Hot answers tagged south-korea
10
Have you tried to visit Jjimjilbang? I seldom go to a public bath, and sometimes I can see a man with tattoo. I think most of Jjimjilbangs will not block you to use it. I am able to say this because I assumed that it will be a small tattoos (i.e. on arms or on neck back.) But with a big tattoo like covered whole your back?.. Let's think about it.
I saw your ...
9
WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is the only way I know of to stay for free somewhere other than couch surfing. This might be what the Romanian you met used. I'm not familiar with Korea's program specifically, and all WWOOF farms vary depending on the host, but they may be able to help you arrange free accommodations and meals in exchange for ...
8
You're not going to "offend" anybody by giving them an unwrapped gift, but careful packaging will definitely increase the gift's perceived value and the brownie points you get for giving it, and yes, this extends to "just" snacks.
Quick primer: http://www.korea4expats.com/article-gift-giving.html
If you're staying in a hotel, reception can probably wrap ...
8
Here are 2 sample companies organizing these trips as a group tour:
Koridoor
Panmunjom
There are several different places to see, such as the DMZ with its fences, some tunnels and the border crossings of course. Because of the many different combination of locations that you can see in a half-day or full-day course, the prices also vary a lot, between ...
7
If you are in Suwon, the very first thing you should do is to try suwon galbi. Suwon is one of the best places in South Korea to try galbi. Also, don't forget to visit Hwasong, a fortress which was built after imjin japanse invasion.
There is also a famous amusement park in Korea near suwon called, 'everland'.
Plan on spending about 2-3 days to look around ...
7
Specific to defectors, not really. I think that would aggravate things more then anything. While South Koreans are aware of the "struggle" of many of their Northern brethren, things like the Ministry of Unification look actively to bond both cultures rather then highlight the differences.
If you're looking for a glimpse of North Korean life you might want ...
7
Unfortunately, I do not have a positive answer to this question. I have been looking around the web for a few days now and I am almost sure there is no such museum. I have been through the list of museums in South Korea with the help of Google Translate but with no luck. There is not even one comment about such a museum in any website. I think I can safely ...
6
Money exchange in Turkey has traditionally been so prevalent due to the instability of the lira that the cost of exchanging US dollars and Euros is almost negligible. However, most other currencies are bought and sold at a considerable margin, so even if someone will exchange lira and won, it will be to your disadvantage.
Your best course of action is to ...
6
It is indeed difficult to find information about this if you can't read Japanese or Korean. Most ferries are passengers only.
I ended up asking a friend in Japan:
There is at least one car ferry between Busan (Korea) and Fukuoka (Japan) run by KoreaFerry. The information I got says that the cheapest room category is included in the car price, but for the ...
6
Historically Seoul has had a number of issues with drinking water. Most recently the issue wasn't the water itself, but the pipes that delivered it, which many people claimed introduced contaminates. I can still remember being told by someone I was working with there about 10 years ago that the water was safe to drink in my hotel, but not in their office ...
5
There are a number of ferries between South Korea and China, via Tianjin or Qingdao. Both South Korea and China have a well-connected railway network, so it shouldn't be a problem to travel onward by train from the arrival point in China to Hong Kong.
For what it's worth, the same page also lists ferries between South Korea and Japan.
South Korea to Hong ...
4
According to TIMATIC (the Visa processing system use by most airlines/travel agents since 1963) the requirements for an Australia citizen visiting South Korea are :
Passport required.
Passport and/or passport replacing documents must be valid on arrival.
Visa required, except for Those traveling to attend conferences,
exhibitions, ...
4
There is a well-established system of organized crime in Korea. Korean organized crime operates in secret and many dislike being considered a gang and would rather be called a business, an organization, a clan, etc. similar to the few Tongs in china that are behind the organized crime and give direction and finance the various triads. The Korean mob was once ...
4
According to the InterWebs there are only two Korean restaurants in Romania, both in Bucharest
(Dami and Korea-house), however where-ever there is a good number of Korean tourists or workers, there is usually also a Korean restaurant.
Looking at the web site of Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries. all the managers listed there have Romanian names, the ...
4
I'm afraid you'll have to learn Korean first!
From Jeju's 'endangered' dialect article from The Jeju Weekly :
An after-school program for learning the dialect is offered in a couple of public schools.
This suggests that it should be possible. The article even mentions an iPhone app about the Jeju language, but I didn't find it.
The Jeju Special ...
4
There are huge amount of new phone shops almost everywhere, but I hardly remember where used phone stores are. Probably the reason will be simple-Used phone business is no money.
Buying a new phone in Korea also means signing an contract (usually for 2-years) with mobile service provider. It makes money for manufacturers, mobile service providers, and ...
3
According to a post in the Apple Support Communities:
There is GOOD NEWS for people with iPhones bringing them into Korea!
As long as it's factory unlocked, you CAN get your iPhone to work in
Korea. The best way is to go to a KT global store and first have your
iPhone's IMEI registered into the Korean directory. This is NOW FREE,
one foreign IMEI ...
3
Yes you will be able to use mobile phones from South Korea in Australia. Korean's GSM providers use GSM 900 MHz or 1800 MHz which is the same in Australia. At the same time most phones now do support both GSM 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. Regarding UMTS (3G) both use 2100 MHz.
Just make sure that your phone supports 900/1800 MHz. If you are lucky enough you might ...
3
I have been studying in Korea for two years have have never seen a case like that, so the answer may be no :) Koreans fought very hard to enter universities and admission is kind of a privilege you have to earn, and class sizes are generally small enough for the instructor to remember everyone's name. You can freely roam most campuses and enjoy the landscape ...
3
visitkorea.or.kr has some information on routes and prices to Jeju.
The cheapest rates they quote are KRW 30,000 for Mokpo-Jeju and KRW 26,250 for Wando-Jeju.
So yes, Wando seems to be the cheapest option.
However, I travelled the Mokpo route in summer 2011. Back then my hostel host was able to get me a free shuttle bus from Gwangju to Mokpo.
3
I found this website helpful in actually producing fare prices:
http://www.aferry.com/timetable/WandoChujaHanilExpress.htm
I found that I could do a return sailing for 50 euros. If you look around the site you can try other operators.
3
I've never come across a country where ATM fees varied depending on the location of the ATM.
Whilst it's certainly possible that there exist some "private" ATMs in various airports that charge more, but the normal bank-operated ATMs will charge exactly the same fees and give exactly the same exchange rate through-out the country.
Specific to Seouls Incheon ...
3
It is quite hard to find ATMs that accept foreign cards, including Visa Electron and Cirrus cards in Korea outside areas with more foreign expats and tourists.
The ATMs which accept non-Korean cards will have a small logo or sign saying "Global ATM".
Thread about "Global ATMs" on official Seoul tourism website "Visit Seoul".
One of these areas with more ...
3
According to this Visa site, Visa Electron is accepted in South Korea in many ATMs (make sure to choose the bank from the drop down menu). Also, According to this official site of Korean tourism Cirrus ATM cards are the most widely accepted in Korea.
3
I couldn't find any schools aside from the one you have listed. Generally speaking I would always start from the sports associations like Korean Parachute Association but their site is all in Korean and rather poorly done too.
There is also a Sky Divers' forum called Drop Zone which has a section dedicated to South Korea. It might provide some information ...
2
Japanese is not hugely helpful in those countries, but not altogether useless. There will be a few Koreans who will know Japanese better than English. And part of the Japanese WRITTEN language (Kanji) is borrowed from Chinese, so Taiwanese will be able to read what you write in Kanji, and you would be able to read the Chinese script using Kanji.
Younger ...
2
As for Tokyo area, check out http://www.sakura-house.com/en/
Depends on where you are planning to go, dormitory style may get you down around $500. If you are interested in another area, you might ask them for a referral. Possibly it could be less outside of major cities.
Also you can search on Google for "japan apartments "no key money"". In Japan, ...
1
The key word for medium-term rentals in Japan is "weekly mansion", search for that on Google and you'll find a whole bunch of sites offering them in English.
That said, your expectation is not very realistic, as less than US$300/Y30k a month in any of Japan's major cities will be virtually impossible. You'd generally be looking at Y50k and up for some tiny ...
1
It seems to be No.
None of the currency exchange counters listed Korean Won on their boards but I didn't ask either since the rate for US dollars was reasonable I decided to go with SigueSigueBen's advice here.
By the way, all of the change counters I could find charge 4% commission though they don't all announce it equally prominently.
1
I never used them but I know a few people who always stayed in a Jjimjilbang while travelling in Korea. They're not free but they're usually pretty cheap.
Edit: I jumped the gun with this answer. It doesn't really suit your purpose but it could be useful for someone looking for a cheap night in Seoul or Busan.
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