Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Have you ever noticed burning trash, lumber, plastic, and other materials at construction sites within cities? I saw burning trash at a construction site next to an apartment building and playground. I wonder if the people up on the upper floors enjoy the smoke and smell. This particular fire was on the ground. Previously, I have seen the workers burning trash in a large barrel.

Wisco Kid · Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Location: Changwon

I noticed the same thing happening when I lived in Thailand, and it really bothered me.

hari seldon · Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: Incheon

What's really unhealthy is breathing the fumes from a cement plant. They can burn virtually anything in those contraptions. It was one of those regulatory black holes back in the U.S. so I doubt it's any better here.

Guri Guy · Joined: 07 Sep 2003 Location: Bamboo Island

Yes I agree. Garbage and waste disposal practices in Seoul leave something to be desired. I think living in Korea for 2 years will take at least 5 years off of my life expectancy. Sad

Mind you I hear that China has the ten most polluted cites in the world.
This also reminds me of a story I heard when I was taking a Latin American history class in University. I believe it was Buenos Aries, Argentina in 1973. I was told that the river running through it was so polluted with chemicals and the weather got so hot (45+ C) that the river actually caught on fire.
So I suppose it could be worse...

Always enjoy your posts by the way, Real Reality Smile

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Guri Guy wrote,
"Always enjoy your posts by the way, Real Reality."

Smile

Thank you.
Cool

peemil · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Location: Koowoompa

The river caught on fire in Cleveland Ohio in the 70's...

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Used to live on the third floor of a "villa"-type building, with a veranda looking out onto a vacant field. Nothing pretty about this "field": just weeds growing amid the rubbish, very sterile-looking muddy red soil, rusting discarded attachments for a small excavator, crumbling chunks of concrete from some started-but-never-finished construction project.

But at least it was open, and it afforded a fairly nice view at sunset with blue skies and a distant mountain range on the horizon. Along the far edge of this "field" was a line of short, ramshackle homes & shops.

When I moved there, I was working Monday to Friday at an office located a considerable distance from my home, so I never really saw the place in the daytime except on weekends. And, as it was the monsoon season, there wasn't a sunny (or even just non-torrential) weekend for over a month.

Then finally, finally -- a dry, sunny, warm Saturday!!! I jumped out of bed, threw open the curtains, slid the veranda doors open as wide as they'd go, and took a refreshing deep breath of ..... NASTY-SMELLING SOOTY BLACK SMOKE! Mad

Some old guy from one of the houses or shops across the field was out there, in the middle of the vacant lot, burning one of those plastic table tops -- you know, the white ones with the parasols they have outside the convenience stores -- and it was sending this thick black acrid plume of smoke right into the verandas of everyone living in the villas.

I asked two of my neighhbours and, while the wives complained that the soot gets into their laundry, none of them thought it was worth making an issue over. And why was this foreigner suddenly getting so worked up about it anyway? The old guy, they explained, burned junk EVERY day it didn't rain. Shocked

I moved out long before my rental contract expired.

rok_the-boat · Joined: 24 Jan 2004

It's illegal for them to burn it.

If driving throught the coutnryside at night - try opening your car window - and you'll soon shut it. Sucks if you ride a bike. There is smoke everywhere, though some areas are worse than others. I guess they figure you can't see the smoke at night - sure can smell it though. But what would a poor policeman do - he'd have to arrest everyone!

And wh? Well, you have to pay to have rubbish removed officially ...

rok_the-boat · Joined: 24 Jan 2004

It's illegal for them to burn it.

If driving throught the coutnryside at night - try opening your car window - and you'll soon shut it. Sucks if you ride a bike. There is smoke everywhere, though some areas are worse than others. I guess they figure you can't see the smoke at night - sure can smell it though. But what would a poor policeman do - he'd have to arrest everyone!

And why? Well, you have to pay to have rubbish removed officially ...