Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

I did a good one in Thailand years ago. I got on a bus and ended up in the wrong province, an hour or so minutes from where I wanted to be. It took a while, a taxi and a bit of cash to get it right.

Did a good one in Taiwan too. Intending to go into Taipei from the sticks, ended up an hour away still. Convinced the driver who was kind enough to take me there.

I have done it in Korea a few times. Recently was a simple drunk one. I just went to the wrong building, next to my own, but I am new here. I went up and put the key in, and wondered, hmmm, what's going on?

I took a bus to Yongin, wait, Suwon, ah, hell, too late, wrong one.

I actaully have better stories as a kid near my hometown, but let's hear your foreign country escapades.

[Qinella]

Well I have gotten lost on my moped a few times. First major incident was when I tried to drive from where I live (balsan 발산역) to Dangsan (당산역). I ended up in Mapo somehow. Went out for drinks, ended up back at my bike around 3am. Drove around for 3 hours until I finally got to my place by complete coincidence of driving past it and shouting for glee, "Oh, that's mine!!!!" I was all over the place in SW Seoul that morning.

Most recent occurrence was when I tried to drive to Costco. I missed the left turn, and the road I was on morphed into a 고속도로. Any driver knows what I'm talking about. Minimum speed is 80kph and my bike's max speed is 70. Gulp. I kept hoping for a break or something where I could turn left, but no such luck. I stayed steady for about 30 minutes until I decided to hang a right and try my luck at getting back on the other direction via an overpass. In all, the 15 minute ride took me about 2 hours. That sucked ass big time.

[jajdude]

As a kid, my best one was one day when I was 13 or 14 I went into the woods on the highway, looking for my friend who went fishing out there somewhere, and damn if Blair Witch didn't scare me on this, I wandered for I don't know how long, 7 or 9 hours, tired, wet, walking through water, freaked out youngster, until I saw light, streets, highway. Got on highway, walked 2 more hours home, exhausted, rejoiced.

(It was the weekend, but mom wondered why I got home at 1 or 2 am)

[trinity24651]

[jajdude]

[Banana Bender]

I've got one.

Played a game of baseball in Namwon and we all stopped off for a drink on the way home to Suncheon. Some how they didn't realize I was missing when they drove the 45 minutes back. ( I thought they were playing some crazy game and were parked around the corner . No such luck )
I had no phone and the phones only accepted cards. Eventually contacted the team via the police and let them know where I was.
Long story short , it still comes up in dinners with a chuckle from everyone.
God, did I feel abandoned that day.

BB

[Grimalkin]

I went on a school trip one time which involved a week of 'adventure activities'.


One day we were doing orienteering, so early in the morning we were dropped off in pairs at various locations with a compass and a map and instucted to find our way back to camp.


At nine o' clock that evening my partner and I were were still making our way back when much to our suprise we bumped into a search party looking for us. Apparently all the other groups had arrived back between 12-1pm. When we still hadn't arrived back by six pm search parties were organised and sent out looking for us. We hadn't even realised we were lost until we were found.


It turned out we had spent the whole day going exactly in the opposite direction to the one we should have been going in.

[Novernae]

My husband has the worst sense of direction (which is especially funny because he was one of the best cab drivers in our city for awhile). When we lived in Argentina we went to the market every day to buy food for lunch. This market was exactly 3 blocks to the right and 3 blocks up. We walked over one block, up one block, over, up, over, and up everyday for 3 months. One day I had to run an errand and left him to find his way home on his own... even reminded him exactly how to get there. He ended up about 15 blocks in the opposite direction and was lucky enough to run into one of our roommates.

[RACETRAITOR]

I rode my scooter from Suwon to Hongdae when I moved up there after my first year. On the way up I saw a sign for Siheung. Knowing it's one of the southernmost train stations in Seoul, I headed for it. I found myself out in the countryside halfway to Inchon.

Other than that, I don't get lost in this country.

[hogwonguy1979]

Our first year we were living in Gongju and went to Daejeon for the day. Well going back to Gongju we get to the east inter city terminal, buy tickets for Gongju and proceed to the platform where the bus to Gongju left from and got on the bus not bothering to look at signs on the bus or at the platform.

Well the bus pulls out and gets on the expressway, wife is asleep so she doesnt know and I go "hmmm this is a different way to get there..." well the bus keeps going on the expressway and I realize something is terribly wrong. I try and ask the driver where this bus was headed and that he missed the turnoff for Gongju, he blows me off and nobody else speaks english so here we are on a bus not knowing where we are going.

Well the bus finally winds up in Jeongup south of Jeonju about 90 minutes later. We barely have enough money to get the last bus back to Daejeon and make it back to get the last bus to Gongju with about 1000 won left in our pockets, these were the days you had to go to your bank to hit the ATM not any atm.

Lesson is read the signs on the bus and on the signs at the bus terminal and if you are not sure ask the driver before the bus leaves

[daskalos]

I guess my favorite lost story took place in my own country, the US, and isn't even about being actually lost. I'd been to lots of places in Asia and several places in Southern Europe and North Africa, and had had my share of "How did I get here and where am I" moments. Wrong train, poor communication with taxi drivers, that sort of thing.

So, I'm visiting Boston for the weekend for the first time from where I lived in Maine, and I've got a new boyfriend with me. We drove there, parked the car at the hotel and, armed with a map, we set out walking to a club we wanted to go to. And this guy started getting fritzy about where we were and where we were going and how to find it. I tried to get him not to worry, but it wasn't working and he finally, almost in tears, said, "What if we get lost?"

Lost? We're in America, where all the street signs are in English, and we have a map. It is impossible for us to get lost. Especially since we're walking and don't have to deal with any one-way streets or confusing round-abouts.

But then, I guess I set the bar for "lost" differently than he did. To me, lost is not knowing where I am OR how to get to someplace I know. Anything else for me is just being somewhere I've never been before on my way to some other place. And by that standard, I guess the last time I was lost was walking home from school for the first time in the first grade, in a new neighborhood, and missing the cross street I needed to turn right on. I wandered and doubled back and forth for about an hour, crying, sure I'd never see home again and that I'd be in trouble if I ever did, when our car pulled up and my mother rescued me. And I didn't even get in trouble.

[twg]

I had that problem with my plane crashing on that island once, but my volleyball helped me escape.

[The Great Toad]

In a time ago when I was a Crusader Stormtrooper for the Empire I became lost in the deepest Blackness of the Kuwait NIght. Of Course in Kuwait we Marines got all the Best hi-tec gear infrared goggles night vision goggles being one of these. Truth be told some very sick Marines would laugh and try to watch themselves unpants while they quickly entertained themselves for there turn at watch. It is then hardly an assumption that Marines on watch would also entertain themselves by peering out and observing the night time shower and sheeting of their fellows.

With this in mind I grabbed my canteens, teepee, soap, clean change of clothes, etool and obligatory rifle (#6039065) and determined to hike for at least a mile from the company position foiling all spy attempts on my bare arse and sand mixing. I was successful I assume- though I later learned that tanks could see you wayyyy off in infrared.

The problem was I had lost my way and could not figure out where the other Marines were... Luckily every half hour or so some jeep or track started up their vehicle to charge the battery (they had to leave the power on for the radios) So, I ended up sprinting as fast as I could toward the faint rumble of the engines. Keep in mind NO light was permitted, not even smoking - to mark our position. And the Kuwait Stars are so bright above because there are no cities to drown them. On my way there I spoke with a strange group of Kuwaits in a car- who I allowed to pass, They were traveling on the road jammed in a Mercedes... When I did finally get back I was sweaty from sprinting toward the sounds- but at least I had shaved and left my mark on the Sands of Kuwait. Now getting lost in Seoul is mildly amusing but never really upsetting as no leader has power over me or foe the idea to kill me...

[Tobacco Dreams]

My very own best lost-and-found story:

I was about 7 or 8 years old.

We'd gone to Disneyland.

Somehow, on Tom Sawyer's Island, I found myself venturing forth, exploring, finding out all kinds of new adventures . . .

and at some point became aware that my mother wasn't sharing the fun. Where was she? Well, never mind . . .

When she finally caught up with me, she was beside herself. I'd been lost! she exclaimed.

This made no sense to me. I'd been roaming, venturing, having great fun.

Where had SHE been all that time?

In retrospect, yes, I can see clearly now that *I* was the one lost at the time; but it sure didn't seem that way then . . .

[Bondrock]

love your avatar!