CSH,
Are you Korean by birth?
If so can you tell us all a bit about life in Korea, what do you do? How do wages compare? What's the car scene like? Speed limits? Road policing? Parking charges? House prices? Car prices?
Succinct informative answers if possible please.
how r u? I am Korean by birth, but was raised in the States. Came back to Korea in 1994, and started my own business in the air cargo industry. I sold my company to a Hong Kong based logistics company, but still runnin it as the country manager. Life in Korea is hectic, but could be fun, if you r a single. With two kids under my roof, weekends are mostly dedicated to my kids, you know what i mean.
wages in korea are quite expensive, from an employer's point of view. a college graduate would earn roughly US$ 24~25,000/annum on an average. the finance industry(US$ 35,000/year) definitely pays you better whereas logistics industry(US$ 24,000/year) would be at the bottom of the food ladder. despite the fact that labor costs are expensive, overall price for living is quite expensive as well. a cup of coffee at a cafe would cost u around US$ 10.00, and many places wouldn't allow re-fills.
speed limit in the city is 40~60 km/hr whereas it would b 110 km/hr on highways. i don't know exactly what u mean by road policing, but we drive on the opposite side of u guys, just like the states. roads in general in seoul are not too bad, but we, as with any other metropolitan cities have major traffic jams during rush hour. sundays are when hot rods come out.
parking charges are relatively expensive. right in downtown, u wud have to pay US$ 10 as the entry fee, n then US$ 1.00/half an hour thence. better have a designated parking lot to save money. usually designated ones wud cost u US$ 120/month.(this is downtown standard)
now, houses here are outrageously expensive. a standard apartment in the size of 110 sq.m in the southern part of Han river(this Han river cuts right thru seoul into half)wud b around us$ 1.5 million. i am not kiddin. us$ 1.5 mil wud get u a decent apartment with threee rooms, two bathrooms and a living room with kitchen.
as for car prices, GTI is us$ 4,100. a bmw 5 series wud go for us$ 80,000. u r right, there's 100% levy on foreign cars. of course hyundais wud be cheaper but not as cheap as the ones in the states.
hope the above gives u an idea of how it is here in korea. if any of u guys head out this way, do let me know.
