One of the questions we’ve gotten is the prices of stuff between the US and Korea. Overall, it’s a mixed bag. Some things are cheaper, some more expensive. All in all, it kinda depends on what you’re looking for. I’m converting all the prices to US dollars to make it easier on all the people playing the home game. For those of you interested in the currency, the money is the Won, and last I saw it was about 1150 Won = 1 US dollar.
Clothing: Cheap. Lot of markets and vendors make sure that most things are substantially less expensive then in the US or Europe. Shoes and other leather products seem rather cheap. Heather said if she was shoe or purse obsessed, she could of bought a lot by now. I just see pants and shirts that look nice to me seem to be in the $5-$10 range. Of course, when it comes to clothing, what do I know?
Electronics: Expensive. Ok this is one that I do know. Looking over computer parts, TVs, portable stuff, etc, it seems that the market is about 10-20% higher then the same product in the US. Not terrible, but given the myths about the land of cheap electronics, I would say it’s just not true. Or just not true anymore. I’ve heard that other places in Asia, like China that might still be the case, but Korea not so much.
Gas: Expensive. Normal unleaded goes for about $4.50 a gallon, which probably isn’t bad if you’re coming from Europe, but to the American it’s a lot. Fortunately, we’re driving a vehicle that runs on LPG, which isn’t taxed nearly so much to make it more appealing (It’s supposed to be a cleaner burning fuel) As such, it goes for about $2 a gallon, which seems to be only a bit more then the US right now, especially given the lousy gas prices at home.
Food (Korean): Cheap. I’ve got to break this out into two groups since the prices are vastly different. Korean food, even meats and such, tend to be pretty inexpensive. We went to Costco at got big package of Bulgogi (marinated pork) that was superb for something less $1.80 a pound. Most of the staples are not too badly priced either. Eating out Korean is always a bargain. We’ve been to several restaurants where they kept bringing food after food until you were totally full and paid between $5-$10 per person. Of course, it depends on what you order, I would say for the same quality of restaurant as in the US, the Korean one will run about 30% less, plus they don’t believe in tipping. Y’know I don’t mind tipping in the US, but it’s really nice not to have to bother with it.
Fish in general is not too bad, although they like to see you the whole fish, which in the case of larger fish really isn’t practical. When you can find it cut up, it’s not bad. We got some very nice swordfish the other day for around $7 a pound . Other seafood (octopus, squid, etc) is very reasonable, although we’re still trying to figure out how to prepare it.
The only other thing we’ve noticed about the food is the season is much more influential on the prices. In the US, we’re kinda used to paying a little more or less depending on in or out of season. You also expect that most things are available, even though the quality could be bad. In Korea, the price fluctuations are much greater and things just aren’t available out of season. I’m sure it has to do with US importing a lot more food then the Koreans do, but it’s different once you’re used to the idea that you can always buy strawberries for example, even if they are expensive and lousy.
Food (Western): Expensive. This is where you make up for the cheap Korean food. Western stuff tends range from about the same (best case) to ridiculously priced compared to the US. Some of the worst cases have been cheese and beef. Cheese rarely is under $10 a pound and can get higher, even for simple things like Cheddar or Swiss. Ironically, it’s easier to find a Brie or Camembert usually. Perhaps they are just selling to the Europeans and tend to eat that type, I don’t know. I did see the Kraft branded Camembert the other day, which I thought was similar to seeing Caviar at McDonalds.
Other western foods, if available tend to be pricey. Beef, in general is expensive. Hamburger, in general is kinda rare which means it can be more expensive then unground meat. Let’s just say we haven’t bought much of that. Avocados run about $5 apiece. I’m told that wine is very expensive as well, although I can’t comment too much on that. Pop is a bit more as well, since it’s about the same price as the US, but you get 1.5 L instead of 2 L. Not a big deal, though.
Western restaurants are generally more expensive then the same place in the US. We did Bennigans, for example for about $40 for the two of us. At home I would of thought that meal would have been around $30, including tip.
Furniture: Cheaper. We haven’t been shopping for much, but what we’ve seen seem better then the US. We got one small coffee-table type thing that ran us $50 for nice wood and everything. Heather say she’s seen even better deals on other wooded stuff, but it’s just not what we need. (or at least not worth the added cost of getting it back home at the end of the trip)
Public Transportation: Cheap. Bus ride in Daejeon is about 65 cents, a little cheaper then the subway in Seoul at around 80 cents. Taxi rides a usually in the $2 to $5 range. The three-hour bus trip to the airport is under $20. Trains, even the really nice bullet train to Seoul is still about $18 as well.
Events/Attractions: Cheap. Most museums, palaces, temples or such run in 50 cents to a max of around $4 per person. It doesn’t seem dependent on the size either. We went on of the major palaces in Seoul and it was about 90 cents per person to get in. Movie tickets for first run stuff goes for about $5 and you can get popcorn, two drinks and optional squid for less then $6 total.
Hotels: Somewhat Cheaper. Hotels here aren’t a huge bargain, but compared to the same hotel in the US in the same region, they are significantly cheaper. We stayed in a Best Western in downtown Seoul for around $89a night. Given the size of the city, if we were in that same Best Western in Chicago, I would have expected much more like $140 a night. Obviously, you can certainly find the $400 a night hotels in Seoul, but it doesn’t seem to be that difficult to get deals. And that’s for the Western style hotels. The Korean style, you don’t get a bed. Koreans like to sleep on these mats on the floor, so those hotels have that kind of accommodation. We haven’t had the pleasure yet, but I’m told they are usually cheaper then the western counterparts.
Health care: Much cheaper. We haven’t had to use it yet, but the people we talk to have. They usually find they get a doctor’s visit, treatment, medicine and all for less then $10. And well done enough that I know several people who have opted, when given the choice to have medical things (like childbirth) done here rather then back home.
Misc.: Other things of note are obviously the specialties of the region. We went to an area that specialized in stonecutting and you could get nice custom carved stonework for very inexpensive prices. One of the Germans here has collected quite a bit as a result. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun to ship back later, but that’s his problem. But otherwise, it’s as you expect, if they make it locally, you can get it cheaper. Supposedly the ginseng should be coming in shortly, so that it supposed to be cheaper. Unfortunately, I have now idea what ginseng goes for in the US so I can’t compare.
Lastly, there are things that a just hard to compare. Early on, our fan crapped out, so we needed to buy a replacement. Trouble is that every one we were looking at was going for $50-$70 for an ok sized standing fan. Well, upon closer inspection, a lot of that comes from the fact that they all had umpteen switches and settings, and came with a remote control! Finally, Wal-Mart got us what we wanted, no remote control and minimum about of features for the $20 I was expecting when we started out. But sometimes the thing you’re looking for just doesn’t exist and you have to scale it up or down to fit.
All for now-
C