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Made in se
Glorious Lord of Chaos






The burning pits of Hades, also known as Sweden in summer

And if so, what was your experience? I am currently making plans for possibly going there this fall, but Seoul concerns me. I really don't enjoy crammed, warm, smoky cities (Paris was truly awful - a trip I really regret) and Seoul has an absurd population density.

I've googled around to find out about other peopls' experiences that way, but I mostly find obviously biased commercials or people who might not have the same problem with it as I have.

Of course, anything you'd like to share will help with the decision.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/04/08 15:49:20


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Go to Busan

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 Freakazoitt wrote:
Go to Busan


Just don't take the last train ...
   
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Probably work

What was wrong with Paris?

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 daedalus wrote:
What was wrong with Paris?


I personally found most of the stereotypes to be true when I went there, it was dirty, smelled, most people were pretty damn rude (except for the cabbies which was weird), and most people I interacted with were pretty arrogant.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/04/08 17:26:58


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 Ashiraya wrote:
And if so, what was your experience? I am currently making plans for possibly going there this fall, but Seoul concerns me. I really don't enjoy crammed, warm, smoky cities (Paris was truly awful - a trip I really regret) and Seoul has an absurd population density.


If you got that from Paris, then Seoul will probably be even worse.

By "going there" you mean holidays or a relocation? Because the good things about Seoul more than make up for the bad, especially for a short trip.

   
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 Ustrello wrote:
 daedalus wrote:
What was wrong with Paris?


I personally found most of the stereotypes to be true when I went there, it was dirty, smelled, most people were pretty damn rude (except for the cabbies which was weird), and most people I interacted with were pretty arrogant.


When I last went to Paris it was pretty disgusting, streets were filthy, terrible smell, especially on the Metro, of sewage. Went to Berlin immediately after and the difference was amazing, spotless streets and fresh air.
   
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Somewhere in south-central England.

If you want a far east holiday with ancient culture, high technology and superb customer service, don't forget Japan.

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The burning pits of Hades, also known as Sweden in summer

jouso wrote:
 Ashiraya wrote:
And if so, what was your experience? I am currently making plans for possibly going there this fall, but Seoul concerns me. I really don't enjoy crammed, warm, smoky cities (Paris was truly awful - a trip I really regret) and Seoul has an absurd population density.


If you got that from Paris, then Seoul will probably be even worse.

By "going there" you mean holidays or a relocation? Because the good things about Seoul more than make up for the bad, especially for a short trip.



Holidays.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
When I last went to Paris it was pretty disgusting, streets were filthy, terrible smell, especially on the Metro, of sewage. Went to Berlin immediately after and the difference was amazing, spotless streets and fresh air.


Agreed. There were smokers everywhere, it was warm, overcrowded (every public transport was jam-packed - but at least it was no Tokyo...) , and dirty. The air felt really unclean.

I may be spoiled by my home city of Gothenburg with its the half-a-million population, pleasantly cool-but-not-cold climate and so on, but still. Wow. Despite the stereotypes, even cities like Agadir and Marrakech in Morocco felt cleaner and less smoky than Paris (though, obviously, Paris was not quite that warm).

 Kilkrazy wrote:
If you want a far east holiday with ancient culture, high technology and superb customer service, don't forget Japan.


I am strongly considering Japan (I'd go somewhere else than Tokyo, though) but I was kind of interested in South Korea's reputed blend of cultural heritage and highly modern society. I guess Japan has that too.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/04/08 19:27:59


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 Kilkrazy wrote:
If you want a far east holiday with ancient culture, high technology and superb customer service, don't forget Japan.


Especially outside Tokyo. Okay Tokyo isn't bad per se but a) it's bloody crowded b) Japan has tons of interesting places outside Tokyo.

Probably same applies to South Korea as well though. Maybe look outside Seoul? Don't know about South Korea much but at least in Japan while Tokyo wasn't bad per se I have found best experiences outside Tokyo(especially in terms of getting in contact with natives).

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 Ashiraya wrote:
I am strongly considering Japan (I'd go somewhere else than Tokyo, though) but I was kind of interested in South Korea's reputed blend of cultural heritage and highly modern society. I guess Japan has that too.

I lived in Japan (I attended Hiroshima University) and it's exactly that. You can be walking down a street of tall, modern buildings, and wedged in between will be a small 400 year old Shinto shrine out of nowhere. Plus, Japan has the best food. I'm not sure what's going with Japan since the Fukushima power plant disaster, but I'm not entirely sure how safe the seafood is to eat there anymore.

My wife is obsessed with kdramas (and I'm obsessed with Running Man), so we've seen hundreds of hours of Korean television, and I don't get the same impression from South Korea. It seems very much like the US in the 80s (very corporate orientated), and outside of an obsession with soju and talking about poop, there's very little in their popular culture that gives off a distinctly Korean vibe. After the culture shock that came from living in Japan, I was truly surprised at how little identity Korea actually has. Part of it is that I am familiar with Japan, so the sight of eastern castles and music idols doesn't feel foreign to me anymore, but I'd wager an American could watch a kdrama and feel almost zero culture shock from the experience (other than names). I haven't been to Korea, and this is just based on their pop culture though.

One thing that was amusing is that in an episode of Running Man, they visited a comic book museum, and all the 70s cartoons they had were Japanese rip offs. Because Korea and Japan weren't on friendly terms, they didn't allow Japanese imports into the country at the time. This gave companies carte blanche authority to literally just rip off stuff. Instead of having Mazinger Z, they had Taekwon V. And there were shows that had mecha from Gundam and Macross. It was just so weird to see these grown adults wistfully singing the theme songs to blatant plagiaries. But that's neither here nor there. Just something I found amusing at the time.
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter






Korea is fun but pick the right time. i went during the monsoon season and it was quite rainy.


 Unit1126PLL wrote:
 Scott-S6 wrote:
And yet another thread is hijacked for Unit to ask for the same advice, receive the same answers and make the same excuses.

Oh my god I'm becoming martel.
Send help!

 
   
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 Ashiraya wrote:
And if so, what was your experience? I am currently making plans for possibly going there this fall, but Seoul concerns me. I really don't enjoy crammed, warm, smoky cities (Paris was truly awful - a trip I really regret) and Seoul has an absurd population density.


I lived in South East Asia for 6 years. I would say that if you are going all that way, there are other more interesting and fun places to go.

Absurd population density is common in all major asian cities. Jakarta, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Hong Kong. If you don't like people, skip Asia.
   
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I haven't been to South Korea in over a decade now but the couple of times I went in the late 2000s really impressed me. Seoul was very lovely and the admittedly high population density was not something I really felt anywhere in the city compared to say, Shanghai around the same time period. The people all over South Korea were very warm and a little bit of respect goes a long way there. I would love to go back some day.

   
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Southeastern PA, USA

My wife and I were only in Paris for 3 or 4 days, but we didn't have any issues with rudeness. We tried to be respectful and at least greet the locals in French, and didn't have a bad exchange with anyone we met. *shrug*

And we didn't find Paris to be any dirtier or more polluted than other cities in its class. Maybe things have dramatically changed in the past 10 years, but cities of that size tend to have a certain inertia and resistance to change. Large populations, exhaust fumes, dirty sidewalks, etc. are mostly just qualities of large cities. I'm not sure why someone would visit a large city for pleasure if one is adverse to such things. I mean, I wouldn't vacation in the country if I had issues with open spaces, wildlife, and a lack of retail outlets.

I hope to get to Seoul someday, as my wife still has a lot of family there.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/04/10 19:13:12


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