This is what I get for not planning ahead. Buddha’s Birthday is one of the few three-day weekends Korea gets to celebrate, and it seems everyone wants to celebrate it by traveling out of town. I can’t blame them – certainly I wasn’t the first with the idea – but Korea’s usually excellent train and bus system was sold out. The whole system, it seems. Every bus to Tongyeong. Most trains to Busan. Locals often book their tickets way ahead of time, ensuring their seat on a sold-out train; foreigners living in Korea typically need to show up to purchase a ticket. Thankfully tickets can be bought for future dates; even 24 hours in advance can make a world of difference. Speaking a little Korean to get the day and time right (or working with a calendar) is important.
I could go on with the wonders of planning ahead during holiday weekends or prime vacation times, but instead let’s talk about the here and now. I’m sitting on the floor of a Mugunghwa (a third-class train), drinking a Coke and looking up at five ajosshis (literally, married man) rather envious of my spot. That’s why I’m sitting down furiously typing on my laptop. It’s a weird little bit of schadenfreude when even the locals wearing suits swilling Hite are part of the ‘standing-room, sitting-on-the-floor’ crowd. At least not everyone plans ahead. If you’re one of the last ones on, the space between the cars isn’t exactly desirable, but it works if there’s nothing else available. Pop in your earplugs, as it’s a bit louder.
While walking around a crowded train isn’t recommended, it’s definitely a good idea to stretch your legs every so often. Ask your traveling partner to hold your spot, or put your bag where your rear was. Buy a drink or snack. Give that toy you picked up along the trip to the crying kid – the entire car will thank you. Make friends – you may not be able to communicate much, but the intentions are clearer.
DIRTY SECRET #1 – Tickets from the ticketing machines will sell you standing room only tickets – but sometimes you won’t find that out until the ticket is printed. If the ticket seems unusually cheap, see if the screen says 입석, (standing room or unreserved seat) anywhere.
DIRTY SECRET #2: You won’t be sold a handicapped seat from an automated ticket machine. With that said, some train cars have two seats and/or room for two wheelchairs – excellent places to grab some real estate if you have a standing-room-only ticket. It goes without saying that a truly handicapped person should never be hindered from their rightful seat. Stay classy, people.
DIRTY SECRET #3: If traveling on a standing room ticket, any seat that’s available is yours – until / unless the ticket holder shows up. The locals know this, and as such will aggressively push to claim empty seats as they do on the subway. Even if they have the same standing-room ticket as yours, a few people will ‘claim’ to have the seat – ask to see their ticket, then apologize if you’re in their space. Otherwise, stand your ground.
DIRTY SECRET #4: Making a trip to Seoul but the trains are sold out? Look beyond the main train stations (Seoul Station or Yongsan) and try Haengsin (northern Seoul, connected to line 6), Yeongdeungpo (western Seoul, connected to line 1) Cheongnyangni (eastern Seoul, connected to line 1), Suwon (south of Seoul, connected to line 1), or even Cheonan (even further south of Seoul, connected to line 1). It may be a bit further away from your destination, but it’ll get you back to the Seoul area even the rest of the trains are full.
For people who don't speak Korean well but are planning a trip in advance, I believe that Seoul Station and some other major stations (especially those that have KTX facilities) have English-speaking staff at special help desks that can also sell tickets.
I think it's possible to buy tickets at any station from these places, since it's all computerized. And for foreign nationals who plan to travel a lot by train, it might be a good idea to get into the system Korean nationals with their national ID get into to buy those tickets in advance.
My problem is that, living so close to Seoul Station, I would get lazy and just walk down to the station when I wanted to go anywhere, hopping on the next train available. This approach, however, has gotten me in trouble.
Koreans love to do things en masse. A day at the beach? A million people. A trip to a temple? Bus booked weeks in advance.
Buddha's birthday was a nightmare. I tried to get tickets to Japan for four weeks and every time I was told they were sold out. Ludicrous.
so, why korean girls stoped speaking with me, especialy i was trying to not saying nothing bad about them?
@abilitatipractice: um, what? Please rephrase your question – and stay on topic in future comments 🙂
but i am on topic: you speak about korean desire for living around a lot of people. so i was searching the net for a korean girl to speack whatever and whenever, i'm white and romanian european, so i found a web site with a lot of korean girls and i send a hello message to a large number of these girls until i was borred (there were too many). so, from that large number of girls only around ten answered me, only with five i speaked for a week or two, with two of them a speaked maximum three weeks, and with one single i speaked one full mounth. and then, nothing, they all have dessapeared without saying a word. and believe me, i was very carrefuly to speak them nicely. so i guess korean girls doesn't like foreigners like me, huh?
@[email protected]: the topic of this post was traveling – not talking to Korean girls. One of the other commenters said something about how Koreans like to do things at the same time, not me.
For what it's worth, some Korean girls prefer foreigners, while others ignore them. It's the same anywhere else in the world.
Yongdeungpo is hardly out of Seoul, but I get what you mean regarding getting too or near your destination.
For anyone travelling on the KTX especially south of Daejeon it is cheaper to get a 3 day korail pass than round trip tickets, W75000 versus W90000 Seoul-Busan return.
Hi Chris,
I have been offered an EPIK tteaching job and they want me to start next week. As far as the job and contract I am pleased. BUT, my question is in regard to age. I am an older teacher, 40, and have read that most teachers are much younger. Do the older teachers "fit in " so to speak ??
Thanky for your help.
I've answered the 'age' question before, though now I can't find the post… In short, older teachers are becoming more common. They can still 'fit in' if they choose to, but may not be as interested in partying or staying out late as the younger generations are. There are plenty of things around to do – no worries.
Readers – for other questions, feel free to e-mail me: chrisinsouthkorea AT gmail DOT com 🙂
Thank you. I am new to your blog so I will have to do more reading.
Overall, on a scale of 1-10 how much do you like it there, overall ? 10 being the best.
Kimberly
why would want an older person, from other culture, to go in asian culture to work: it's about "WORK" i mean many years and hard – it's hard enough in own culture to teach, but in asian culture is harder because there are the communication diferences and diferent habits