Korean Apartments (Officetel) and A Korean Flea Market

Finally as promised I will give you an apartment comparison post.

There are many different types of apartments in Korea but in my opinion an officetel is perhaps the best kind for a young person or language instructor in Korea. The advantage of an officetel is that it will usually have some useful businesses in the building. For example my building has several kinds of medical clinics, a pharmacy, Baskin Robbins, a chicken store and a CU or Convenience store. Right next door is Starbucks and across the road is McDonalds. Also there is literally over 100 different restaurants around my building.

I think the advantage of an officetel is that you are high up and protected from the weather (no flooding). They are also modern and have a good bathroom, cooking facilities and in some cases a big living area with  lots of storage space. Anyway the apartment I live in now is the best I have been in so far in Korea ^^

Here is a look at all the apartments I have lived in so you can see the difference:

Number 1


Number 2


Number 3


Number 4 the Officetel



So there you go. An apartment comparison for you so you know what is on offer here when you arrive ^^

This weekend I also had the chance to visit a Korean Flea Market at Ttukseom which is right on the Han river. Every month there is a foreigners market but this month there was only two foreigners; Singapore and Vietnam. Anyway take a look at the video ^^



Well that seems to be all for this week. Next week there is a body art competition being held in Daegu. Here is the link if you are interested:

http://www.korea4expats.com/events-in-korea-Intl-Bodypainting-Festival-1-2-Sept-2012-Daegu-6485.html

I might see you there ^^ Until next week have a great time ^^

Eminem Recovery Tour 2012 Seoul South Korea

Eminem Recovery Tour 2012 Seoul South Korea 19 August

Wow! This was a fantastic concert, one of the best I have seen. Eminem was opened by members of Slaughterhouse with their unique and exciting style of hip hop. As the rain started to come down lightly Eminem opened his act with stunning visual displays in the background of computer animated graphics or the music videos of each track he was performing. As he had some concert length songs (e.g. around 2 minutes or so for some of the popular songs) he managed to perform all of his hits from his career. Stan was a highlight as well as My name is (Slim Shady). One of the most exciting highlights was when he sung the lyrics in the my name is slim shady song "and Dr Dre said..." and all went quiet and then Dr Dre himself appeared on stage!!! He sung 2 songs before leaving the stage. Eminem also performed with Bad Meets Evil on the song Fast Lane which was also an awesome highlight.

If you get a chance to see this concert do it! It will be a fantastic experience for you!

I managed to get a handful of videos for you to experience a little of the concert so here they are. Enjoy ^^















Well that's all for this week. Check out the foreigners flea market this weekend at Gwangin... here is the link to that:
http://www.korea4expats.com/events-in-korea-Foreigners-Flea-Market-Sat-25-Aug-2012--Gwangjin-gu-Seoul-6541.html

And I guess I will post my apartment comparisons finally next week. So until than have a fantastic time!^^

Seoul Life

Today 15 August 2012 is Independence Day for South Korea so I am at home on a rainy day posting this blog entry :)

So this week I thought I would post up some videos about normal life and things you will see here in Seoul. I remember when I was in New Zealand I would be curious about simple things like this, the weather, how things would look different and what unique things you might see. So here are some videos about that.

August is a little slow for events but September promises a whole lot of interesting things happening around Seoul so I will keep you posted :)

Some interesting storms in July this year:





Driving around the streets of Seoul:



Some helpful robots that you maybe lucky enough to see ^^




Well thats all for this week. I promised you something about my apartment a few weeks ago.... *^^* I hope that I can do something on that and comparing all of my apartments in the next month.

Well until next time have a fun and fantastic week! ^^

Caribbean Bay & Yongin Traditional Korean Folk Village (Haunted Village)

Caribbean Bay - Cabi Cabi

A late posting this week *^^*

I visited Caribbean Bay last week in the heat of the summer. As with Everland Caribbean Bay is spread out over a wide area with a dozen or so rides.

As most Koreans I have spoken to have either gone to Caribbean Bay or Ocean World I am able to give you a unique perspective or comparison as I have been to both

See my post about Ocean World Here: http://rawrkorea.blogspot.kr/2011/09/ocean-world.html both

Caribbean bay is fantastically big and has many places to rest and eat and many rides... well quite a few more than Ocean World. However many of the rides and attractions are similar for example the wave pool, tube ride and water slides as well as the giant bucket dump. Personally I enjoy Ocean World for the same reason I enjoy Lotte World.... I am lazy.... Ocean World is much more compact and the rides are closer together making the transition a more comfortable experience. I like the fact that ocean world provides big rubber tubes to ride in on the tube ride where it appears that you have to have your own tube for Caribbean Bay. Another good point about Ocean World is that it is not so close to Seoul so it is possible to enjoy your time there without the massive crowds that you will experience at Caribbean Bay. However saying that Caribbean Bay is an amazing water park and definitely worth the visit. Perhaps my view has been skewed by the advertising for Ocean World ^^.

http://www.everland.com/web/multi/english/caribbean/main.html

Anyway here are some walk through video's and a few pictures before my little handheld camera killed itself :( R.I.P. small camera... you will be missed... but perhaps when I have time I may perform some major surgery on it to see if I can get it working again.











On a more scary note there is a frightening attraction at night at the Yongin Traditional Korean Folk Village:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264121

Starting around 8:30 at night the village turns into a ghost town which is kind of similar to a New Zealand attraction called Spookers: http://www.spookers.co.nz/

Anyway you are guided through the village by a ghostly figure and you are surprised by ghosts and falling skeletons  hands and crazy ghouls. Near the end is an actual ghost ride which is really fun. The experience lasts around 40 minutes or so and upon completion you are given a gift and a refreshment.

This is the only information I have on it unfortunately :( I will post more if some more information come to hand.





Oh and how could we forget about the Cabi song:



Well that's all for this week. I am sure to see you again next week for something else unusual and fun. until then have a great week!  ^^

Bartz Revolution Art Game Ansan Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art

Bartz Revolutionary War Exhibition

The League of Legends Exhibition is being held at the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan:

http://www.koreanartistproject.com/eng_event.art?method=boardView&brd_reg_no=134

Consisting of pictures, photographic art and sculptures covering a multitude of themes.

If you are in the Ansan area and wanted some excuse to go out somewhere then this could be somewhere to go. However i would not recommend traveling   to see this exhibition as there is not much content to look at. In fact I almost have all the content in my pictures. So here is a look at the exhibition:











Here are the rest of the pictures in slideshow format:



Well there is not much else to say about this exhibition...

On to next week I guess. I hope to be going on a trip to Caribbean Bay this week! ^^

Cant wait to get out of this heat and enjoy the cool water.

Well until next week have a great time and stay cool however you can! ^^