Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joelove]

First impressions or later. Whatever left a mark. Some of you are well traveled. Korea was my first stop out of Canada. All these businesses in a single aggregation of buildings was something I noted at first. You know how there can be a hagwon or a few along with a bank and a restaurant and a bakery and other stuff all in pile of bricks.

In Vietnam it was the ruthless motorbike traffic and the girls. And how cheap it was.

In Taiwan I was impressed by the friendliness of the people.

In Thailand, good cheap food. Bangkok, god awful traffic. Also applies to Vietnam I guess.

Mainland China, Nanjing, damn that heat but awesome there at first. A lot of fun. A few years in China is nothing.

Hong Kong, nice. Macau, a bit different but still China. Malaysia, eh, hot. Japan, what can I say, clean, relatively, liked it.

London. Awesome pubs. Too costly.

Getting back to Canada, the expense and abundance of foods. Back to my hometown was a shock too.

Add your own and from other parts of the world too.

[edwardcatflap]

[KimchiNinja]

Awesome thread, a few places stand out due to my experiences...

Manila -- this is by far the scariest, dirtiest hell hole I've experienced. Really the stuff of movies; kids roaming the streets with rusty nail equipped sticks looking to rob/murder, goats walking down the street, people sleeping and peeing in the street, unsafe to display any type of wealth including phone or sunglasses (could cost you your life). Yikes.

Helsinki -- freezing and depressing. Went outside for 5 minutes and almost died it was so cold. Food sucks, expensive, guess they have to import everything. People are depressed because of the weird seasons. One of the dudes I was with on our business trip made up an illness to justify getting the hell out early. People seemed cultured and smart, but their environment sucks.

Shanghai -- It has this "roaring 20s" vibe; people are starting to get some money, things are changing dramatically year to year, kinda a wild and crazy environment but not too unsafe as long as you keep your wits about you. Big money floating around. Expensive for China, but still fairly cheap. Dug the cooking. Lots of pretty flashing lights. Lots of fun experiences.

Seoul -- highly efficient utilitarian environment. Seoul is lucky -- when I am in Seoul things always go right for me, so my perception is that it is wonderful. Dudes are male chauvinist pigs who drink, smoke, swear, and bang random chicks. You know, normal dudes. Always liked it.

[le-paul]

[edwardcatflap]

Germany - got the subway from the airport to the centre of Frankfurt and sat in a first class carriage by mistake. It looked identical to all the others. Two stops before the final one, transport police got on and spot fined me, the wife and three other couples - all non German - 40 euros each. The whole thing looked like an official money making scam to me and left the worst first impression of a country I've ever had.

[KimchiNinja]

Amerika -- geographically isolated, culture of ignorance, unfriendly, fat, mentally ill, high prices, crap food, nasty women, police state environment, high crime/violence, inefficient/dysfunctional. Diverse weather options though.

Someone had to do it.

[Smithington]

[KimchiNinja]

[radcon]

[Captain Corea]

I'm starting to feel that kimchininja is just here to troll.

[PRagic]

Actually, if you lop Chicago, Detroit, and DC off the map, the US ranks really low in comparative overall global murder rates. My next conference is in Chicago. DOH!

[PRagic]

Oh, and New Orleans. Lots of people are killed there too, they say, but I've always found it a blast and never felt unsafe. Hordes of people and copius amounts of booze probably helped, though!

[KimchiNinja]

[PRagic]

Back on track:

Phnom Penh - Great by the river and an overall nice, thriving place to be, but you're confronted with in your face reminders that Cambodia isn't called the land mine capital of the world for no reason. Beautiful people, but so much sadness.

[KimchiNinja]