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mgs2
Joined: 05 Feb 2009
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 Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:44 am Post subject: Easy travel destinations from Korea |
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| What asian cities are easy to travel to from Korea. I understand Tokyo is about 2 hours, how long are other major cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore etc.? Korea looks like such a great spot because so many cities are easily accessible for the weekend. |
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Tundra_Creature
Joined: 11 Jun 2009
Location: Canada
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:38 pm Post subject: Re: Easy travel destinations from Korea |
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| mgs2 wrote: |
| What asian cities are easy to travel to from Korea. I understand Tokyo is about 2 hours, how long are other major cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore etc.? Korea looks like such a great spot because so many cities are easily accessible for the weekend. |
Looks can be deceiving.
Besides the technical legalities of you being able to leave (you technically can't, without permission from your school under the guise of some research purposes)
you will encounter something called sticker shock, a common occurrence in Korea, and especially so for airplane flights.
best bet will be southern china airlines, but you'll have layovers in Guangzhou.
also, you need a visa to go to China and that's 120 bucks a pop and a minor annoyance to obtain. (each time you go)
BKK is about 5.5 - 6 hrs.
Vietnam about 4.5 - 5.
Taiwan is 2- 2.5
Phillippines are about 3.5-4. |
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mgs2
Joined: 05 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Plus Vietnam also requires a visa doesn't it? I'm an Australian passport holder, so do most Asian countries not require a visa? |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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Vietnam requires a visa and I had to apply several weeks in advance-- it was about $45. Cambodia also requires a visa. Most other countries in SE Asia sell you a 'visa' when you arrive at the airport. Bali immigration charged me $20 to put an oversized stamp in my passport. I do not remember any visa requirements in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, or Singapore. In short, for most places it is not a big deal.
Ken:> |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| mgs2 wrote: |
| Plus Vietnam also requires a visa doesn't it? I'm an Australian passport holder, so do most Asian countries not require a visa? |
I can only speak from a US perspective. Vietnam's visa may be one of those "pay for one at the airport" variety.. like Indonesia's. China's is definitely not. |
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furtakk
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:48 pm Post subject: Re: Easy travel destinations from Korea |
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| Epicurus wrote: |
| Besides the technical legalities of you being able to leave (you technically can't, without permission from your school under the guise of some research purposes) |
uhh someone care to elaborate? i was unaware that such a restriction existed. |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:51 pm Post subject: Re: Easy travel destinations from Korea |
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| furtakk wrote: |
| Epicurus wrote: |
| Besides the technical legalities of you being able to leave (you technically can't, without permission from your school under the guise of some research purposes) |
uhh someone care to elaborate? i was unaware that such a restriction existed. |
This is what I was told. I work in a PS.
Korean teachers are not allowed to leave Korea, outside of their official paid vacation/holiday periods without filing paperwork and getting permission from the school. This is usually done under the guise of "research" and you have to submit a paper on your "research" when you return)
you are under the same restrictions (supposedly)
Yes it's completely ridiculous, but this is Korea  .
Trust me, I've seen the official forms. |
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Oatmeal Prince
Joined: 11 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:08 am Post subject: |
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First: What is Epicurus on about? I've never heard of anything like that.
Second: Anyone traveled to Taiwan from RoK? Does it require a Visa?
Last edited by Oatmeal Prince on Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:08 am Post subject: Re: Easy travel destinations from Korea |
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| runthegauntlet wrote: |
| Epicurus wrote: |
| furtakk wrote: |
| Epicurus wrote: |
| Besides the technical legalities of you being able to leave (you technically can't, without permission from your school under the guise of some research purposes) |
uhh someone care to elaborate? i was unaware that such a restriction existed. |
This is what I was told. I work in a PS.
Korean teachers are not allowed to leave Korea, outside of their official paid vacation/holiday periods without filing paperwork and getting permission from the school. This is usually done under the guise of "research" and you have to submit a paper on your "research" when you return)
you are under the same restrictions (supposedly)
Yes it's completely ridiculous, but this is Korea .
Trust me, I've seen the official forms. |
'
Uh, what?
WRONG. |
really?
how, where and why?
I'm about 99.9% sure that's how it works for Korean teachers.
I'm less sure about how applicable this is to us - but if you're a in a public school, try mentioning you're going to Osaka for the weekend and see what happens, ok?
also explain to me why on the official vacation forms that every teacher had to fill out, why they count sundays. (much less saturdays. though I'm aware Korean teacher work 2 out of 4)
p.s. there was a thread a while back from a guy who worked for Epik. He wanted to take a couple of weeks of consecutive vacation and his provincial office of education said that was fine, so long as he "reported back" to Korea for the weekend.
While everyone else was thinking WTF? I was thinking... aha.. someone is interpreting the contract in a ridiculous manner.
btw. those of you who know Korean well - can you translate the vacation clause in say the GEPIK contract? I specifically know it mentions weekends.. because I overheard my coteacher reading it out loud to herself and translating.
p.s re Taiwan, for Americans I strongly doubt it, but why ask such questions questions here when Google can answer it for you within seconds? |
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herrdude
Joined: 17 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Epicurus wrote: |
| mgs2 wrote: |
| Plus Vietnam also requires a visa doesn't it? I'm an Australian passport holder, so do most Asian countries not require a visa? |
I can only speak from a US perspective. Vietnam's visa may be one of those "pay for one at the airport" variety.. like Indonesia's. China's is definitely not. |
Woof, I am not so sure about that. My experience with Vietnam is you do not want to find yourself at the airport without a visa. They have you over a barrel and give you some song and dance about taking a long time to process, which eventually leads to a healthy bribe to speed things up. |
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E_athlete
Joined: 09 Jun 2009
Location: Korea sparkling
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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im interested in going to japan on 'vacation'
i have a jap passport that I havent used when coming to korea. Will i get by without being noticed? |
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Epicurus
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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herr dude - Vietnam remains a Communist country so the necessity of having a visa prior to entry doesn't surprise me. (same thing w/China)
with exception of Myanmar, those are the immediate countries in SE ASia you may have problems with.
E-athlete, that's an interesting question, but why would you care what passport the Japanese see. It's the Korean immigration that's the isse and they will see your E-2. I don't think you want to come back as a "tourist", do you? You can probably do it and completely "evade" detection but why bother?
who's going to detect you? Only way would be if school specifically checked with immigration and the odds of that are almost nonexistent, especially if it's say a weekend trip. |
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furtakk
Joined: 02 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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I work at a Hagwon so I don't think that will be an issue. And on second thought another one of the teachers went to Tokyo the other weekend and didn't mention having to do anything like that.
I also have a another passport with me, although I'm pretty sure it would look super fishy if I was leaving the country without any stamp/visa in it. |
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E_athlete
Joined: 09 Jun 2009
Location: Korea sparkling
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| Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Epicurus wrote: |
herr dude - Vietnam remains a Communist country so the necessity of having a visa prior to entry doesn't surprise me. (same thing w/China)
with exception of Myanmar, those are the immediate countries in SE ASia you may have problems with.
E-athlete, that's an interesting question, but why would you care what passport the Japanese see. It's the Korean immigration that's the isse and they will see your E-2. I don't think you want to come back as a "tourist", do you? You can probably do it and completely "evade" detection but why bother?
who's going to detect you? Only way would be if school specifically checked with immigration and the odds of that are almost nonexistent, especially if it's say a weekend trip. |
I have a E2 visa on my Canadian passport. My jap passport has nothing on it... I'm not sure whether to use my jap or canadian passport when leaving Korea. |
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