Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poddubny]

I am planning on being up in Seoul for 3 weeks in October. Here are the facts:

-I have several places to stay, thanks to a few gracious friends' brothers who are currently working there. So I don't need to stay at a hotel etc
-I'd like to be able to hit the bars, clubs & restaurants nearly everyday/night
-Won't be hitting up any of the booking clubs or other expensive Korean venues
-Don't plan on buying any souvenirs or anything of the like
-Might need the occasional love motel
-I'd like to go see some of the touristy destinations

Questions:
1) So, according to the info listed above, could you guys give me a figure in terms of an appropriate amount of cash ($CDN) to bring up?
2) Is 3 weeks even enough to get a decent look around the city?
3) How will the weather be in October?

[little mixed girl]

dude...the hell??
bars everyday? what the *beep*?

take like, US$600...
and bring me back something nice.

[chronicpride]

LOL...this almost reminds me of a lesser version of the guy who came here last year and asked 'tell me how I can party all night, 5 days a week. What do they have for uppers or stuff for adrenaline to keep you going'. Can't remember the thread, tho.

To the OP, you're only coming for a visit, right? Not for a job hunt? If that's the case, factor in lunch (5000/day)+dinner and drinks(10000. Beer is 2000 at most restaurants. Dinner can be had for 4-5000/person, if you are eating Korean. Best to drink more at the restaurant, before going to the bar. If you are eating western, like Bennigans and Outback, look for 20-30,000/meal, excluding copious amounts of booze.)

Add 3-5000/day for snacks, transportation, smokes, etc...

7 days a week? Pffff... For a week, that'll be 150,000 for food, snacks, transportation, misc. expenses. For the bars, let's say 3 nights hardcore, 3 days less hardcore, and 1 day really laidback. If you go all night at a bar, you can drop between 25,000 for a quieter night to 100,000 for a wilder night with shots and buying drinks for chicks. 3 nights hardcore aim for 300,000/wk. 3 nights moderate, 75,000/wk. 1 night laidback, 15,000. All told? 540,000/wk.

If you are budget conscious, eat cheap Korean, like gimbap and kimchjigae at the cheap places like Gimbap Nara and others, pre-drink soju before the bar, watch your expenses while in the bar. You can bring that down, significantly, to between 250-300,000/wk. Depends on how hardcore vs. budget conscious you are.

[poddubny]

thanks chronic and lmg!

let me provide a few more details...

i'm 25 and coming from toronto. back here, i'm going out and partying at a rate of about 4 nights per week. moderate-hard drinking each of those nights. so, hopefully, i'll be able to handle the same number of nights out in seoul (although, in toronto it's not 'round the clock).

i will definitely be sticking to eating only korean when in town. no sense in eating western food when i'll only be there for 3 weeks. i'll probably also stick mostly to drinking soju and other cheap drinks.

i have 3 friends (well kinda, more like siblings of friends) living and working there now so that would nix any lodging expenses. they're also gyopos and like to hit those expensive places alot but i don't have any real desire to do that.

um...what else? so to answer chronicpride's question - i'd say i
m aiming somewhere in the middle of hardcore and budget-conscious. and it is just a visit; no job hunting goals.

yeah, so let me pose these questions again:

1) Is 3 weeks even enough to get a decent look around the city?
2) How will the weather be in October?
3) oh yeah...Will there be a Club Day in October? If so, when? And is it worth attending?


PS. lmg, yeah...i'll make sure and bring you back something nice

[uberscheisse]

hongdae club day will most likely be the last friday of october. so... october 24.

3 weeks is good to check out seoul. you can see some of the major attractions like palaces, museums and galleries on the weekdays (if they're open on weekdays, i'm sure there's a way to check hours), and you can go to the club areas like sinchon and hongdae on weekends.

and you can go to (shi)itaewon and get completely scandalized and lose all your dignity pretty much any night of the week.

like whomever said, $600 US should be more than enough. my first 3 weeks in seoul i probably spent about 200 dollars canadian, and i had free accomodations. so you're golden with $600 US, i think. what's that, about $1900 CDN?

[poddubny]

[little mixed girl]

club day is the last friday of every month.

the thing that's gonna cost u is the plane ticket.
plane ticket is probably gonna be more than your spending $$...especially coming from toronto.
for me...from detroit to korea with a stop in chicago and then san francisco (going) it was like US$1040.
coming from toronto you're probably gonna be like $1400 or something like that.

i mean if your friends are really chill/rich then you could mootch off them for breakfast...
cuz there's no no-name brands in korea.

if u just wanna party then you'll miss out on a lot.

but don't forget my stuff. ..

[chronicpride]

October is a cheap time to fly. You can probably find $1500 return prices, give or take $100, if you look hard. Flightcentre.com, etc...I know a Korean travel agent in Calgary that sometimes has great seat-saver deals which I've seen at $1000-1200, round-trip.

[Gosp]

Cheap plane tickets: www.airlineticketcentre.ca. Someone posted it up on an earlier thread. They have some pretty cheap flights, esp. if you leave on a Wednesday. [Found a roundtrip ticket from Tulsa to Seoul for $730 ttl. U.S.]

[peppermint]