Gwangju Landmarks

ESL Teachers: Yeonggwang doesn't have much to offer westerners, so most of us make regular visits to Gwangju. Most of the western comforts are in the downtown area know as Geumnamno. Geumnamno is a little over two miles from the bus terminal. If you want to walk it you can follow along the jogging path next to the river. The river is about 5 city blocks from the bus terminal.

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Or, you can take a Gwangju city bus. City bus #9 goes down to Geumnamno. My entry on JUne 7, 2010 entitled 'HomePlus in Gwangju' has a few pointers about taking the bus. Also, the last three pictures on that entry show the intersection you're looking for when you get off the bus.

You'll want to get off at Geumnamno 4. The bus announcement system reads off the stops in Korean. If you listen carefully you will hear the word Geumnamno. There are two Geumnamno stops, Geumnamno 4 and Geumnamno 5. You want the second one and it is five stops from the bus terminal. When you exits the bus walk a few blocks along the bus's path and make a right. At that point you're rather close to the Underground Market.

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Looking up from the riverside jogging path.



Downtown Geumnamno is just past this bridge with the big white circle.



Here is the ramp you take. Notice that above the two young women and below the street lamp you can see the Statue of Liberty on top of a dome on a motel (called New York???).



At the top of the ramp you cross the street that runs parallel to the river. When you look up you can see the Windmill which is a popular motel. You then cross the street perpendicular to the river so that you're on the same block as the Windmill.



As you walk away from the river you'll see 'Tous Les Jours' and 'A Twosome Place'. If you turn right in the alley between them you'll head toward the WaBar. If you keep walking you'll head towards the Underground Market.



Between this OZ cell phone store and the police station is an pedestrian alley. You turn right here if you're going to the Underground Market.



This is view just after you turn right into the alley.



This teddy bear is outside of a clothing store. Zara is directly across from the Underground Market.



The Underground Market is down the pedestrian alley between Lloyd and Evisu.



This is a look down the alley. Notice the London Underground logo on the sign for the market. The store is on the left.



Coming out of the alley from the Underground Market if you look to your right you'll see the ABC Mart and the SK Telecom store. The alley in between them will lead you to the Lemon Table restaurant.



The ABC Mart is one of many shoe stores. I'm not sure if they carry western sizes but they do have Crocs here. I found a men's 10 which would work for me. So, if you get to Korea and you realize you need hallway slippers for your school you can get some here. They cost 39,900 Won but it beats walking in your socks.




Here is the Lemon Table. It's on the right hand side. I'm told you can get a good burger there.



If you walk past the Lemon Table you'll hit a major street. If you turn right and keep walking you'll see the YMCA on your right (just after the stairs to the subway). This is a good landmark if you're taking a cab from the bus terminal. Just write "Geumnamno YMCA" on a piece of paper.



If you facing this entrance to the YMCA turn to your right and look for the first pedestrian alley about 80 feet away. Walk that way and make a left. This alley is the main street of Geumnamno. About 100 feet down you'll see this Starbucks on the right.



The Outback Steakhouse is directly across the alley from the Starbucks.



Continuing down 'main street' you'll see the Seven Monkeys Coffee on the left. This is directly across the pedestrian alley from the Speakeasy and The German Bar.



If you're standing with your back to the Seven Monkeys Coffee, look down the side alley slightly to your right. The pink Vista sign is directly above the door. The Speakeasy sign is above the Vista sign. The Speakeasy is on the second floor. I think they open at 7 PM.



If you're standing with your back to the Seven Monkeys Coffee, look down the side alley slightly to your left. This is the German Bar.



Continuing down 'main street' you'll see SweetSOUP. If you continue straight the First Nepal curry restaurant is on your left. If you turn right the WaBar is about 3 blocks down on your right.



The doorway to First Nepal.



First Nepal is on the second floor.



This is the MegaBox movie theatre. It's close to WaBar. On the right you can see part of a 7-11 sign.

Wiring money back to the US

ESL Teachers: I sent money back to the US today. This was my first time wiring money. It took a while for the bank to get me set up but overall the process was easy. My bank account is with NongHyup. I took my US checkbook and passport with me and that included all the of the information that I needed. The form to wire money basically just asked for my bank routing number, my bank account, my full name, and my passport number.

There was a manager at the bank (his ID tag said Kim, J. H.) who spoke English rather well. He explained that they had to send the information up to their bank headquarters for approval. This process took about 20 minutes. He did note that this was for the initial set up and that it would be a quicker process in the future. I sent back 3,500,000 Won. The exchange rate on my receipt is 1,210.60 Won to the Dollar so that netted me $2,888.74. The fee for transferring was 15,000 Won (7,500 for remittance charge and 8,000 for the cable charge).

This branch of the bank also where you can go to exchange Won for US dollars. Just remember to bring your passport.

In the unlikely event.....

ESL Teachers: It seems prudent to have a meeting place in case of an emergency. After a discussion with other teachers we decided the hospital parking lot is as good as any other. Towards the back of the parking lot, up against the hill, there is a door that leads to a funeral hall. This will be where we will meet if we have any kind of emergency and cannot otherwise communicate.

The door to the funeral hall.



Here is the door with the Sajik Sky Building in the background.



The hospital, from the parking lot of the Sajik Sky Building.

A trip to Busan

ESL Teachers: Looking at the map you would think that Yeonggwang is closer to Busan than it is to Seoul. However, the highways wind around the mountains which means the trip takes at least four hours. In our case, it took six hours door to door because of traffic within Busan. Overall I had a favorable impression of the city. It's smaller than Seoul, but it is definitely a huge city. If I were to return to Korea I would really like to teach/live in Busan. It's a 3-hour train ride to Seoul, a 3-hour ferry ride to Japan, and it has western food and a beach. You can't do much better in Korea.

Our first stop was the area called Texas Street. I had read on the internet that it was like Itaewon up in Seoul. We were hoping to find some western food there. Unfortunately, it is nothing like Itaewon. It's basically a red light district. Some of the bars and motels are owned by Koreans and some by Russians. I recommend you skip it entirely.

We took the subway up to Haeundae Beach. The subway system is very similar to the one in Seoul and it is very easy to use. It was 7 stops on one line and 16 stops on another but we eventually reached the Haeundae Beach area. It was well worth the trip. Haeundae Beach is one of my favorite places in Korea. I'm told it's a man-made beach, but it's still lovely. It runs about a mile long. There are many, many places to get western food (TGI Fridays, Bennigans, Outback Steakhouse, and smaller non-chain places). There is also a large block of love motels just off the beach. Unfortunately, the motels know that they are in a prime location so the prices were in the 100,000 - 150,000 Won range. We opted to take the subway back to the center of town (the Seomyeon subway stop where the green and orange lines intersect) to find a cheaper room.

The next day we found some coffee then headed to the UN Korean War Memorial. The memorial was worth seeing. A few thousand soldiers are buried there from all of the nations that fought under the UN flag. The contrast from the cemetery to the high-rise buildings in the background is unbelievable. When these soldiers died in the war Koreans lived in huts with dirt floors (if they were lucky). Now they drive nice cars, use cell phones, live in air-conditioned high-rise buildings and dine out as much as Americans.

After the war memorial we went back to Haeundae Beach for lunch. The rain started to pick up so we opted to return to Yeonggwang. It took nearly two hours to clear the street traffic of the city. Koreans love their cars.

The UN War Memorial and Cemetery.



I didn't see any explanation but there were about a dozen Americans in the cemetery who died after the war ended.








This is very similar to the Vietnam War memorial in Washington, DC. All of the names of those killed are etched into black granite. About 90% of the casualties were American.






Haeundae Beach.

What is your apartment like?

Apartments can vary in quality. One clear advantage of rural Korea is that you get more living space than you would in Seoul or Busan. However, the apartments in Yeonggwang are rather old and dated. I have a 2-bedroom unit in an older building. I've seen several other teacher's apartments and most of them are a bit nicer than mine.

The view from outside.



From the living room looking at the kitchen and my bedroom.



The spare bedroom. The double closets are great. My laundry rack is to the right.



The bathroom.



The bathroom - It has a bath tub, which is rare.



The kitchen. It has a double gas burner range and very limited counter space.



The kitchen. I bought the shelves for 70,000 Won. The door you see goes to a small back balcony that houses the oil tank and water heater.



My bedroom - the bed.



My bedroom - the desk.



The living room. The green pad on the sofa is an electric heater that I used a lot in the winter. I also had one for my bed.



The washing machine - no one has a dryer.



The kitchen as I found it on my first day.



The bedroom as I found it on my first day.



The bedroom as I found it on my first day.



The living room as I found it on my first day.



The living room as I found it on my first day.



Sealed up for the winter: The door to the back balcony.



Sealed up for the winter: I put some foam over the front door.



Sealed up for the winter: I covered the sliding glass doors to keep in more heat.