Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sonicmatt]

Has anyone ever been here? What is there to do in Hadong? Thanks.

[Smee]

Visit Cheonghak-dong and Samseong-gung. Samseong-gung is especially breathtaking.

[weatherman]

Just a guess, but Hadong being a very rural area, I bet the local side dishes in restaurants rock, along with the locally made mokkalli. I would find a mountain-side place and have a slow late lunch/early dinner with some friends after a hike in the hills. Not too much mokkalli, for the killer headaches it gives though......

[VanIslander]

I've been working in Hadong since '06.

There are nine foreigners in town (maybe eleven if a recent rumour is true).

I have about 9 minutes online now but can answer more after my holiday trip overseas.

The air is cleaner than most places in this country, the Seomjin River valley is gorgeous, with plenty of sandy shore to run with a dog, there's a huge spring flower festival here (Wondergirls came to play at it this year). Hadong town seems to have about 50,000 but feels like 5000, has three good bakeries but only two PC rooms, four stop lights now. The surrounding Hadong county has a long history of green tea plantation, boasting the oldest continual tradition int he country and the biggest green tea plant in Asia. Korean pears grow everywhere as do persimmon, hot peppers, barley and other crops. It does NOT snow here. My students say it snows because twice a year it's in the air but it melts before it can make a white blanket. The valley is pretty much east west so there's lots of sunlight, and two killer parks (truly great) and Jiri national park is accessible from the county, including waterfalls, temples, hiking paths.

A local dish, freshwater shellfish soup, is supposedly only found here, where the river flows down to the sea (Hadong county ends at Namhae Island, about 20 minutes from town).

Fast buses under 30 minute to polluted steel factory Gwangyang (with a very good foreigner bar, though Suncheon an hour away is more popular). Most locals stay in province and go to Jinju for shopping, 45 minutes by hourly bus. Every hour or so an under 2 hour express bus to Busan leaves, every two hours an express bus 4 hours, 15 minutes to Seoul, from 630 am to 730 pm, so weekend shopping and entertainment trips are possible. Excellent transit service because Hadong is like a regional farming centre. That's why there's so many norebangs in town. There's also a train directly to Mokpo, Busan (even Haeundae, though you can only buy a ticket to Busan station you simply stay on and it goes straight to the beach area!) and to a satellite city of Seoul (I forget the name, took it twice). The trains are convenient, scenic, comnfortable and cheap but they are damn slow, stopping at every little place. Fun the first time. That's how I got to Jeju, took it to Mokpo then ferried down one weekend.

Local doctors and bakers seem to speak English quite well, the only real jerks are three of the local cabbies, but taxi drivers are hit or miss the entire country over.

Hadong also has an annual marathon that's quite well participated in, and a literary festival because some woman from Tongyeong came here and was inspired to write what is consider The Great Korean Novel: The Land.

Hadong is a good base for a year. I'm mulling over whether to re-sign for a fourth year and will have to make the decision by the end of winter.

Dang I took too long with this. Gotta sleep. Until maybe the new year, good luck whatever!

[sonicmatt]

awesome, sounds nice. Ive been wanting to get out of the Seoul area. I am from a small rural town, so maybe it will feel a little like home. I am only going there for the weekend but sounds like a well needed break and a bit of a refresher before camps start.