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!
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!
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