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.

Ilsan, South Korea: Living and Teaching

Here's the question:

Hi, I was wondering if you could give me some information about the city of Ilsan. I can't seem to find a lot of pictures, or detailed info about the city. I will be teaching at Modang Elementary School, and I have no clue where in Ilsan that is located. Could you help me with a little info about the school and city?
Thanks!

Joe

Yeah, sometimes it's hard to find info about smaller cities and even harder to get some solid details about a specific school, especially a public school.

Ilsan is a nice city. It's located just northwest of Seoul in Goyang city which is in Gyeonggi-do.

Chances are that you will be living relatively close to your school and since I'm not sure where your apartment will be, I'll use your school as my metric. Here's a quick map of where your school is in relation to Seoul.



While it might appear to be far away from Seoul, it is actually pretty close. If you take a cab or a bus then your travel time might go up (depending on the time of day or night), but luckily you are close to Line Number 3 or the "Orange Line". To get to the center of Seoul from Daewha station (the closest station from your school) takes around an hour. Again, that sounds like a lot, but an hour on the clean subways in Seoul flies by. (Night spots: Hongdae- 66 min; Gangnam- 78 min; Itaewon- 67 min; Apgujeong 62 min) Click here if you want to play with the travel times. Late night cabs will be faster and probably set you back 15,000 - 25,000 won. Split that with a few friends and you'll be fine.

Still, your school is walkable to Daehwa Station.



As an additional bonus, Daehwa is relatively close to Jichuk Station which also serves as a platform for Korail in case you want to leave Seoul and visit the countryside.

Now, let's take a look at Ilsan itself. If you look online, you'll mostly read about how new it is, that it has KINTEX (a convention hall) and of course, it'll mention the Lake Park or how it's name is "The Garden City".



The lake is nice, clean and from what I hear, it's a good place to take dates. You can also do some biking, skating or jogging there, but beware of sunny days because it will be swamped with bikes, strollers and young people on first dates. One of the benefits of Ilsan is that it was a planned city. Unlike Seoul, Ilsan knew where it was sprawling and planned for it. The bus stations are spaced out well, the subway stations are new and the overall allure of the city is much more modern than other satellite cities.

Ilsan has a nice mall called Western Dome or La Festa which boasts tons and tons of restaurants, western shops and even an IMax movie theater. There's also an E-Mart (Korean Wal-mart) for your basics and a Costco for some of your Western food cravings. Here's a map.



Ultimately, Ilsan has everything that most major cities in Korea have and you should have no problem adjusting.

Now, on to your school. You already know the location in relation to Seoul and Ilsan in general, so let me try to give you some details.

You can visit the website, but if you don't know Korean then it will be of little help and to tell the truth, the website doesn't give much useful info anyways.

I did find what I would call the school's alma mater roughly titled, "Brighter, Clearer" although that is totally useless as well. Your class size is probably going to be in the 25-35 range. Each grade has 3 different classes who move from class to class together.

Total Class Size:

1st grade: 99
2nd grade: 111
3rd grade: 113
4th grade: 90
5th grade: 106
6th grade: 99

Total: 618

There is a preschool, but luckily, you won't have to deal with them.

There is a teacher there named Mark. You can also contact him on his personal web page. I would recommend this BIG TIME. It's always nice and very smart to discuss the inner-workings of your prospective school. He'll be able to give you more info as well.

You can also connect with some other people in Ilsan here, here, here or here.

In closing, the area where you'll be living is nice, quiet and close enough to the action of Seoul, but far enough from its stress.

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