What I like about Korea, Part I: It’s Connected

A couple of years ago, my niece asked me, “what’s your favorite thing about living in Korea?”  My immediate response was, “the transportation system.” Interesting, because I drive here (I think that people are mistaken about traffic and driving conditions around being a problem, but that will be for another day). In fact, if I were to flesh that out a bit more, I’d have to call it “connectivity.”

As I’d mentioned to my niece, public transportation is a big plus. I’ve been on long rides in the middle of nowhere and I always come across farm villages with a bus stops (not to mention being passed by busses on the way).  In the ‘80s when I lived here, there were basically two major expressways – the 1, running from Seoul to Pusan, and the 4 (it’s the 50 now) running from Incheon most of the way to Kangnung (it stopped being an expressway as it crested the spine of the east coast).  Now, the entire country is covered by a web of expressways, spurs, loops, and bypasses; and there are more being built. I’m encouraged too that the public transportation routes don’t seem to be suffering for all of the major highway construction. Once you learn the system, you can move between major cities on main bus lines, and then transfer to smaller routes all the way down to those little rural routes. And when they build new cities, they pay special attention to public transportation, green spaces, and bike lanes. Although there are certainly regional differences and issues, it seems that the country is on the same page with its public transportation.

But of course, connectivity means more than just roads and busses – once you get there, you’re going to have a good phone connection and fast internet.  I think Korea really got in on the ground floor when it came to this.  As cell phones took off, I remember several carriers.  While most people now have a number that begins with 010, there were prefixes from 010-019 early on.  I had a 016 prefix at first, and a 011 later I believe. And I can’t remember ever being somewhere in the country where I couldn’t get connectivity.  I remember a time when I was in the states and talked to my wife while she was hiking in the mountains on the east coast. The cell phone reception here is ridiculously good, and it’s getting better in some respects.  Tunnels, subways, and even elevators are getting better. Wi-fi is available in many places too, and it’s extremely fast and convenient.

So, there you have my first assessment as to why I like Korea.  Transportation overall is getting better by the year, and electronically it’s arguably better connected overall than any other place in the world.

But of course there’s more, and it gets even better…