Korean Job Discussion Forums

[swetepete]

I plan to take a job in Suncheon at a new school opening up down there. If anybody has anything to say about Suncheon, or Jeollanam-do, I'd appreciate the posts. Cheers--

[dalpengi]

If you haven�t seen it already, take a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suncheon%2C_South_Korea

That link has a photograph of Suncheon.

I wasn�t going to write as my only experiences of Suncheon are that of a tourist, but since no one else has responded to your query, I will share my impressions with you (which may not necessarily reflect the realty).

First of all, I spent most of my time in the countryside (and in some small towns), outside of Suncheon and have to admit that I have never seen a less developed part of Korea (I have been to all provinces, bar Gangwon-do � though not always necessarily long to get the full picture). And of course, when I say this, I�m comparing the rural aspects of each province.

The buses seemed to be from early 70s, and some of the places we passed through looked like they were only one small tremor from falling apart. Even my girlfriend, who is from Gyeongsangnam-do
, the neighbouring province, was surprised by what we saw.

As a result, when we entered Suncheon, it felt like being back in metropolis, though it quickly became obvious that it was (visually) just a typical, middle-sized Korean town. What�s more, it�s a relatively isolated town.

That said, the place did have its unique charm and if I were told that I have five more years to spend in Korea, I would certainly choose to spend a year in that part of the country. The Boseong green tea fields are not too far away and the landscape is impressive. The place is a little different to what I saw and hence a year there would perhaps not be a bad thing.

I know that this doesn�t help you much, but given that I enjoyed by trip there, I thought I�d just relive the memories.

[Smee]

http://wiki.galbijim.com/Suncheon


Wow, did you last visit Suncheon in 1983?

It has an entirely different feeling than Seoul or parts of Gyeonggi, and lots of people who come to smaller towns first---before experiencing Seoul---can't take it. Suncheon is a popular weekend spot for a lot of people because of shopping and nightlife. There are department stores and foreigner-friendly bars that aren't as common in Jeollanam-do. Suncheon is close to a lot of scenic and tourist areas, so it's easy to just get on a bus and go. Plus, Korea's small, so getting to Gwangju, Seoul, and Busan isn't too difficult.

I wasn't impressed with Suncheon, but that's because the so-called medium-sized cities (between 100,000 and 1,000,000 people) feel incredibly tiny to me. But everyone in my orientation group that was placed there is happy, mostly because the like having other white people around, and because they can easily travel to different spots in the area.

[dalpengi]

1983?

No, I was there in 2003 but it did feel like 1983 in certain places.

A very pretty part of Korea, though.

Gwangju is not too far away but despite being Korea�s sixth biggest city, it not the sort of place I would be heading for if I had enough of rural Korea. Busan is about three to four hours east of Suncheon.

I see that swetepete lists Bucheon as his location. I was near Bucheon in Bupyong, Incheon in 2001 and decided that for my second year in Korea I wanted to be (1) in a much smaller place and (2) far away from Seoul/Incheon. The reason for this was that I wanted to see this country from another angle. One of the job offers was from Suncheon and although I didn�t take it, given my objectives, I would�ve been reasnoably happy with the place (based on what I saw when I visited in 2003). I ended up in provincial Gyeongsangnam-do, mainly because that location did offer better access to big cites (Daegu & Busan) when I did fell like getting away.

[swetepete]

Thanks you all for the comments.

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

Suncheon's a fairly nice medium-sized city. Most of the locals are quite nice and down to Earth. The city is surrounded by mountains, rice paddies or the bay so it's a great place if you like nature. There's plenty of mountains to hike and if you get a motorbike or scooter, the surrounding countryside is beautiful and takes you back to what it must have been like in Korea 30 years ago.

The city's got a fair number of Western fast-food restaurants (McDonald's, Outback, Pizza Hut, etc.) for a city it's size and you can buy a decent selection of Western food at E-Mart, Homever or HomePlus. The local food is great and cheaper than in larger cities.

All in all, I like Suncheon but I'm more a small city person. The foreign is quite large and fairly close, a fair number of people have been here 3+ years. It seems most big city people who come here like it while they're here but move on a bigger city after one year.