I'm a 23 year old Heads Up specialist currently making a good living in Seoul, South Korea. While this city may be in the top 5 most expensive, I find for single bachelors who make about 4k USD a month minimum, this can be one of the most fun cities to make a living at without needing to be a baller. Asia in general has a much better nightlife than the U.S. Sorry guys, I just came back from NYC and while I love the U.S., the nightlife just pales in comparison to Asia. If you want to get ****faced here, there are just so many ways to do it, whether you want to be classy about it or not, and it can easily be done for just $10 a night.

This city, like every other major city, is about knowing what to make of it and actually going out to do it. For any foreigner I highly recommend joining an institute like http://www.yskli.com/languages/korean/index.asp. Not only will you get your ass out of home to learn the damn language, which is supposed to be the easiest of Japanese and Chinese, you will meet friends and from there you can get the ball rolling. You def. need friends to enjoy this city, and if they're drinking buddies, even better. If you're white, hell even if you're a Korean-American like me who doesn't speak the language well, it's impossible to not have fun as long as you're not completely socially inept. In my experience, the people have generally been very outgoing and just a ton of fun to go drinking with.

I'm a huge fan of food and for the first month, one of the things I'd be constantly eating for dinner is

samgyupsal


and galbi




Korean meals come with a group of small dishes we call banchan. These are complimentary and some of them taste pretty amazing.

[img]http://c2.api.ning.com/files/XgR7UXqFL6SUR9PxCD*OkRh5rZWIaJttzWSi6iumUa9eQ8AYWr xmAiZUhINDwDuhTYukCW0u1XIETx7Mjs331uATD4JBr-oK/800pxKorean_cuisineBanchan11.jpg[/img]

Oh and of course if you're a real man, you'll be drinking plenty of these with your meal


It would def. be a mistake to say that drinking is not a big part of Korean culture...

As for the nightlife here, what I love about Seoul is that it's not like your typical city where you have to basically go to downtown to go clubbing or drinking. In Seoul we have

Hongdae

which is where the art school is located. Tons of funky venues and jazz bars exist in this area.

Sinchon


This place was my stomping grounds for the past year (I've moved onto a better location). This place is in front of Yonsei University, one of Korea's top schools and so naturally it became a drinking haven. You wouldn't come here to club, really to get ****faced w/your friends for $10 a head basically.

I'm going to stop here for now but there are maybe 3-5 more locations that are well known for drinking.

Feel free to ask about the food, women, culture, night life, and tourism.

And this question will come up so I'll answer it in advance, No I do not go to casinos here. The stakes are not high enough and I much prefer the comfort of my home where I can grind in my boxers while enjoying the A/C.

tell us about booking? I heard it's real fun and a great way for an easy hook up.

This is something I might consider since I really like korean culture, and I would like to live in a country so different than mine. But let say I would like to go to Seoul for 2-5 months, do you know what would be my best ''sleeping'' options? I've heard renting something is nearly impossible, and I wouldn't have fun living in an hotel for 5 months.

I couldn't even read past this. Are you ****ing insane? I've been to so many cities around the world to party that it hurts. NYC nightlife is second to none and if you don't think so, I'm pretty sure you are doing it all wrong.

ETA: Maybe not as cheap or as easy to find asian money-grubbing-whores, but better by far.

im in korea anybody esle living here?

Yes.

You'd probably have to get a go****el or hasuk jip. Those charge about $400 a month depending on your location in Seoul. It's pretty much a very tiny room that comes w/a bed, desk, and internet (some don't). Go****els are one-room mini hotels while hasuk jips are run by an ajumma, old lady, who rents out a multi-bedroom apartment to other people. She provides breakfast and dinner I think. Not sure about lunch. You have to show up at a specific time or you miss out.

You can get an officetel which is what I lived in for a year. They're awesome but you gotta pay extra since you're not doing a contract.

Renting in Korea generally works like this = BIG DEPOSIT, and pay about $750 per room. The rooms are nicer than your standard living in the u.s. however the deposit can be as "little" as 20,000 usd and over 100k usd.


You def. sound like a fun guy to hang out with. Don't see why you have to make an attack on asians but you can kindly leave the thread

Booking clubs are your guys' best bet for hooking up with attractive...or unattractive korean girls.

You must get a room, which can be $125 per person for 4ppl and as expensive as $300 a person (I think total 1k) on the weekend.

You get a private room which comes with karaoke, fruit, 1-2 bottles of whiskey, 6 bottles of beer. While you chill out with your friends, a waiter will literally drag in a girl and she'll come and talk to you. These are not working girls but actual girls who come to these clubs to meet guys. On the outside it looks just like a normal club, the only difference is the rooms and the service these waiters provide.

Are they fun? Hell yes. I think every guy should experience it once. Your chances of succeeding here are the highest you'll have in Seoul, aside from prostitutes.




play your cards right and the girl will probably sleep with you that night...

Hi! I have a few:

Where are you from and how come you ended up in South Korea?

Is it correct to say that SK has the fastest internet in the world?

What is the reasoning behind those sick deposit demands?

Is a bank guaranteeing the depoisit money?

A non SK question if you dont mind?

What stakes do you play and if you have a work day on 8 hours how many hours do you get action? I am wondering about this because I am also thinking of specialicising on hu but dont know if it is worht it in the long run because of lack of action.

^^^^^^^^^
Srsly this.
WTF @ Adam Monroe?


Anyways, sounds like a nice life dude, all my friend who have gone to Korea says they love it, and the drinking culture definitely appeals to me.

PS: <3 the Soju girl.

what do you mean by officetel? serviced apartments? can't think of anything else off the top of my head but ty for doing this

i miss Seoul

Eh, reading that again it came off really harsh. I believe I was drunk at the time.

My point stands though that saying that seoul has better nightlife, and specifically as far as variety goes, than NYC is borderline ridiculous.

1.how receptive are the girls to white Europeans/Americans guys outside of the booking club atmosphere?

2.any similarities to thailand?

3. Your thoughts on this quote i found by SuperUberBob in the other South Korea thread.

"Korean girls do not like having sex at their apartments. Some don't like having sex in any apartment at all. Basically, everybody knows each other in their apartment complexes. Sleeping with a foreigner could cause some image issues for the woman in the relationship. Many times, you will have to get a cheap room at a love hotel instead of going back to her (or the man's) apartment.

It didn't take long for me to realize how important your image is here. But it is beyond important. It is everything to them. Some of them just have the mentality of American teenagers when it comes to image. Anything that could potentially embarrass or harm their reputation is avoided like the plague. Image, image, image."

4. what was your original decision in choosing to live in Korea and not a difierent part of Asia?

syous do u play full time online? do u have a way of cashing out? ive flew back 3 times to the US last year and on my 2nd this year...

ohh i just tableratings u... u crush huh... i guess u get the IP blocker for FTP...

watch out 4 a lady on 2nd floor of icn airport, internaional area near free internet,, i was charged 2$ 4 a 25ml can of coke. i think it should have been 80 cents , even w their posted exchange rate.

I've clubbed in both NYC and Seoul... and fwiw I had more fun in Seoul. Both are incredible anyway. It's like arguing apples and oranges.

I'll bet it is for someone like Derek Jeter..


Are the Korean girls in Korea hotter than Korean girls in the USofA? I've hardly ever seen a decent looking Korean gal around town, most of them look as if they've been beat with the ugly stick. (of course that would go with most girls around here )

I should amend this. The first paragraph is primarily applicable to more conservative areas of the country such as Masan, most specifically where I live in Masan which makes the America's Bible Belt looks liberal. I'm sure that there are other areas where this is less of a problem or not a problem at all. But in a small neighborhood within Masan where basically everybody knows each other, yeah it could be an issue.

I play 3/6-5/10 hu. I refuse to get any job on the side here as that cuts into my lifestyle and my winrate. I typically work around 5-6pm til whenever. Sleep in til like 1pm, wake up go to the gym, rinse and repeat. If we go drinking...well then I guess I'm on vacation for that night :P

HU is looking really grim. The poker sites don't seem to care about fixing the multi-table situation and with the poker act from the states, it just doesn't look pretty. This would be one of the worst times to get into it imo, unless you could predict a huge fish boom in the near future where HU gets super action.

it's Lee Hyori and if you love drinking, Korea might really be the place for you. I don't like to drink casually unless it's with my dinner. If I drink, I want to get ****faced and I want to start the night off with a bang.

If you drink with me, I typically like to do these:


These are called PoktanJu (폭탄주)
PokTan 폭탄 = Bomb
Ju 주 = alcohol.

3 of em and you're pretty hammered. If you're a monster you'll need more.

If we don't start off that way, then I like to start off with a 3 step korean game:

Step 1:
Open a soju bottle and twist off the cap:

twist the tail. we take turns flicking the tail and whoever knocks it off, whoever is on that person's left and right has to take a shot of soju

Step 2:
Every soju bottle has a number in their cap.

Whoever knocked off the tail gets the honor of peeking into the cap. Now everyone else has to guess a number between 1-50. You say higher or lower until someone hits the number. Whoever guesses it takes a shot.

Let's say the number is 21 and what's left is 20-22. If a guy guesses 22 and someone else guesses 20, leaving only 21 left, you're drinking.

Step 3:
Titanic

You sink it, you drink it.

Get an empty soju cup and float it in a cup of beer. We each take turns pouring soju into that cup until it sinks. Sink it and you have to pound it all down in 1 shot.

Korean penalty for not 1shotting the whole thing: We fill it back up for you until you do it right.

Fwiw, a REAL poktanju is done w/whiskey instead of soju. However foreign alcohol is priced up the ass here and I don't know why you'd waste a good whiskey on something like that. Just use it with soju.

I think serviced apartment might be the right substitute. I can put up pictures later if you wish. It has the basic necessities and it looks better than a standard apartment.

Well when you come to Korea I'll take you drinking and the next time I go to NYC you can take me drinking. Fair trade?

I'm korean so I wanted to learn the language that I should've known from the beginning. If I had to live in a different country in Asia, I'd consider any country w/a nightlife and fast internet. Chengdu China is a personal fav. because I love the food there however you need to know Chinese/Sichuan dialect or you cannot get around at all. In general, they're all pretty great. Really depends on what you're looking for in a life.

I use a vpn yes. Korean gov't has blocked everything but Stars basically.

Weird. Nowadays ICN airport (incheon) has a section where you can sit down and browse for free.

I hate irish pubs and that was the majority of what I saw in NYC, that or overcrowded small clubs. I'm a lounge bar type of guy.

Yeah I like korean korean girls a lot more than u.s. born girls. American born kids like me are called Gyopos, 교포. Lol where do you live locust.

I just prefer the korean girl style a lot more. There's a lot more etiquette while the American ones seemingly have none. If I had to choose between too much and none, I'd rather have a girl w/too much etiquette. That said there can be lots of qualms w/being with a korean girl if you choose the wrong one.

Those soju drinking games are great. We still play them every time we go back to that Korean restaurant that I brought you to when you were in BKK. I hate reading this thread because it makes me want to go back to Korea so badly.

Oh, I always play Titanic. I'm easily the best Titanic player in the world.

We also played a game called "South Africa". One of our buddies would always talk about the country. So, whenever he said "South Africa", we had to take a shot of soju.

haha owen. That place had some pretty good meat. Can Dal kid do shots now? :P

bob-

did the guy have to drink as well?

Typically in situations like that, we'll add in rules like:
no touching your hair
no clapping
no pointing
no ENGLISH - this is hard for the korean natives as well since a lot of english words are infused w/the language like "computer, cellphone, e-mail, message"

I've been in Seoul for about 5 months now. Not playing professionally but teaching English for slave wages.

Seoul is great but Korea as a whole is a very peculiar country from a Western perspective. Hard to explain but foreigners are regarded with a certain amount of skepticism. Most Koreans do not know how to socialize with Westerners. This results in them asking odd questions or not really knowing what to expect from Westerners. It isn't all bad. In fact Koreans are incredibly warm once you get to know them and there are many admirable qualities about Korean culture that you don't find in the west.

Korea allows a great lifestyle for single, young people. Wouldn't want to be here past age 30 but for now it is great. Low taxes, cheap booze, no tipping, are all nice perks. It is very easy to live on $2k a month and still have a lot of fun.

Korean girls are beautiful and *most* foreign guys can hook up/get a girlfriend here. However, it is a very different dating culture than you might encounter in the Philippines, Thailand, or Vietnam. Korean girls are usually more conservative or at least will put up that front.

The myths about Asian girls falling over themselves to get with Western guys are not true here. However, there are millions of women in this country and x% of them are interested in foreign guys and the other x% aren't. There is nothing more pathetic than some new white guy who assumes that Korea will be his sexual playground; and nothing more satisfying than watching him fail miserably. It's all about the right mentality and attitude. Be a nice, clean, respectful guy who is curious about Korean life and you will do just fine.

Good post man