Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Muskoka's Own]

So I thought I had it narrowed down to Seoul/Busan to live in (leaning towards Busan) but then I just got a message from a friend of mine saying she just got to Bucheon and loves it. Apparently it is a beautiful city and everyone there says it is THE place to go. What do people on here think? Is it a nice place? Is it a fun place with lots of English-speakers? Is it easy to travel to places like Seoul and Busan from there? Is there a lot to do after work (sports, drinking etc.)

[blurgalurgalurga]

Bucheon is ok, depending on what you like and what part of town you're in.

Busan is a million times cooler though. Bucheon has no beaches.

I don't think Bucheon is beautiful but it's a mostly residential city so there are loads of big apartments and lots of new office-tel type places...an officetel is a one room apartment, usually with a loft, sometimes as high as 20 stories but usually around 15 or so. Lots of these are very comfortable and not too bad at all. Others are too small or noisy. Some let you up on the roof; this is a key point in my mind.

There's tons of foreigners there, if you like that sort of thing. There's about a million Koreans too.

It's easy to get to Seoul--buses and subways can get you to most parts of the city within an hour, pretty much no matter where you are in Bucheon. Rush hour, if you're busing, may add some time to this figure. Busan is easy to get to as well, but it ain't that fast--if you want to take the fast train from Seoul it's maybe a little under four hours if I remember correctly.

There are many gyms of various types--standard, posh, boxing, various other martial arts, and that sort of thing. I bet it wouldn't be hard to find a group of people to play soccer with, as far as group sports go. But, it's about 40 or 50 minutes from Bucheon Station to downtown Seoul, so finding people to play with should never be that tough.

There are a couple of popular bars to drink in. Rythym and Booze is good. They've got big screen Wii and pool and darts and lots of foreigners of varying descriptions favor it. Good food too. That's in Sang-Dong, a newish subdivision of Bucheon. Jung-Dong is right there too--loads of hagwons around there. It may well be that's where your job is.

Amenities are a-plenty.

Bupyong is close too, and that is the most fun part of Incheon, by most accounts. Incheon is big-about four million people--so it can be a cheaper option than going all the way to Seoul, to make some new friends. The Goose Goose is a good representative boozer's bar in Bupyong; some people had bad childhood experiences there and will bad-mouth the place, but don't listen. Goose Goose is solid and consistent and the drinks are cheap. There's a few other half decent bars in that area too.

If you go boozing in Seoul, the last subway back to Bucheon is maybe 1130 or so, and the last buses are shortly after that; a taxi is probably required if you feel you need to go home. That'd be about 40 000 won or so, maybe a bit less depending on traffic and depending on where in Seoul you are. Seoul is of course pretty big, though, so best to bear that in mind when you go out for late nights.

But--beautiful? Hmmm. I'd reserve that adjective for some other parts of Korea, where the air isn't quite so brown and the architecture quite so prosaic.

Fun enough place to do a year or two though.

Busan is funner and funkier by a factor of four, I'd say--but, even at four million people, gets to feeling kinda small, I thought.

Hope that helps!

[thomas pars]

depends on what you like really. But i have been here for almost 2 years and it is a decent town.

The good:

It is newer and cleanish for Korea.
It is quiet more or less.
There are smaller mountians that are good for hiking.
There are soem good bars in and around town
And also some good gyms, and martial arts studios.

The bad.

It is a smaller suburb lacking in certain resources.
That being said it is on par price wise with the larger cities.
So you still get charged big city prices without all the conviences.
You may have a bigger officetell or villa, but your pay is pretty much what you wuold get in the city.
I guess if your thing is getting drunk at waygookin bars then your weekends will be full. But for me i find myself taking weekend trips to the country, the city, etc.
It's not a bad place. Do a year and see how she fits.

[espoir]

I was going to respond in a longer post but Blurg summed things up perfectly.

Although i am one of those dissenters against goose goose, I'd prefer N's pub in Bupyeong to goose, but to each their own.

[blurgalurgalurga]

Yeah, there are some legitimate reasons to dislike the old Goose (smokey, subterranean, too many hosebag waygookin, not the best menu, etc.), no doubt, but in my case I overlook all of them because the Boss is such a great dude. Pretty unpretentious place, too, and thought here have been some fairly obnoxious regulars in the past (and maybe now too) it's still a solidly reliable local boozer, and big enough so you can be there simultaneous with people you don't like and still never need to rub elbows.

Kyu-yong, the R and B guy, is pretty cool too. My only beef with that place is that it's LOUD. I figure pubs should be pubs and nightclubs be nightclubs, and I like both styles--but on gig nights at R and B, it's a shouting-only kind of scene. For a few hours, anyway.
But to be fair, a lot of people like that, so (shrug).

Hey, regarding Bucheon--did they ever get that indoor ski hill going?

[espoir]

Yea its up and running. And I definately agree with you on the whole R&B music thing. Somethimes it is way too loud!! I know numerous times I've had to take my drinks and my conversations out into the hall. But all around it is a good place (and the only place now that FX is closed), just need to turn the music down a bit.