Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peppermint]

[cheem]

This would be my second time. However, the smallest city I've been in has 4 million people. I'm what they'd call a Seoul �̳�.

Thanks for the tip.

[just because]

i would write of Pohang,
It is basically just a big industrial city and the base for POSCO(the 2nd. largest steel maker in the world). I'm sure while it has it charms it is one of the more polluted smaller cities in the country.

I would aim at Chunchon if i were you. it is more what you are looking for.
BTW...it is 2 hours EAST of seoul.

[visviva]

There are no nonstop buses between Buyeo and any major city (no rail or air connections either). There are intercity bus connections between Buyeo and Daejeon the closest, Seoul and Incheon ... however, you will find these to be rather long and vomit-inducing (except maybe for the Daejeon bus, which as I recall only takes about 50 minutes). To go from Buyeo to Busan or Daegu, you would need to take the bus to Daejeon and then go crosstown to either the train station or the express bus terminal.

Aside from that, I think Buyeo would be a wonderful place to live. Beautiful, historic, small ... a bit touristy, of course, but not excessively so. Plus it has the needed Goo-Goo cones and Lotteria.

BTW, I don't know if you're having second thoughts about the "hamlet"thing or not, but Pohang and Chuncheon are both quite large cities with substantial foreigner communities. On the other hand, the supply of ice cream should be pretty reliable and diverse.

If you are serious about getting a small-town position, and you don't want to wait forever to do it, I would recommend just deciding on one province and a certain population range. Most hamlets in any given area are pretty similar (Buyeo being an obvious exception).

[indytrucks]

[Kim Jong Jordan]

I heard Uijeongbu is nice.

[Zyzyfer]

Cheonan's growing, but it has a large variety of ice cream cones as well as Cherry Coke and Dr. Pepper in some of the convenience stores! Bundang can't even front with that!

Downsides would be gimpy traffic and dirty air. Definitely Korean though...not too many people babbled at me in English except for kiddos.

[cheem]

Okay, Pohang is off my list. I didn't realize it had a half million people, and it's starting to sound like the Sudbury of Korea.

Buyeo is sounding really nice. Central location and a lot of history, so I'd have a canned response for the Koreans that ask me what I'm doing there (I suspect I'd have trouble explaining the whole "Walden" angle). For those in the know, what is the demographic like? What do these people do?

I probably should've been more explicit about my priorities (although really I don't have any aside from population and ice cream), but for those calling out city names could you maybe give one extra line as to why you recommend it?

[peemil]

Um... Mokpo.

Because it's got a cool name.

[peppermint]

Chung ju. 100,000 people, very clean air, not many foreigners, close to ski hills and stuff in the winter too.

[tommynomad]

Chungju is booming, though. I lived there in 2001-2 and went back to visit last week. Hardly recognised my dong ( ). When I arrived in '01 there were about 10 weigugin, when I left 35. There are now over 50.
I've been told to stay away from the ski hill.
The cycling is excellent: you can be outside the city and in full-blown countryside in 15 minutes from anywhere in town.
Great bar district, though dancing opportunities are few.
VERY friendly people. I too, ate 2 different ice creams/day there (corn flavour? really?), and there's a Lotteria or 4. The downtown one had an unwritten rule about hiring very flirty girls who like their unis well unbuttoned at the neck.

I like Cheonan, too. Very cosmo for a city its size. Great shopping. Bee-yoo-tee-ful females. Great public art (redundant?). Plenty of ice cream, including soft ice milk from sidewalk vendors.

[indytrucks]

[cheem]

Shweet. I've got a lot of googling to do. Thanks a lot.

[captain kirk]

Yeah, Buyeo is like the Waldon thing. I lived in Cheonan and went down there on the motorbike a few times. There is a big, wide river. It's very green. Very historic. But, like someone said, it's a long trip to get anywhere from there. Daejon is about an hour away. That's big enough. To get to Seoul you'd have go to Daejon first. Maybe three hours to Seoul by bus? It'd be awhile.
I lived in Chuncheon and took the train to get into Seoul, which was ninety minutes, about. Nice train ride along a river with tallish mountains alongside, a gorge at one point. Chuncheon is close enough to the DMZ that there's lots of helicopters around doing rounds, pacing. It's a tight feeling there, though, hemmed in by mountains.
Being in Buyeo I'd, personally, get bushed real quick.
Chuncheon is basically mountain country. With some Unis parked out there.
I've been in Kwangju, Chuncheon, Cheonan, Seoul, and Ulsan is best and last. Because of the sea, and the coast road up and down with beaches alongside. How can you top the freedom of that? I don't really get the Waldon thing you're after. Sounds like you want to land somewhere secure, forested, pastoral. I can understand that. One look at the sea periodically, to be able to do that, is a huge load off one's mind. Like getting up over the clouds is on an air flight. 'Oceanic' feeling, vastness, open expanse.
Some small city around Pusan, Ulsan. A bit inland, but with the East sea not far off. Van Islander's on Goje island, south of Pusan.
I'd ask yourself about this Waldon idea you're cooking up a place for. Are you sure it's not more like a hankering to be Robinson Crusoe/Christopher Columbus/Marco Polo? Sounds kinda kooky. I mean usually people go to outlying regions because they can't get into the bigger places. There are reasons for not going to the outlying areas. If you have a weekend off do you want to sit on a bus for four hours one way?
Pusan, Ulsan is where I'd suggest you go first of all. Nice places by the sea, lots of options, then sniff out the 'Waldon' from there.
Nobody's mentioned Andong. This is where Queen Elizabeth visited, for it's old ways. Heritage city. It's north of Daegu on the way to Wonju, sort of. There's also Wonju. The problem both with these places, mountain cities, IMO, is that the people seem to be 'locked in' by the mountains. It's so winding, difficult, takes so long to drive out anywhere. Conservative ways. Never having been to Korea if I understand correctly, you probably will feel choked in a place like that. Unless you're into some pretty far-out, hermetic pastimes like meditation, star-gazing, pheasant hunting with bow and arrows, spelunking, and various other 'Kentucky hobbies'. But if you've got a hankering to get in touch with your inner survivalist, go commando!

[captain kirk]

Sorry, man, you're returning to Korea, have worked here already.
By the sea