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jamal0000
Joined: 11 Dec 2010
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 Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:43 pm Post subject: Are the smaller Korean cities just tiny versions of Seoul |
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| I want a city with good nightlife, plentiful street food, and pc bangs, a respectably sized foreign community, but I don't think I could live in a city the size of seoul. Are there cities like seoul but smaller. Am I overlooking any Seoul suburbs that don't have a bedroom community feel? TYIA |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Smaller cities are like Seoul, but minus the foreigners and foreign amenities. |
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fortysixyou
Joined: 08 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes. |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| I'll give it about 5 seconds before someone posts Cohiba's rule..... |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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"Cohiba's Rule"
Think twice before you live outside of Seoul. "In Seoul" and
"outside of Seoul" are like two different countries. Seoul
is an interesting place with variety and venues for most
tastes. Outside of Seoul you will find a homogeneous Korean
culture. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you will never
find things like: French, Greek, Indian or any other ethnic
foods. Markets that sell sherry, pate, pastrami, ricotta cheese.
Specialty shops that sell Cuban cigars, European pies, cold
cuts or rye breads. Just to name a few things. Also clubs such
as photography, drama, public speaking, sailing are 99% in
the capital city. If you want to experiment with a very Korean
culture, which unfortunately means "closed", then choose the
countryside. If you want to make money and have the lifestyle
choices similar to a western country, then there is no other
choice than Seoul.
The FFF RULE: FFF=Fun For Foreigners.
If FFF in Seoul = 100, then FFF decreases at
1/distance. So 2km from Seoul FFF=1/2(100)=50;
10km from Seoul FFF=1/10(100)=10. This rule is
a rule for nightlife, food and foreign products only.
Nature etc. is on a different scale altogether.
This means you will be wasting a lot of time commuting
to Seoul. This is especially a drag if you have been
boozing on a Friday night and there are no buses or
trains.
I, unfortunately, live near Seoul where the FFF factor
is almost in the negative range. I know!
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Ask and ye shall receive. |
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samd
Joined: 03 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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What do you mean by bedroom community feel? Why exactly don;t you want to live in Seoul?
It sounds like many of the Gyeongi-do satellite cities (Bundang, Ilsan, etc) would suit you, but cities further away can have a few hundred thousand people and be wastelands in terms of services and facilities. |
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supernaut
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Location: Nova Scotia
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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I kinda get what he means by a bedroom community, for all the single foreign guys.
For Anyang/Beomgye, it does kinda feel like everyone is having sex with the same few Korean girls. |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| supernaut wrote: |
I kinda get what he means by a bedroom community, for all the single foreign guys.
For Anyang/Beomgye, it does kinda feel like everyone is having sex with the same few Korean girls. |
They have penicillin in Korea, you should get that taken care of.  |
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supernaut
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Location: Nova Scotia
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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"And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire. The ring of fire"
Haha but seriously you just need to go to Happidus or Slang on a friday night to see what I mean. The guys change, the girls don't. |
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PigeonFart
Joined: 27 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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WARNING. These smaller cities look exactly like Seoul, however the mindset of the people is not the same!
In Seoul, nobody looks or points at me, and kids dont shout "waygookin" at me (that means "foreigner").
Things like that happened EVERY EFFING DAY when i lived outside Seoul. I have a low tolerance for crap like that.
So if you think you'll have no problem dealing with people with a provinical mindset, then i say go for the smaller cities. |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| PigeonFart wrote: |
WARNING. These smaller cities look exactly like Seoul, however the mindset of the people is not the same!
In Seoul, nobody looks or points at me, and kids dont shout "waygookin" at me (that means "foreigner").
Things like that happened EVERY EFFING DAY when i lived outside Seoul. I have a low tolerance for crap like that.
So if you think you'll have no problem dealing with people with a provinical mindset, then i say go for the smaller cities. |
I keep hearing this but I live outside a small city. The only time I have had people point or stare at me was in Seoul. I've had a couple of kids come up and do that to me here, but I've had more do it in Seoul.
As for Cohiba's rule, what it fails to take in to account is that the quality of a lot of those specialty things is, from what I've seen, questionable. I'd rather go without than buy an inferior product. |
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jamal0000
Joined: 11 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Well what about Songtan, it has a US military base nearby like seoul but everything's on a smaller scale (but not too small). I haven't heard much about it, so what do you think? |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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| jamal0000 wrote: |
| Well what about Songtan, it has a US military base nearby like seoul but everything's on a smaller scale (but not too small). I haven't heard much about it, so what do you think? |
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
You're funny.
Songtan is a great place to go if you live out in the sticks. They have plenty of Western restaurants on a street that is maybe a kilometer long (and they only stretch for about 200 meters of the street). So, you have that vs. a dozen other places like that in Seoul, and that's ONLY talking about places to eat and buy counterfeit bags. And this is coming from someone who lived near there, who has a friend who owns a restaurant there, who doesn't get a hard-on every time people mention Seoul. But don't for a second think that you can compare the two. |
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jamal0000
Joined: 11 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Okay forgive me for comparing the two. But taken by itself is it a fun place for a young guy to live? I realize its relatively small, but the presence of the military would mean the locals are more accustomed to foreigners so I wouldn't feel strange or isolated. Furthermore it seems to have all the essentials for fun. |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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| jamal0000 wrote: |
| Okay forgive me for comparing the two. But taken by itself is it a fun place for a young guy to live? I realize its relatively small, but the presence of the military would mean the locals are more accustomed to foreigners so I wouldn't feel strange or isolated. Furthermore it seems to have all the essentials for fun. |
If by essentials you mean bars and prostitutes, sure, it'll do. But you'd be better off living in Pyeongtaek or Osan then, those are at least decent sized cities that have train service and are still a taxi ride away from Songtan. For as tongue-in-cheek as cohibas rule is, it does have a grain of truth. Of course, if you're into bars and prostitutes for your only source of fun, then Songtan would be fine (and I don't judge, its just not my scence). Otherwise, it's pretty barren. |
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