John Morgan Recruiting

Entertainment, Nightlife and Shopping

There is never a shortage of things to do in Korea. In the big cities you are more likely to find action with the nightlife, shopping and concerts. The smaller cities and countryside areas are better for nature lovers and have great activities like fishing, hiking, skiing, or taking pictures.

In the cities, there are tons of movie theaters and finding one is not difficult. One of the best theaters is Megabox at Coex Mall, which has 17 movie screens. Another theater which is quite popular is the one at Technomart in Seoul, which is also a good place to look at electronics. The movie theaters get a good mix of Hollywood movies and Korean movies. The Hollywood movies are in English with Korean subtitles. Seating at movie theaters is pre-assigned, so there is no need to line up to try and get the best seat.

Another alternative to the movie theater is the DVD Bang (DVD Room). Here you pick a DVD movie from the shelf and go to your own private room to watch it. The price to watch a movie in the DVD Bang is pretty inexpensive, less than the price of watching it at the movie theaters. Rooms come equipped with huge screen TVs and the viewing experience in the rooms is pretty good. These DVD rooms are everywhere, in pretty much every neighborhood. Young couples often use them as a place to get some privacy as they have fairly limited options otherwise for privacy (most live with their parents until marriage).

Pubs (hofs) are everywhere and drinking is a very popular (and cheap) activity in Korea. Korean style pubs usually require that you order a small appetizer (chicken, French fries, fruit) to go with your drinks. There are foreign bars spread all over and the big cities will have several different types of foreign bars with a variety of special activities including trivia nights, movie nights, live music and sports events (Super Bowl parties, Stanley Cup playoffs, etc.). You will also see orange tents all over the place on the streets. The tents offer cheap drinks and snacks and are popular late-night drinking spots.

Beer is very popular and cheap in Korea. It’s 4.5%, not as strong as Canadian beer, but has a decent taste. Foreign beers are available in a large number of bars. The most popular alcohol in Korea is soju, a rice alcohol that is 25% and dirt cheap (about 1000 won per bottle). It has been compared to Vodka, although it is sweeter than Vodka. I don’t care for soju myself, but it is popular, especially among men. Many pubs also offer cocktail soju in fruit flavors like lemon, strawberry or watermelon and these are a lot milder and actually taste pretty good.

If you like nightclubs, there are several different types of nightclubs in Korea. The Korean nightclubs tend to be more expensive than the clubs that cater to foreigners. In the Korean nightclubs, you are often expected to rent the table as your cover to enter and this gets you a drink, but it’s expensive. The clubs that cater to the foreign crowds are similar to the clubs in North America and usually have no cover or a small cover charge.

No experience in Korea would be complete without visiting Noraebang (singing room). Noraebang is similar to the DVD Bang in that you rent a small room with a karaoke machine and your group goes in for 30-60 minutes and sings to the karaoke machine. Noraebang is everywhere, is inexpensive, and groups will often go to one after drinking. The song selection includes both Korean and English songs, although the English song selection is a bit limited. I’m not a big fan of noraebang myself, as I’m a terrible singer, but after a few drinks nobody really cares about that.

The last of the “Bangs” is the PC Bang (PC Room) where you can rent a high-speed computer to surf the internet or play multiplayer online games. The PC Rooms have all the latest games and the price is dirt cheap (about 1000 won per hour). These PC Bang are everywhere and you can always use them whenever you want to use the internet should you choose not to have the internet at home.

If you like shopping there are lots of great places. Namdaemun, the largest market, is a great place to hunt for bargains. Dongdaemun, one of the oldest markets in Seoul, is a great place to shop for clothes. There is also good night shopping at Dongdaemun after midnight with some great bargains available.

Insadong is the place to go for souvenirs for your family back home. Yongsan electronics market is where you go if you want to get the best deal on electronics products. Department stores are everywhere, but they are nowhere near as much fun as the markets which have a lot of what you need. Along with the markets mentioned above, most neighborhoods will have smaller local markets that are worth exploring.

Amusement parks are also very popular in Korea. Everland, the largest amusement park in Korea, is located in Yong-in which is about an hour out of Seoul. At Yong-in, there is also Caribbean Bay, a huge waterpark with wave pool and waterslides. In Seoul, there are two main amusements parks, Lotte World and Seoul Land. They have also started development on a Universal Studios theme park to open in Korea within the next couple of years.

Some of my favorite activities in Korea involve taking in some of the nature like walking along the Han River or the Cheongyechon stream in Seoul, walking around Seoul forest or going to the beach. There are lots of great beaches in Korea to suit all tastes. The most popular beach is Hyaeundae Beach near Busan. It does get crowded in the summer months though. There are quieter and less crowded beaches along the East coast around Kangnung if you prefer to escape the crowds. Cheju Island is always worth visiting as it has great beaches and sightseeing.

There are also great mountains around Korea for both hiking and skiing. The best time for hiking is in the fall as the scenery is beautiful . One of the best mountains to visit is Sorak Mountain on the East coast. There are also a lot of great ski resorts. They do tend to get a bit crowded on weekends, but weekdays are considerably less crowded.

If you are into sports, you might be interested in learning Taekwondo, the martial art of Korea. There are many schools available throughout the country where you can study Taekwondo. Other martial arts studied in Korea include Hapkido, which is a martial art that uses a combination of kicking techniques from taekwondo and throws and grappling from Ju-jitsu or Kumdo, which is a kind of traditional sword fighting (using a bamboo sword and protective gear). I have known several teachers who studied one of the martial arts when they came to Korea and they loved it. If you are an active person, one of these might appeal to you.

Finally, if you’re a bookworm, you will enjoy going to the English bookstores that are available. Kyobo bookstore in Kwanghwamun has a huge selection of English books as does Bandi and Luni’s bookstore. English+ bookstores, with several locations, cater exclusively to teachers and carry books, flashcards, games and materials used for teaching English. For more information about these bookstore, check out the bookstores section on our links page.