|
Seoraksan is about 2 hours from Seoul by bus and is the mountain in every Korean tourism ad. It’s very beautiful and probably my favorite mountain in the country. The ridge is one of the tougher hikes in Korea (though not super hard if you hike regularly). Unfortunately, the leaves will probably have fallen by then. However, mid-November should be around peak color for the southern part of the peninsula. Gayasan and Wolchulsan are my favorite hikes down there. Gayasan also has Haeinsa, one of the country’s nicest temples, at it’s foot. It can be reached by an express bus from Daegu (Seoul to Daegu is a 2 hour train, and Daegu to the mountain is an hour and a half). From Daegu you could easily continue to either Gyeongju or Andong to see more historical sites, or down to Busan for a nice oceanside city. About 20 minutes by bus to the first two, 20 minutes by train for Busan. If you wanted to do Wolchulsan, it’s best accessed from Gwangju, which I think is the best food destination in the country. Gwangju is also a good base to travel to a bunch of old temples and natural sites in southern Jeolla that most people never see. Woraksan is probably the more scenic hike, but that part of the country has a lot less English support and generally less active public transportation. If I were to recommend one of those options to a first time traveler, I’d probably say Gayasan continued to Gyeongju is the best choice. Bugblatter fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Sep 13, 2019 |
#
?
Sep 13, 2019 06:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 08:41 |
|
|
If you come to Jeju you can get sea, mountains, and temples and stuff all next to each other. Plus leaves change here a bit later than the rest of the country so you might still have a chance to see some late fall colors.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2019 09:29
|
|
|
Jeju has best pig, if you guys can go to Jeju do it. Plus it's fun to crawl up all the hills.
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2019 00:37
|
|
|
I'm back visiting the inlaws and I'm here to dispatch an important public service announcement: the brown sugar boba tea/milk/coffee that's everywhere now sucks so bad I hate it
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2019 07:19
|
|
|
If you do Jeju, rent a car. The bus routes are limited, the service is infrequent, and a lot of the sights are pretty remote. It’s a convenient little island to get around with your own transportation though. A little bit of a different flavor from the mainland, but nice as well.
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2019 09:50
|
|
|
If you go to Jeju, drive on over to the ferry that goes out to Udo, which is an even smaller island that people on Jeju go to just to get away. It's really pretty there and the people are friendly. You won't be able to rent a vehicle while you're there though if you're a foreigner -- will mostly just have to rely on the bus that goes along the perimeter.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2019 16:22
|
|
|
Bugblatter posted:Seoraksan is about 2 hours from Seoul by bus and is the mountain in every Korean tourism ad. It’s very beautiful and probably my favorite mountain in the country. The ridge is one of the tougher hikes in Korea (though not super hard if you hike regularly). Unfortunately, the leaves will probably have fallen by then. This (and everyone else) is extremely cool and good information. Thank you!
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2019 23:11
|
|
|
They won't let me go to the DMZ because of the north koreans are sending over swine flu infested pigs over the border 
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2019 10:09
|
|
|
Cheesemaster200 posted:They won't let me go to the DMZ because of the north koreans are sending over swine flu infested pigs over the border Take a shower.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2019 10:23
|
|
|
Dunno if there are any long-term expats here who would know off the top of their head but I figured it was worth asking: Does anyone have any experience getting minor dental work done in South Korea? I'm currently looking at a few teaching jobs there, and I'm guessing hagwons don't provide dental insurance, but I've got a couple of simple fillings I need to get done and I'm trying to figure out if I'd save an appreciable amount of money by waiting to get them done there instead. I tried googling a bit but the prices people were quoting varied wildly to the point of uselessness (was seeing ranges from 75,000 won to 300,000) and most of the info was 2-3 years old at best. I'll most likely end up in Seoul but if there's significantly cheaper care available somewhere else I don't mind spending a couple hours on a train to save some cash.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 22:56
|
|
|
When I was in Korea (2008-11) I got my wisdom teeth pulled at the dental university in Seoul. It went well and was cheap. No idea thinking about it how I ended up there but could look at that.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 23:15
|
|
|
It's going to depend on the dental clinic--some rip off everyone, so you're best bet is to ask a Korean coworker for a reliable dentist. Though if you don't speak much in the way of Korean, that might limit you to English language clinics, which run a bit more. I know when one of my back molars collapsed and I got it fixed, it cost me about 400k at a fancy English clinic. If you end up in Seoul, people here will probably know some dentists you can talk to.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 23:48
|
|
|
I had a small porcelain filling done recently and it was 120 or so I want to say. I don’t remember the exact price because I had some other work done at the same time. Also, prices will vary depending on the material you use.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 23:54
|
|
|
Grizzled Patriarch posted:Dunno if there are any long-term expats here who would know off the top of their head but I figured it was worth asking: I've gotten dental work while in Korea. It's not terribly expensive in my experience but I also have an appointment Saturday so can reconfirm this or tell you whats up. I had a root canal and cap put on 3 years ago and it was 500,000.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2019 02:06
|
|
|
So . . . long story short: my daughter goes to a Korean daycare. I've worked with Koreans before and I think I am in a gift-escalation cycle. I've seen colleagues get lost in it before so I wanted to check in with you guys. Long story long: My daughter (2 years old) goes to a Korean daycare. The woman who runs the daycare was an elementary school principal back in Korea. Her husband (abeoji) was a pastor. They are both now retired. Abeoji's mother just passed away so of course we sent flowers. They gave us some roll cake (text below -- we're neither Christian nor Korean so I'm not sure how to respond). From my experience with Koreans as a life scientist, there is a pattern of gift escalation. You give a gift, they give a gift, you give a gift and so on. It's a really good way of deepening the relationship. There is an art to it where the gifts escalate or de-escalate depending on rank that I do not get and have no cultural context for. So how do I best proceed? Text (probably a bible verse?): 주 안에있는 나에게 반 근심 있으라 십자가 밑에 나아가 경을 풀었 주님을 찬송하면서 할루 야 할 무야 내 앞길 멀고 험해도 탈주 님 만 따라 가리 고 김계선 권사님 천국 환송 예배에와 주셔서 감사합니다.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2019 06:14
|
|
|
It's traditional for a grieving party to give rice cake or walnut bread to those who sent condolences. This isn't a gift cycle. eta: usually the condolences are money, but the flowers probably counted since you got a gift
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2019 08:54
|
|
|
Awesome! Thank you so much. Anything else I need to do on my end to be culturally sensitive?
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2019 09:48
|
|
|
Not that I know of, but I haven't been very close to any of my coworkers who have family pass.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2019 12:00
|
|
|
Thanks for the dental info! Also this is probably a dumb question but my uncle who was stationed in Korea like 10 years ago said they don't like to use anesthesia for dental work there so everything hurts like hell - I'm guessing that's not the case anymore but I wanted to check beforehand lol.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2019 06:22
|
|
|
It's not dumb, Korea does not like giving anesthetics at all. Check first and be prepared to insist.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2019 06:26
|
|
|
They'll usually do a local anesthetic only, if at all, and you'll want to check beforehand to avoid nasty surprises.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2019 07:43
|
|
|
Grizzled Patriarch posted:Thanks for the dental info! Also this is probably a dumb question but my uncle who was stationed in Korea like 10 years ago said they don't like to use anesthesia for dental work there so everything hurts like hell - I'm guessing that's not the case anymore but I wanted to check beforehand lol. I got anesthesia when I had the root canal but ymmv with the dentists.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2019 09:21
|
|
|
I have always been given local anesthetic when having dental work done and never had to ask for it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2019 11:25
|
|
|
.
sincx fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Mar 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2019 21:54
|
|
|
Google maps doesn't work for poo poo in Korea in general because they won't play ball with censoring certain defense sites in the country, supposedly. Check out kakao maps or naver maps instead. Edit: looks like around an hour and about 40k krw depending on what area you're leaving from. nullscan fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Nov 17, 2019 |
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2019 21:58
|
|
|
.
sincx fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Mar 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2019 23:17
|
|
|
sincx posted:I'll be in Jeju for a few days next week. I'll be staying in Goseong-ri, on the eastern most part of Jeju Island.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2019 02:22
|
|
|
I’m on a bus from Seogwipo to the airport right now. I left my international drivers permit at home =\ so we had to bus around jeju which wasn’t too terrible and got us everywhere we needed to be for extremely cheap. Naver maps works extremely well on the island, and we used it all day every day to navigate to different landmarks. Got mad Florida vibes from jeju. Pretty island though.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2019 02:54
|
|
|
One more question for anyone who's done the teaching route: For the background check, how recent does it need to be? Like I see there are options for expediting the process, but I'll be heading there around March if everything goes as planned and I'm not sure if the background check...expires, I guess? Can I get the check done now or do I have to wait until it's a little bit closer and go the expedited route?
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 20:48
|
|
|
Grizzled Patriarch posted:One more question for anyone who's done the teaching route: It needs to be within six months of your visa issue date; if you're coming in March session, any time from October 1st to hire is fine. ETA: It's going to need an apostille and the sooner you have it ready to send the better--they definitely start working on your visa paperwork before March. felgs fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Nov 23, 2019 |
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 23:55
|
|
|
FelicityGS posted:It needs to be within six months of your visa issue date; if you're coming in March session, any time from October 1st to hire is fine. Perfect, sounds like I can safely get the ball rolling now then. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2019 00:16
|
|
|
As the first few posts in the thread will tell you, go ahead and get Kakaotalk on your phone and post your ID here. The chat isn't what it used to be, but it's still far more active than this thread.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2019 15:11
|
|
|
How about that dalkomm coffee. Good poo poo???
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2020 03:32
|
|
|
covid got us all
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2020 06:52
|
|
|
Drink some Dalgona Coffee
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2020 19:58
|
|
|
i know the entire country's hosed but america is hosed worse and i gotta get out of here before trump has my entire family hanged for treason, what do i gotta start doing first? job search is already underway, FBI background check? something something apostille? what's even the new normal these days, it's been a decade.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2020 06:50
|
|
|
PHIZ KALIFA posted:what do i gotta start doing first? Get off the drugs.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2020 13:55
|
|
|
no
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2020 17:23
|
|
|
Would anyone know if restrictions would be lifted by November? My school has been thinking of doing a Model UN in Seoul, if things start looking better.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2020 05:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 08:41 |
|
|
GoutPatrol posted:Would anyone know if restrictions would be lifted by November? My school has been thinking of doing a Model UN in Seoul, if things start looking better. Almost no one knows anything. Can't even predict a week in the future at this point. November might as well be a decade out.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2020 05:16
|
|