Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deetah]

Anyone lived in Kangneun before?

Is it a good city in which to live? Things to do? Scenery? Anyone reccomend it? Why?

Anyy input would be appreciated.

[peppermint]

I visited there and it's beautiful, close to decent beaches ( great for Korea) and mountains. Can't speak for the nightlife or anything though.

[Tiger Beer]

I went there a few weeks ago.. I thought it was great.

For the same reason, beaches!!

I also really like Gangwan-do.. in my mind.. its like a cross of Colorado meets the beach.

I have no idea what living there would be like however. Could be kind of cool - mountain-accessability, the ocean, who knows.. the only negative is its quite far from any major city - at least 4 hours to get to Seoul or Daegu or Busan.

[JacktheCat]

The sea, the mountains, college girls go there on summer vacation to drink lots of soju.

What's not to like.

[jajdude]

I have not been there, but have read on this before that living and visiting are different things...

If you like small Korean towns....?

[pest2]

I went there several times last year. In some ways it's pretty much the same as every other smaller town in Korea -- same stale smell to accompany the food products in mom and pop convenience stores, things all close early, nothing to do for fun, street market selling weird foods and cheap crap you dont want to buy, not too many people speak english...

But it is in a prime location. On one side, there is a beautiful, rocky coast and a giant cruise ship on top of a mountain that serves as a hotel as well as some nifty parks with relics such as a 1960s North Korean submarine, Destroyer, and some airplane. On the other side and about 10 km to the north, there's a small town called Yang Yang from which you can drive (or bike ride) east up a 20km long serious mountain pass. Along the way there are several places to hike and a hot springs if you like that sort of thing. At the top of the pass, you can look out at the ocean far out and below... way cool...
There are buses that go from Kangneung to Yang Yang and Sokcho all the time, and there are buses from the latter places into the mountains all the ime, and there are buses from all places to Seoul all the time (its usually about 4 hours to Seoul but could be as much as 6 or 7 hours during holidays and Sunday nights.)
Or, there's a train from Kangneung to a station in North Eastern Seoul that takes about 5 hours and is definitely worth taking sometime just because the train, too, goes over some pretty cool scenery.

[white_shadow]

I'm actually here right now (or relatively close). We went to the DMZ at the unification observatory and stayed in the area for the night.

It's a great place to chill out for the summer. The weather is great, the water is cleaner, the beaches are clean and sandy. Other places of interest are the Buddhist Temples, the area by the Hanjin (?) Beach Hotel, Odaedum (?) National Park.

It's a great break from my stay in Seoul.

[white_shadow]

I have to add that some of the areas are restricted. For military or religious reasons or whatever. Shame, some of the finer beaches that I've seen in SK. That goes for some mountain areas as well. You can't fish, hike, camp or swim.

[calypso]