Korea Sauna(Jjim Jil Bang)

When you are stressed out from work and want to go relax, where would be the place you get rid of stresses? It must be some comfortable spot to lie down, spa or massage shop. However, in South Korea, there is a place called JJim Jil Bang which has all three facilities with amazingly cheap price.

JJim Jil Bang(찜질방)is public family Sauna which is popular places for Koreans to go and relax. There are mainly two types of saunas: mogyoktang and jjim jil bang. They both offer Jacuzzis, showers, dry and wet saunas. Since jjim jil bang becomes the place that family hangs around, and gets relaxed, jjim jil bang offer a lounge that has snack shop, PC rooms and relaxation lounges which are open 24 hours a day. Also jjim jil bang gives customers uniform (most likely blue for man, pink for woman) and uses lounge and facilities together. Of course shower facilities area separated.

Jim jil bang usually have excellent facilities, as an economical spa, such as many types of hot baths, of which some are made with clay, ginseng or green tea. There are also different types of saunas and afterwards it is possible to have facials, body scrubs (in the Korean tradition bathers scrub each other’s back with special sponges, but in some places there are also beauticians available) and massages (traditional Korean massage is called Ji-ap). Also, typically Korean is a kiln sauna, called han-jeung-mak, which is a heated stone dome with a small low opening.

Most of foreigners firstly feel uncomfortable about going in to heated room with bunch of strangers. However, most of them pick up Korean culture of going public sauna and getting rid of tiredness in warm relaxing room and find some attractiveness from it. Don’t feel afraid of trying something new. You will love jjim jil bang. By the way, when you go to jjim jil bang, “Yang Mu-ri” (sheep head) is another unofficial thing that people often do in jjim jim bang .

How do i make cellphone?

Frequently asked questions about Cell phone!
Q1. What documents do I need for open the cell-phone?
A. Basically you need “the Aliens registration certification” and your “bank account(bank book)”

Q2. What kinds of wire agencies are in Korea?
A. There are 3 agencies in Korea. SKT(SK telecome), KTF and LGT(LG telecome). SKT requests to foreigners extra 200,000won for warranty fee when they register. To use KTF’s service, credit card is positively necessary. But LGT doesn’t ask extra charge or other documents except 2 basic ones.

Q3. I heard that there’re many “Free” phones. Can I have that too?
A. Sure. But free phone connect with its contract. Most of contracts in Korea are for 2 years.(Basically 2years) If you contract for some determined rate system, you can get chosen phone for free.

Q4. Can I get the phone through Internet?
A. Well.. There are many websites that available to buy phones but foreigners only can get phone by off-line stores. And stores are classified by agency so please make sure to check what agency you prefer before enter the store.

Q5. I want use cell-phone only for a year. If so can I do 1 year contract?
A. First, it’s impossible. As I told you before, contracts are for basic 2 years. So you have to pay penalties. So there’s another choice. You can get “pre-paid phone” Below is brief of pre-paid phone.
l Pre-paid Phone.
- The biggest difference with normal phone is you should charge its rate before you use.
- But rate is quite expensive than other normal rate. (normal : 20won/10sec pre-paid : 62won/10sec –SKT / normal 18won/10sec pre-paid 65won/10sec – LGT)
- You can charge at determined agency store or by call-service. You should charge over 5,000won every 3 months. If there’s no balance message is sent to you.
- It can be very useful who mainly ‘get’ the phone and use for short time.
- You can buy pre-paid phone by internet (http://www.550mall.co.kr) or some offline stores in ITAEWON or ANSAN.

Journalist : ybnormal5947@koreaprose.com

more information : http://koreaprose.com

How to use Gmarket

Internet Shopping

Have you ever bought anything on the internet in South Korea? Online shopping commons in the Korea.
but, Unfortunately, There still are limited internet shopping mall offering in English.
So I am giving information about one web site. Gmarket Inc. was founded in April 2000 and has become Korea's leading e-commerce marketplace.

http://www.gmarket.co.kr/index_eng.asp



Registration
Everyone can register Gmarket but if you want to use a credit card issued in korea, you should have a Korea's Certificate of Alien Registration number.
Account
G account is composed of G cash, Cash account and bonus points. G account is a kind of cyber bank account available in Gmarket. You can exchange Cash Balance into G cash, purchase items or withdraw it to your bank account. (Only more than 1000won)
Discount Coupon
There is a Gstamp for Discount Coupons. Gstamp is the benefit provided by Gmarket and sellers to increase customer loyalty. You are able to enjoy various events Gmarket is providing with Gstamps they earned such as exchanging or winning discount coupons with Gstamps.
There are various ways to get Gstamps.
1. Purchasing items on the site. : Gstamps will be issued once the customer completes order if the seller applied Gstamps as a promotion to the item. The customer is able to check on the item description page if the Gstamps are applied to the item by the seller.
2. Write a review : Please write a review after having received the item.
[Go to My Gmarket> Shopping list] and find an related order then click on 'Item received' to be linked to review page. Then write a review and 1 Gstamp will be issued.

Exchange Discount Coupons with your Gstamps


Win Discount Coupons with your Gstamps


Payment methods
There are three methods of payment such as [Credit Card], [PayPal] and [Bank Transfer][Credit Card]



[Credit Card]
Secure Internet Payments (ISP) : 국민(Kookmin), 비씨(BC), 우리(Woori) cards are accepted.
Safety Click Services : 삼성(Samsung), LG, 외환(KEB), 신한(SHB), 롯데(Lotte), 현대(Hyundai), 하나(HANA), 시티(City Bank) cards are accepted.
Other Korea Domestic Credit Cards : Credit cards other than the ones mentioned above are accepted.
Foreign Credit Cards : Every International credit card is accepted including Visa, Master, JCB etc.
[PayPal]
PayPal: Deposit into Gmarket Paypal Account ( For all customers, US dollars only )
The funds will deopist in your Gmarket Gaccount.
Paypal Express: Pay for your order in full at once, and refund will be credited into your paypal account itself, easier and faster process.
[Bank Transfer]
If you have Alien no. and Korean Bank account then you may choose Bank Transfer Payment method.

Korea Domestic Shipping Process
After the purchase of the item, there are 5 main stages of the shipping process in Korea Domestic shipping that are presented to the member.
Awaiting payment→ Shipping preparation→ Shipping preparation→ Being shipped→ Shipped
Please allow 2-3 days for delivery. If the shipment has not arrived after the allotted time or there has been an error, go to [My Gmarket >Shopping List>Incomplete orders]
You can cancel your order only if the order status is “payment pending”, “shipment pending”and “shipment requested” It’s easy to cancel an order online.
Go to the My Gmarket> shopping list> cancel/return/ exchange and click the cancellations button.
If you can successfully cancel the order online, you will get an "order cancelled" message.
Unfortunately, you are unable to cancel any purchase from Gmarket once your order has been shipped.
If you’re not completely satisfied with your purchase, please review our return guarantee for online purchases.
Fun your shopping with internet! :-)

Journalist : storyteller@koreaprose.com
more information web site : http://koreaprose.com/

South Korea's Public Transportation

South Korea's Public Transportation
Have you heard about B. M. W group in South Korea? I am not talking about a group of people who purchase luxury motor. Nowadays, B. M. W group is known as people who always use public transportation (it stands for Bus, Metro, and Walk) in Korean Society. As you see, most of Korean cities with more than about 50,000 people are linked by well developed public transportations such as bus, transit, air, taxi, and even ferry. However, it is not easy to adventure at first. So I am giving some basic tips about Korean Public Transportation. Be a one of proud B. M. W members!



Subway/Metro
The Seoul-Incheon subway system is one of the largest in the world, with over 300 stations. The Greater Seoul subway network extends well beyond the Seoul city limits, stretching about 80km from North to South, and about 40km from East to West. Station names, instructions, and subway maps are well-posted in Korean and in English. Even when a subway stops at every station, it makes an announcement in English, Chines, and Japanese for foreigners.
Below are links to the official sites for each of Korea's subway systems.
http://www.irtc.co.kr/eng/index.asp
http://www.seoulmetro.co.kr/


Local Bus
In 2004, Seoul opened a new chapter in the public transportation, aiming to achieve a transit system that is both faster and more convenient. To reduce confusion and simplify passenger use, each bus in the municipal transit system will now employ one of four colors: blue, green, red or yellow, depending on its function. Now, passengers can easily identify the starting point and the destination of a bus at a single glance.
http://english.seoul.go.kr/images/SeoulBusMap.pdf
Blue buses (Main Line) serve the major trunk roads between downtown Seoul and satellite cities of Seoul. The buses have the letter "B" on them, representing blue buses. Bus numbers have 3 digits.
Green buses (Branch Line) serve routes between subway stations and nearby residential areas/main bus lines. (These routes are often covered by village buses) The buses have the letter "G" on them, representing green buses. Bus numbers have 4 digits, starting with "9."
Red buses (Wide Area Line) serve routes between major areas (downtown, Gangnam, Yeongdeungpo, etc.) and metropolitan satellite cities (Ilsan, Bundang, Uijeongbu, etc.). The buses have the letter "R" on them, representing red buses. Bus numbers have 4 digits.
Yellow buses (Circular Line) serve circular belt roads in the downtown and major metropolitan area. The buses have the letter "Y" on them, representing yellow buses. Bus numbers have 2 digits.


Express Bus
Express busses run almost everywhere in Korea. Fares are low (cheaper than the regular train) and service is very frequent. There are special lanes for busses on all major highways, so traffic is not a problem except when entering and leaving major cities.



Taxi
Korean Taxis are cheap and abundant comparing to other countries. In most major cities, there are two types of taxis — regular and deluxe. Regular taxis are silver or grey and, if you are alone, you are expected to share the ride with anyone else going in the same direction. It can be difficult to hail a regular tax though; many of the drivers speak very little English and are hesitant to pick up foreigners who look like they haven't taken a taxi in Korea before.
A regular taxi is unlikely to stop for a foreigner who is waving his hands or arms above his head. The minimum fare in regular taxis is W 2,400 in Seoul. You can get as far as 2km with the base fare, making regular taxis very affordable. There is a 20% surcharge after midnight.
Deluxe Taxis, on the other hand, are considerably more expensive, starting at W 5,000 and rising quickly. These taxis are black and have more comfortable interiors. The ride is never shared with strangers and most drivers speak English fairly well.

Air Travel
Fifteen Korean cities have air links with each other and/or with Seoul, Busan, and Jeju. Korea has two major Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana. Both airlines offer international and domestic service. The low fares and frequent service make it convenient to fly to another region of the country for the weekend, or even just for the day. South Korea has three major international airports: Seoul Incheon (ICN), Busan Gimhae (BUS), and Jeju International (CJU). Note that most international flights from Seoul leave from Incheon Airport and most domestic flights leave from Gimpo Airport, which is about 25km East of Incheon, and is conveniently located on the Seoul subway system. Korean Airports Corporation

Train
A high-speed rail line (KTX) linking Seoul, Daejon, Daegu, and Busan opened in April, 2004. The French-built trains travel at up to 300 km/h and have cut travel time from Seoul to Busan by more than half — to a little over two hours. Fares are reasonable, especially compared with Japan or France — Seoul to Busan one way costs around 45,000 won (US$48). Several other train lines with express and local trains, operate elsewhere, making almost every Korean city reachable by train. You can get more information and book online at Korean National Railway.
Reference
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/information/trans/seoul-trans.cfm
http://www.hoteltravel.com/south_korea/guides/transport.htm

Journalist : heyday90@koreaprose.com
more information : http://koreaprose.com

Convenience store? Pyun Eui Jeom? what??

A convenience store is a small store or shop that sells items such as candy, ice-cream, soft drinks, lottery tickets, newspapers and magazines, along with a selection of processed food and perhaps some groceries. Nowadays in South Korea, convenience store has extended its roles to postal service, purchase on event tickets, wireless internet zone, cell phone charging service, automated civil affair documents machine, ATM and so on. It is a clear part that how much convenience store has involved in Korean society. However, as a foreigner who are not familiar with Korean's culture or atmosphere, it is not easy to adventure convenient store (a.k.a Pyun Eui Jeom, 편의점). So I would like to give you some tips that might help travelers from foreign countries or foreigners who have just started their life in South Korea.

First, look around your place.
Seriously, Pyun Eui Jeom is everywhere in South Korea. You can even see some convenience stores right next to each other. I doubt there will be no difficulty to find one. Yet, we all need to figure out which store offers best service or better products. (Trust me, there is slight differences in each store.) This is a list of convenience stores. These stores are most likely franchise store. (Of course, there are some private convenience stores in Korea, I am trying to base on stores that are well-known and somewhat recognized their services from public.

GS 25 is the first franchise that has initiated as a domestic company in South Korea. It was LG25 back then, it changed its name to GS 25 after GS dropped out from LG. The best thing about GS 25 is that it offers high quality in instant foods. such as various flavor of Sam-gack-gim-bap (Dried sea weed roll), sandwiches, cup noodles, and so on. Also GS 25 encourage its customers to use GS&Point mileage card to use credits that has deposited. GS 25 has more events to offer discounted products to customers as well.

7-Eleven is the world-known franchise convenience store. However, its popularity in South Korea has decreased in order to advent of GS 25 and Family Mart. It is a still known fact that 7-Eleven is very well known in world wide, so foreigners might feel less afraid to use 7-Eleven than other convenience stores.

Family Mart and Mini Stop has originated in Japan. Especially, Family Mart becomes only convenience store which has its store in every single district in South Korea. Family Mart also has mileage card; if you are the holder of OK cashback, you can use OK cashback card asmileage card. Unlike most other convenience stores, Ministop stores feature a kitchen, where sandwiches and other snacks are prepared on demand, and a seating area, where customers can sit down and consume those snacks and other drinks or food bought in the store on the spot.
GS 25 and Olive Young are definitely different convenience stores comparing to others in South Korea. Both of them are more focussing on beauty products such as cosmetics, personal hygiene stuffs. They audaciously get rid of food sections and sets main concept which is drug type stores.

Journalist : heyday90@koreaprose.com

more information : http://koreaprose.com

how to survive in korea as vege

William Alderton came to Korea September this year. Now he works as English teacher in Suwon. He is vegetarian. He never had any problem with this wherever he goes, but except Korea. He told me some of episode when he just came to Korea.
He went to a restaurant and asked some food without pork or meat. He only could say ‘고기(go gi : it includes meat, pork, chicken and etc.)’, so he showed her ‘X’ with his arms and said “No 고기’. And she seemed understand him and recommended him a noodle with vegetable. But after few minutes, he got a vegetable noodle with meat on it.
It’s not a problem of language. But is a lack of understanding of vegetarian. In Korea, vegetarian is not popular. And also, they easily think that vegetarian dishes are which main ingredient is not meat. It means they use meat or some banned ingredient even you said to them; “I’m vegetarian”.
That’s why he usually makes his lunchbox by himself. It makes him feel at ease. Because finding Indian restaurant or some of Aussie is not easy in Korea. You can only find some in center place, like Insa-dong or Itaewon. But recently, he found very special restaurant near his workplace.

That’s the ‘김밥천국’(Kim bab chun guk). That is fast food restaurant with over 30 menus. You can find it any place easily. One of his favorite is ‘김치만두(a kimchi bun). Different with other bun, it is made with kimchi and tofu. But you should check carefully, some of them are pork instead of tofu.
He always keeps the menubook of 김밥천국 with him. And he checked some menus he can have. He said it’s very useful wherever he goes. Even he goes other restaurant, it can choose similar menu on his ‘secret paper’.
Also meet good people for help is important. Most menubooks has no sufficient information about dish in English. So you need to know what exactly it has in and how it cooked to choose appropriate food for you.
Live in Korea as vegetarian is quite tough. While you check and looking for some dishes for yourself, on the other hand, it can be chance to know more about Korean food. Below are some recommend restaurants and tips from Will.

1. 오세계향(O se gye hyang) ( http://www.go5.co.kr/ )
It’s restaurant in Insa-dong. It’s designed as Korea traditional house, 한옥(Han-ok). And all the food is for vegan but everyone can enjoy it. Meat made by beans will give new perception of vegan food.
2. Vips ( http://www.ivips.co.kr/ )
This is big franchise restaurant. It’s famous for Salad bar. You can have both western and eastern styles of food in your taste; Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Italian. The price is different in lunch and dinner and you should pay 10% of tax.

3. Keep a piece of paper.
Always keep a piece of paper which has wrote “I’m vegetarian. I want to have dish WITHOUT any little MEAT PORK CHICKEN FISH..” in Korean. There’s some people can understand English but tell them exactly what you avoid is more safe.

Journalist : ybnormal5947@koreaprose.com

more information : http://koreaprose.com/

How do i send a letter in korea?

sample 250won stamp there are alot of design even same price

hello liz here is the answer

you can buy a stamp at the stationery shop :o 90% of the time you can find a stamp there. only 10% do not sell it

we call the stamp 우표(woo pyo) each stamp is a different price. you should buy a bunch of 250won stamps :)

because they are more useful. if you are just sending normal paper mail (3~4 pages), it cost 250won

you can also mail the letter around ur house. first u have to find a mailbox around ur house. it's a red iron box

and it has a sign that says mail box(우체통(woo che tong). if it's hard to find, you should ask ur neighbors.

oh it's a different charge to send mail to every region in Korea. but if you're just sending normal mail, u will just pay 250won(3~4page) remember

if you send international mail, you have to pay an extra charge. every country is a different charge :) right?

so before you put the ur letter inside the red iron box(우체통), you should ask the charge first and then attach stamps equal to that price.

i think this is the best the way to send mail. you should visit the post office once and check the international charge.

after that, you can send the international mail by using the red iron box around ur house :p

if you need more information u get here

http://www.koreapost.go.kr/eng/service/service01_01.jsp

Journalist : manager@koreaprose.com

more information : http://koreaprose.com