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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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 Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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Sokcho might be worth keeping on your radar.
I was sitting on the beach yesterday admiring the dramatic mountain backdrop. |
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Menino80
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Location: Hodor?
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| Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Korea is a lot of things, but fabulous it most certainly isn't. All the cities feel smaller than they actually are b/c of the unnecessary population density, so Busan is probably your best bet. |
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West Coast Tatterdemalion
Joined: 31 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| In all my years living in Korea and all the cities that I have visited here, there is nothing "dynamic" about one city over another. They all have the same feel, the same restaurants, same people with the same physical features. as for the architecture, is it very Confucian. Which is that it is rigid and lacking variety. The apartment complexes here are appalling and a blight. I just don't see it changing in the future. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| West Coast Tatterdemalion wrote: |
| The apartment complexes here are appalling and a blight. I just don't see it changing in the future. |
The apartment complexes aren't too pretty, I agree, but they are a necessity in a small-ish country that is 70% mountainous and a population of 50,000,000. There's just no other way.
To the OP, I would agree with some previous posters that the right job is much more important than where to live.......my personal opinion is that Seoul is the best choice for a first year in Korea. If you can't settle in in Seoul then you won't really have much of a chance anywhere else in Korea. |
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Space Cowboy
Joined: 27 Mar 2010
Location: On the blessed hellride
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| Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:32 pm Post subject: Re: Help choosing a fabulous city to live in? |
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| jennad wrote: |
-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
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I also vote for Daejeon here, as long as you don't mind the pitiful trickles they refer to as "rivers" here. I've been to Seoul, Daegu, and Busan, and I have to say that Daejeon is better laid out, has cleaner air, and also has more green space -- although it's still full of those much-maligned apartment blocks. The other posters that had positive things to say about its convenience (it's located at the intersection of two major railways) were correct. My main complaint is that it doesn't have as much to offer in the way of old Korea; you won't find a big beautiful structure like Changdeokgung or Dongdaemun in the middle of town...although we do have a schmidt ton of hot spring spas. |
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jennad
Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks all for your useful and informative replies!! So much to research and so many good ideas 
From what I'm reading, it sounds like most Korean cities contain those ugly apartment complexes--I'll get used to it. I am looking for a place that does have more of a historical feel to it than ultra modern though. Rich in history, culture while offering modern conveniences.
While I haven't been to Korea (so I can't speak from experience) I'm a little skeptical of those who are saying all Koran cities are the same. I'm sure that's true to an extent, but it sounds a bit cynical to me.
Does anyone have an opinion on living on any of the islands? |
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jennad
Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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| sallymonster wrote: |
How about Ilsan? It's a nice upscale planned city with a big lake park, and close enough to Seoul that you can go there when you feel the need for the big city.
If you'd rather live in the south near the coast, I've heard good things about Changwon, which is a another planned city about an hour from Busan. |
In regards to planned cities in Korea....well, I know nothing about them, but I imagine they would have a more sterile, less "old Korea" feel to them. Do you know about how many planned cities exist in S. Korea? |
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FastForward
Joined: 04 Jul 2011
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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| sallymonster wrote: |
How about Ilsan? It's a nice upscale planned city with a big lake park, and close enough to Seoul that you can go there when you feel the need for the big city.
If you'd rather live in the south near the coast, I've heard good things about Changwon, which is a another planned city about an hour from Busan. |
Any more info on this city? Good public transportation? Things to do? How long does it take to get to Seoul. Was thinking about this location, but not too much info on it. |
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marsavalanche
Joined: 27 Aug 2010
Location: where pretty lies perish
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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| daegu and daejeon great cities? LMFAO. spoken like a hanbok wearing weigook who has never been to any other asian countries |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
| West Coast Tatterdemalion wrote: |
| The apartment complexes here are appalling and a blight. I just don't see it changing in the future. |
The apartment complexes aren't too pretty, I agree, but they are a necessity in a small-ish country that is 70% mountainous and a population of 50,000,000. There's just no other way.
To the OP, I would agree with some previous posters that the right job is much more important than where to live.......my personal opinion is that Seoul is the best choice for a first year in Korea. If you can't settle in in Seoul then you won't really have much of a chance anywhere else in Korea. |
Of all the cities in Korea Seoul is the least 'Korean' city of them all.
More foreigners, more people who speak English and more services in English then anywhere else. |
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Modernist
Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Location: The 90s
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| I am looking for a place that does have more of a historical feel to it than ultra modern though. |
This is pretty funny. The concept of historic architecture, intact and preserved, in Korea? The only old houses that still exist are the ones they haven't gotten around to demolishing yet, and those will be sure to have a horrible blue plastic roof stuck on top.
A huge chunk of Korea's building stock was destroyed beyond repair in the Korean War. The vast majority of structures everywhere in the country are post-1953, slathered in either that once-shiny, now-grimy rectangular ceremic tile [1960s-1970s] or that almost-worse cheap Chinese gray granite [1980s-now]. That they all have hyper-fashionable boutiques and cafes on the first couple of floors does not change the characterless, junk design of the actual building.
Beyond this, because Korea was never colonized by a Western power, it has almost nothing in the way of charming, well-built structures in fashionable European styles of the 1880s-1920s, especially compared to Shanghai with its Bund, Singapore, Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok, or almost any city in India. The Koreans were colonized by Japan, and they weren't interested in building much. Besides Seoul Station, the City Hall, a few old churches, the odd bank in Jongno, a couple of hospitals, what else? Nothing.
Look at Seoul. Despite its wealth, where are the beautiful buildings? Where are the charming, attractive neighborhoods like Beijing has? They don't exist. There's no historic urban fabric in Korea, except for the locked-in-amber grounds of the big temple complexes.
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| The apartment complexes aren't too pretty, I agree, but they are a necessity in a small-ish country that is 70% mountainous and a population of 50,000,000. There's just no other way. |
Apartment buildings may be necessary, but they DO NOT have to look as vile as Korean developers choose to make them. That is just about money, the cheapest possible designs. Look at China, Japan, HK, Singapore. Singapore's population density is much higher than Korea, but they would never accept such numbers of such ugly buildings. My God, even Russia does better buildings than this today. It's just another example of Korea wanting to play at being world-class, but cheaping out when they see the bill. |
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tomstar86
Joined: 09 May 2009
Location: Daegu, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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Daegu! Really friendly expat community, pedestrianised city centre, lots of great bars & restaurants, fairly central location to the rest of Korea.
Busan's sprawled out everywhere, revolves around a 2nd-rate beach, and can get horribly crowded.
As others have mentioned, Changwon and Daejeon are lovely, too! (I'm moving to Daejeon next year).
http://waegook-tom.com |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:59 am Post subject: |
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TheUrbanMyth and a couple others are right in that Seoul is the most unique but I'd say that 95% (and I'm tossing a percentage out there to emphasize the point) of Seoul is just like everywhere else. Itaewon, Hongdae, Sincheon to some extent are unique than just about anywhere else, but its in terms of size. Heundae area is unique as well. You can stay in most parts of Seoul and its as if you're in Daegu, Daejeon, Busan or Kwangju. Same chain stores, same apartment complexes, etc with very few people understanding or speaking english.
Even many koreans you see walking around Hongdae and Itaewon don't speak much english.
So, to the OP, uniqueness, maybe not. I would highly recommend your top priority is your job. If that sucks, doesn't matter how great the hiking is or whatever. Take care of that first. You can find great people anywhere and everywhere in Korea. I have. In fact, a case can be made for living outside of Seoul for great experiences with expats. Much tighter foreign community in cities outside of Seoul. Smaller the city, thighter the communnity. Foreigners walking around in Itaewon and Hondae aren't gonna be saying hello to you in the bar, etc. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:59 am Post subject: |
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| jennad wrote: |
Thanks all for your useful and informative replies!! So much to research and so many good ideas
From what I'm reading, it sounds like most Korean cities contain those ugly apartment complexes--I'll get used to it. I am looking for a place that does have more of a historical feel to it than ultra modern though. Rich in history, culture while offering modern conveniences.
While I haven't been to Korea (so I can't speak from experience) I'm a little skeptical of those who are saying all Koran cities are the same. I'm sure that's true to an extent, but it sounds a bit cynical to me.
Does anyone have an opinion on living on any of the islands? |
1- Korean cities are NOT all the same. They each have their own vibe, their own things to discover.
2- Appartment complexes are necessity in Korea (landmass vs population and mountainous country).
3- Traffic and crowds are part and parcel of most larger Korean cities. That cannot be truly avoided.
4- From your list I would say something like Busan or Yeosu may fit your bill. Busan is larger, on the ocean, has lots of nearby hiking...Yeosu os off the beaten path, on the ocean but has a lower variety of western goods to offer.
5- The job is very important indeed but so is the place you live.
6- Cities like Busan or Daegu are smaller than Seoul but tend to have a pretty friendly foreign community and to cost less when it comes to day to day expenses.
7- Busan has MORE than one beach. Haeundae is the most famous one but there are SEVERAL others nearby or easy to access that are pretty decent.
8- Busan now has nearly 4 subway lines and you can get around pretty easily even if it is a spread out city.
9- You have numerous choices of cities or areas to choose from, up to you to pick what fits you best.
Good luck. |
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sallymonster
Joined: 06 Feb 2010
Location: Seattle area
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| FastForward wrote: |
| sallymonster wrote: |
How about Ilsan? It's a nice upscale planned city with a big lake park, and close enough to Seoul that you can go there when you feel the need for the big city.
If you'd rather live in the south near the coast, I've heard good things about Changwon, which is a another planned city about an hour from Busan. |
Any more info on this city? Good public transportation? Things to do? How long does it take to get to Seoul. Was thinking about this location, but not too much info on it. |
Ilsan will have all the basic amenities you'll need, like restaurants, grocery stores, shopping, etc. Like I mentioned before, there's also the big Lake Park. You can easily get around by bus or taxi, and there's also a subway line. Ilsan is about one hour from Seoul by bus or subway. |
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