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Help choosing a fabulous city to live in?
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jennad



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:02 pm    Post subject: Help choosing a fabulous city to live in? Reply with quote
I'm in the process of moving to Korea, and I'm still researching different cities. I'm leaning more towards the south, and but I'm definitely open to anywhere. Can anyone give me advice on where to live? Subjective, I know, but I'll give a list of things I'm looking for:

-Big enough that I can meet other Westerners
-Not so big that I'm fighting traffic/crowds all of the time (so probably not Seoul)
-Not a concrete jungle--I want some greenery, easy access to hiking/outdoors
-Clean air
-Being near water, either a river or ocean, would be ideal, but not absolutely necessary

Thanks for your help!
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jonah47



Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Location: San Jose, CA
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I would give Busan a look over although maybe a little too large for you.
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Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida



Joined: 27 Oct 2006
Location: Not Korea
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Busan is best. Daegu is dire.
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sirius black



Joined: 04 Jun 2010
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ulsan and Pohang get a little stick about the clean air but its not as bad as some claim. Not as big as Busan 1 million and 600k respectively but both on the ocean with beaches, tight knit foreigner communities as well, both within a couple hours of Busan (as well as Daegu) and plenty of hiking and greenery. Busan is great but also has some urban sprawl as well and can be congested within the city proper so just outside of Busan may tick off the boxes for your list.
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jennad



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the tips. I was actually looking into Daegu....why is it dire?

Has anyone heard anything about Yeosu or Geoje? My friend just got a job on Geoje Island and it looks pretty cool.
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willteachforfood



Joined: 24 Jan 2011
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
If you are looking for a "fabulous" place to live then you will want to look at a different country. You will be able to find a reasonable place to live here, but there is not a single city in this country that qualifies as "fabulous".

I think that Yeosu might just qualify for your other criteria, however. If you like nature/hiking then you'll be much happier down south. Jeollanam-do is way better to live in than Gyeonggi-do, and Gangwon-do is too cold and too scarcely populated. You will meet plenty of westerners in Yeosu and it's big enough to have all of the basics (shopping, restaurants, cinemas, etc.), plus Suncheon is just up the road with more options and lots of foreigner bars.

Koreans love concrete, so for the most part every city is pretty similar, and architecturally mostly depressing....so if you want nature you should live in a smaller town and buy yourself a vehicle to get out of town on the weekends.
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jennad



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
willteachforfood wrote:
If you are looking for a "fabulous" place to live then you will want to look at a different country. You will be able to find a reasonable place to live here, but there is not a single city in this country that qualifies as "fabulous".

.


Thanks for the realistic, albeit depressing information. I realize that Korea is Korea--I'm not expecting the French Riviera or Tuscan countryside--I'm just looking for a great place to live that suits my needs.

Thanks for the info on Yeosu! Where did you/do you live in Korea?
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willteachforfood



Joined: 24 Jan 2011
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jennad wrote:
willteachforfood wrote:
If you are looking for a "fabulous" place to live then you will want to look at a different country. You will be able to find a reasonable place to live here, but there is not a single city in this country that qualifies as "fabulous".

.


Thanks for the realistic, albeit depressing information. I realize that Korea is Korea--I'm not expecting the French Riviera or Tuscan countryside--I'm just looking for a great place to live that suits my needs.

Thanks for the info on Yeosu! Where did you/do you live in Korea?


I live up north now, but I have lived in a couple of the medium-sized Jeollanam-do cities....not Yeosu, but similar to. I have been to Yeosu and it was nice enough, within the context of Korea.

I didn't mean to sound depressing....Korean cities actually are improving, but for the most part city planning and architecture here is appalling compared to the developed world. Korea, in many ways, is still a developing country. Economically and infra-structurally they are developed, but in many other ways they are not even close to the level of development that you find in Europe/North America/Australasia...not even close...and don't let any of these Korea-maniacs tell you otherwise....even with current trends changing, this country is chock full of communist style concrete block apartment buildings that look more like the USSR in the 80s than the "thriving Asian hub" that Korea wishes to portray itself as.

All that being said...this is an interesting enough place to live for a couple of years, and there is enough to see/do here to keep you busy for that time frame....after a couple years, however, life in Korea definitely becomes less and less "fabulous" as you put it.
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Everything kind of looks the same.
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willteachforfood



Joined: 24 Jan 2011
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
northway wrote:
Everything kind of looks the same.


The south IS nicer, though. It's less polluted (still polluted of course, but less), and the countryside is more interesting to explore (if you have your own vehicle, a MUST in Korea).

I think that the most important thing with regards to happiness in Korea is finding good friends. If you've got at least 3-4 proper friends then you'll have fun here, but if you live somewhere that's too small to make friends then there just isn't enough that is magical about this country to make you enjoy it on your own.
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Mariella713



Joined: 22 May 2010
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I really like Daejeon. Parks, rivers and hiking oppurtunities in abundance. Less crowded than Seoul and less polluted. You can be sure to bump into foreigners in any Holly's Coffee or Dunkin Doughnut's (btw I prefer the foreigners in Daejeon to Seoul, they're more friendly in my experience ahem). Only about 1 hour to Seoul by train, if that aswell.
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