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About the blog
Waiter, this isn’t the blog I ordered… – or – new lunar year, new look
Greetings awesome readers. Chris in South Korea here – as you might have noticed, there’s a new look around the site. I’ve joined forces with Travel Wire Asia, a website pooling bloggers from all around Asia. The focus is on travel, life, and adventure throughout Asia Just like I’ve been doing since March of 2008, I’ll still be focusing on travel and life in South Korea. If you have chrisinsouthkorea.com saved in your bookmarks, note that it’ll redirect you to my main page on Travel Wire Asia More >
Busan
Destination: Yonggungsa – the seaside temple (Busan)
CISK note: I’m slowly working my way through old drafts still looking for the light of day. This one’s been on the backburner for awhile, but remains a wonderful place to see the next time you’re in Busan. With thousands of temples across the peninsula, you’d be forgiven if they all started to look similar. While they’re all unique, you’d need to have a pretty educated background and finely tuned eye to tell them apart. Enter Yonggungsa, AKA Haedong Yonggungsa, AKA 해동 용궁사. Legend holds that More >
Chungcheongbuk-do
Destination: Guinsa – Buddhist high-rises and an elevator inside a temple (Chungcheongbuk-do)
Chris in South Korea note: my lady and I went here in mid-November, one of the last weekends where fall was in the air. Things got busy as the holidays approached, and I’m just now getting around to blog posts that got pushed back! Hope you enjoy, and aren’t thrown by the seasonal shift. You might call this ‘the Gangnam style of temples’. Located on the north side of Sobaeksan (Sobaek mountain), this temple squeezes dozens of buildings into a narrow valley. You’ll find a single path up the More >
Chungcheongnam-do
Destination: Hyeonchungsa – Admiral Yi’s shrine (Asan, Chungcheongnam-do)
Yi Su Shin’s shrine has all the pomp and circumstance the man deserves. One of Korea’s biggest heroes, Admiral Yi served his country by fighting off the Japanese invasion and developing the 거북선 (geo-buk-seon), the ironclad spiked turtle ship. While it doesn’t feature any signs of royalty, it wouldn’t – and shouldn’t; instead, the Admiral is honored with the solemn respect he deserves. Born in 1545 in Hanseong (present-day Seoul), he was named Sun-shin after his grandfather-in-law appeared in More >
Coming to Korea
Coming to Korea: where to live? About the neighborhoods in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do
Author’s note: Coming to Korea posts are written with the newer expats in mind. If you have a more experienced perspective to offer, please share in the comments! EDIT 9 May 2013 to add some more information. As I’ve been making the transition to Thailand and the next chapter in life, some of the more basic questions began to crop up: where are some good neighborhoods to live? Which foods are worth trying? Where are the best places to get a drink? Sure, some of this can be done through the More >
Daegu
Destination: Daegu National Museum (Daegu, Gyeongsangbuk-do)
ALTHOUGH she was talking about me, it was my girlfriend who first said “When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you limes, you make mojitos!”. To expand on that, when life gives you rain, you go to a museum – and the Daegu National Museum is worth the visit come rain or shine. Since opening in 1994, the Daegu National Museum (국립대구박물관) has focused on showing exhibits from Korea’s fourth-largest city and the surrounding province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. Calling it a national More >
Daejeon
Destination: Dunsan Prehistoric Site (Daejeon)
A dugout hut from the Bronze Age. Although a fairly minor – and entirely recreated – tourist attraction, Dunsan Prehistoric Site (둔산선사유적지) is still mildly entertaining if you’re in the area. The site was first investigated in 1991 by the Chungnam National University Museum, where they found quartz scraping tools from the Old Stone Age and at least 15 housing sites from the New Stone Age (3000-2500 BC). The ancient relics are no longer found here, but can presumably be found at the National More >
Destination
Destination: Yonggungsa – the seaside temple (Busan)
CISK note: I’m slowly working my way through old drafts still looking for the light of day. This one’s been on the backburner for awhile, but remains a wonderful place to see the next time you’re in Busan. With thousands of temples across the peninsula, you’d be forgiven if they all started to look similar. While they’re all unique, you’d need to have a pretty educated background and finely tuned eye to tell them apart. Enter Yonggungsa, AKA Haedong Yonggungsa, AKA 해동 용궁사. Legend holds that More >
Events archive
Time to win: be one of the first to see RED LIGHT WINTER in Seoul!
It’s not often that I get to give away some cool prizes, but I have in my hot little hands (er, inbox) a couple pairs of tickets to RED LIGHT WINTER. This is the Probationary Theatre’s newest play that will be showing June 22nd-24th… For the mere mortals, that is. Go ahead, watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM1xsZshmI8&rel=0 This Sunday (June 17th) at 4pm will be a special “Press and Friends” performance a full week before the show opens to the masses – and you can be there before More >
Expat stuff
On zoning, why “My rooftop smells like pizza” – and the compromises we sometimes make
CISK note: this piece is inspired by and a direct response to a Joongang Daily piece published on May 14, 2013. Go read that first, otherwise most of this may not make much sense. Imagine living a few doors down from a major supermarket or department store. You expect your apartment to cost a bit more, maybe, but think of the convenience of walking to the store instead of trudge across town. You may also expect there to be more traffic in the early morning or late night, owing to the legions More >
Exploring
Setting up for the Lantern Festival
Presented with little further interruption – go check out the Lantern Festival, starting today in downtown Seoul along Cheonggyecheon and going through November 18, 2012. If you’re not in Seoul, live vicariously through the pictures from last year’s festival
Festivals / holidays / seasons
Snow! Dongdaemun, Banpo Han River Park, and Ganghwa-do
So the snow has been around for awhile now, and I’ve had the opportunity to get out a few times and let the camera out to play: Dongdaemun, complete in HDR glory. Banpo’s Han River Park – the newspaper was already there, and seemed to play nicely with the criss-cross of footprints A little surreal – at least, that was the goal. Still at Banpo’s Han River Park. Next up – Ganghwa-do’s Fortress area: Part of the fortress wall. The South gate – and the one closest to Ganghwa’s bus More >
Food and Drink
Coming to Korea: grocery shopping
After five years and 1,300 blog posts, I was a little shocked to realize I hadn’t written a single post on grocery shopping in Korea. Let’s rectify that now. Author’s note: ‘Coming to Korea’ posts are written with the newcoming expat in mind. Head to any major grocery store – Emart, Homeplus, and Lotte Mart being the three main ones – for the biggest selection of foods, drinks, snacks, and groceries. Expect a cacophony of noise coming from the fish and meats section – they’ve gotta sell them More >
Fun stuff
Gangwon-do
Destination: Hwajinpo Aquatic Museum and Aquarium (north of Sokcho, Gangwon-do)
THE Hwajinpo Aquarium (화진포 해양 박물관 – Hwa-jin-po hae-yang bak-mul-gwan) is in the far northeast part of Gangwon-do, within walking distance of the Hwajinpo Castle (which we also visited). If you’re going to make the trip, make it a full day proposition and visit the Castle along with Syngman Rhee’s summer villa. The other two sights are within walking distance. Paying the admission fee gets you into two connected buildings – the first (on left) is dedicated to shells, bones, and other inanimate More >
Guest post
Guest post: finding pizza by the slice
This guest post is brought to you by Joyce Kong at MangoPlate, a free restaurant discovery app available in English and Korean for iOS and Android. Recently, MangoPlate was asked where to find pizza by the slice in Seoul (ask one yourself on our Facebook page) and the MangoPlate team will answer. Korea has 4 pizza groupings: As purveyors of authenticity, The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo, Pizza Peel, Brick Oven, and D’Buzza Pizzeria reign Korea’s pizza world from their brick-laid, 500° More >
Gwangju
Destination: Gwangju Kimchi Town (Gwangju, Jeollanam-do)
Gwangju Kimchi Town (광주김치타운) – possibly one of the weirdest places in Jeollanam-do – and on a road named after a food! Intended to house a kimchi museum and a working manufacturing plant, we saw no evidence the latter was operating. The place was such a ghost town we weren’t sure the place was open at first – even the cafeteria was closed. Eventually, we discovered the first hall (seen above). A kind but clueless lady actually asked us if we knew what kimchi was. Bear in mind, this is More >
Gyeonggi-do
Coming to Korea: where to live? About the neighborhoods in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do
Author’s note: Coming to Korea posts are written with the newer expats in mind. If you have a more experienced perspective to offer, please share in the comments! EDIT 9 May 2013 to add some more information. As I’ve been making the transition to Thailand and the next chapter in life, some of the more basic questions began to crop up: where are some good neighborhoods to live? Which foods are worth trying? Where are the best places to get a drink? Sure, some of this can be done through the More >
Gyeongsangbuk-do
Destination: Golgulsa (Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do)
“You didn’t get the picture!”, the twentysomething monk said, in English, after performing an impressive chest-high split kick. An older monk told him to do it again, for the camera. The younger monk pointed at me, saying to snap on two – one smaller jump, then a second, higher jump. After refocusing his energy, he jumps once, and – snap – got him in mid air! After showing the shot to the monks, they smiled and brought out the guest book for me to sign. For not having anything on the line, More >
Gyeongsangnam-do
Revisited: Oedo (Geoje-do, Gyeongsangnam-do)
Author’s note: ‘Revisited’ posts are intended to be a fresh look at a place I’ve visited before. In many cases, it will have been years between visits, and offers a chance to see a place with a fresh set of eyes (and more than likely, a much better camera than I had before!). While they won’t replace the old post, directions and information for visitors will always be included. Despite a rather curious acronym, the island of Oedo (pronounced ‘weh-do’) remains gorgeous year-round. It certainly More >
Incheon
Destination: the Sedge Mat Museum – but what the heck is sedge? (Ganghwa-do, Incheon)
I know what you’re asking – what the heck is sedge, and why did they make a museum for it? It came up while looking for some weird / unusual places, and luckily enough the Ganghwa-do area has several worthwhile places for day tripping. Sedge is basically straw – that is, the grass of several different species that’s brown in color and stiff in shape. There are a few Latin species at play here – Cyperus exaltatus, Triticum Aestivum, Phragmites Communis Trin, and Broussonetia Kazinoki Sieb to More >
Interviews
What comes after Korea? 5 expats (and me!) tell their post-Korea tales
CISK note: this post holds the record for being one of the longest in development – started in July or August 2012 for a possible future article with the Groove. That never happened, so here it is for the world to enjoy. I’ve also added my own perspective since I’m now an ex-expat of Korea. What comes after Korea? It’s rather hard to ask that of the folks at the bar – they’re still here – and I’ve yet to hear of an online group where former Korean expats go to remember the good old times. I More >
Jeju-do
Destination: World Eros Museum (Seogwipo city, Jeju-do) (NSFW)
Author’s note: this museum is also called the ‘Museum of Erotica’ in some places, and should not be confused with the Museum of Sex & Health or Loveland. Yes, the same island has THREE sexually-themed attractions, so put the kids away and don’t scroll down if you’re at work =) Go ahead, make HIS day. A bit hidden inside Jeju’s World Cup Stadium, the World Eros Museum (세계성문화박물관 – se-gye seong-mun-hwa bak-mul-gwan) manages to maintain an unassuming, almost low-key atmosphere amidst the stadium’s More >
Jeollabuk-do
Destination: The rest of Gunsan (Gunsan-si, Jeollabuk-do)
HAVING seen Dongguk-sa, one of the main reasons to come to Gunsan, we then took the rest of the day to look for anything else worthy of taking in. We didn’t find much. Our first intended stop was the Jinpo Marine Theme Park, within walking distance of Dongguksa and a fast-fading food street that only had a handful of places open on a Saturday afternoon. The sculpture above marks the entrance. Gunsan’s history of being a port town necessitated plenty of railroads to connect the city to the More >
Jeollanam-do
Destination: Gwangyang Ornamental Knife Museum (Gwangyang, Jeollanam-do)
IT’S happened to every traveler – a place starts off sounding intriguing, but upon arriving seems more ‘meh’ then ‘hey, cool!’. The Gwangyang Ornamental Knife Museum (광양장도박물관) was one of those places for me – an interesting facet of Korean history, dulled somewhat by the lack of English explanation and few stories worth telling. It ended up being worth the visit, but for other reasons. The real deal here – dating back to the Joseon Dynasty (15th-19th century). A jangdo (장도) is a small, More >
Konglish
Konglish and random pictures: the special ‘Icheon’ edition
While in town for the Icheon Pig Museum, we came across enough ‘special English’ in one night to make an entire post of Konglish. All of these were taken in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, within a couple blocks from the bus terminal or our hotel for the evening: This machine is for a person who wish to watch, to reduce teenswatching and damage on thoughless watching Found inside the hotel room – apparently it cost 500 won and had the sticker for use by people 19 years or older. I’ll let you guess what More >
Learning Korean
Announcing a new e-book: 500 Korean Sayings – let your iPad do the Korean talking for you!
Think of it as 500 Korean phrases if you like – either way, the idea here is a bit different from most other ‘learn Korean’ books. Take a look at it on iTunes, or keep reading to learn more. The gist here is to make it easier to communicate the basics, and maybe even learn a few yourself. If you’re interested in really learning the language, consider checking out my other book, Korean Made Easy. That book features thousands of the most commonly used words and phrases, along with enough grammar More >
Life in Korea
Coming to Korea: where to live? About the neighborhoods in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do
Author’s note: Coming to Korea posts are written with the newer expats in mind. If you have a more experienced perspective to offer, please share in the comments! EDIT 9 May 2013 to add some more information. As I’ve been making the transition to Thailand and the next chapter in life, some of the more basic questions began to crop up: where are some good neighborhoods to live? Which foods are worth trying? Where are the best places to get a drink? Sure, some of this can be done through the More >
News
PSA: watch out for religious organizations posing as volunteer organizations
Let’s play a little game here. Let’s take two groups, group A and group B. Let’s pretend you’ve been asked by join an event being thrown by group A. The people that approach you speak English, and seem like pretty good people. You go to one of the events, you have fun, and you look around and see nothing but happy, smiling faces. There’s nothing really suspicious about them, and their nonreligious, nonpolitical agenda seems fairly clear. Maybe a couple people are a little overly passionate More >
Opinion
On zoning, why “My rooftop smells like pizza” – and the compromises we sometimes make
CISK note: this piece is inspired by and a direct response to a Joongang Daily piece published on May 14, 2013. Go read that first, otherwise most of this may not make much sense. Imagine living a few doors down from a major supermarket or department store. You expect your apartment to cost a bit more, maybe, but think of the convenience of walking to the store instead of trudge across town. You may also expect there to be more traffic in the early morning or late night, owing to the legions More >
Other
Light posting for a week
Greetings my dear readers, Light posting for the next week or so – on vacation from school until January 4th. I have already traveled to Jeju with Adventure Korea over Christmas weekend and had a great time – will be posting about it. A couple posts have already been written and post-dated for the next week, so you won’t completely miss me. I’ll have plenty to come about several destinations in Jeju and other places across Korea. See you soon! © Chris Backe – 2009 This post was originally More >
Performance
Performance: Bedroom States, Animal Dads, and Stay Dead (POWWOW, Noksapyeong)
The rule according to one band was simple: “Everytime we mess up, you guys drink.” Later on, admissions along the lines of “we haven’t practiced this one in years” or “we only tried this twice before” or something like that. I didn’t have the chance to ask lots of names or details here, thanks in part to arriving late (if I got a name wrong please message and I’ll correct it!). I did hear, however, that this particular show was put together at the last minute, thanks to a drummer being back More >
Photography
Performance: Bedroom States, Animal Dads, and Stay Dead (POWWOW, Noksapyeong)
The rule according to one band was simple: “Everytime we mess up, you guys drink.” Later on, admissions along the lines of “we haven’t practiced this one in years” or “we only tried this twice before” or something like that. I didn’t have the chance to ask lots of names or details here, thanks in part to arriving late (if I got a name wrong please message and I’ll correct it!). I did hear, however, that this particular show was put together at the last minute, thanks to a drummer being back More >
Polls
Poll results: Knowing what you know now about Korea…
Knowing what you know now about Korea, what would you tell your past self? (pick one answer) You’ve gotta go – quit that lame job and look for a teaching gig in Korea now! (39%, 23 Votes) You’re doing fine in your home country – but you’ll do even better in Korea (22%, 13 Votes) It’s about the same, really – there’s still some fun stuff to see and do in Korea (22%, 13 Votes) Korea? No way. Avoid it like the plague. (10%, 6 Votes) You’re doing better where you are now, past self.(7%, 4 More >
Questions from readers
Question from a reader: getting private tutoring jobs?
A reader (who for obvious reasons will stay anonymous) has asked the following question: It took a while to get here, but so far so good. I was actually curious about tutoring.. Not really sure how to approach that though. I’m getting mixed input on the legalities of it and people willing to chat about it. I’ve tried to be accessible. From going to coffee shops, to taking taekwondo, but nothing yet. Image credit: karindalziel Let me start with the standard disclaimer: if you are teaching More >
Random pictures
Konglish and random pictures: the special ‘Icheon’ edition
While in town for the Icheon Pig Museum, we came across enough ‘special English’ in one night to make an entire post of Konglish. All of these were taken in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, within a couple blocks from the bus terminal or our hotel for the evening: This machine is for a person who wish to watch, to reduce teenswatching and damage on thoughless watching Found inside the hotel room – apparently it cost 500 won and had the sticker for use by people 19 years or older. I’ll let you guess what More >
Review
Book review: Happy time go fast (Wes Weston)
For anyone new to Korea, you may be unfamiliar with the long list of literature previous expats have left behind. While I’ve yet to see a definitive list (and probably never will), let’s simply say the story of the English teacher that comes to Korea has been written about in many different ways. This blog has reviewed a few different versions of the story – from Chris Tharp’s excellent and informative Dispatches from the Peninsula to a gonzo-inspired “The Dog Farm” by David Wills. There’s More >
Revisited
Revisited: Oedo (Geoje-do, Gyeongsangnam-do)
Author’s note: ‘Revisited’ posts are intended to be a fresh look at a place I’ve visited before. In many cases, it will have been years between visits, and offers a chance to see a place with a fresh set of eyes (and more than likely, a much better camera than I had before!). While they won’t replace the old post, directions and information for visitors will always be included. Despite a rather curious acronym, the island of Oedo (pronounced ‘weh-do’) remains gorgeous year-round. It certainly More >
Satire
Interview: a professional Konglish writer
Author’s note: A few days ago, I had the privilege to meet Mu Jil Seo (무질서), a professional Korean writer, of sorts. The interview is paraphrased, not quoted, as the interview happened without a tape recorder. Chris In South Korea: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mu Jil Seo! Mu Jil Seo: A pleasure to meet you as well. [Settles into chair, picks up his cup of coffee] CISK: So, I’m told you’re a professional Konglish writer here in Korea? MJS: It’s a weird title, but yes, I specialize in More >
Seoul
On zoning, why “My rooftop smells like pizza” – and the compromises we sometimes make
CISK note: this piece is inspired by and a direct response to a Joongang Daily piece published on May 14, 2013. Go read that first, otherwise most of this may not make much sense. Imagine living a few doors down from a major supermarket or department store. You expect your apartment to cost a bit more, maybe, but think of the convenience of walking to the store instead of trudge across town. You may also expect there to be more traffic in the early morning or late night, owing to the legions More >
Teaching
Moving to Thailand: things to know and resources you’ll need
As previously mentioned, it’s time to move on. Thailand is the next step, although all the Chris in South Korea posts will remain online indefinitely. Coming to Korea was already a big step, and to be frank I did very little research ahead of time. Late 2007 wasn’t exactly the dark ages of internet civilization, but to be sure a LOT more sites have become much more helpful in recent years. I’m not yet in Thailand, but there are several places that will be giving me a head start: Learning the More >
Thailand
From Korea to Thailand – 8 things to expect
After a month-plus on in Thailand, I’ve settled into a routine not too unlike the one I had in Korea in the months before I left. To be clear, I’m neither teaching English, nor am I looking for English-teaching jobs (thanks, but I had enough of that in Korea). Instead, I’m taking on some gigs as a WordPress developer (the e-mail remains chrisinsouthkorea AT gmail DOT com if you’d like some help developing your site), and I’m involved in a couple of startup ideas – more on those as they More >
Traveling
48 hours in Seoul – or, a walk on Seoul’s wild side (find it in the Busan Haps, or read it below)
CISK note: a version of this piece is published in the May issue of Busan Haps. Spending two days in Seoul is a bit like spending a half-hour inside a three-story museum – you’ll enjoy it, but you’ll quickly realize how little time that really is. Lonely Planet’s own guide to the city of over ten million requires 208 pages to cover thoroughly, so understand coming in that ‘seeing it all’ isn’t an option. With that said, two days will fly by with a mixture of old and new. Day 1 10am: History More >
Uncategorized
Thailand – the first week
In case you haven’t heard, Chris isn’t in South Korea any more. Yes, the blog is staying up, and yes, I’ll be blogging about the adventures through Thailand. Go to http://www.chrisinthailand.com and be patient – there’s a lot of stuff coming soon I’ve every reason to stay in contact with wonderful friends and folks in Korea – the internet may be a bit slower here, but some very cool stuff is coming soon. Suffice it to say that Thailand is more different than I expected it to be. Reading the More >
Writing
Announcing Korean Made Easy, version 3.0
ANNOUNCING the newest version of Korean Made Easy – version 3.0 features an audio track recorded with a native Korean speaker. What is Korean Made Easy? In short, it’s an irreverent, basic look at the Korean language and culture. In almost five years, I’ve never needed to say ‘I am wearing a green sweater’ in English, let alone Korean, so why learn it? It features chapters on everything from formalities and honorifics – a big deal in this historically-Confucian-based society – to ordering More >
You know Korea is your home when
You know Korea is your home when… – Part 12
It’s about time for a new post. See the long-running series here, then read the newest installment below. Marilyn Monroe called - a pig? Seen at a barbecued meat place in Hongdae. You know Korea is your home when… The guy sweeping the floor at E-mart has an iPhone. You instinctively start taking discounts into account when using a credit card. Someone tells you a subway name, and you look it up in hangeul. The TV on your phone goes out and you’re outraged. You find a place in Korea More >
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