Some Top Tips for Living In Korea
This time around, I’ve got some top tips for living in Korea. From Food to little known but very useful tidbits that will make your trip or living experience much more enjoyable and not so mind spinning.
Learn how to hold chopsticks!
Yeah I said it, It’s an obvious tip for sure. But you probably realize how awkward foreigner’s look here when trying to grasp a pair of chopsticks. Either by grabbing it in the middle or constantly shouting profanities while not getting food from the plate to the mouth. Here it can be a pitiable sight when a Korean waitress out of kindness offers you a fork to help you eat your food even when you don’t request the fork.
Download the Subway App for your Phone! Dealing with 1st time travelers to Korea. This is one of the 1st things I recommend they do. It saves an awful lot of hassle and frustration dealing with what is at first an utterly bewildering and complex subway map. Just download the app and pick your departure point and arrival point. The app will then tell you how long it takes, where you need to transfer and so on. A Must for anyone in Korea. Locals and Foreigners alike need this app for survival.
Use the Subway over the buses! Once your used to the subway here, you will use it daily. And it’s a much safer and convenient option than the bus. Bus Drivers are notorious here for not wanting to be late, so nearly always drive like lunatics and you only have a few seconds to exit the bus normally. Literally you better be at the door ready to exit or else. At least with the subway, even during rush hour you can feel more comfortable and feel more secure in catching the train.
Know Some Basic Korean! While you can survive here easily enough using just English. When dealing with the older generation, If you can’t speak Korean then your stuck with body language or listening to very bad and broken English. Koreans of all ages are normally very helpful, so if you’re lost they wanna do their best to help you get to your location safely.
Taxi Drivers are a Mixed bag! Taxi Drivers are nearly all middles aged Korean men. Naturally their personalities differ wildy. From the super friendly to the uber grumpy. Also a great tip for when you are in Seoul is to try avoid the use of black taxis. See these are the luxury taxis so the rate is higher than normal. The Orange or Silver taxis are the general taxis and all offer language interpretation services since most of the taxi drivers lack English skills.
Wifi is free and easy to find normally! One of the great things about being in Seoul, especially in the more busier parts is that it is so easy to find free wifi. Nearly all coffee shops everywhere in Seoul provide wifi for customers. So if your a traveler here, You can a buy a cup of coffee and get top notch wifi or even stand out in the street and still get lucky. Up to you!
Guesthouses are foreigner friendly! If you are here short term or long term, guesthouses are Seoul provide a good base for you to start your Korean journey. Affordable accommodation and also a great way to make friends. Planning to stay long term?
Well then you might just be in luck and find that they need a cleaner or receptionist (good Korean ability needed) and in exchange you might get a free bed. Staying short term? Well then, You have a chance to enjoy what Korea has to offer with fellow travelers from all over the world.
Guesthouses a.k.a Hostels
Your T-Money Card has a refund option! Now this one is a little known fact about the t-money cards with are used by everyone to use the public transport. Just for a 500won service charge, Anything up to 20,000KRW on your card can be refunded at your local GS25, Ministop , 7 Eleven and so on. Which is really useful for those young people and backpackers who live on a shoestring budget. Anything over 20,000KRW though, you may get the refund at the T-Money HQ.
There is so many tips and must know stuff about Seoul. One thing is for sure, You will be finding out new tips and useful things everyday. Even someone who has lived here years will find out something new every so often. Some top tips for living in Korea isn’t really enough tips right? Well if you have some, Please do right it down so others can benefit from it.