So here’s the situation; you’ve finished your tour of duty slash contract here in Korea and you’re packing your bags. You’re thinking of going home, to the land of cheeseburgers, or in some cases, marmite *joke sting*. But there’s a gnawing voice in the back of your mind, and you can’t ignore it. It’s saying (nasal voice) “Did you remember to go to the NPS office to get your pension money?” And you go yeah, I shouldn’t forget that. But there’s another voice that’s whispering. It’s telling you (deep voice) “this is your last chance to try something fun that isn’t too expensive” and now you’re looking at the screen of your phone wondering “well, what’s on my bucket list for sports?” And now you find yourself at my door. So let’s talk about some of the experiences and things you should do before you leave Korea.
Going to a friendly
First up is a must for any footie fans. Going to an international football game, like a friendly. The friendlies come up between FIFA qualifiers and world cups in specific windows. You’ll have to check the FIFA international match calendar to see the specific windows and if they line up with your available times before you leave. For example, the next friendly window is in March. We just had two this past week, so it might be awhile before the next set of friendlies comes this way. But keep an eye out and you’ll see some advertising for it and you’ll probably be able to get tickets, especially if it’s on a weeknight. This might be a problem if you’re working at a hagwon or live a few hours away from the stadiums which are usually Seoul or Suwon. However, if you’re on an E2 visa, you can use the extra visa time to go to games when you’re no longer working. Some people have stayed in hotels for a week before going home, especially if there are things they need to do like job interviews or visa applications and police checks. Might as well watch some international footie while you have time.
Transition music: Cross-Country
If you’re more of an exerciser than a sports watcher, you might want to consider a cross country cycling trip. There are two I think you might like, the first one being the fairly easy Jeju Fantasy Bicycle Path, which most cyclists can do in 2 and a half days. There are bike rental places on Jeju and a few even rent for more than a day. Trazy dot com has some deals if you want to go through the booking in English and want extras like a trailer. Of course, if you have your own bike, you can put it on the bus and take it on the ferry. If you don’t wanna go that far, you can ride from Incheon to Busan on the river trails built by the water agency. If you’re a serious cyclist, I suggest using the guide made by our cycling expert James. Link in the show notes. If you’re more of a novice or want to do something special like fly your bike to Jeju, I suggest following the instructions on Joongang Daily from Jim Bulley. Link is also in the show notes.
Transition music: Paragliding
Since we started talking about flying, why not go paragliding? Who doesn’t want to jump off a perfectly good cliff anyway? *joke sting* I’ve gone paragliding in Danyang Chungcheongbukdo and Daecheon Boryeong Jeollabukdo. One time my friend was gliding and almost crashed into electrical lines, then smacked into a rice field. No one said this was an easy thing to do. This is more of a summer thing, so plan for it around summer vacation. This is a tandem paraglide experience so don’t worry about steering the parachute by yourself or smacking into a C4U delivery van *joke sting*. (laughing) though I would pay good money to watch you do that. I’m including a link to a company in Danyang in my show notes and you can find deals for other jumping locations on Trazy as well. Try not to drop the camera on the cars. That’ll leave a mark.
Transition music: Ice skating
Next up is ice events like ice skating. If you don’t have an ice rink in your hometown or your next destination, this might be a good time to go check it out. Of course, this is dependent on whether or not your foot fits in the available skates. At size 320, I’ve only been able to go skating in Mokdong. Fortunately this one is a little bit easier if you have smaller feet since there are ice rinks in every province and large city. But what if you’re talking about watching ice skating? Well, that’s actually a bit harder. Keep an eye on Naver sports and the Taereung ice skating complex website. Heck you can even gather up some friends and go curling there. Now that would be a fun way to wrap up your time in Korea!
transition music: Hiking Hallasan
Let’s say you’re more of an individualist but don’t want to ride a bike. How about hiking up one or all of Korea’s top 10 peaks? If you’re into hiking you’ve probably already done them, so I’m just going to recommend hiking Hallasan. It’s got that cool crater lake at the top and it used to be a volcano. I think that’d make for a cooler picture. (pause for 2 seconds) Huhh? You’re asking me why I didn’t recommend Jirisan even though it’s closer to me? Ok, look, Jirisan has a bear sanctuary and the bears are known to leave it and do bear…things. One time during COVID one of the bears went to Gwangyang and tore up a beehive. Ate all the man’s honey like this was an episode of Yogi the Bear.*joke sting* So while I wanna recommend it, here’s what I know will happen. One of y’all will listen to me and go hiking there, and one of the bears will come onto the trail at the same time. Then after you get eaten, and you will be, let’s not lie to ourselves and think this is 100 men vs a gorilla here. And after that, I’m gonna get calls from yo mama. I can hear her voice now. *silly voice* Mah baby! Mah baby! How could you let this happen to my baby?! *end silly voice* Ma’am I’m sorry for your loss. Ok I’m not sorry. Look, when I recorded this episode they were going into hibernation. My advice is only good until the week after recording. It’s like keeping a Wendy’s burger in the fridge for over a week and not expecting to get dysentery when you eat it *joke sting*. So I suggest Hallasan because it’s very iconic and not too difficult, but you should have hiking boots. I’m including a guide in the show notes to make your life easier. Isn’t that what we want from all our podcasts? *mumble* I be spoiling y’all way tooo much.
Transition music: Haenyo diving
If you’re up for some history and swimming and if you’re already on Jeju, you should head over to Gimnyeong and dive with the haenyo women divers of Jeju! They have an experience center where they lend you a wetsuit and other safety equipment and help you catch seafood. Visit Jeju says you can participate even if you can’t swim which is absolutely hilarious when you think about it. If you have a panic attack in the water, are they gonna leave you there as shark chum? *Joke sting* Look all I’m saying is that you don’t want to be THAT guy, OK? If you don’t know how to swim, going through a diving experience is a helluva way to learn. That’s like going from first aid class to ER doctor in one day. *deep voice* So how do I save this patient? He’s been shot more times than 50 Cent. *doctor voice* Leave him on the gurney! His insurance hasn’t responded! Go treat that hot oil fire burn from the moron who dropped his turkey into the oil tank! *joke sting* *normal voice* But look, it’s a fun experience and I hope you do it soon because with ocean warming, the current seafood stock on Jeju’s coastline is going away.
Transition music: E-sports
Let’s say outdoor stuff’s not your thing. Let’s say you wanna stay indoors and maybe do something with E-Sports. One idea is to start playing competitively, and earn your stripes playing against the best gamers in the world in the PC bangs, before returning home. But you also get a chance for an unique experience; going to an E-sports match. You can get tickets on Interpark for Valorant championships, and events at the Busan E-Sports stadium. Some of the e-sports stadiums around the country have special events where you can play other games and even cosplay. It would be quite the experience to talk about when you get home, so long as you are not THAT guy. You know the one, though you don’t see them that often around Korea these days.
transition music: Indoor screen baseball.
If you’re still sporty and you’re getting ready to go, but the weather’s too cold or snowy outside for fun and games, then bring ‘em indoors. There’s screen golf and screen baseball these days. I’m more of a fan of screen baseball for obvious reasons. You can gather up your friends and pay for a few innings of baseball. They got all the stuff and even ramyeon if you wanna eat there too. I haven’t been to one in a few years but I remember Legend baseball being in quite a few cities, so type in screen baseball in KakaoMap and you should be able to find it easily.
What other sports bucket list ideas should people try out? Post your ideas on my Bluesky or Facebook page and if there are enough, I’ll make a part two to this episode next year.
GOTW: The K-league regular season is wrapping up soon so if you haven’t been to a match, this might be your last chance to see your favorite team. A few teams still have something to play for, or at least to act as a spoiler. FC Seoul needs a minor miracle to get past Pohang into the last AFC slot and to do that they’ll need to win on Saturday and hope Pohang loses to Jeonbuk this weekend at home. Jeonbuk has already won but they are still playing hard to stay ready for their Korea Cup finale against Gwangju FC in December. Over in the relegation round, Daegu needs to win on the road against JejuSK or they will be automatically relegated. I’m rooting for Jeju to win and Suwon to lose against Anyang because I wanna see Suwon vs Samsung Bluewings in the Promotion round. Jeju would also need to win out and Suwon FC to lose the remaining two games. Think of the memes! They would be glorious! Also we have the last games of the K2 season on Sunday, with a wide open race for the last 2 spots! If Seongnam wins and both Jeonnam & Seoul E-Land lose, Seongnam would get the home game for the playoffs against Seoul E-Land. If Seongnam and Jeonnam both win and Seoul E-Land loses, then Seoul is out of the playoffs. If everyone ties, then the table explodes *joke sting*. It doesn’t seem likely given that Jeonnam goes on the road against struggling Chungnam FC and Seoul E-Land plays bottom dwellers Ansan Greeners. Seongnam has the hardest road to go through with their final games against 7th place Busan. Incheon, Suwon and Bucheon have nothing to worry about so I wouldn’t bother to watch their games. And finally we have the promotion playoffs in K4 with Namyangju playing in Mokpo FC on Saturday afternoon. I would not be surprised if Namyangju won this game. But because of the promotion of Gimhae and Paju to K2, there isn’t any automatic relegation, hence the need for this game. Could be interesting to watch if you’re in the Mokpo area.
*Breaking glass* We have a breaking news update! And no it’s not because I dropped it! According to reports across the press, the K-League has suspended Jeonbuk assistant coach Mauricio Taricco for 5 matches and fined him 20 million won for making a racist gesture and calling the referee a racist in spanish. Jeonbuk is considering an appeal. We’ll know by next week whether they will or not and the final fate of coach Taricco. Stay tuned.
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean Sports because if you didn’t, you set the sleep timer too soon *joke sting*. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because trust me they need every ounce of help we can pour on them. If you don’t believe me, spend 5 minutes on Living in Korea subreddit *Joke sting*. If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com or our Facebook page and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our cycling expert James! A shoutout to our listeners in Sosnowiec Poland, home of Zagłębie the Polish football leagues’ lovable losers! They haven’t won a title since the 1970s, which is also as bad as the Lotte Giants! *joke sting* Until next time, Korean Sports fans.
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Notes
https://texaninkorea.wixsite.com/home/korea-circumference-trail
Cycling in Korea: A simple logistical guide for the uninitiated
http://www.dreampara.co.kr/main.php
https://www.goingthewholehogg.com/hiking-hallasan/
https://www.visitjeju.net/en/detail/view?contentsid=CNTS_200000000015146