Bird Watching in South Korea

Here's the question:

I am finding no information on this topic, so I thought I would see if you can help me: Where are good bird watching sites in the Seoul area? I live in Bundang (Jeongja), so obviously closer is better, but anywhere reasonably close would be great. Also, are there any groups that go out bird watching together? I am less-than novice, but I would love to find some good places to enjoy the hobby.

This is a tough one, but I did manage to find some pretty solid information for you. I do know that Korea has quite a few species if birds and is a great spot for migratory bird watching in the winter, but outside of that, I have no first-hand wisdom to offer. So, rather than assuming I know where the birds are, I'll provide you with some decent links on bird watching all over Korea.

* Birds Korea

* Travel-Wise Birds

* Bird Watching Trip Report

* Another Bird Watching Trip Report

* And another Bird Watching Trip Report

* And yet, another Bird Watching Trip Report

* The DMZ

* Mokpo

* Cheonsuman International Birds Watching Fair

* Eulsukdo Migratory Bird Sanctuary

* Eco-Tourism in the Wetlands

* GORP Birdwatching in Korea

* A map of where the birds are

* A forum for bird watching in Korea

* A solid page full of useful websites related to birding

* Fat Birder

I know that's a ton of links and, honestly, there are a ton more, but these are the ones that I found particularly helpful.

If any readers happen to know more about this subject, please feel free to leave a comment with a link and I'll post it in the main text.

Volleyball and Other Sports Facilities in Seoul

Here's the question:

Where's a good place to play volleyball in Seoul?

Joshua

Sports, huh? Not my strong point, but I can help.

While it certainly appears to be a concrete jungle, there are a lot of sports facilities dispersed all around Seoul. You can find a basketball goal or a soccer field at just about every school in town and there are also dozens of non-Hangang parks that offer such facilities. However, it seems that the greatest concentration of sports facilities are located around the Han River in designated riverside green areas called Hangang Riverside Park.




The Hangang parks are hit or miss. Sometimes you can go there and no one will be on the field or court, but other times they might be booked for weeks ahead of time. For volleyball you can head to Gwangnaru, Jamsil, Jamwon, Banpo, Ichon, Yeouido, Yanghwa, Mangwon, Nanji. They all have some sort of facilities that should be okay for what you're looking for. I can't say which one is the best though. Korea hosted the third leg of the Women’s Beach Volleyball World Tour in 2008, so I can only assume that some of the courts are decent. They've invested a lot of dough in it as well.

If you're looking for indoor volleyball, then it might be a little harder. Like many baseball fields and basketball courts, it will require reserving a court for several months and paying a pretty hefty fee. Of course, that fee would be reduced if you got a big group together and split it, but then you have to deal with the issue of getting a big enough group together.

As I said, I'm not the biggest exercises guy, but I don't mind getting out there every once in awhile if there's the promise of a little barbecue and beer afterwards. I've never seen a shortage of places to enjoy the day and get in a little something for your health, so I good luck and happy hunting.

If your in the mood for some other sports and recreation facilities, check out this site.

Contributer and expat extrondinare, OpenMicah says...

For any public school or university teachers out there, one thing I would say is to check with the faculty at your school. Usually public schools have inter-school volleyball leagues some time in the fall, and teachers from one school usually play teachers from another school. I bet the teachers who play on your school volleyball team (especially the men) play occasionally with their buddies somewhere else out side of school and wouldn't mind you coming along.

I also would check with any foreigner or Korean friends you know working for a Korean company. They might actually have a company volleyball team that rents out a court once a week for a few hours. I had a friend working at a company, and all the guys in the office played basketball once a week on a rented court. He invited me and I split the cost with them. With 20 guys, it was only 20,000W a month. It wasn't competitive play or anything, but it was probably the only cheap way to play sports indoors. In the winter, especially.

If anybody has any questions, just send me an email at asktheexpat@yahoo.com or leave a comment.

3rd Seoul World DJ Fest Review

Review of the 3rd Seoul World DJ Fest

Grade: C+

I give the festival a low score because there were so many problems that could have easily been avoided. First of all, Hangang Park at Nanji and all across Seoul are getting huge face lifts and much of the grass and trees are being dug up exposing dirt. That dirt made for such a dusty mess yesterday that many people were wearing masks inside the festival gates. My clothes, face and hair were caked in dust as well. That might have been unavoidable, but there were many other things that should have been considered.

First of all, there were not enough trash cans. After awhile, the filth started to pile up. Moreover, since most of the festival took place after dark, this wasn't just an aesthetic issue, it was a hazard. There were no signs, markers or directions anywhere either. The lines were a huge problem as well. The beer line appeared to be the worst. From what I could tell, there were only 4 people serving thousands of people tens of thousands of beers and since the venue was not big or setup well, that line cut right into the center of the crowd making movement extremely difficult. And to add to that, there was only one tent where beer was being sold. The entire flow of the crowd was being pushed in that direction. If you did not want beer, then you could go to the Jager tent. However, the shots were overpriced for their size and half-way through the night, the prices mysteriously increased from 3,000 to 4,000 won. Food lines were also a problem since there were only four tents serving food. The pizza and hot dog lines were almost as bad as the beer line and again, they all cut into the dancing crowd. If they want to restrict outside food and drink that's fine, but they must provide enough for everyone to be able to have easy access to it if they want it. Waiting in line for an hour just to get a hot dog is unacceptable.

The bathrooms remained pretty clean throughout the night, but there were certainly not enough facilities. I only saw four bathrooms there and the lines were pretty much out of hand by 8pm. Like so many other impatient men, I opted for using a not-so-out-of-sight tree. Overall, there just wasn't enough enough of anything for the crowd there.

The quality of the music was fine. It wasn't all my flavor, but for the most part I think the crowd really enjoyed the music. There were three stages: one main one, a smaller side one and then a very small one right outside the venue. From what I saw, the non-Korean crowd preferred the side stage more. I thought both of them were fine though.

I'll go again next year, but plan on writing the organizers a letter with a few suggestions.