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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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 Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:39 am Post subject: |
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I was away on a long weekend to Jeju, hence my delay on posting.
| Quote: |
The island has 2 large ports
Geoje has a population of around 50,000 |
Two large shipyards, but three equivalent ports, in fact, small Jangseungpo is a more active port than the big city centre community of Gohyeon in terms of ferry service.
Okpo alone has 50,000 people or more.
No one seemed able to give me exact figures but trust me on ballpark:
Gohyeon 200,000 (north central coast - samsung shipyards, shopping malls)
Okpo 60,000 (east coast - daewoo shipyards, nightlife central)
Jangseungpo 30,000 (fishing port, municipal cultural centre, 20 minutes south of Okpo)
every place else a few hundred to a few thousand
all technically part of one municipality with city hall in Gohyeon
| daz1979 wrote: |
The last ferry home scenario hopefully wont come into play too often as I plan to spend most of my time on the island with an occasional weekend in Busan! I will work 1pm - 7pm Mon - Fri so I can leave for Busan early Saturday morning say 9.00 am and return Monday around the same time and with plenty of time to get prepared for class!
Hopefully! |
Absolutely. I have done this more times than I can remember. Great ferry service every hour from early morning to midafternoon (and it's 45-50 minutes straight to within a five minute walk of Nampodong! the movie and shopping district of Busan - this is less time than many Busanites take by subway from the outskirts!). Leave Saturday morning return Monday morning. And I've even KTX bullet trained it to Seoul by noon on Saturdays once in a while, though the 11 pm overnight comfty (i mean real comfty and roomy) express buses got in before 5 am, in time for dawn, breakie and hitting the big smoke for shopping, museums, whatever (once every two or three months suited me fine, didn't even start going to Seoul at all until well into my second year).
| ksonnen wrote: |
| the ferries is that they shut down if the weather is bad, even if its just a heavy rain. The bus to Busan takes at least 2 hours. |
Yes, bad weather has caught me a few times, especially in the upcoming typhoon season (midAugust to end of September).
It'll take you three hours to get to Busan by bus, incredibly only 4.5 hours to Seoul by overnight express (korean kamikaze driver) bus. The traffic congestion heading into Busan is heavy and the bus depot is a good hour, hour and a half by subway once you get there! from the outskirts to Nampodong, Samyeon, and especially Haeundae beach neighbourhoods. The ferry is so much better.
| ksonnen wrote: |
| Anywhere rural you go, women are going to be slim pickins. |
 I've had so many women show interest in me there. Several take adult classes to scope out the foreigner. I've had many overt offers and many hint, hints. It would be so easy to date a local if you wanted to; I just am picky and have foolishly been waiting for gawd knows who I now am starting to think (oh, that's for another thread). Suffice it to say the island is very foreign friendly and a waygook can walk around (and they do!) with a Korean lass on their arm and the locals are fine with it (a billion dollar shipbuilding industry catering to foreign clients has a way of shaping local sentiments, at least publicly - Geoje as an island is technically one municipality and as such has the largest shipbuilding production in the world - with Daewoo and Samsung. To give you a sense of scale: Daewoo borrowed a crane from Samsung at a million dollars per day rental. And Daewoo kept it for a couple of months! Daewoo=DSME if there's any confusion, not to be confused with other Daewoo businesses unrelated these days to shipbuilding).
Listen to Son Deureo! He's mostly right on the money. Really he is. Except...
| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| The island is also connected to BUsan by a very long bridge. I think it takes close to two hours by car, though. |
 OMG! I'm laughing SO HARD right now! The bridge is so short that many end up going "We're on the island already? I didn't see the bridge." Actually there's two bridges, nearly side by side, new and old, on the west coast of the island, connecting it with the cool port city of Tongyeong. The bridge drive is smooth, doesn't even feel like a bridge and is a couple of hundred metres long. BUT.. there is a huge huge, yes, very long, bridge under construction on the north coast straight up to Busan (look on a map to get the sense of the west coast access and gulf from the north coast to Busan northward). The bridge to Busan is expected to be completed in '09 and will have a submerged part, will skip over a small island inbetween, and the entire length will take approx. an hour to cross I hear.
| Quote: |
| There's plenty of nightlife to be found on Geojedo. In fact, it reminded me of Itaewon on the ocean. There are a lot more men than women, though, because of the shipyards. There are a lot of sausage parties and kept women to be found on Geojedo. |
Geoje is ONLY a bit like Itaewon: in having lots of nightlife for foreigners (mostly fortysomething engineer and construction types from Europe - nice guys to have a beer with and chat). yeah, with all that money, there are plenty of Korean women for hire, whether as juice girls or more, but it's really quite civilized and indoors, not like a red light district back home, though plenty of neon abounds in Okpo.
Itaewon has an imports cubbyhole store known to many as "The Red Door". Geoje has an equivalent: less candies though, but tons of cheeses and meats as well as basic hard to find stuff.
| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| It's a pretty big island, and the buses are fairly infrequent, you would probably want a motorbike or a car. |
Buses were more than frequent enough for me to go most of three plus years walking and busing or cheap taxiing it around. A bus does the main circle route down the east coast and up the middle every fifteen to twenty minutes. I've never waited an hour, but I hear of others who have OFF the main route (duh - walk to the main road!).
Still,.... scooters are cool there, cheap and easy to get, and tons of fun islandwide to scoot around, amazing really, plenty of hidden beach coves and villages to discover.
| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| I never saw a basketball court, but then again, I never looked. There are health clubs aplenty. |
Tons of weightlifting fitness club gyms and saunas. Indoor swimming pools in two of the three main communities on the island. But I swam at the beaches from February to November one year, and certainly April to October the weather is agreeable for it.
The water's warmer than Jeju in the summer I can tell you that, I just now having come back from a long weekend on Jeju, my first trip, and while I was blown away by many things, the beaches on Jeju are underwhelming in terms of swimming (not scenery), and friggin' cold in the middle of July compared to 90% of beaches I've swam at in this country.
And while I gotta return to see more of Jeju after this whirlwind weekend, I'm glad I don't regret turning down a Jeju job earlier this year. In fact, I'm more likely to return to Geoje next year than I am to go to Jeju, to mention two of only a few places on my shortlist. |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:38 am Post subject: |
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Hey
Thanks for all the info everyone!
Geoje does sound like a lovely place and I am pretty certain that I will be there next month!  I wasn't keen on the Iteawon comparison, however, I really hope that I wont spend much time in the main city areas and plan to regularly shoot off on my scooter to the quiet parts of Geoje as much as possible!
NICE!!
Son - Thankyou again! I'm sure the site could be very useful but I can't understand a word (box/square) of it
Van Islander - Thankyou so much! I have tried to pm with a barrage of questions but by the time I had finished writing the system had logged me off!!
Do you know anything about Sinhyuneup by any chance? I can't find anything information online or in my lonely planet and can't for the life of me find my way round the website Son kindly provided!
Thanks again averyone
If anyone else has any info on Geoje, please feel free to chip in!
Daz |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:14 am Post subject: |
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Hello again!
I have just been informed that the school is based in Gohyun!
Does anyone know anything about this area!
The teacher says that it is not a "pretty" town but is close to beautiful mountains, the sea and is only 20 mins from Opko for when I need to head into the city!! |
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Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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I lived on Geoje-do for a year so I can give you advice. First, I would say that if you're not sure you want to live there, don't. Here are a few random thoughts and memories:
- kids shouting "hello!" wherever I went (gets VERY annoying)
- no English or even Romanised signs, not even around the ferry and bus terminals
- raw sewage flowing into the beach
- 45 minutes of sea sickness to get to Busan
- asking a taxi driver to take me to some shops (I wanted to buy clothes) and he took me to the "foreigner supermarket" full of bald, middle aged, overweight westerners
- boredom
Oh and Goeyung is the most boring part of this most boring island. |
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captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:46 am Post subject: |
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Haha, Matman, you're hilarious.
I haven't lived and worked there but I did stay on Goje for two months this spring. I think it's a freakin' great place. But I like hiking. I actually saw eagles there. Yeah, up by the peaks. They were coming down, the pair of them, over the town by the sea, soaring. I mean where the heck are you going to sea stuff like that? It's a very natural place and, I guess, Matman isn't the Sierra Club type.
Gohyun is the most metro place on Goje. There's a Subway sandwich works there. It's the biggest city on Goje. I don't know what to say about it except it's a busy hive of a place for shopping and Lotteria, Subway, la di la di. You know, the Korean city hustle convenience shopping hectic modern downtown stroll core sort of place.
The rest of Goje is natural. The southern half and the northern half of the island have no traffic lights. It's secondary highway winding along the coast or among the valleys with no traffic lights. For riding the motorbike it was most relaxing and naturally scenic. So if you like hiking and the sea it's great. If you're 'metro' Gohyun is metro central. A very small piece of metro surrounded by natural. |
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Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:18 am Post subject: |
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Now you're making me laugh. We should start a mutual appreciation society.
Hiking hmm. You're right, not my thing, although I would say that "the peaks" are hills rather than mountains. As for Gohyun being a "busy hive of a place", it's true there are a few shops, with great clothes shops if you like the Korean uncle style and great international cuisine options if you're happy with hamburgers and sandwiches filled with ham, lettuce and processed cheese.
On the positive side I have to admit that I thought it was the bee's knees when I first arrived. This was my first time in Asia and I was a superstar. But the novelty of little old Korean ladies crouching down in the market with their legs spread wide open selling live fish soon wore off and when it dawned on me that my "fans" were kids and drunken middle aged Korean men I soon got tired of the superstar status.
A motorbike would definitely have made the stay more tolerable but motorbikes are not cheap.
If you're really interested in small town living then Geoje is for you. If you're interested in shopping, nightlife and choices when eating out, stick to the big cities. |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:32 am Post subject: |
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Ok so Geohyun is a bit of a hole is it?
I'm a little worried, I have told the school that I am happy to sign the contract as they have gone out of their way to negotiate the contract for me adding air con to my flat and extracting a few potential potholes in the contract or re wording them until I was satisfied but now feel a bit sceptical!
I still can't find anything on Geohyun on the internet in english besides an old blog of Shawners which was quite old and didn't really cover the city at all, although it was still an interesting read!
To be honest I don't really care about a vibrant nightlife I am still in my 20's but have been hitting the club scene in the UK far too hard for far too many years and now I would be very happy to be situated near the sea and beaches surrounded by nature!! (Are there any beaches in Geohyun??) I presume there are many bars in Geohyun, am I wrong?
How much can I rent a motorbike for out of interest? If I can get a bike cheap enough I don't really care where I live at the end of the day because I will just drive off somewhere on the weekend!
Also is it relatively easy to reach Busan from Geohyun? And Opko?
Last thing for now is Geohyun more expensive than the rest of Geoje and does the shipyard cause much pollution in the city?
Ah so many questions and so little time!!! |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:16 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Matman"]I lived on Geoje-do for a year so I can give you advice. First, I would say that if you're not sure you want to live there, don't. Here are a few random thoughts and memories:
- kids shouting "hello!" wherever I went (gets VERY annoying)
This wouldn't bother me at all, that would be nice really, better than telling me to get out of their country!!!
- no English or even Romanised signs, not even around the ferry and bus terminals
Slight worry I have no knowledge of the Korean language, I plan to learn the basic essentials before I depart but still a worry!!
- raw sewage flowing into the beach
Nice!! Nothing different to the UK then!!
- 45 minutes of sea sickness to get to Busan
I don't get travel sick so hopefully this wont apply! 45 mins is nothing either!!
- asking a taxi driver to take me to some shops (I wanted to buy clothes) and he took me to the "foreigner supermarket" full of bald, middle aged, overweight westerners
Maybe he thought you would blend in
- boredom
Scooter would resolve this for me I think
Oh and Goeyung is the most boring part of this most boring island
Please extend on this if you would Matman!!
Daz |
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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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http://pusanweb.com/classifieds/forsalelooking.htm
This is a good place to look for scooters. The first one I clicked on was just 450 bucks. Pretty good if you ask me. If you aren't into the bar scene, I would go to Geoje. Its really beautiful and it is only 45 minutes from Busan on the ferry. Don't let these people discourage you. It sounds like you have found a really accomodating school. Don't let that chance go. There aren't that many of them. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| daz1979 wrote: |
| Ok so Geohyun is a bit of a hole is it?... I'm a little worried,... I would be very happy to be situated near the sea and beaches surrounded by nature!! (Are there any beaches in Geohyun??) |
My god man wake up! It's an island. You are mere minutes from each coast, less time to get halfway across Seoul or Busan. Plenty of beaches, hills, cliffs, valleys and scenic coastal drives to explore.
| Quote: |
| I presume there are many bars in Geohyun, am I wrong? |
*sigh* I write it here, I write it elsewhere a lot (use the search command here at Dave's to find plenty of threads about Geoje wherein I've explained such things in detail). As I mentioned earlier in this thread, OKPO is the nightlife district for the island, Gohyeon has a major shipyards and shopping.
| Quote: |
| How much can I rent a motorbike for out of interest? If I can get a bike cheap enough I don't really care where I live at the end of the day because I will just drive off somewhere on the weekend! |
You can buy a scooter with the SPARE CHANGE from your first pay cheque. Seriously. If you make 2.0 mill, you could easily fork out 0.3-0.6 for a decent used scooter. No need to count your pennies. Even if you have debts and make big purchases in settling in, you'll be able to buy a scooter by month two and three, and scooter shops are all over, plentiful and cheap because the average Korean buys them (NOT status symbol) and used things aren't appreciated much (used cars are much cheaper than new because no one wants them, even two or three years old).
| Quote: |
| Also is it relatively easy to reach Busan from Geohyun? And Opko? |
Did I not already provide this info in this thread too? All three main ports (Gohyeon, Okpo, Jangseungpo) have ferry service to the heart of Busan. I've taken each several times, about the same, though little jangeungpo has a bit better schedule because it's closest to DSME headquarters.
| Quote: |
| Last thing for now is Geohyun more expensive than the rest of Geoje and does the shipyard cause much pollution in the city? |
The island as a whole is considered more expensive than elsewhere in Korea, or so the locals say. I don't notice it. Though they often cite the coast of clothes (which I don't buy on the island anyways because they're too small). You can eat out in Korean restaurants every night of the week and twice on Saturdays and still buy a used scooter out of the same paycheque, and travel around the country by express bus on weekends and stay in motels.
| Quote: |
| Ah so many questions and so little time!!! |
Keep the questions coming. Sorry if my patience runs a bit thin but one gets tired of repeating oneself, especially in the same thread! and you really should use the search function here at dave's (however much it's limitations, it works for unique words like "Geoje").
There comes a time when one has to realize that the questions will never stop, which is good, but one's decision whether to come or not needs to be made. Figure out what's most important to you and go with that. Everything else will be incidental.
I for one chose Geoje in large part because my research on places in Korea uncovered Geoje as having the CLEANEST air, and indeed it does, largely due to the Pacific ocean winds and shipbuilding's lack of smokestacks (though water pollution does happen, the island is big enough that the north coast yard and northeast coast yard doesn't seem to negatively affect mine or anyone else's swimming experiences on the southeast and south coast beaches. The island is pretty big and the sea seems to me clean enough for me (never noticed pollution) but local area fishers have complained about the shipbuilding's effect on their livelihood.
I also chose Geoje for its beaches and small town feel and proximity to a major city (Busan).
Finding out when I got there about the benefits of the foreigners (socializing, food, etc) and the transit buses (supercheap comfy roomy first-class express buses to any region from Gohyeon) were bonuses.
I was on the island from 2002 until 2006. And I may return.
Feel free to PM me after you've signed a contract and are less than a week away from coming, if you decide to, and then I'll put you in touch with a few other foreign teachers on the island.
If you decide on elsewhere, great for you, but all the criteria you've listed MATCHES Geoje as the place ideal for you. You have said nothing to suggest that another place may be better, as far as I read.
Geoje Island is not for everyone. And it certainly is NOT Seoul!!! But it is something special (even if Gohyeon is most people's least fav part of the island  just remember it's 10-15 minutes away from most parts! and it does have new shopping complexes, just-about-completed movie multiplex and the like.
Anyways, good luck whatever.
(you should probably pay much closer attention to the SPECIFIC workplace, talking to those who work there or have worked there, if they can't or won't give you contact info of past waygooks then i'd be concerned, though that's not always possible, i suggest you might want to consider a SIX-month contract, and only get one-way airfare paid, that way you could go anywhere in Korea to work after six months (early spring is the time when sweet offers seem available because of university and public school hiring competition).
IMO. |
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Matman
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:00 am Post subject: |
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Daz, I'm not trying to change your mind but you are in almost exactly the same position I was in a few years back. I can see you thinking exactly what I was thinking then. It was a great novelty at first but think about small town living and whether you could hack it for a whole year. Nightlife is very limited. Yes, there are bars but they're mostly Korean style which means drinking and eating with whoever you came in with. They're not really places to meet new people, especially if you don't speak Korean. Then there are sex bars with overpriced Russian whores but I suspect that's not really your scene and if it is you'd be better off working in Bangkok.
Put it this way, if you were advising a Korean person with limited English on a good place to stay in England, would you recommend London, Manchester or the Isle of Wight? You're about to end up spending a year in the Korean equivalent of the Isle of Wight. |
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harryh
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: south of Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:25 am Post subject: |
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Lots of good information has been supplied already.
I lived on Geoje for two years (2002-04), and enjoyed it, but I must admit, for the last six months there, I was certainly looking forward to leaving. I guess I started to miss creature comforts such as a decent supermarket, decent clothing prices, evening entertainment etc.
For just a year contract, I'd recommend it.
It's easy to get to Busan. The ferry from Gohyeon to Busan used to take about an hour and 10 minutes. I used to pay about 17,000 won one way. I don't know how much it costs now. The bus goes to Sasang, Busan and takes about 2 and a half hours. It costs 11,300 won at the moment.
Buying a second hand scooter was a MUST for me. It was the best 400,000 won I spent on the island. You can really get to see the island at your leisure.
What is very important, is the job! If it's a good gig, you'll have a lovely time. If the job is bad, the year could become a long one.
I was on Geoje last weekend, and things have changed a little in recent months. There is a new cinema there, which could be a bonus.
Also, there is a Tesco / Samsung Homeplus currently being built bang opposite my old apartment. That'll open in around September.
I think Busan is cheaper than Geoje for food, restaurants, clothing etc.
The restaurants on the island are fantastic.
Good luck whatever you decide. |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:08 am Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
| daz1979 wrote: |
| Ok so Geohyun is a bit of a hole is it?... I'm a little worried,... I would be very happy to be situated near the sea and beaches surrounded by nature!! (Are there any beaches in Geohyun??) |
My god man wake up! It's an island. You are mere minutes from each coast, less time to get halfway across Seoul or Busan. Plenty of beaches, hills, cliffs, valleys and scenic coastal drives to explore.
| Quote: |
| I presume there are many bars in Geohyun, am I wrong? |
*sigh* I write it here, I write it elsewhere a lot (use the search command here at Dave's to find plenty of threads about Geoje wherein I've explained such things in detail). As I mentioned earlier in this thread, OKPO is the nightlife district for the island, Gohyeon has a major shipyards and shopping.
| Quote: |
| How much can I rent a motorbike for out of interest? If I can get a bike cheap enough I don't really care where I live at the end of the day because I will just drive off somewhere on the weekend! |
You can buy a scooter with the SPARE CHANGE from your first pay cheque. Seriously. If you make 2.0 mill, you could easily fork out 0.3-0.6 for a decent used scooter. No need to count your pennies. Even if you have debts and make big purchases in settling in, you'll be able to buy a scooter by month two and three, and scooter shops are all over, plentiful and cheap because the average Korean buys them (NOT status symbol) and used things aren't appreciated much (used cars are much cheaper than new because no one wants them, even two or three years old).
| Quote: |
| Also is it relatively easy to reach Busan from Geohyun? And Opko? |
Did I not already provide this info in this thread too? All three main ports (Gohyeon, Okpo, Jangseungpo) have ferry service to the heart of Busan. I've taken each several times, about the same, though little jangeungpo has a bit better schedule because it's closest to DSME headquarters.
| Quote: |
| Last thing for now is Geohyun more expensive than the rest of Geoje and does the shipyard cause much pollution in the city? |
The island as a whole is considered more expensive than elsewhere in Korea, or so the locals say. I don't notice it. Though they often cite the coast of clothes (which I don't buy on the island anyways because they're too small). You can eat out in Korean restaurants every night of the week and twice on Saturdays and still buy a used scooter out of the same paycheque, and travel around the country by express bus on weekends and stay in motels.
| Quote: |
| Ah so many questions and so little time!!! |
Keep the questions coming. Sorry if my patience runs a bit thin but one gets tired of repeating oneself, especially in the same thread! and you really should use the search function here at dave's (however much it's limitations, it works for unique words like "Geoje").
There comes a time when one has to realize that the questions will never stop, which is good, but one's decision whether to come or not needs to be made. Figure out what's most important to you and go with that. Everything else will be incidental.
I for one chose Geoje in large part because my research on places in Korea uncovered Geoje as having the CLEANEST air, and indeed it does, largely due to the Pacific ocean winds and shipbuilding's lack of smokestacks (though water pollution does happen, the island is big enough that the north coast yard and northeast coast yard doesn't seem to negatively affect mine or anyone else's swimming experiences on the southeast and south coast beaches. The island is pretty big and the sea seems to me clean enough for me (never noticed pollution) but local area fishers have complained about the shipbuilding's effect on their livelihood.
I also chose Geoje for its beaches and small town feel and proximity to a major city (Busan).
Finding out when I got there about the benefits of the foreigners (socializing, food, etc) and the transit buses (supercheap comfy roomy first-class express buses to any region from Gohyeon) were bonuses.
I was on the island from 2002 until 2006. And I may return.
Feel free to PM me after you've signed a contract and are less than a week away from coming, if you decide to, and then I'll put you in touch with a few other foreign teachers on the island.
If you decide on elsewhere, great for you, but all the criteria you've listed MATCHES Geoje as the place ideal for you. You have said nothing to suggest that another place may be better, as far as I read.
Geoje Island is not for everyone. And it certainly is NOT Seoul!!! But it is something special (even if Gohyeon is most people's least fav part of the island just remember it's 10-15 minutes away from most parts! and it does have new shopping complexes, just-about-completed movie multiplex and the like.
Anyways, good luck whatever.
(you should probably pay much closer attention to the SPECIFIC workplace, talking to those who work there or have worked there, if they can't or won't give you contact info of past waygooks then i'd be concerned, though that's not always possible, i suggest you might want to consider a SIX-month contract, and only get one-way airfare paid, that way you could go anywhere in Korea to work after six months (early spring is the time when sweet offers seem available because of university and public school hiring competition).
IMO. |
Hi Van
Thanks for the info again!
Im sorry if I tested your patience and I do realise that I have repeated myself, however, I was attempting to gather more specific information about Geohyun as a city rather than the whole island. I apologise about the ferry question I realise now you have covered that question in detail for me already  Sorry!
You did made me chuckle with the beaches dig I realise it is an island but the guy at the school was saying all other cities had beaches and Geohyun just had sea which made me wonder if the shipyard was so big that it had replaced the beaches!!
I have used the search function in an attempt to gain further info but all that came from this were two posts, one from donkeys ago and one with only a couple of replies, I was hoping to gather recent information that was relevant to me and feel that I have done that, should anyone want to head to Geoje there is now a recent informative post to peruse (thanks to you guys!).
With regards to the scooter. Do I need any licence or insurance? I hold a full UK car licence which allows me to drive up to a 125cc bike in the UK should I bring this with me or is it as much use as a chocolate fireguard?
The school sounds great! I have a nice schedule of 1 - 7 and the guy who interviewed me was from close to my home town in the UK, quite funny really! Sadly he will only be there for the first week and then he heads off to Japan to leave me as the only foreign teacher in the school, but he assures me he has never had any problems with the owners and has always been paid on time. He seemed to suggest that the school concentrated more on martial arts than english and had a very laid back approach to the delivery of the curriculum. To me on the whole it sounded pretty good, even if I did have visions of the black belt 23 dan directors waiting to kick his head in if he dare say anything negative about the school during the interview !
What I failed to ask previously was how much of the Korean language would need to know? Matmans post has intensified my concern. I have paid so little attention to learning the language, I do plan to learn the basics but will this be enough on Geoje?
Thankyou again for the time you have taken to reply to my questions and all the informative information you have provided provided VAN!
As we say in Yorkshire "your a good-un"
I will hopefully commence employment at the end of August so I will definately pm you mid August
Thanks again
Daz |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| ksonnen wrote: |
http://pusanweb.com/classifieds/forsalelooking.htm
This is a good place to look for scooters. The first one I clicked on was just 450 bucks. Pretty good if you ask me. If you aren't into the bar scene, I would go to Geoje. Its really beautiful and it is only 45 minutes from Busan on the ferry. Don't let these people discourage you. It sounds like you have found a really accomodating school. Don't let that chance go. There aren't that many of them. |
Thanks ksonnen
Im sure that site will come in very handy! The scooters look more like mini touring bikes than the little billy whizz's we get in the UK!
NICE!
Will I be legal to drive in Korea? Are there any licence requirements?
Thanks
Daz |
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daz1979
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Gangwon-Do
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| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:53 am Post subject: |
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| Matman wrote: |
Daz, I'm not trying to change your mind but you are in almost exactly the same position I was in a few years back. I can see you thinking exactly what I was thinking then. It was a great novelty at first but think about small town living and whether you could hack it for a whole year. Nightlife is very limited. Yes, there are bars but they're mostly Korean style which means drinking and eating with whoever you came in with. They're not really places to meet new people, especially if you don't speak Korean. Then there are sex bars with overpriced Russian whores but I suspect that's not really your scene and if it is you'd be better off working in Bangkok.
Put it this way, if you were advising a Korean person with limited English on a good place to stay in England, would you recommend London, Manchester or the Isle of Wight? You're about to end up spending a year in the Korean equivalent of the Isle of Wight. |
The Isle Of Wight Surely not!! Could be worse the Isle Of Dogs perhaps!!
When I decided to come to Korea my first choice for my new home was Busan, over the months the more I read about Korea the Island life living of Jeju appealed to me greatly, Jeju was too far from Busan and Seoul and I felt that I could potentially feel quite trapped there so I then looked at Namhae and Geoje. Geoje was closest to the city incase I felt I needed a taste of the city life one weekend.
I appreciate what you are saying and somedays I do ask myself if I would prefer the city after all I have lived in a big UK city all my life, but like I say Busan is 45 mins away so all in all I really hope Geoje is a good option for me. If the worst comes to the worst I will escape to Busan every weekend but I really hope that isn't the case!
I was under the impression that there were many foreigners in Geoje? Do you not feel this is the case?
Where in Geoje were you teaching? Did you fully explore the Island?
It's nice to hear negative views as well as the plus points!
Daz |
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