new mexico) at the communtiy fitness center for $60 a month - no pool, no classes (yoga, aerobics), weight machines aren't great - just weights, a stretching area, and (if you pay double) screen golf -which koreans think is exercise. I go to a gym that is 125,000 for 3 months - it is tiny, the machines (weight/cardio) are built for midgets (I can't use some of them and I am 184cm/85kilos). It works.

there don't seem to be many pools around - My impression is that many koreans can't swim - but you can find a pool - where you will pay just as much as at my gym.

there are great saunas everywhere - they often have small gyms - but there doesn't seem to be a membership system so you would have pay 5,000 won or more for every visit. I went to one gym for a while that had a dry sauna but it pretty much sucked.

there are plenty of martial arts studios around - I haven't been inside any of them.

Outdoors: There are some nice national parks but they are ridiculously overcrowded - literally hiking in a line of people. I wouldn't swim in lakes here - this is a very densely populated country/dirty. There are plenty of decent beaches with good swimming, the water is warm (at least in the summer). I think bicycling would be an option if you are outside of a city - otherwise impractical/dangerous. There are some places to bicycle in Seoul - along the river. Jogging is totally possible - walking/hiking is very popular here - but Koreans don't jog.

My perspective is perhaps a bit skewed in this area as i am from New Mexico - which has a land area three times larger than South Korea and a population of 2 million people (concentrated in about 1/10 of the land area) - Korea has almost 50 million people. which also leads me to say that korea is quite polluted - air pollution from china. but i think outside of seoul it would not be as bad as I envision E. europe.

There is excellent granite if you climb, skiing (not good by any standard), steep/exposed hiking, paragliding (not good compared to europe). Some Koreans are really into sports so if there is something you want to do i'm sure you can hook up with others.

The weather: there are 4 seasons - summer is very humid, rainy but not terribly hot, winter is dry (very little snow) and not that cold, spring and fall are best with moderate temps and nice weather - it's a pretty standard temperate climate - reminds me of New York with a much drier winter.

Korea is one of the most homogenous countries in the world - people and environment. The mountains are small.

hope that helps

[bogey666]

so you're either in Russia or one of the countries of the FSU, probably the Ukraine or Byelorussia.

1) in most Korean cities, you should have little problem finding at least a decent gym. variety of aerobic equipment may vary but should be "ok".. and you can get a steam bath at a jimjilbang, the swimming pool will be your biggest problem

of course Seoul is the best place for variety and choice, but in most decently sized Korean cities, this shouldn't be a major issue.

2) in many cities, there will be either a bike path or a jogging park or both where you can pursue such things. A bigger issue will be whether you want to inhale the air around you in such a strenuous manner.

3) you will enjoy the weather in Korea a lot more. The winter this year has been very mild by North American standards, for e.g... and it begins to warm up in earnest by March, whereas in North America, many places stay cold and grey intil mid to late April. Fall this year was beautiful, I am looking forward to the spring. You may not like Korean summers, they're very warm and sticky but it should definitely be an improvement from Russia/FSU.

4) pollution also sucks donkey balls in Korea, some thru its own fault, other because of China which is right across the narrow Yellow Sea (which looks more like the Black Sea for the pollution you see)
BUT it may be an improvement from your current situation.

p.s. Unlike Santafly, I pay 120K for 3 months in my gym which isn't superb, but average or better, and good enough for my purposes. I also happen to have a big ass running track with a nice cushy professional surface and a bike path in my city. So.. location.. location.... location. Even within Seoul proper, location is everything.