Travel Features

Get outta town

Most English teachers  live and work in the biggest cities and rarely, if ever, visit the countryside. While Seoul and the other cities have a lot to offer, a few nights in the countryside gives you a glimpse of what life was like before the urban areas were transformed into the high tech hubs that they are today.

One  weekend away that I would strongly recommend is a trip to the village of Haeinsa in the south east of the country. Haeinsa is home to the Buddhist temple that houses the Tripitaka Koreana, one of the oldest and most sacred buddhist texts in the country.

While the wood carvings on which the texts are inscribed are worth seeing if you are into that sort of thing, the real attractions are the temple complex  and the village itself, which is nestled high in the Gaya Mountains. We travelled there in May, just in time for Buddha’s birthday when the entire temple complex, which was originally built in the 8th century, was decorated in thousands of paper laterns that were lit just as the sun was  going down. It felt as if we had walked into the set of a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon film.

The Boryeong Mud Festival which takes place every July is, for most foreign visitors, about beer, mud fights and scantily clad girls covered in mud. Great fun.

The rather bizarelly named Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separtates South and North Korea. Despite its name the 160 miles long, 2.5 miles wide strip of land is the most fortified  border area in the world and is populated by an estimated two million soldiers. One of the last true Cold War interfaces, the DMZ is well worth a visit even if you’re not a history buff, just be ready for plenty of American/South Korean propaganda. Make sure to get a “one foot in North Korea/ one foot in South Korea” picture when you are in the room where the Korean War Armistice was signed.

Seoraksan National Park, although it should be avoided at peak season due to the ridiculously large crowds, is Korea’s largest national park and is worth the journey just for the large cable car with the transparent floor. Very James Bond.

South Korean Dos

Learn a bit of the language.

Even if you’re only planning on staying for a year, learning a few basic phrases will help you get to grips with your new surroundings much quicker. It is also a great way to endear yourself to locals.

Play some GAA.

Although formed as recently as 2002, Seoul Gaels is one of the true heavyweights of Asian GAA with a number of Asian titles, both male and female, to its name. It’s a great way of meeting people and finding work as well as drinking contacts.

Go to watch South Korea play.

Fiercely nationalistic, one of the best places to experience positive Korean patriotism is at a football international. Large sections of the predominantly young crowd do not stop going mental throughout the whole game. When Korea scores, which happens quite often as it is one of the best teams in the region, get your ear plugs ready.

Get yourself a black belt.

Unleash your inner Bruce Lee and take up Taekwondo, a Korean martial art and the country’s national sport. In many cities there are special classes for foreigners and it is possible  to get a black belt in a year.

South Korean Don’ts

Pretend to be Japanese.

To say that the average Korean  has not let bygones be bygones when it comes to their former colonial masters would be an understatement of epic proportions.

During my last year working there, while Korea and Japan were involved in some diplomatic squabble over Dokdo (an islet/rock in the East Sea that both countries claim as is their own), I jokingly told a class of mine that I was half Japanese.

Being the most Irish looking man in the world (red hair, pale skin), I thought nothing of it until a few days later when one of my superiors questioned me about the incident. Apparently the school had received a number of phonecalls from concerned parents. Needless to say that was the first, and last time, I claimed Japanese parentage.

Make out in public.

The Koreans, by and large, are a reserved bunch and like many of their Asian cousins, public displays of affection between members of the opposite sex are frowned upon. Many an amorous western couple has been told off by locals for getting a little frisky while out and about.

Leave your shoes on when you enter a home.

Always, always remove your shoes when you enter a Korean home. However, when visiting always make sure that you are wearing socks, as bare feet are considered disrespectful.

Leave your chopsticks sticking out of the rice bowl.

This is a major cultural faux-pax, as this is funereal ritual. Pointing with chopsticks won’t win you any mates either.