Korean Job Discussion Forums

toby99 · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:25 pm Post subject: Dongducheon versus Itaewon

More generally, where do you recommend going (if anywhere) to get a taste of the "old Korea" - Korea the way it once was? I've noticed over the past year or two a sense of distraught amongst some posters over the way Korea has modernized, both economically and perhaps more so, socially. For example, some of us pine for the old Itaewon, and are depressed to see the way Itaewon has been sanitized, commercialized, and popularized. I suppose a good chunk of posters see these as good things, but I will ignore that point for the moment.

This post is for the ones that long for the "wild west" days of Korea; when there were 'villes filled with houses of ill repute; when the Korean won was worthless; when imported beer was no where to be found; when things were dirty (again, plenty of people think Korea still is a dirty trash-ridden cess pool, but we can all agree it's not as bad as it used to be); when leaving the door each morning embedded one with a real sense of adventure; when no Korean broad spoke a lick of English besides "me loovvee youu looonngggg timmme!"; when adjosshis would still regularly thank every Yank they saw for helping out in the Korean war.

Where can one go these days to get a taste of the "old" Korea? Where do you go? Is it a ville in Dongducheon? Other villes outside of US bases? Is a place like this even possible to find? Leave your thoughts.

Rutherford · Joined: 31 Jul 2007

Try the Phillipines.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Downrange at Camp Casey.

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Zyzyfer · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:02 pm Post subject:

Definitely not Itaewon lol

motiontodismiss · Joined: 18 Dec 2011

Swampfox10mm · Joined: 24 Mar 2011

The "old Itaewon?"

*laugh*

I think the closest you're going to find is probably Songtan/Osan.

Dongducheon is even smaller. I haven't been to either in a few years, although I did go to Dongducheon last year during the early afternoon when everything was closed. It seemed it would be similar in the evenings (same old bars still there). But didn't that area get hit by bad flooding this fall? I thought I saw that in the news.

toby99 · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 6:31 pm Post subject:

Yaya · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

Dongducheon, or 똥두촌, is a real dive and my friend who used to live there say the natives there are horrendous. I was there once and don't remember much of the place but at least it was the setting for a few gritty Korean films.

toby99 · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:13 pm Post subject:

Yaya · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

What little character it has left? Oh geez, better Hooker Hill go up in flames any day.

T-J · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

You're about twenty years to late to be checking out anything outside of Clark or Subic.....