Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ldonevan]

I am looking into jobs in the area and I was wondering what it would be like to live in Tongyeong or Geoje. How fast can you travel between the two, is there enough to keep one busy for a while or would you be constantly traveling. I would be grateful for any insights.

[andrewchon]

You'll be living on a south coast island. Connected by a bridge to the main land. It's fishing and beach culture. If you are new to Korea, you'll have to go to Busan for R&R.

[captain kirk]

Tongyeong to Okpo, Geoje; about 30km? Around there. Fast highway.

[the ireland]

Buses flow regularly from tongyeong's new bus terminal to geoje (gohyeon). If you want to live in geoje I would recommend Gohyeon ahead of Okpo. Gohyeon has more in it, cinemas, dept store, homeplus etc etc, Okpo has lots of scottish people drinking till all hours trying to chat up filipinos etc.

Tongyeong is a nice city too, it has a few dept stores, and large scale grocery stores, but in my opinion gohyeon in geoje is the better place to live out of all the options.

[nicam]

Hmmm, if you are young and looking for things to do then I recommend you go to Busan or one of the big cities. We foreigners do have fun together here in Geoje, but almost everyone (myself included) has traveled constantly to Busan and other destinations nearly every weekend. Seriously, almost everyone I know on the island regrets coming here.

A lot of people who came here from small towns claiming to hate cities and city life are now taking contracts in Seoul and Busan. There are a few odd people who have stayed here for more than one year or two, mostly the over 50 crowd and the religious crowd (like 60% or the foreigners here are super-Jesus, so if you're super-Jesus, then you will most likely be happy here) who don't really associate with us heathens, but even some of them regret not going somewhere more lively and progressive.

Also, most of the awesome foreigners here are leaving within a couple months so I can't even vouch for the group save for a couple of people. Like I said though, there are the odd few that love it here, but if you're looking for stuff to do, or any kind of variety, then go bigger.[/list]

[sigmundsmith]

I lived in Tongyoung my first year. If you want to escape the rate race this place is for you. When I was there the number of FT's working in the different schools was about 10 (but of course that could be different). But we all managed to find each other and go out regularly and also go on trips. It's a pretty little place that is laid back and relatively friendly to foreigners.

Geoje was easy to get to - there are some good bars there that cater to foreigners. Some great restaurants as well. The number of teachers there is a lot higher but you will also meet many none teachers there as well who work for the big ship companies.

But at least once a month a trip to Busan was on the cards. Very easy to get to by bus and would take 2 hours depending on the traffic. From Geoje you can also take a boat which I believed took about 45 mins (cant remember though.

But like most one year was enough and am now in Seoul.

[nicam]

I've always wondered why there are so few FTs in Tongyeong. There are at least 30 here on Geoje, probably closer to 40, and there are also about 10 or so young shipyard workers that hang out with us as well (most of the others are much older and have families though).

Tongyeong is prettier than Geoje as far as the streets go. There's so much natural beauty in Geoje (i.e. beaches and mountains), but without a car it's hard to access (it will take you an hour by bus to get to the beach from Gohyeon and most of the foreigners came here under the impression that they'd be able to walk down to the beach from their homes, maybe even grab a beer at a hof with outdoor seating), and Gohyeon and Okpo are both pretty dumpy.

I was amazed when I went to places like Seoul and Changwon where the sidewalks were paved well and there wasn't garbage piling up in the streets in front of shanty shacks sandwiched between dingy grey Stalinist block towers. I guess this isn't the most cosmopolitan of places in Korea, and the adjumma culture and WOW, LOOK AT THE WHITE PERSON factor is pretty strong here. However, that may just be in my case because I am tall, blonde, skinny, and young, and they love that s***. Others say it's not so bad because of the shipyard foreign contingency.

Tongyeong is also a lot less isolated and more convenient to everywhere else in the country except Busan. We can ferry from Geoje to Busan in an hour or less for a higher price, it's 21,000 each way, whereas the bus is like 12,000. The ferries stop running at 6 p.m. though, which is limiting, and often on the way back you end up getting routed to Jangsangpo and it's a 20,000 cab ride back to Gohyeon. But anywhere else in the country by bus goes through Tongyeong first. It takes 30 minutes or so to get to Geoje from Tongyeong.

Another thing about Geoje is how utterly impossible it is to get to either airport. A taxi to Gimhae will cost you 150,000 and it will take 2 1/2 hours. By bus is longer with the transfers and is a headache in general. You can ferry to Busan, taxi to the hotel, and get a shuttle, but any way you slice it it's a pain. Forget about Incheon... 4+ hours.

Geoje and Tongyeong are both places where people need to have cars IMHO. The Koreans who ride buses here are either over 60, under 18, or drunk, and it can be tough to get a taxi with waits as long as 30 minutes in the dead of winter. It's like living in the distant suburbs of any city without a car. Not desirable, and you wouldn't do it unless you were were in some dire situation. If I had to do this year here over again I would have bought a cheap car right off the bat. My friends who have say it's been worth every dime and they actually saved money with what they would have spent on public transportation. I think having a car here seriously improves your life.

Hope that helps, OP.

[HapKi]