Korea

So I arrived in Korea almost two weeks ago, and I thought it was worth writing about my experiences so far.

Let me start by saying that Korea is very very different from Japan. The biggest difference is the drivers. In Japan, everyone follows every traffic law, in Korea, I cannot tell you how many times I've seen people go through red lights. The police don't stop them, it's a minor offense here in South Korea.

The people are very nice in Korea, but a different kind of nice than in Japan. The Japanese were far more polite and Koreans are more generous. Japanese are very quiet, and don't want to disturb you unless you are visibly in need of help while the Koreans are very verbose and will talk to you if they suspect they can help you.

The cost of living is much cheaper in Korea. I can go into a restaurant and have the biggest meal ever, and it will never cost more than 10 dollars. I can get a good size meal that will fill you up for $3.50. The subway system in Seoul is much cheaper, it's less than 3 dollars to get from Suwon (where I live) to Seoul which is any hour away. In Osaka, it use to cost 3 dollars for a subway trip that was 4 to 6 stops away. Taxi cabs are also very cheap in Korea, but I'll give you more concrete examples later.

Seoul's a fun city. I've had some good meals and seen some cool shops. I'll explore it all more and write about it.