Fishing Town

Weather has started to warm up and feel like spring.  This last weekend I borrowed a friend's bike and spent the day riding around and seeing areas that are hard to reach without a bike.  Boryeong is the town I have been living in while in Korea.  It is a coastal town that does have multiple beaches that are mainly used when the weather does warm up.  It seems to me that Boryeong's economy comes from both agriculture and making use of the coast.  Following is a little glimpse into what a fishing town looks like:

Transportation

The true story of public transportation in Korea is that it is easy and convenient. There are a lot of buses that go all over the town and out into the country.  A bus fare for a single ride is 1,400.00 won, or cheaper if one uses a card for the bus.  This card can be either connected to a bank account or what most of us foreigners have is a T-money card.  It simply is a card that money can be added to it at some convenience stores.  The card shape can be a simple looking credit card or for a true Korean experience is one that is smaller and can hang off a phone making it look like phone jewelry.  These smaller ones sometimes are designed into characters such as: angry birds, hello kitty, random animals, different shapes, etc.  Using a T-money to pay the fare does save 50 won.  Once on a bus there are buttons that you press in order to signal your stop.  Every bus does give the name of the bus stop shortly before but unless you are in Seoul the announcements are in Korean.

Buses are not only for inner city travel but also for getting around the country.  There are multiple different bus companies throughout the country.  It seems like that all the states of Korea have their own bus company plus other random companies throughout Korea.  Not only are their public buses but also a lot of tour group buses.  When on the major road going into Seoul there is a lane simply for buses and nobody else.  On longer distance bus rides they do stop at a rest area that does have food areas, restrooms, souvenir shops, and miscellaneous other things to do.  One thing that isn’t that convenient at times is that sometimes there are multiple bus terminals in different cities.  Of course for the bigger cities this makes sense but there are some smaller cities that do have multiple stations as well.  An interesting thing about these buses going from city to city is they all have seatbelts for the passengers.

Another form of transportation is the train.  In my town we are lucky and have a train station.  There are multiple different train lines that stretch throughout the whole country. If a train doesn’t have seats left it is possible to stand on the train.  During busy holidays this is usually what does happen.  When you have a ticket like this it is best to try and get on at the food cart because there is more room to sit on the floor.  It isn’t much of a food cart but more like a little snack bar with various items.  Plus in this cart there usually are computers that can be used for the hour and also it is possible to rent out a room for noreabang (Korean Karaoke, I will write a future post because it is different).  On the train it isn’t the same because of a smaller area but still a good time.  A couple friends and I did this coming back from Seoul one time when all the seats were sold out. 

There are four cities in Korea that does have a subway system.  These cities are Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, and Daegu.  I have not been on the Daegu system but all the other systems are clean and easy to navigate.  You can buy a ticket at a booth, a machine, or simply the easiest way is to use a T-money card.  Same one used for buses can be used throughout any of the subways.  Plus by using a T-money card if transferring or going directly to a bus it is a no cost fare for a certain amount of time. 

Now keep in mind personal space is defined a little bit different in Korea compared to back in the United States. There is very little personal space if any at all.  This was the same way in Jordan and so it wasn’t that strange to me.  Only thing not really mentioned is the taxi.  They are all over the place even in my smaller town, and they are all not expensive.  Plus you can pay with cash, card, or T-money.  This has been a look at the transportation situation in Korea.  This week is the first week back for the students.  On Monday I didn’t have any classes and there were a couple different assemblies.  One was introducing the new teachers to the older students and then later on one was for the freshman and their parents.  I might be taking a day trip this weekend to a city that still has a an old fort from way back in history. I will write later.