Korean Job Discussion Forums

meb125 · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Location: Seoul

I will be teaching by Suwon station soon and I was wondering if there are any good places to go out for drinks or for meeting new people. If there are no good places i will head up to Anyang or into Seoul. Any help would be useful as this is my first time living in Suwon, I was in pyeongchon my last teaching year so I am quite familiar with Anyang City. Thanks.

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

I'm moving to Suwon in the new year, and have similar questions (will post more details elsewhere)..

I was over there last week and, although I didn't stay for the weekend, it was pretty quiet (at least where I went).

mog · Joined: 06 May 2004

I may go to Suwon to visit Hwaseong. One of my students wants me to go out there. Maybe in January or February.

Emu Bitter · Joined: 27 May 2004 Location: Bundang

I'm an ex Suwonite & in my time IngyeDong & Namun(not sure of the spelling) were the nightlife places with plenty of foreigners to be found. Namun is pretty close to the station.
I think YeongtongDong might be the place now but someone living there now would know better than me.

dnamkung · Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Location: Victoria British Columbia

i currently live in suwon...

the places for foreigners to hang out --- mostly nammun and yongton

I'm an exchange student at ajou university, and there are plently of nice little bars in the area and tons of foreign exchange students wandering about. There are some english teachers as well.

As far as true "foreigner bars" go, i haven't really stumbled into any.. my friend and i tried to go to this place called mad dog's in yongton. We got a lead that it was supposed to one of the busier foreigner bars in town but we were quite disappointed with the joint. Not a single foreigner there! We went on a saturday night and apparently it's fridays when it's busy.. We did however see a few foreigners wandering the streets in that hood.

good luck!
If there's any good events i'll post em up..

-dave

qwunk89 · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

well, i just moved back to Suwon after living here in 2001, and it seems as though things have changed quite a bit. i think that everyone goes to Yongtong-dong now as it has developed into a kind of consolidated Bundang-like area. people don't seem to head to Ingaedong (the area by Galleria) much anymore. Suwon station was remodeled recently so that has probable become a more popular area. also, Namun might still be a popular area, and like another poster said is very close to Suwon Station, although i haven't been there in ages. i remember a lot of teachers used to go a bar called J.D. Mahoneys in Namun (or maybe it was J.W. Mahoneys). i do know that a lot of foreigners go to a bar in Yongtong-dong right by the gate to Kyung-hee University, but it's a little hard to find. you have to go down this semi-shady side street to the right of the gate if your facing it and then it will be on your left as you get to the bottom of the hill. people call it the rock or pool bar, but the sign is in korean and the name is �� something and it has a pool table in it; also it's in the basement. it's a kind of hole in the wall, but it will be filled with teachers getting hammered on friday night. i think there's a dance floor too. hope this is the info. you are looking for.

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

I_Am_Wrong · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: whatever

I don't think he's talking about Maddogs because that bar is close to the HomePlus but Kyeung Hee is in a different area of Yong-ton altogether. Yongton is a very modern part of Suwon and the people tend to be very nice and more westernized. There is also supposed to be an enormous club in Yongton but I've never been so I can't verify it.

Seoul Station and Migliore are always very busy Friday and Saturday night but those tend to be more for the department store crowd. The area around Galleria is still pretty busy on the Weekends and there is an area that appears to have several Western style bars (and a small coffee shop that makes rad bagels and mochas for cheap) but I've never been to any of these bars.

Nammun is by far my favourite place to go in Suwon and is a common place for Korean university students, english teachers, and university exchange students to hang out at. There are lots of bars and basement clubs here. They also have some good hip-hop nights at some of these places. There is a jazz club with live jazz that is also worth a check out. I've also found an underground music/cafe/pseudo art fag hangout in Nammun (I noticed they had a picture of Che in their window)

Hwaseon (located around Nammun) is definitely something that should not be missed. An enormous city wall that stretches for several kilometeres this place is rad and I've been there several times.

Mansuk Park---located close to Suwon World Cup Stadium---this is an enormous park with a man made lake and a paved path that people roller blade/bike/walk around. There is a skateboard park here, basketball hoops, tennis courts, soccer fields etc. etc etc. A good place to spend a nice Sunday afternoon.

Korea Folk Village is located about 30 minutes outside of Suwon and is definitely a recommendation for a day visit. See how average Korean life was over a hundred years ago (complete with Korean elders that do the work of days gone by on site). This is an enormous village that shows how life was for peaseants all the way up to the elite. There is traditional Korean snacks, crafts, lunch/dinner, and games. You can also see a traditional Korean wedding procession. There is also a "farmer's dance" performance that has a fantastic combination of traditional drumming and dancing. This place also has the craziest tight rope walker you'll ever see....

Damn, I should work for the Suwon tourist board.
I've only been here for three months but I'm still exploring this place. I'm finding that there is a lot more here than what appers on the surface (or what people from Seoul give it credit) and that Lonely Planet really needs to do a proper update. Anyone in Suwon or coming to Suwon is always welcome to PM me and we'll go for barbeque and soju/mekju. Peace.

Zyzyfer · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:22 am Post subject:

Patong Dong · Joined: 06 May 2003 Location: On Nut

I lived in Yongtong for over a year and although some events like a pub night are held at Mad Dogs the pool bar near the uni. is the foreigner hangout on a friday night. The big club is Dream Tower and for a night at a huge Korean disco it's fine. Only did it once though.