Is it safe in Seoul?
Written by admin on July 2, 2008 – 8:36 am -I would have to say that Seoul is one of the safest cities to travel or live in. So safe in fact that my kids go to the mall with their friends without any adult supervision as early as eleven years old, something that I wouldn’t let them do in Los Angeles.
One of the reasons could be that the city is practically blanketed in both private and goverment CCTV’s (Closed Circuit Television). I’m pretty sure that the cops won’t drop down on you the instant a thief is spotted but more importantly it serves as a deterrent to a would be criminal as there would now be evidence to aid the authorities in apprehending him or her.
The other reasons could be because of the constant patrols of cops through the city streets and more importantly because you can’t own a gun. Heck even the police only carry at .22 cal, a gun thats probably got as much stopping power as a BB gun. I can recall asking my colleagues if bank robberies occur in South Korea and he said rarely. I just thought to myself that it wasn’t because of all the CCTV’s but probably because you would have to cart off a whole truck load of cash to make it worthwhile.
So the next time you’re in Seoul always remember that Big Brother is watching!
Tags: Safety Seoul, Seoul Crime Rate
Posted in Living, Seoul | 1 Comment »
Food Court survival
Written by admin on June 25, 2008 – 5:56 pm -When we first arrived in Seoul in what seems like eons ago, we often had our meals at western restaurants. We didn’t have a choice at the time since only restaurants like TGI Fridays and Outback provided bilingual menus. This resulted in a very dramatic increase of our food expenditure compared to Singapore where we had previously lived.
This time around I put my back into learning how to read Korean so that I would be able to read the menus of Korean restaurants, something that I couldn’t be bothered with five years ago. I also conditioned myself not to crave for Western or Filipino meals and snacks.
Ordering at most food courts in South Korea is different from those in United States or the Philippines, though there are some places that are like what we are used to such as the COEX or the Technomart Food Court. You normally place your order at the cashier who handles everything for the entire food court. Behind the cashier is a board showing all the food stalls with their offerings, the caveat is that most food courts have their menu boards in Korean, so being able to read Korean will definitely come in handy at this stage. If you don’t read Korean most cashiers are usually kind enough to help you through the process especially if they are not that busy.
After your order is placed and punched in, the cashier hands you your receipt with a queue number on it, which is flashed on a screen when your order is ready to be picked up.
If you’re with your friends or colleagues it would be a good idea to learn this phrase : 맛있게 드세요 - Maske Juseyo, which is the Korean equivalent of Bon Appetite.
Tags: Eating out in Seoul, Food Court
Posted in Living, Seoul | 2 Comments »
Korean Mobile Phones 101
Written by admin on June 5, 2008 – 5:19 pm -One of the most frustrating things for a newcomer to South Korea is getting a mobile phone and services. Majority of the foreigners are confused as to why their mobile phones from their home countries do not work in South Korea. The simple answer is that South Korea operates their mobile phones on the less universal CDMA as opposed to GSM which was adopted as a standard by most countries in Europe, Asia, and The Americas.
To make matters worse, the Korean CDMA frequencies differ from its North American counterparts. Korea operates in the 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz band while North American CDMA providers such as Verizon and Sprint are on 850 Mhz and 1900 Mhz. The frequency differences do not pose much of a problem since majority of the new CDMA phone are multiband just like its GSM cousins. The problem lies in the fact that most CDMA phones until recently lack a SIM card. A CDMA phone has to be programmed at a service provider or phone dealer in order to get service.
The silverlining is that South Korean mobile phone operators SK Telecom and KTF have both adopted the the 3G UMTS WCDMA standard. So as not to get too geeky, this new standard is set to replace GSM. KTF and SK Telecom have been actively promoting 3G for the past few months which are branded as Show and T Service respectively.
This now allows foreign phones (Nokia, Ericsson, Palm Treos, HTC, Blackberries etc.) with global roaming activated from their foreign mobile phone providers to be used in Korea. The caveat is that your phone should be 3G WCDMA/HSDPA capable and you must be on a post-paid account with your provider. Why does it have to be a post paid account? Because pre-paid global roaming works a little differently. It’s based on a call back system. For example to call when roaming on a pre-paid account you dial a special prefix and the phone you want to call. You then hang up and wait for your phone to ring and upon picking up, the party you called will be on the other line and that doesn’t work in South Korea.
What about the rest of us who live in The ROK?
Now that South Korea is on the same page as the rest of the world as far as mobile phone standards, all we have to do is to buy a sim card from either SK Telecom or KTF and plug it into our foreign mobile phones right? Not quite, up until early this year the sim cards were locked to particular phone even within the same company, meaning it was not possible to take out the sim card out of your phone and put it into another phone. Even phones from the same Korean providers were sim locked, for example if I have an SK 3G phone with a sim and I decide to purchase a new phone from SK, it isn’t possible to just transfer my sim from the old phone to the new one.
The good news is that SK Telecom and KTF announced early this year that sim locks and phone locks would be disabled within their respective companies in the first half of 2008. Before the year ends we can expect to be able to swap SK Telecom sim cards and KTF cards, meaning no more SK or KTF specific phones.
Why am I so excited about all these developments, because I prefer PDA phones and smart phones of which I have little to choose from in South Korea, also because majority of mobile phone dealers are not keen on doing business with foreigners. When the time comes that all locks are removed then I can theoretically plug in an SK or KTF sim into a 3G Nokia, 3G Palm Treo or the much anticipated 3G iPhone which is rumored to be announced in the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) this Monday. The removal of all the locks also opens up the possibility of having a pre-paid sim just like other countries. I’m sure that most expats and tourists will love to be able to use their own cell phones by buying a prepaid sim at the airport.
Tags: CDMA in South Korea, Mobile Phones in South Korea, Sim card lock South Korea
Posted in Seoul | 15 Comments »
iPhone coming soon???
Written by admin on June 5, 2008 – 2:15 pm -Softbank Mobile Corp., a mobile phone provider in Japan has announced the they have reached an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Japan later on this year. Softbank is a 3G only provider thus strengthening the rumors of the release of a 3G capable iPhone at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference kicking of in San Francisco this Monday.
On the home front there was news last year that KTF will be bringing in the iPhone to South Korea but things have been quite since. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Tags: iPhone South Korea, KTF iPhone
Posted in Seoul, Tech | No Comments »
Cost of living in Seoul
Written by admin on May 31, 2008 – 10:37 pm -According to a recent survey, Seoul is now in the number 3 spot of the 50 Most Expensive Cities to live in with Moscow taking the number one spot and Japan taking the fourth.
So how much will an expat expect to spend in Korea? Everyone has different lifestyles and spending habits so what I’m going to have listed below might not hit the spot but at least you’ll have an idea of how much you’ll need to survive in Seoul.
First thing on the list would be accomodations and more often than not the most expensive. There are basically three types of dwellings, villa, apartment and a house. I’m assuming that the typical expat is not a CEO of some multinational corporation so I’m just going to look into a villa or apartment. The interior of a typical villa or apartment do not differ signigicantly. They differ in the way that they are managed, a villa does not typically offer security, garbage collection and other maintenance services while apartments offer weekly garbage collection, pest control, security. For villas you manage your own utility bills while apartments usually have a monthly bill which includes electricity, gas, garbage and other maintenance fees. The closest thing I can think of is a typical western apartment vs. a condo. I lived mostly in Kangnam-gu which is considered one of the most expensive areas in Seoul to live in, fortunately the company I work for shoulders the cost of my accomodation and utilies. Expect to pay around USD 800-1000 for a 40-45 sqm. studio in Kangnam.
Groceries and meals are a bit difficult to compute so I what I’ve got is based on my own personal shopping habits. For my groceries I’ve got the usual mix of beef, fish, prawns and chicken and veggies the biggest chunk of my grocery budget goes to junk food which sometimes cost more than the essentials. Minus the junk my groceries usually cost around USD100-150 per week and that’s because I only eat dinner at home. I also do most of my shopping at a nearby E-Mart which is your equivalent of Target or Shopwise. I occasionally go to Costco for my foreign needs such as Eggo Waffles, Snapple, Cereals and their bakery goodies. Expect to spend another USD 50-150 on a typical shopping trip.
If you’re living alone like me, cooking for one sometimes seems impractical so eating out might seem more appealing. I personally eat out during weekdays and cook during the weekends. A typical Korean meal will cost between USD 5 to 10, while eating at a western restaurant like Outback, Sizzler or TGI Fridays will cost you between USD 20-35 depending on what you order.
Now that we’ve got a roof on our heads and food, lets take on the cost of keeping ourselves in touch with loved ones and also entertained. Broadband connections in Korea in my opinion are relatively cheap especially if compared to countries like New Zealand or Australia. A fiber optic based with unlimited time and data internet connection costs about USD 50.
Mobile phone service in Korea is a tad expensive if you ask me especially if compared to U.S. calling plans where you are free call minutes per month and more importantly being able to rollover those unused minutes. Anyway mobile phone service in Korea will put you back USD 50-80 depending on your calling habits, take note that these do not include international calls. I would suggest leveraging on Korea’s fast internet speeds by using VOiP services such as Skpe, Yahoo Voice etc… to call home. I’ve not used a phone card for the past 8 years but it’s another option too.
Last but not least we need to move around especially since we need to commute to work everyday to pay for those bills and hopefully save enough to make all our sacrifices working abroad worthwhile. The good thing is that South Korea has a fairly good public transportation system. Spending between USD 1 - 2 is usually sufficient to get you to your destination on either the bus or subway. Taxis although convinient might prove to be really expensive especially if you do it on a daily basis. For more information on transportation in Korea click here.
Below is a breakdown of what you can expect for you monthly living allowance in Seoul.
Housing USD 1000
Utilies USD 350
Food and groceries USD 600
Internet and communications USD 150
Transportation USD 120
Total of USD 2,220
A list of useful Korean websites in English :
Broadband Internet - Hanaro Telecom
Tags: Apartment Seoul, Broadband South Korea, Cost Of Living Seoul, mobile phone korea, Real Estate Seoul, Rent In Seoul
Posted in Living, Seoul | 8 Comments »