Post-Three: More About Bucheon

Since the last post was somewhat vague and didn't give too many pictures, I thought I'd take a chance in this little side post to explain a little about Bucheon, the place where I will (hopefully) be living and working in in two month's time.

Bucheon is located, as I previously said, between the South Korean capital of Seoul and the main satellite city of Incheon (where the airport is). It first appeared on maps under the name of Bucheon in 1914 when parts of Incheon City and Bupyeong County were joined together.

Below is a picture of the satellite states of Seoul, and the little dot represents Bucheon city in all of that.



On the map below you can see where it is in relation to the rest of South Korea. South Korea in size is approximately equal to the size of Portugal.



Bucheon in recent years has attempted to promote itself as the cultural capital of South Korea, hosting international film festivals, the philharmonic orchestra, and four different universities.

As a city, it is connected to Seoul via subway, but it currently only has two subway stations that go to Seoul (more are currently being built, set to open sometime this fall). It's easier at the moment to catch buses, which run all over the city and connect Bucheon to Incheon and Seoul.

As far as attractions, it's small enough that it has only one movie theater, only a couple bars, and only a number of restaurants, but a high expat population means that foreign holidays are celebrated at the bars, and foreign food (everything from Indian Tandoori to Burgers and Pizza) are served at cafes where staff can speak English.

Bucheon is currently partnered with cities in Russian, Japan, China, the Phillippines, and the U.S. in a sister city program.

In Korean, the sounds 'b' and 'p' share the same letter, as do the sounds 'ch' and 'j', so Bucheon is also sometimes written as Puchon. The ch is pronounced more like a soft j sound.

Bucheon is extensively modern, like a great deal of Korea, but its close proximity to the rest of Seoul means that short trips take you to all sorts of historical sites, like the Five Great Palaces of the Jeseon Dynasty (which was responsible for making Seoul the capital in the first place), as well as many more modern sites.

That's all I have to say about it for now, the rest will come when I'm living there, but for now I'll leave you with a few more pictures.

-Sam