How is the life in Korea?

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:27 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

While I was in Seoul I stayed at a pretty cheap hotel (about $60 a night). It was about what you'd expect, but it was also conveniently across the street from a subway entrance so that was great. To be honest, I only came back to the hotel to sleep. The rest of the time, I was out and about. On my last night in Korea, I was in Busan and I stayed at the Lotte Hotel (about $300 a night). It's a bit expensive but, I guess I had to indulge just once. From the 22nd floor, you can get a great view of the Busan skyline, especially at night.

I know some people who go to Japan every year who are not Japanese and they always have a good time. I guess it's because they have Japanese friends but I think it just depends on the people you meet. I hear that the Koreans adopted the Japanese way of hospitality, so I would expect that their service is just as good. Anyways, hope this helps.

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:26 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

cool, thanks for the info ;)

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:06 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

AznAvenger: ahhh ic! thankss for sharing too Smile

i have a queastion about shopping, krns let you bargain right? at least in the less professional/expensive stores? cuz i lived in china b4 i came to the u.s. and i went back last yr andd like ppl bargain there all the time! but if you let them know that u're a foreigner, they don't let you braigain at all haha. it can't be helped for white/black/hispanic ppl, feel so bad for them! i know kra stuff's more expensive than china, but yeah just wondering :]

man i wanna go visit too! and tokyo.. sigh i'd need to save lotsa money..

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:46 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

You can't bargain at the department stores, but at the big Korean markets, of course you can! Shopping in Korea is great and better than in any other country I've been to.

As for cheap accomodation, I recommend Golden Pond Guesthouse. You might have to share your room with someone, but prices are incredibly cheap - about $15 a night. The best thing about it is that you get people to hang out with almost upon arrival there. There is a party in the guesthouse until the early morning very often and of course you can arrange to go somewhere else with a few of the guests. The entire time I stayed there, I went out to party every night. Laugh

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:36 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Since I had some free time, I compiled a list of all the good and bad things about living in Korea. Keep in mind that these are all my only MY experiences and, in some matters, opinions, and you might have a vastly different impression of this country.

Good things about Korea

- Korea is very safe. You don't have to worry very much about things getting stolen here. People are mostly honest here.

- Korea is extremely convenient, the most convenient country I've ever been to. Want to watch a movie? Want to eat live octopus? Maybe you want to go to a bar and meet people? Wherever you are, all of these things are only a short walk away, and for those midnight cravings, you can rest assured that a 24h convenient store is pretty much guaranteed to be right in front of your door.

- Korean people are very good-looking and walking through the streets is very pleasing to the eye.

- Korean restaurants and food culture is great - even in case you are not so fond of the spiciness of Korean cuisine, the cheap prices of food in Korea will sway you. You can have a decent meal at a restaurant in Korea for as little as $3, and included in that price is as much free water as you can drink.

- Even though Korea is a hardcore capitalist country, people give you freebies surprisingly often. When I bought a laptop, I got speakers and a mouse as free 'service' and many public buildings offer free water (hot and cold). When ordering food, speaking a little bit of Korean very often results in you getting free extras with your meal.

- People here are generally curious about foreigners. Though there is substantial racism here (as mentioned in the negative things list), most Koreans are paradoxically also absolutely intrigued with foreigners. It's not hard to meet people interested in talking to you, especially college-age people. People are also often very nice to you - I've gotten free rides on motorcycles for having a pleasant chat on the subway etc.

- Subway. Right. Korea has quite possibly the best public transport system in the world. The subway is absolutely fantastic and so is the bus system.

- Shopping can be done cheaply and in typical Asian fashion in Korea.

- Koreans are absolutely technophile! I list this as a good thing since I expect that most people reading an internet message board will be, as well, at least to some degree. You can use a computer practically everywhere and on the subway, you will see plenty of Koreans watching movies on their cell phones.

- Koreans are perhaps the most ambitious and hard-working people I ever knew.

- Korean nightlife is great.

Now, on to...

Bad Things About Korea

- Korea is sexist. Very sexist. But it doesn't just hurt the women. There is huge pressure on the women to be feminine and equally as much pressure on the men to be masculine and of course, the compulsory military service for males doesn't really help matters. There are countless social problems caused by this strict separation of the sexes.

- Korea is too hot and humid in summer and too cold in winter.

- Korea is an extremely superficial country. In Korea, being ugly is the equivalent to being shunned all your life and young people can spend hours discussing only a love interest's beauty. Being ugly in Korea is tough, for both sexes, but moreso for women and this explains why in Korea there are so many ads for diet programs, why there is so much plastic surgery and why many surveys have shown that Korean women are the ones to be most concerned with their looks out of all women in the world. Korean people are so obsessed with other people's beauty that in most cases, conversation just isn't going to happen if they find a prospective conversation partner to be physically unattractive. Which leads me to...

- Korean people don't make good boyfriends or girlfriends on average, unless you are completely obsessed with them like me. Not only will their family make it difficult and will you have a tough time overcoming the language barrier, but the superficial culture they grew up in has caused most of them to be quite dull and uninteresting. They are a lot of fun to be around with, and they certainly are pretty/handsome, but dating them takes a lot of work and dedication.

- Korean people have this national disease of illusions of grandeur. They tend to not want to realize that, overall, the rest of the world, except for a few dedicated individuals, doesn't really care about their country, might not even know where it is located and, worse still, might initially compare Korea's economic power and standards of health to that of.. say, Cambodia. Koreans like to believe they are great people (maybe the greatest of all) and thus have a hard time coming to terms with the reality of their global insignificance. The Korean nationalism stems from a complex mix of feelings of superiority and inferiority compared to other nations.

- Koreans are rather xenophobic, especially if you are Chinese, Western Asian, South Eastern Asian or of African descent. A little bit less so if you are Japanese (though it largely depends on the people you meet, but in general, Koreans respect the Japanese more because of their power and wealth) or white (because Koreans equate whiteness with America, and America with money. And Koreans like money). There are plenty of Koreans who are not racist, though, and in everyday life, you will very rarely be the victim of outright racism directed at you, especially if you are a woman as most negativity is directed at male foreigners.

- Koreans are obsessed with money. It's rather disgusting, really.

That's all I can think of for now. I hope somebody finds it useful!

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:30 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

You want my honest opinion? Politic is more of mess then America there...

But it's a nice place to live. Suburban and Rural is perfectly mixed in Korea, in my honest opinion. As someone who lived there, I do sometimes regret moving...

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:55 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Ive always wanted to go to korea and I know some day I will go there!!!
Hopefully one day when I go to korea.. I`ll meet cute guys there.
Cause i heard korean guys are pretty gooooooooooooooood looking =)

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:26 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

For some reason, I don't think Korean guys are as hot anymore compared to when I visited last year, I remember seeing way more glamorous hotties last year and a lot more average Joes now. Or maybe I just haven't been to the right places this year, or maybe I was blind last year. Laugh

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Or maybe too drunk? Tongue

That's a very nice list of the pros and cons of Korea and I'll keep those things in mind when I do eventually go there. Just one thing though, you said Korea is a very "safe place" ... as in...is it safe for a woman to walk alone in the streets in the middle of the night? Do people fight a lot in nightclubs like they do in Western countries? Basically I just want a general idea so that when I take my family there I don't have to worry too much about our safety Smile

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'm European and I'd never consider walking around the street by myself at 4 AM wearing little more than pants and a skimpy top pretty much anywhere in Europe, but in Korea, I go out alone at all times of the night wearing just that and I've never felt threatened. Not only have I never been assaulted, I've also never been sexually harrassed (they stare, but that's all they'll do). Granted, though, I've never walked around the seedy parts of town, but as long as you stay away from those areas, your family should be fine.

Generally, Koreans very much stick to their own groups of people (school, clubs, family etc.) and draw a clear line between themselves and strangers. They are rather unconcerned with strangers - they won't approach them, annoy them or harrass them, but on the other hand, they also won't offer their help if they are obviously confused and have lost your way or if they are having a rough, public fight. Generally it seems to me that, while Koreans, especially drunk businessmen in the wee hours of the bloody morning, fight a lot, most of the fights are fought between two people who genuinely want to fight each other for whatever reason and, as already mentioned, it is very rare for Koreans to pick fights with random strangers. As such, yeah, I consider Korea a very safe place to be.

Compared to some cities in Europe (Rome and Barcelona come to mind) where you literally have to walk around with your hand wrapped around your wallet for it not to get stolen, there are virtually no pickpockets in Korea and there is a good chance that someone will return your phone or other belongings should you forget them somewhere. I'm very relieved about that - I'm rather paranoid, and if Korea wasn't so safe in general compared to the other countries I've been to, I'd probably have to carry around my laptop with me wherever I went. As it is, I just lock my room and leave it there and I've never heard of people breaking into rooms to steal things in this area, and I've asked around. Much like the Japanese, most Koreans respect other people's belongings.

Many visitors to Korea complain that taxi drivers try to rip them off and in my experience, yes it does happen as taxis are ridiculously cheap compared to Europe and thus the drivers are paid ****, but it doesn't happen with any kind of frequency and out of the numerous times I've taken a taxi, I'm pretty confident I've only been ripped off once.

So overall, just use common sense and act the same as you do in your home country and you'll be fine in Korea. If you don't want trouble, and act accordingly, then trouble won't come looking for you.

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:34 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

awesome info, thanks for taking the time to list it all Smile

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:37 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:47 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:14 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0