Seoul--Where?

[nahanni]

Hi,

Where's the best area to live in Seoul?..........

Would like to be close to a nice gym and able to run daily in relatively open areas after work....park, river, trails or something.

Only been to Seoul to climb once and found the area around O2 gym to be fairly pleasant..........but really don't know.

Any recommendations ?

[grubbsj07]

I live in Ilsan near Jeongbalsan Station. I'm not saying it is the best place, but I do enjoy it. I haven't found gyms in my area that I think are that great or open when I am able to climb. When I want a gym workout, I go into Seoul. Using mass transit, it takes me 1 hour to leave my apartment and touch the boulders at Bukhansan. I live right next to Lake Park which is nice to be able to see a relatively open area (beware on the weekends!). They have a bike / running track that circles the lake and has distance markers. All in all, not a bad place to live. I don't know if I'd go as far as saying it is "the best" area, but it is still nice.

[gt29905]

I chose northern Seoul for exactly that reason. In order to be close to the climbing, a climbing gym(02), and to the mountains. I live close to Suraksan station which is in Nowon gu. I have a park with great hiking and some climbing within a ten minute walk from my apartment. I have a river about two minutes away, where I have a 5K loop for running. It's nice and quiet and fairly ideal but I might try to move to Suyu next year. Suyu is the area where 02 is located. Hmm... I'm happy where I live but I really which I had a decent sport crag within 45 minutes by subway.

[nahanni]

Hey GT,

What gym's are in the north/east? O2 i know....but not sure of the others.

Thanks

[gt29905]

There is another bouldering gym in Suyu. It's in the KOTR database. There's also a large outdoor wall at Danggogae, the last stop on line four. When I was trying to figure out where to live, I used three resources: Dave's esl to sort through the jobs, KOTR to find the climbing, and this

http://www.smrt.co.kr/Eng/index.jsp#

to locate both on an interactive subway map of Seoul that is in English. If you use all three resources wisely then you will end up :becky:

Feel free to shoot any other questions. It's really nice to have such a friendly group as the KOTR clan, I'm happy to welcome and contribute.

One last bit of advice. Be very picky about your job. Really scour Dave's esl for tips on picking one.

[Pattyannblake]

I just moved to Nowon!!! :) I live right by Eunhaeng Sagori...

AND...as for your job, ABSOLUTELY listen to gt!! While I do really like my teaching job, ask your future employer TONS of questions about EVERYTHING. Find out exactly what you will be responsible for, the exact working hours, your exact pay, etc. I know those sound like pretty common sense questions; however, as cut and dry as a contract may seem, you may not know what you are getting yourself into if you don't ask your employer yourself :). Good luck!!!!

[Les]

Danggogae's plastic climbing wall is a sweet 15-20 minute walk from eunhaeng sageori. Light enough to climb all night. Basically just follow the overhead subway tracks from sanggye to danggogae, and keep looking to your left as you approach the last station. Great area. Miss it! Have fun out there.