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!
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!
Hyundai is the 'Big Brother'.
ReplyDeleteHyundai is watching you
Hyundai is driving you
Hyundai is accommodating you
Hyundai is lifting you
Hyundai is paying you
Hyundai is brain-washing you
Hyundai is shipping you
Hyundai is healing your ailments.
All hail Hyundai!
Miss you Nidas,