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Finally did the subway thing. On the way from Osan to Guro station it was a straight shot. What confused me here was the ticketing machine had "Guro" and "Guro Digital Complex" listed and I had no idea which one I needed so I had to wait for my friends to respond where they would pick me up. Found out later that there isn't even a Guro Digital Complex, the machine had a typo and it was supposed to say "Gasan Digital Comlex" On the way back down, they throw a transfer into the mix; WTF? I overshot the transfer at Byeongjeom but thankfully the next stop was the last before coming back and I just got off at Byeongjeom ten minutes later. I still don't know how I'm supposed to read transfers on the map. I thought I was on the blue line all the way down but they threw in that stupid little offshoot there. The transfer here was confusing as gently caress to me despite there being only two platforms. The platform safety door LED readouts said "<--Sema" but none of the maps in the station had Sema listed so I had no idea if that was the right line/direction to go. All of the signs in the station had Pyeongtaek listed, which I knew was the right way to go, but considering the fact Byeongjeom looks like it's supposed to be on the same track all the way down, I was double-guessing myself and wondering if Pyeongtaek would be the same way. So it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought but I do need to work out the whole transfer thing. ***** On another note, has anyone visited the mecca of consumerism that is D-Cube City? I thought malls in the middle east were insane. D-Cube has a VIP lounge, a women-only parking section (huh?) and two floors of restaurants as well as a medical center and hotel. It's like a loving starship experiment or bio-dome for rich people. PorkFat fucked around with this message at Feb 4, 2012 around 11:45 |
| # ? Feb 4, 2012 11:38 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 07:05 |
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I've only been there to try and get ramen at Mist. I guess there is more than I saw.
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 11:48 |
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Some of the stations are very poorly marked and send you off in wild directions. Fortunately not a lot of them, but it does happen. Also any station designer anywhere who makes you pay to switch directions should burn in hell for eternity.
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 12:08 |
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PorkFat posted:On another note, has anyone visited the mecca of consumerism that is D-Cube City? I thought malls in the middle east were insane. D-Cube has a VIP lounge, a women-only parking section (huh?) and two floors of restaurants as well as a medical center and hotel. It's like a loving starship experiment or bio-dome for rich people. I actually just got back from Seoul a few hours ago and I stayed in the Sheraton at D-Cube City. It's a really nice hotel that's a really good value now since it's so new. But it also takes about 20 minutes on the subway to get to the center city. Still, it's a classy mall with lots of really diverse eating opportunities. I enjoyed staying there. PorkFat posted:On the way from Osan to Guro station it was a straight shot. What confused me here was the ticketing machine had "Guro" and "Guro Digital Complex" listed and I had no idea which one I needed so I had to wait for my friends to respond where they would pick me up. Found out later that there isn't even a Guro Digital Complex, the machine had a typo and it was supposed to say "Gasan Digital Comlex"
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 12:22 |
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Bloodnose posted:I actually just got back from Seoul a few hours ago and I stayed in the Sheraton at D-Cube City. It's a really nice hotel that's a really good value now since it's so new. But it also takes about 20 minutes on the subway to get to the center city. How much was a night at the hotel? I was tricked at staying at a lovely love motel because the online pictures were when the room was new. There was mildew in the wetroom and the jacuzzi jets were not working. Love motels seem to be hit or miss. I've been in some really nice (but tacky as hell, which is to be expected) ones and some pretty lovely ones and they all look great on their sites. Ah, good to know about Guro Digital Complex; I see it on the maps now. My Korean friend thought Gasan was a renamed Guro. PorkFat fucked around with this message at Feb 4, 2012 around 12:41 |
| # ? Feb 4, 2012 12:37 |
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If I were to go to Yeosu for the World Expo, where the hell would I stay? Last reports I had from people going said that it was small and had very little in the way of accommodations. This was this fall.
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 13:32 |
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DontAskKant posted:If I were to go to Yeosu for the World Expo, where the hell would I stay? Last reports I had from people going said that it was small and had very little in the way of accommodations. This was this fall. If you can't find a motel in Yeosu, then you could cross the bridge and go to Gwangyang. I think now that the two are connected by the new bridge they are only about 15 minutes apart. I haven't been to Gwangyang since 2004, but I would imagine that there would be motels you could find there. Also the local foreign teachers there are a pretty fun tight knit group. When I got back to Korea August of 2010 I met a couple guys that where living in Gwangyang (and still live there). I told them that I used to live there and asked how they liked living in a small town. They said that they loved it and most the local teachers were cool and fun to hang out with. Hell you could probably even post a message up on the Gwangyang facebook page and find someone willing to let you crash at their place, or at least help you find a place to stay around there. https://www.facebook.com/groups/221010874584944/
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 14:45 |
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Grand Fromage posted:Some of the stations are very poorly marked and send you off in wild directions. Fortunately not a lot of them, but it does happen. Also any station designer anywhere who makes you pay to switch directions should burn in hell for eternity. You can just talk/desperately try and mime to the security guy and he will open the little gate for you to go across.
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 18:53 |
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Just got back from a night at Cocoon in Hyongdae, I think I'm getting to be too old for clubs. That and I had to keep an eye on three of my drunk classmates at the same time so it was a constant juggling act of making sure they weren't be abducted or whatever.
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| # ? Feb 4, 2012 20:11 |
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PorkFat posted:How much was a night at the hotel? I was tricked at staying at a lovely love motel because the online pictures were when the room was new. There was mildew in the wetroom and the jacuzzi jets were not working. Love motels seem to be hit or miss. I've been in some really nice (but tacky as hell, which is to be expected) ones and some pretty lovely ones and they all look great on their sites. I'm not sure how much it was separately, I bought round trip Hong Kong-Incheon plane tickets for two and five nights in that hotel for about US $2000.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 01:06 |
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Grand Fromage posted:Some of the stations are very poorly marked and send you off in wild directions. Fortunately not a lot of them, but it does happen. Also any station designer anywhere who makes you pay to switch directions should burn in hell for eternity. If u press the little button at the gate (the one used for big packages or wheelchair people) the ticket guy should unlock it for u. He might ask why u need to use it over the intercom but if u reply in english im sure he will open it for u  (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 02:06 |
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For those traveling in the region: http://www.coupang.com/alldeal.pang?type=C Don't forget this place. My girlfriend and I had an amazing two nights and 3 days in Fukuoka and the whole thing cost ~$800 USD. That's bus tickets to Busan from a place near Seoul, round trip boat, two nights in a hotel, food, and entertainment.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 02:13 |
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After being dropped off by my real estate agent, having just signed a new apartment contract, he turns and says to me, "Hey every Sunday morning I go exercise near _____ park, wanna come with?" Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure says the waygook who claims to be a veteran here. I love it when cultists lie. Exercise? How about looking at my galaxy tab for 2 hours to soak up all the videos my cult made. Lunch? Samgetang - bland chicken with all the flavor boiled out of it. Famine suppression food. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...y_Church_of_God Korea has too many cults. It's been a year since I was last bothered by anyone.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 05:36 |
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At least with the cult I got suckered into going to they had a sweet traditional drum line and they didn't hassle me afterwords.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 07:27 |
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I'm not sure it was a cult, but last year a little old man on a motor scooter almost ran me over on the sidewalk in Chungju to give me a bag of candy, chocolate and toiletries with an invitation to some church.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 08:48 |
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Low chance, but anyone want to have some drinks in the Hongdae area tonight?
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 09:04 |
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I've been keeping my room immaculate lately and I don't know why. Ever since I've been in Korea I've been a total neat freak when it comes to my apartment.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 09:15 |
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Toussaint Louverture posted:I've been keeping my room immaculate lately and I don't know why. Ever since I've been in Korea I've been a total neat freak when it comes to my apartment. It's a subconscious response to the garbage, vomit, and spit covering the street right outside.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 09:20 |
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Either that or stress.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 09:56 |
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Toussaint Louverture posted:I've been keeping my room immaculate lately and I don't know why. Ever since I've been in Korea I've been a total neat freak when it comes to my apartment. I know what you mean. Korea has made me a lot more anal about my appearance and keeping my poo poo tidy. I know every one of my Korean friends keep their apartments, cars, and motorcycles spotless and tidy. I just wish they would extend that to the sidewalks, streets, and alleyways. MonkeyBrains fucked around with this message at Feb 5, 2012 around 10:11 |
| # ? Feb 5, 2012 09:58 |
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Good to see the old Korean food = famine food stupidity being perpetuated. Not like a nation's cuisine tends to reflect its history and culture. Only lazy cultures get colonized or have famines. They should have just bootstapped harder. gently caress that stinking famine food!
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:12 |
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frozenpeas posted:Good to see the old Korean food = famine food stupidity being perpetuated. I don't really understand why some people call it famine food, but I grew up on it all my life and I quite like it.  Toussaint was singing the Emart jingle yesterday for hours. He's heading down the slippery slope to liking Kpop, I just know it.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:28 |
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I'll accept famine food if we can call American food plutocracy food. Mmmmmm repurposed corporate corn in everything!
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:30 |
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Themata posted:I don't really understand why some people call it famine food, but I grew up on it all my life and I quite like it. A lot of it is designed to extract as much nutrition as possible out of cheap bits, or to preserve food for lean years. Every culture has it, but in Korean food culture it tends to be right up at the forefront--all the stews, the soup with every meal, rice filler. This is understandable since Korea has a long history of privation and still had famines into the 70s. In most western/central European and European-derived cultures famine has been rare for a while and the famine food has been shuffled off to the side or relegated for poor people, though there's been a revival of appreciation for it in the last several years.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:37 |
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politicorific posted:Samgetang - bland chicken with all the flavor boiled out of it. I really like samgetang. They have a bowl of salt at the table for a reason. Season it up how you like it and dig in. Although if I am in the mood for a soup I will usually go for gamjatang or haejangguk. I could eat that poo poo daily.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:43 |
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Galbitang is the soup of soups. And the new year's soup, I don't know the name. Oxtail broth and the rice dumpling things. Hell yes. I have a fridge full of dakjuk right now since I'm on a personal wallet famine for a few weeks. And the best kimchi jjigae I've ever made.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:44 |
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Grand Fromage posted:A lot of it is designed to extract as much nutrition as possible out of cheap bits, or to preserve food for lean years. Every culture has it, but in Korean food culture it tends to be right up at the forefront--all the stews, the soup with every meal, rice filler. This is understandable since Korea has a long history of privation and still had famines into the 70s. In most western/central European and European-derived cultures famine has been rare for a while and the famine food has been shuffled off to the side or relegated for poor people, though there's been a revival of appreciation for it in the last several years. Exactly, so using it as a pejorative term when people's mothers and fathers actually grew up malnourished is disgusting.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:53 |
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Grand Fromage posted:And the new year's soup, I don't know the name. Oxtail broth and the rice dumpling things. Hell yes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteokguk Was anybody else aware that the Korean hot pepper (코추/kochu) is also a slang term for penis? PorkFat fucked around with this message at Feb 5, 2012 around 14:59 |
| # ? Feb 5, 2012 14:54 |
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TreFitty posted:For those traveling in the region: http://www.coupang.com/alldeal.pang?type=C politicorific posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...y_Church_of_God "1.45 million members as of April 2011" That is a big cult. PorkFat posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteokguk DontAskKant fucked around with this message at Feb 5, 2012 around 15:32 |
| # ? Feb 5, 2012 15:21 |
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PorkFat posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteokguk It's not necessarily cock, more like wee-wee; it's not something grown-rear end men would joking mention being part of their anatomy. But a kid will think it's a-okay.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 15:50 |
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I'm in the market for a Korean smart phone that I can take with me when I go back to the States. The plan is to just sign the 2 year contract and pay whatever is left when I do leave. The catch is that I'm not willing to pay an arm and a leg for an IPhone. Would it be possible with, say, the new Samsung Galaxy to unlock it and be able to use it under any of the mobile networks in America? I feel like it would be hard to convince the store to unlock your phone after bailing out of your contract early.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 16:30 |
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Vernacular posted:I'm in the market for a Korean smart phone that I can take with me when I go back to the States. The plan is to just sign the 2 year contract and pay whatever is left when I do leave.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 16:47 |
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Vernacular posted:I'm in the market for a Korean smart phone that I can take with me when I go back to the States. The plan is to just sign the 2 year contract and pay whatever is left when I do leave. Get an iPhone. This thread should be linked in the OP: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3387426 Yes, read all 1,000 pages of that thread. Android is a mess. This thread has been gushing with Android posts. I have an Android phone, I read that thread a year ago. My phone is poo poo. So lovely that I'm going to get rid of it by any means necessary. Korean phones depreciate incredibly fast. Getting one and paying full price for them is stupid since a new model is released every 3-6 weeks. My stupidly expensive Nexus S is dirt cheap - my students are carrying them around now. Since you are going to ignore my advice anyway, many android phones are unlocked - if not you can always root it if you get a model that XDA devs have worked on. Going back to America you'll have to keep in mind that there will be more android phones being given away for free, plus you have to make sure your phone will be CDMA or GSM.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 17:24 |
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kimcicle posted:Just got back from a night at Cocoon in Hyongdae, I think I'm getting to be too old for clubs. That and I had to keep an eye on three of my drunk classmates at the same time so it was a constant juggling act of making sure they weren't be abducted or whatever. Um you understand Cocoon is not really a club. It's just a place with poo poo music and way too many people. Contact me if you want a real fun night out. That's not a problem for me to do. But give up on Hongdae for clubbing because that just attracts too many young people, and too many creepy guys. I've got no problem offering any of you guys free entry to my parties and it's fun, believe me on that!
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 17:46 |
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PorkFat posted:How much was a night at the hotel? I was tricked at staying at a lovely love motel because the online pictures were when the room was new. There was mildew in the wetroom and the jacuzzi jets were not working. Love motels seem to be hit or miss. I've been in some really nice (but tacky as hell, which is to be expected) ones and some pretty lovely ones and they all look great on their sites. For love hotels/non-western hotels in Asia generally I look at how new it is - the sweet spot especially for Love Hotels seems to be about 3-6months, after that they start to get a bit tacky/worn/horrible.
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 18:53 |
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aeglus posted:i've got no problem offering any of you guys free entry to my parties and it's fun, believe me on that! drunk squeakyduck plus 10....club phantom Saturday night.....holy gently caress! The most western club i've been to since i got here. Awesome! Thanks aeglus!
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| # ? Feb 5, 2012 23:27 |
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edit: no more cellphone talk
AmbientParadox fucked around with this message at Feb 6, 2012 around 03:38 |
| # ? Feb 6, 2012 00:34 |
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Why is Android a mess? I'd put the Galaxy S2 and Android above an iphone and iOS easily and would be happy to explain why if wanted.
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| # ? Feb 6, 2012 00:53 |
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I'm not thread leader or anything but might I propose that we keep that stuff in the appropriate forum? Although I did kinda start phone chat in here so I'm sorry about that. Relevantly, keep an eye on Craigslist for both sorts of phones. You can actually get pretty good prices if you hang out for long enough. Just make sure to: -Look for obvious signs of water damage. -Meet in a phone shop and activate the phone before giving anybody money. The ESN might be dirty. The reason I say so is that you don't have to gently caress with contract breaking stuff if you're within a year of your bugout date. These days you can get one easily on contract even if your ARC expires before that date; that's actually the cheaper option. I just got my phone used so I could do pre-pay, which actually works quite well with the ubiquity of Wifi in Seoul. You could even splurge for a $15 monthly subscription to one of the big 3 premium Wifi networks. That would work for all of your commuting, and anywhere there's a convenience store or one of a million other types of businesses that typically have service (including almost every big chain restaurant).
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| # ? Feb 6, 2012 01:15 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 07:05 |
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The Gay Bean posted:I'm not thread leader or anything but might I propose that we keep that stuff in the appropriate forum? Although I did kinda start phone chat in here so I'm sorry about that.
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| # ? Feb 6, 2012 01:59 |
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