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South Korea has developed its own unique fashion style. Korea’s style has become more expressive, emphasizing the style of each individual. in the last few decades...
South Korea’s music industry has grown incredibly fast in the last few decades. K-pop’s globalization allowed many foreign countries to get a little taste of what Korea’s music is like. First gaining popularity in East Asia, K-pop has become...
KImchi, Bulgogi, and Galbi, if you’ve never had Korean food, you probably don't know what these names are! South Korea’s food mainly consists on spices and sauces. the three kinds of food listed above are examples of delicious food that are spiced and seasoned.
Korea is a beautiful country full of tall buildings and pretty landscapes. Seoul, the capital of South Korea has population of 9.82 million, and has the combination of both modern buildings and historical sites. Seoul is a great place to find theme parks, zoos, and great restaurants. Besides Seoul, there are many places you can visit, such as...
Korea uses “WON” for their currency. For some reason Korea’s Wons go up to very high numbers. Korea’s lowest printed bill is 1,000 won (equivalent to $1), and their highest printed bill is 50,000 won (equivalent to $50). If you have noticed the relationship between the numbers of wons and the dollars, it’s that 1 is equal to a 1000. So if you saw something labeled in won, just cover up the last three zeros or any numbers to figure out approximate value in dollars. If a car costs 60,000,000. won, you probably wouldn't know how much it is at first, but try covering up the last three zeros with your fingers, the left over number you’ll see is the amount in dollars, it comes out to be $60,000.
As of May 2015, $1.00 is equivalent to 1088.29 Won.
Korea is modernizing very quickly. In the last 10 years, due to many foreigner’s visit, the stores try to equalize the price of the products that Korea has to the Western product price, more like U.S’s price. so for example if a bottle of coke cost a dollar in the US, and a bottle of coke cost 80 cents in Korea, Korea will try to make their coke price equal or at least close to the one in US. Also the amount of money average person earns has increased a lot, which factors into the increase in cost of Korean products. So in conclusion, living in Korea is not that expensive if you have been living in Western side of the world, but if you are from other parts of Asia besides Japan and Hong Kong, Korean market prices can appear to be expensive. The big problem when living in Korea is getting an apartment, or a house if you are ridiculously rich. Apartments’ prices are incomparable to any parts of the world. Apartments are where 99% of people in Korea live. The other 1% are the wealthy people who live in houses or mansions. There will be a section to read more about apartments and to see how much they cost in different parts of Korea.
Probably the most well known Korean food, Kimchi can be found in stores all around the world. Kimchi is basically fermented cabbage that is heavily spiced and sauced with traditional Korean peppers, sea salt, and many other seasonings. Many Foreigners are turn away at first because of the term “fermented cabbage,” or even “rotten cabbage.” But the taste is different than what it sounds like, Kimchi has its own unique type of spiciness, sourness, and even sweetness. The reason Kimchi is so popular in Korea is because of not only its very long history, but it adds flavor to all meals. When compared to Western meals, Kimchi can be viewed as coleslaw.
Bulgogi is thin cut beef marinated in traditional Korean sauce that is made up of soy sauce with grounded fruits and vegetables. The marinated beef is usually cooked in a flat pan with other chopped vegetables. Bulgogi is very tasty, not spicy at all but more of sweet taste. Because of its rich flavor and the sweet taste, many foreigners fall in love with Bulgogi after having it. The word Bulgogi can be broken down into “Bul” which means “fire,” and “gogi” which means “meat” in Korean.
As you can see on the picture to the left, Bibimbap is rice topped with many kinds of vegitables, cooked ground meat, a medium cooked egg, and at last the chili pepper suace. The word “Bibimbap” means “mix rice,” or “stir rice.” And literally after you top rice with the everything listed above, you break the egg and mix the rice with everything. The bowl looks very different than how it looked at first, but the taste that comes from the messy bowl is quite amazing. The combination of the spiciness of the chili pepper sauce, and the sweet taste of the vegetables is very tasty.
Samgyeopsal is pork grilled on stone pan. The fun part of going out to a restaurant that sells Samgyeopsal in Korea is that everything is DIY. First you would go in to the restaurant, u order how much pork you would like, and when the server brings out the plate full of raw pork, that's all the restaurant will do for you until you check out. You have to put the pork on the grill place in front of you, then you have to wait and cut into little bite size pieces to eat. The taste is very good compared to how simple the cooking process is. In a sense, Samgyeopsal is basically thick cut bacon.
No matter where in Korea you go, you can find rice any where! Rice is the most common type of food in Korea, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner all include rice. Perhaps rice is very important to many Asian countries, since they don’t consume lot of bread, they have to consume some type of carbohydrates. Because of that reason they eat rice, rice is rich in carbs, which is main source of energy for the body. Now days people have become more careful about carbs consumption, since it can lead to increase in body fat.
Many people might think that the picture shown in the left is Japanese. It’s actually Korean, Kimbap does not have a long history, but has been a simple way to pack vegetables, rice, and meat you like into one plate. Kimbap’s outside which appears to be black, is actually dried seaweed. The inside of it contains rice, carrots, cucumber, ham, crab meat, and pickled radish. The taste of Kimbap is really clean, it doesn't leave any bad after taste at all, but because of the vegetables, it’s more refreshing. There are many kinds of Kimbaps, depends on what you put in it, and you can find these in supermarkets, or on the street markets very often.
This is one of the best soups if you are looking for non-spicy or salty soups. This soup’s base is from beef, sometimes pork. The soup has little pieces of rice cakes about the size of a poker chip, and also has big dumplings filled with pork meat. The soup has a very nice flavor of the beef, and also the dumplings that are in the soup is enough to fill up your stomach. I highly recommend this soup above any other soups.
South Korea is a very safe country. Besides the fact that North Korea is right above and are willing to start a fight anytime, i’d say it is very safe! Many people might not like to visit South Korea because of North Korea, but don’t worry, the chances of war happening between the two countries while you are visiting are extremely slim. So what about the cities and the streets, are they safe? South Korea has illegallized gun ownership of the people. This means that there won’t be any gun fights or shooting accidents like here in the U.S. Although, there are always bad people, and they often use knives to hurt other, which is way less dangerous than guns. And also because almost anywhere is crowded, there are a lot of eyes watching, so it is less likely for anyone to commit crimes. South Korea has an extremely well built surveillance camera system. Those things are everywhere! Also South Korea is very “drug-safe” country. The country hasn't been introduced to many types of bad drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, or even marijuana. A lot of people might think that South Korea must have a lot of illegal drugs since all three sides of the country are surrounded by big seas and oceans, which makes it easy to smuggle or import the drugs. But i’m not saying it’s drug-free, i said “drug-safe” which means people do drugs, but it is very rare and you would be safe in most part of the country from illegal drugs. South Korea has a very safe night time environment. At night streets are lightened up with many bright light above, and also many stores that are open until very late at night. Because of this, you can see many people walking around the street, either exercising or just going out to eat something. And you can continue to see this until few hours after midnight! In conclusion, South Korea is very safe, and i would do a “safety-rate” of 9/10. And if you feel safe in U.S, South Korea will definitely feel safer in Korea, probably the safest you've ever been!
Korea is a beautiful country full of tall buildings and pretty landscapes. Seoul, the capital of South Korea has population of 9.82 million, and has the combination of both modern buildings and historical sites. Seoul is a great place to find theme parks, zoos, and great restaurants. Besides Seoul, there are many places you can visit, such as Busan, Jeju Island, and many other places in Korea. The list down from here will have many of South Korea’s beautiful places.
Dong dae moon is one of the best places to experience traditional Korean market place placed inside Seoul. The place is packed with people all the time, and has tons of different kinds of food and clothes. This market place is open even when it’s raining or snowing, since the whole place has a big roof over it. If you want to experience traditional Korean food, and shop for some cheap clothes i highly recommend this place!
Bosung is a name of county located in the Honam region which is at the bottom of South Korea. Green tea is Boseong’s special produce and famous for its great taste and quality. You can experience the process of getting the green tea leaves yourself by visiting one of the green tea farms. And make sure to try a cup of their amazing green teas from Boseong!
Hanla mt. is a beautiful non-active volcano that is located in Jeju island. Hanla mt. stands 6,400 ft tall, and is the tallest mountain in South Korea. Even though the Mountain is pretty tall, most of the hiking route to the top has a wooden platform you can walk on. The hiking takes around 5-6 hours to hike back and forth, and every minute you hike will never be boring! Halla mountain is full of amazing scenery and when you get to the top, if you’re lucky, you can hike with clouds surrounding you!
Bulguksa temple is an ancient temple that was completed in 774 AD. Even to this day the temple has Buddhist monks and welcomes people to come in to eat or relax. The actual building is huge, it goes way beyond the entrance which is the picture shown on the left. You can take a little tour around the temple and see the ancient Korean writings, and also experience the life of a monk. The temple is located in Gyeong-ju city.
Cheong Wa Dae is the White House of South Korea. This building is the house for the president of South Korea. Unlike the White House, Cheong Wa Dae is away from the Cities, and is located in a suburban area. The building was built in 1939, and has working staff members of around 600 people. The building is always in extreme police and military guard, but you can visit the inside by reservation, not a lot of people have been inside, but who knows? You can be the lucky person to go inside!
Everland is a theme park with beautiful flowers and pretty buildings. Everland is a giant theme park, it even has a safari zoo, roller coasters, and many different places to eat and enjoy your meals, since the park has so much things to do when visiting it would be better to spend a whole day at the park. Everland is a bit pricey, but if you want to have fun with you family or friends, it is one of the best places to go! Everland also holds many festivals every few months, and those are the best festivals you will ever see! Everland is Korea’s Disneyland, but an affordable one.
Hey thanks for visiting my little website, my name is Danny Shin I am 16 years old, and i’m an exchange student from South Korea. I’m currently studying at Faith Heritage School, which is in Syracuse, NY. While studying abroad, many have asked me about South Korea, so i answered them ask best as I could, but it seemed like people didn't have much knowledge about Korea, some don’t even know the difference between North and South Korea. Some people think about the Korean war, when every Koreans were poor and we were helped by other countries. So what I decided to do was to create this site, to let people know about South Korea more.
If you want to be connected with me, and share some of your experiences in Korea, or even make some suggestions about the site make sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook.
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