Food option for Indians in Suwon

Indians working in Suwon and staying near Samsung office might find this post useful. I can’t go on even for a week without Indian food. I just love Indian food. It’s this addiction that has forced me to explore available options for vegetarian food in Suwon.

One good option for Indians working in Samsung office in Suwon is Chakraa. Chakraa restaurant is just 5 minute walk away from the back gate of Samsung office. The food is pretty decent and affordable too. I go there a number of times for evening snacks. Note that you won’t get snacks after 6PM in the evening. Don’t miss the pakora and samosa if you go there for snacks. The Masala Tea is also excellent. Lunch during weekday is buffet-style and is pretty cheap at around 6000 or 7000 Won. Buffet is not available for dinner everyday, and lunch and dinner on weekends. Check the Chakraa website here.

I heard of another Indian restaurant by name Taj. I haven’t personally visted that place. But I heard that the food is excellent and the dishes are a bit too pricey. This restaurant can be approached from the back gate of Samsung office. Heard that it is located near to HomePlus.

Got to know from a friend recently that there is another new Indian restaurant by name “Tastes of India” near HomePlus of City Hall junction. This is the next item on my list of restaurants to visit

Of course there are a lot of pizza shops which provide veg pizza. Pizza School, Pizza & Pasta, Pasta & Pizza, 59er Pizza – All these shops prepare vegan pizza. Pizza & Pasta, and Pasta & Pizza prepare vegan pasta too. Have tried the vegan pata of Pizza & Pasta. It is really creamy and delicious. Make sure that you say “Yaache pizza” when you order for a vegan pizza. yaache in Korean means vegetarian.

Accommodation for Indians in South Korea

There are a lot of Indians in South Korea. Most of them come here on deputation to work for Samsung, LG and Hyundai. You can arrange your own accommodation. Rent for a decent 1 BHK flat in an apartment is around 500,000 to 600,000 Won (around $500). This will be a furnished flat. You might have a shell out a bit more for internet and telephone, roughly around 30k to 40k Won per month.

Another option is to get into Indian Guest House (IGH) in Suwon. There are few IGHs near Samsung Mobile HQ in Suwon, mainly around the Maetan Dong area. These IGHs are maintained by people from Nepal. You’ll be provided with a flat that has a bed, AC, TV, PC with internet, telephone, wardrobe, and washing machine. The IGH workers clean the flat everyday and take out the trash. They even do your laundry.

The best part of staying in an IGH is that you need not bother about preparing your food. They provide cornflakes, bread and jam for breakfast. Lunch and dinner usually consist of chapathi with curry, rice, sambar, rasam and curd.

The flat can be shared by two people. It’ll have two beds if used on sharing basis. The cost per day is 25,000 Won per day. If you opt for a single person flat, it costs 40,000 Won per day.

Check below for the contact number of IGH.

IGH (contact person: Sudeep) -> 010-5784-5611
Kha-Eul Soon IGH -> 010-3540-5920
Park Family IGH -> 010-2372-5540
Alexy IGH -> 018-613-1280

Roaming around in South Korea

Even after spending 5 months in Korea, I still couldn’t figure out how to check for the bus that I need to take. Google Maps helps me to some extent. But even that is not sufficient since majority of the names are in Korean language. Google Maps even suggests the appropriate bus route, a great boon for non-Korean speaking folks.

If you’re not able to figure out the right bus to take, you have no other option but to use a taxi. Taxi fare in Korea is very cheap compared to Europe. I don’t remember a single instance where I had to pay more than 6000 Won (around $5 to $6), and I have used the taxi here a lot.

One tip for non-Korean folks who intend to use taxi in Korea. Always carry the address of the destination address in Korean language. I always carry a number of business and visiting cards of colleagues, restaurants and other shops. Quite helpful when dealing with taxi drivers.

It’s always helpful to carry the T-Money card in South Korea. This is a prepaid card which can be bought from the local GS25 stores or in the subway station. You can load some money onto this card and use this for travel in bus and metro. Using raw cash for travel is a real pain and you’ll struggle to find out where to get the ticket in the subway station. If you wish to use the bus service using local currency, you need to drop certain amount in the money-holder machine next to the driver seat. AFAIK the max amount is 1000 Won. Consider yourself lucky if the bus driver understands whatever you ask him in English

Subway in South Korea

Public transportation system in South Korea is very well organized. However the ease of convenience doesn’t feel as good compared to the public transport system in Germany.

Having used the S-Bahn in Germany, I expected similar kind of system in Korea too. The subway trains are on schedule most of the times. But the real turn-off is the fact that there is no subway map shown in most of the stations. The S-Bahn system was very convenient to use mainly dude to the availability of the S-Bahn map in almost all of the stations, and the demarcation of various places into zones. The English version of the subway map of Seoul can be found in: http://www.smrt.co.kr/english_smrt/index.jsp

Advance planning is required if you intend to use the subway since you won’t have the map in the subway stations. You can get a hard-copy of the subway map in the tourist information centers for free. Folks from Suwon can make use of the tourist information center just next to the subway station on the outside. It is located just right to the station.

A copy of the subway map is available on almost all of the mobiles here. But the irony is that all these maps have station names in Korean language, which makes it difficult to use for outsiders.