Ulsan Downtown

Harro friends and strangers alike!
Apologies for the delay between posts - but rest assured it has been because I have been busy discovering more blog-worthy material!
Since my last post, I have moved out of the inner sanctum of the Hyundai Kingdom and Hyundai's quite well placed hotel, and out into the "sticks", which in reality - isn't. Maybe in reference to work but not to hub of social activity and entertainment. My new apartment is in the downtown area of Ulsan - which is again separated into the new and old downtown areas - my apartment building, called "Starclass", is in the new downtown area (see photos). To the untrained eye, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the old and new downtown, but I'm sure with some more exploring one should be able to discover their hidden treasures and intricacies.

For those who aren't familiar with the Asian landscape, Korea, much like its neighbours, are true believers in the high rise apartment blocks. It's like the Gold Coast everywhere and with nowhere near as good beaches or sunny conditions - and not a hot blonde in sight! It probably has something to do with most Asian cities containing the entire population of Australia in an area the size of Melbourne... in the case of Ulsan, its more like the population of Perth squeezed between Scarborough road and Canning road... ok maybe not that small, but still - according to Wikipedia (i.e. the font of all knowledge - RIP Encyclopedia Britannica) Ulsan has three times the population density than Perth! On top of that, the majority of it's population is huddled next to, and around, the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyards - for convenience and because Hyundai, the ever so gracious and bountiful hosts of this great city, provide numerous apartment compounds for their workers.
Scattered amongst the multitude of eerily similar apartment compounds (with the only defining characteristic being the number painted on the side - seriously, they are all a different shade of beige - no exceptions!!) are the more "ritzy" places which foreigners -  otherwise known as expats - generally occupy in the downtown area. As classy as they are inside, they all have equally pompous names - "Exordium", "Starclass", "Zenith", etc.
Now, I may be making a harsh generalisation, but you would be hard pressed to find a foreigner around here who wasn't in Ulsan because of work related to HHI - bearing in mind Ulsan isn't really a well known holiday destination nor is it an astounding hub of international activity. Granted there are a few English teachers here and there - maybe they live in these apartments too - who knows, but big foreign companies like to look after their expatriate employees and boy you can tell when you see these apartments. These apartment blocks have all the top amenities you could ask for - a gym, a pool in some cases, putting greens and driving ranges (Koreans love their golf). Too bad I left my clubs back in Australia! On top of that most of the apartments around here are pretty high tech - from my understanding, I can turn on my heating and lights via the internet? I'm sure it'd be fantastic if I could read Korean...  I probably shouldn't get used to it... otherwise I'll have withdrawals when I go back home - "this apartment complex doesn't have a driving range? Preposterous!!" :P
A lot of the expats like to live in a few "foreigners compounds" near the yard for convenience - roll out of bed and you're at work - even if they aren't quite as fancy (still pretty damn good by my standards!) however I preferred to have a bit of a life outside of work and so I decided to move downtown instead - at the cost of a half hour to 45 minute commute to work with the company van service - hence the "sticks". If I take the bus it's about an hour but hey - it only costs a dollar! As a result, I have the potential to do a lot more over the weekend - there are an order of magnitude more restaurants, shopping malls, cinemas, etc in downtown compared to the handful of dining options and dodgy clubs and pubs near the yard. More importantly there are 2 Indian restaurants nearby - have to have my priorities in the right order!

That should do for now - until your eyes get more nourishment from my pointless but supposedly interesting dialogue, enjoy this photo of Ulsan from a top of a local ferris wheel (photo of ferris wheel is a free bonus)

Kamsanida!

Bibimbap and Bulgogi burgers!

Foooooood - seems to be the hot topic this time of the year. I've had a lot of questions regarding the food in Korea so far and how I manage to be feeding myself and so this subject will dominate this post - it takes added importance as this is the Baha'i month of fasting (no food and drink between sunrise and sunset as a part of one's individual spiritual cleansing) and once again the fast has fallen at a time when I've started a new job. On a side note it always feels rude to meet new people and then knock back their offers to go to lunch or to reject all the free food that seems to welcome someone at a new work place... all part of the tests that come with the fast!
So, despite the fact that I am unable to eat during the day, I have still had the pleasure of trying the local delicacies during the night hours - cue the vampire music.... Every night I glide down gracefully from the 9th floor of my castle, I mean, hotel and go on the prowl for fresh blood, I mean, food.... well, it'd suit if this was Pennsylvania. Ulsylvania. hmmmm.
I find that the key to discovering food in a foreign country and not getting sick is to balance caution with adventure and to have a bit of common sense - from previous experience the best method is to have a local friend or a friend who is familiar with the way food goes in the area, help you on your journey of discovery. That way, they already know the best places, the good types of food you should try and what is more than likely to make you spend more time in a bathroom than you normally would. Having said that, Korea is definitely no China or India and the standards of cleanliness and hygiene are much higher - of all the Asian countries, Korea is probably second to only Japan in being the most modernised - it is definitely cleaner than Malaysia and Bali and they are generally pretty safe spots. So even if you have no clue, you'll generally get away without getting sick - although you might find out later that you may have eaten Lassie - no worries.
In Seoul, I spent a night with a friend who is very familiar with Korea and she took me to this place that made tofu based soup - and it tasted awesome.
However, I now find myself in a bit of a bind - I haven't got any real local friends here yet. All the people I've met so far are other expats and like most expats - not to be judgemental - don't know a lot of the language and tend to only know where all the western type food joints are. And aren't always that adventurous.
One local I did meet - the guy who was showing me potential apartments (sweet guy) - took me for bulgogi, which was also awesome. He was extremely impressed at my willingness to try everything and that I took to chopsticks like a fish to water - sure you can say being born in China probably means it was always meant to be but I blame the hours of late night practice at the dodgy Northbridge Asian restaurants - long live Uncle Billy's! - and when I was picking up what appeared to be quail eggs with my chopsticks, he said even Koreans find doing that tricky! Haha, I'm so Asian.
Aside from that one experience, I find that due to the general overall hunger that takes over as the sun hits the horizon, I've mainly been dining at the restaurants and the food court at the Hyundai Department store and trying the variety of foods on offer there. Noodles, donkatsu, bibimbap, dumplings (yes!) and steam buns have all been mercilessly smashed - some I've had a few times because they taste so good!
For posterity reasons, I have also visited the local Macca's to try out the unique items on the menu - I know, I know, I have been a long standing opponent to the devil's restaurant and not often do I traverse through the gates of hell that are the golden arches, but I feel compelled to taste the local versions of the menu - it is incumbent on one to try a McFelafel in Israel or a Maharaja Mac in India, so of course I had to try the Bulgogi burger... it wasn't half bad, but I doubt it will feature in my regular routine.
Last night however, I went out exploring to see the local restaurants - to see if I could find something different. Lets just say, it was quite an experience, lots of flashing neon signs, pictures of random food, lots of Korean menus that I had no idea what was going on and many of the restaurants had the Japanese style tiny tables you kneel at.... and I was so hungry and overwhelmed with choice, I just went to Burger King... woo go me! That is where you need a friend with some direction. Today was different, and I found this place with a great beansprout soup - was a lot of food for only $5!
For those unfamiliar with Korean cuisine, when you go to a restaurant, your meal (which is comparatively pretty cheap) is generally accompanied by a whole range of side dishes that are all free and literally unlimited - you finish it and they give you more - its awesome! The side dishes usually consist of random vegetables, kim chi (of course) and maybe some sort of seafood. One restaurant gave me films of seaweed (typically used for sushi) which are used to roll up rice and requires some deft chopstick skills to pull off - I think I probably need a bit more practice but I made a solid attempt.
Needless to say, I have already frequented an Indian restaurant (vital to living anywhere is finding the nearest source of butter chicken - definitely not in Vic Park anymore!)
Next in my food adventures is finding a keen Korean barbeque venue - I have realised that I have to quickly become the local friend who knows the best places to eat before people come to visit! and I don't intend to disappoint!
Let that serve as an invitation to you dear readers! However I may need a few months before you come round... Otherwise, who knows what you might eat - sure it will taste great anyway!
Until next time - annyonghigaseyo!

Welcome to Ulsan!

Or should I say... the kingdom of Hyundai!
I thought it would be good to start the real posts with some sort of introduction to the new environs I find myself in.
It took me two 5- 6 hour international flights and one 1 hour domestic flight to get to Ulsan from sunny ol' Perth (although it was a bit longer as I spent a day in Seoul on the way - I will post about Seoul another time, when I get another chance to actually explore the city) which will be my new home for the next two years.
Ulsan is located on the south east coast of South Korea and is an hour drive from Busan - the second largest city in Korea. I believe it has a population of around a million (similar size to Perth) but for some reason the traffic makes it feel like its larger... I'll explain later.
In a nutshell, Ulsan was originally an ancient city, dating back to some kingdom (my Korean history is shady at the moment) but it really sprung into life when a little company, called Hyundai, decided to build its main heavy industries, fabrication, manufacturing and ship yard here - Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). I suppose for awhile it was the main feature, but as it needed a large employee base to support its operations (it now has around 20,000 employees at any one time) and the government was pumping money into the industry, Hyundai effectively built a city for it's employees - hence the Kingdom of Hyundai. It seems that you need a population of a million to support a large manufacturing operation. And when I mean large... its ridiculously huge - if you ever see a big BIG ship, you could probably wager that it was made here or one of the other two main shipyards in Korea - Samsung and Daewoo. It's a bit hard to grasp how big these ships, and the equipment used to build it are until you see it in real life.... but I digress...
As a result of Hyundai building a city to support it's facilities, EVERYTHING is branded Hyundai - for example, I am staying in the Hyundai Hotel - right next to the Hyundai University Hospital, in the proximity of the Hyundai Department store... the lifts are all made by Hyundai Elevator company... everyone in this city drives... you guessed it... well if you said a Kia - close, but no cigar - pretty much 9 out of 10 cars on the road are Hyundais. All the trucks, buses, etc are all Hyundais. It is ridiculous. I don't think I've seen a single foreign car yet. I will take a picture when I do.
As you may have guessed, the HHI shipyard is where I am working. So far, my life has been based around the yard - the hotel is close by, and its probably why everything around is Hyundai. I will be moving into an apartment in downtown Ulsan (half hour drive away) and hopefully there will be a bit more variety there. However, I will be driving to and from work in a few short weeks in my brand new... Hyundai! There is no escaping it!
Until next time... heres a picture I scammed from the interweb, as I haven't got any of my own yet. Enjoy!

Annyonghaseyo!

Hi everybody! (Hi Dr Nick...)

Welcome to my blog!

Now, this is my very first blog and I am new to the experience.

I have started this blog as a sort of virtual diary of my new adventure - I have moved out of Australia for the first time and have now taken up residence in Ulsan, South Korea, where I have taken on a new job. 

The vision is that I can share with you all my thoughts and experiences as I discover the treasures that Korea has to offer, as well as the no doubt humorous anecdotes that will be created as this "gwuah loh" (white devil) tries to fumble his way through Korean culture.

Although this is the first time I have moved outside of the country, I am a well travelled individual, and I will also use this as a portal to share my insights about the world in which we live, particularly as I get a glimpse into how diverse cultures are both similar and different.

Regardless - I look forward to sharing this adventure with you all!

Stay tuned!