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| Overall the best area of Gyeongnam Province for bicycle road riding beaches and general beauty and ease is: |
| Masan |
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25% |
[ 2 ] |
| Geoji |
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25% |
[ 2 ] |
| Tonyeong-si |
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37% |
[ 3 ] |
| Namhae |
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12% |
[ 1 ] |
| other pleae elaborate |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Hadong-gun |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Gwang-yang |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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| Total Votes : 8 |
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The Great Toad
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
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 Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:41 pm Post subject: Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Province |
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I would really be pleased if I could work in Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Province or island city like Geoji or Namhae or maybe Gwang-yang?
< http://english.gntour.com/01Guide/01_1.jsp >
I was considering taking a job around Gyeongnam Province. It is an area in the south of Korea to the West of Busan. Some of the islands it includes are; Geoji ,Tonyeong-si, and Namhae. But unnlike Jeju these islands are connected to the mainland with bridges.
Hadong is a city north of the coast well maybe a town really and has a big giant mountain on it that dwarfs umm dwarfs a lot of foothills... seriously though it might be way great for riding and living even if there is no beach to coastal ride on...?
Also there is a city called Masan that seems to be rather large at around 400,000. One of the major factors for me is the roads for bicycling long distances via my Merlin Road bike. I was disappointed with Latin America due to the very poor repair of the roads and the amount of traffic that also drove recklessly. I visited Wando and Jindo and enjoyed both of them- Wando was especially good for cycling when on the neighboring island of Singi.
Please share your advice if you have visited or live on one of the islands or coastal cities of Gyeongnam Province. If you would not like your home to be known please PM me and I promise not to disclose any info you give me. Thanks! |
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the ireland
Joined: 11 May 2008
Location: korea
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:16 pm Post subject: Re: Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Prov |
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| The Great Toad wrote: |
I would really be pleased if I could work in Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Province or island city like Geoji or Namhae or maybe Gwang-yang?
< http://english.gntour.com/01Guide/01_1.jsp >
I was considering taking a job around Gyeongnam Province. It is an area in the south of Korea to the West of Busan. Some of the islands it includes are; Geoji ,Tonyeong-si, and Namhae. But unnlike Jeju these islands are connected to the mainland with bridges. ! |
Geoje and Namhae are island, tongyeong is not. Tongyeong is like every other big town/small city. It has a lotte mart, e-mart etc etc and has some nice scenery and good activities to do there. The road surrounding the town is very busy, always seems to have a lots of cars passing through it. The new shops / areaaround the new bus station seems to have taken a lot of people away from the actual town / city itself as there is not much in the way of shopping there.
I haven't been to Namhae but I live on geoje and it is awesome. I prefer Gohyeon to any other big town on the island, but that's just a personal opinion, I know some people love okpo and prefer it over gohyeon...but they are wrong  there are loads of threads on it and I have given lots of opinions on it there, as has van islander, so do a quick search and you can find out everything about the place. if you need more advice after that you can pm me.
I don't think i ever commented on the roads in those threads though and it seems to be what you're interested in (for cycling etc) Okpo and Gohyeon and I suppose jangseung-po too (the main towns) don't have great roads for cycling or running (as they are so busy) but once you get out of the town and away from the traffic which would only really take about 10 mins then the roads are much quieter and the scenery is great for cycling. I go running around goheyon but I do must of it along the little paths that run along the river through then town. You could prob do more than 20k running just on the paths alone. I do risk the roads too, I like to think of it as ultimate running 
If you don't mind dodging cars to get out of the towns then you would be fine.
| The Great Toad wrote: |
| Hadong is a city north of the coast well maybe a town really and has a big giant mountain on it that dwarfs umm dwarfs a lot of foothills... seriously though it might be way great for riding and living even if there is no beach to coastal ride on...? |
Hadong, I would not live there, ever! Again, I know Vanislander has lived there, as well as geoje and tongyoeng and now jeju so he could advice you more. From what I seen in my few hours in the place about 2 years ago it is very small with not much to do in it.
| The Great Toad wrote: |
| Also there is a city called Masan that seems to be rather large at around 400,000. One of the major factors for me is the roads for bicycling long distances via my Merlin Road bike. I was disappointed with Latin America due to the very poor repair of the roads and the amount of traffic that also drove recklessly. |
I have been there and passed through there a few times, I always thought it was a bit dead with little to do, with the exception of the area around the stadiums. It has a large enough esl population according to one of the guys now teaching in Geoje. When I siggested to him that the place looked so boring he told me that the esl teeachers arrange weekends away very often because there is so little to do there. If you like travelling then masan could be the place for you but if you like having fun close by then I wouldn't really recommend it.
*once again..it's Geoje, not geoji  |
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The Great Toad
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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http://english.geoje.go.kr/index.sko?menuCd=DA03002000000
Hmmm Geoji Island starting to slant towards there... I wonder though if the roads are insanely crowded with Busan vacationers in the Summer it would be a bad situation if the roads were not built to handle a rush of holiday drivers.... but I assume they are South Korean infrastructure is as good as the North Korean infrastructure is bad. But the real question is: Is there a good pizza place there and a family mart on the corner with plastic chairs strategically placed so I can watch the summer comers walk by? No no seriously I will have to google map it now to check on the roads... anyone bike tour there have some insights? |
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The Great Toad
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow thanks for all the info Celt Man! I will have to do a search on it then... Sounds like a sweet island to ride around a lot like wando maybe! Ok well if I do not take a job in UAE or Japan and you see a speeding spandex stoat you know I made it... |
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the ireland
Joined: 11 May 2008
Location: korea
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| The Great Toad wrote: |
http://english.geoje.go.kr/index.sko?menuCd=DA03002000000
Hmmm Geoji Island starting to slant towards there... I wonder though if the roads are insanely crowded with Busan vacationers in the Summer it would be a bad situation if the roads were not built to handle a rush of holiday drivers.... but I assume they are South Korean infrastructure is as good as the North Korean infrastructure is bad. But the real question is: Is there a good pizza place there and a family mart on the corner with plastic chairs strategically placed so I can watch the summer comers walk by? No no seriously I will have to google map it now to check on the roads... anyone bike tour there have some insights? |
mr pizza, dominoes, pizza etang, and all the other usuals. You can sit on your family mart chair everywhere but the foreigners here don't do that, this isn't changwon We have bars we go to or peoples houses.
As for the infrastructure with tourists...they don't really come to the north of the island with the exception of visiting the p.o.w camp. They come to visit the south, where the beaches are nicer, there are less bulidings etc etc. They also come to visit oedo.
I can't say I noticed a massive increase in the number of people here during any summer I have been here. It's a 2 hour drive from busan at the min (45 min to an hour on the ferry). But when the new bridge opens up (should be open by december) then we might notice a bigger increase in tourists next year. |
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the ireland
Joined: 11 May 2008
Location: korea
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| The Great Toad wrote: |
| you see a speeding spandex stoat you know I made it... |
On second thoughts........................Hadong...awesome  |
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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: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:52 pm Post subject: Re: Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Prov |
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| the ireland wrote: |
| Geoje and Namhae are island, tongyeong is not. |
Actually, part of Tongyeong is on a huge island (the other side of the bridges) that has INCREDIBLE bicycle paths. I know what I'm talking about. I have lived in Geoje, Tongyeong and Hadong and biked Namhae, and Tongyeong has by far the easiest accessible and most pleasant scenic biking areas immediately west of the city and a bit south by southwest. If you haven't driven around there extensively in a car like I have then bought a bike and pursued those lovely coastal roads then you don't realize what you've been missing. I had visited Tongyeong for over five years regularly, about once or twice a month, before I discovered what amazing sights are just outside the city.
| Quote: |
| I know some people love okpo and prefer it over gohyeon...but they are wrong there are loads of threads on it and I have given lots of opinions on it there, as has van islander |
if you think biking around Gohyeon is anything like biking southward from Okpo then you are the mistaken one! (though chuncheon island northeast of Gohyeon is a beautiful sunday ride to and around).
Namhae is bloody hard to bike around because the scenic coastal road is so dang hilly, more so than Geoje.
Hadong is second to Tongyeong in my experience in bike riding enjoyment. The Seomjin River valley is smacking great to cycle, and the ride down to the Namhae bridge is also a worthy sunday jaunt (though coming back up is another matter!). Hadong is a GREAT LOCATION for travel, with Busan an 1 hour and 45 minutes away by hourly bus, Gwangju 2 hours away and Seoul a mere 4 hours and 15 minutes by early morning or evening bus for a weekend trip. hadong has excellent bus service to Jinju and Gwangyang, and really is the transport hub for the rural region. The train goes right to Haeundae! though it's slow it's got some special views and one buys a ticket to Buan station in Busan then just stay on until it reaches Haeundae. The train goes right to Mokpo too. I would consider moving back there with my Korando some day. If you think of your stomping ground in terms of a 1 hour or 2 hour radius then Hadong has a fantastic location (who does much on a Tuesday or Wednesday night anyway - the weekends are where the fun's really at). Two nice parks for midweek walks and rides in the town of Hadong itself.
Masan is a no-no, the armpit of Gyeongsangnamdo. If there's great cycling areas then I have never found them in my trips by car through there while shopping, traveling or visiting in the area. I really don't like masan and think it so different from the rest of the southernmost Gyeongsangnamdo area.
After I have my fill of Jeju, which could take a year or two, then if I stay in this country I might head back to Gyeongsangnamdo unless I give coastal Gangwando a chance (but I KNOW from travelling experiences that Gangwondo is REMOTE, more than an hour or two from big cities, is equivalent to Jeju in that regard, a sort of island mainland province. |
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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: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Wando was especially good for cycling when on the neighboring island of Singi. |
Sinji-do was nicer in terms of rustic charm before the bridge was built in 2005 but the roads and Myeongsashimni beach have been much more developed since. A summer ain't a summer here without my making a weekend or two trip there.
One of the best places to cycle or scoot in Korea is the Muan peninsula north of Mokpo. Really spectacular (with a couple of nice beaches and lots of camping sites to backpack to). |
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the ireland
Joined: 11 May 2008
Location: korea
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:46 pm Post subject: Re: Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Prov |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
| the ireland wrote: |
| Geoje and Namhae are island, tongyeong is not. |
Actually, part of Tongyeong is on a huge island (the other side of the bridges) that has INCREDIBLE bicycle paths. I know what I'm talking about. I have lived in Geoje, Tongyeong and Hadong and biked Namhae, and Tongyeong has by far the easiest accessible and most pleasant scenic biking areas immediately west of the city and a bit south by southwest. If you haven't driven around there extensively in a car like I have then bought a bike and pursued those lovely coastal roads then you don't realize what you've been missing. I had visited Tongyeong for over five years regularly, about once or twice a month, before I discovered what amazing sights are just outside the city. |
I'm heading to that island next weekend with loads of teachers from the school, I didn't think it was actually tongyeong though, one of the korean teachers who is from tongyeong said it wasn't tongyeong!!
To her tongyeong is the main area on the mainland with the shops etc etc, the other bits surrounding are not tongyeong.
| VanIslander wrote: |
| the ireland wrote: |
| I know some people love okpo and prefer it over gohyeon...but they are wrong there are loads of threads on it and I have given lots of opinions on it there, as has van islander |
if you think biking around Gohyeon is anything like biking southward from Okpo then you are the mistaken one! (though chuncheon island northeast of Gohyeon is a beautiful sunday ride to and around). |
No, I don't bike!! I'm talking about living in gohyeon compared to okpo. The south of the island pi$$es all over okpo, and gohyeon. I was talk purely for living comfortably and having a good time, gohyeon is much much better than okpo!! |
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petitshallot
Joined: 25 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 5:25 am Post subject: |
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| Hey - sorry if I 'm posting in the wrong place.... I'm looking to travel from Daegu to Geoje Island May 21st and am struggling to get straight forward info - can I get a bus direct from here or will it mean going to Busan first and getting a bus or ferry? Hope you can help! Thanks. |
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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: Sat May 01, 2010 7:45 am Post subject: |
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| petitshallot wrote: |
| ... to travel from Daegu to Geoje Island... can I get a bus direct from here or will it mean going to Busan first and getting a bus or ferry? |
Do NOT got to Busan if you wanna bus it the whole way. THAT would cost you several extra hours!!
I have done Geoje to Daegu return several times. There are two good options I know of.
1) Bus it from Daegu to Jinju then Jinju to Geoje ("Gohyeon" being the city hall community on the island, as technically Geoje is one municipality but the island is made up of several communities, Gohyeon being the biggest).
2) Bus it to Busan then ferry it to Geoje (from the terminal near Nampodong in downtown Busan it takes 50 minutes to Gohyeon, Okpo or Jangseungpo, ferries go to all three island communities). If you ferry it, I recommend you go to Okpo, which is 30 minutes by local bus from Gohyeon on the island. The ferry terminal is smack in the middle of Okpo and there are plenty of restaurants and motels right near the terminal. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 10:03 am Post subject: |
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I live/d (currently traveling, but heading back) in Masan. Was also a Cat. 1 in the States and raced in Europe.
Some good roads abound. Most of the scene here is "mtn. biking"/touring, but there are definitely some serious guys. No real mtn. bike trails, but we make do on the hiking trails, for better or worse. On the road I've ridden with a guy doing the national program here in Masan and he's definitely legit. There's also a velodrome in the next city over in Changwon that is super nice, though I've never seen any foreigners in it.
Not really any big mountains that I've found. Lots of rolling, smooth coastline roads with a few 2-4 km climbs around, but I haven't ventured out much further than the edges of Hadong. Also some park roads that go straight up. Behind the uni. in Masan there's a ~10 minute climb that must be pushing 18-19% in the middle. It's fairly brutal.
Anyway, I think it's a nice area for riding once you get out of the city. They ran a stage of the Tour of Korea in the Changwon area two years ago and it looked super hilly, so there's probably a lot more out that way. You could probably do a bit worse in terms of riding than the Masan area. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 10:08 am Post subject: Re: Masan, Goseong, or another costal area of Gyeongnam Prov |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
Masan is a no-no, the armpit of Gyeongsangnamdo. If there's great cycling areas then I have never found them in my trips by car through there while shopping, traveling or visiting in the area. I really don't like masan and think it so different from the rest of the southernmost Gyeongsangnamdo area.
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Once you head south along the coast towards Jindong, you've got a few really nice options and some smooth tarmac to really hammer on. Some serious rollers in there as well. |
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the ireland
Joined: 11 May 2008
Location: korea
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| Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
| petitshallot wrote: |
| ... to travel from Daegu to Geoje Island... can I get a bus direct from here or will it mean going to Busan first and getting a bus or ferry? |
Do NOT got to Busan if you wanna bus it the whole way. THAT would cost you several extra hours!!
I have done Geoje to Daegu return several times. There are two good options I know of.
1) Bus it from Daegu to Jinju then Jinju to Geoje ("Gohyeon" being the city hall community on the island, as technically Geoje is one municipality but the island is made up of several communities, Gohyeon being the biggest).
2) Bus it to Busan then ferry it to Geoje (from the terminal near Nampodong in downtown Busan it takes 50 minutes to Gohyeon, Okpo or Jangseungpo, ferries go to all three island communities). If you ferry it, I recommend you go to Okpo, which is 30 minutes by local bus from Gohyeon on the island. The ferry terminal is smack in the middle of Okpo and there are plenty of restaurants and motels right near the terminal. |
I will be in the bus terminal later on today, so I will have a look at the board and see if they have introduced a gohyeon to Daegu route yet. They probably haven't but it's worth a shot. |
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petitshallot
Joined: 25 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 12:17 am Post subject: |
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| Hey - brilliant, thanks for looking! |
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