Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
but tight-knit institution with reasonable fees, by international school standards, of about
8-16 million won per year. Some parents have their children commute to schools in nearby
Busan.
Shopping
South Korea's big-box retailers, including Lotte Mart, E-mart, and Home Plus, are all well
represented in Ulsan. The mammoth Lotte and Hyundai department stores in Samsan-dong
are the places to go for pricey brand-name clothing and imported food and spirits. The New
Core outlet mall in the old city center offers some brand-name goods at knockdown prices
and is surrounded by a host of interesting boutiques and accessory vendors. There's also a
“furniture street” downtown that groups dozens of shops displaying the full range of impor-
ted and locally produced household goods—the perfect place to start filling up a new home.
Transport
The government is apparently working on it, but transport is one place where Ulsan tends
to fall short of some other cities. While the roads are for the most part spacious, well-main-
tained, and blessedly free of traffic compared to Seoul, the city is very spread out and lacks
a rapid transit system. There's a fairly extensive and inexpensive bus network, but it can
be hard for non-Korean speakers to negotiate as almost no English-language route informa-
tion is available and buses run fairly infrequently. Most expatriate residents regularly resort
to taxis, which start at 2,200 won and end up costing 6,000-8,000 won for most inner-city
trips, or buy a car or scooter to get around.
강원도
It's not for those who crave big-city stimulation, require the company of a lot of other expat-
riates, or constantly yearn for imported goods. But in a crowded, highly urbanized nation,
the northeastern Gangwon-do is the perfect home province for those searching for open
spaces, access to the outdoors, and a slower pace of life. Gangwon is a thinly populated
place of small and medium-sized towns set among dramatic coastlines, soaring mountain
ranges, and the country's densest forests. It's South Korea's uncontested recreation capit-
al, with the country's finest ski slopes, hiking, white-water rafting, and rock climbing, and
for the less active, natural scenery. The air is clean, the local produce is top-notch, and the
cost of living is low, but the downsides are also obvious enough. The expatriate presence
is small, cultural and after-dark distractions are limited, and public transit is thin on the
ground. Whether the positives will outweigh these shortfalls is a matter of preference, but
even in the depths of the province, residents are hardly at the ends of the earth. The provin-
