HOME IS WHERE... (Pyeongtaek, South Korea)

The above picture is the complex where we live. The village is called Daesa-ri in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Our house is near the rice fields, beautiful scenery, most especially now before they harvest it. We are spoiled with nature's beauty everyday, this is where we walk the dogs and stroll around if we want a good breeze at night. Down below is a picture of our apartment, we live at the first floor so it is very easy for us to take the dogs out. Our apartment is a 4-bedroom flat with 2 bathrooms approximately 2,000 square foot. One thing I love about this apartment is that it has a lot of storage space and cabinet, I never have to worry about too many clothes or shoes! Just kidding! This is huge for Asian standards and we have no complains about it.

The inevitable question of: where is home and where do we live? Well, "home" for the Trubianos is probably an ambiguous answer or statement. In the last 5 years we have called 6 places "home" on three different continents. We went from the Middle East to the US to Africa then back to the US again and is currently living in Asia.  Our most permanent roots are in the US, southwest of Philadelphia where my husband is from. And there it goes, the question, where is home? 

Let us walk you through our area... our neighborhood is first and foremost safe, dog-friendly and has a kid-friendly environment. South Korea is included on the list of top 10 of the world's safest countries to live at, specifically number 4. Mind you, the United States is ranked number 88 based on crime rate variable. Yes, even if, North Korea is just around the corner. This is the most common misconception of people when they found out that we are living in South Korea.

Mostly, American expats live in our complex, it feels like everybody owns at least 1 or 2 dogs, every family has a kid that you can see playing outside. A lot of the kids are playing with their bikes or schoolmates, you can hear them giggling outside, walking their dog, and mostly soaking the summer months before school starts. 

Other large farms are nearby as well, two minutes walk from our house, they grow different kinds of crops like ginseng, sesame, tomatoes,  grapes, peaches, cabbage, jicama root, and Asian pears to name a few.  It's seems like, Koreans will farm any open piece of land available which is perfect if you like to farm-to-table fresh!

As you know, Korean's love spicy dishes and chilli is their main staple ingredient on every Korean dish I know. 

Where is Pyeongtaek in South Korea?  Pyeongtaek is a city in Gyeonggi-do province. It is located south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. 

We are 1 hour 15 minutes away from Seoul by car or 50 minutes train ride to Seoul Station or 1 hour bus ride to Gangnam Bus Terminal. We already went to Seoul by car and by train and haven't tried the bus ride yet. The cost of ticket, either train or bus, is around $4 to $5 dollars one way. Going by car is easy but as you go to the heart of the city, you have to be ready for the congestion of a highly populated city, streets are sometimes tricky, you have to worry about parking and traffic. Bus rides are faster than car rides because there is dedicated lane for buses. Train ride going to Seoul is pretty straight forward and the fastest way to get there from Pyeongtaek Station. The subway around Seoul is also easy to navigate (though I haven't tried), because taxi ride is also cheap and safe. We are also 1 hour and 30 minutes away from Incheon Airport. Incheon Airport is located west of Seoul and an hour and so away from it.

We are also 30 minutes drive from the nearest KTX station - Cheonan Station where you can take the bullet train to Busan, which we already did last April. You can also take the bullet train from here to Seoul, its around 30 minutes train ride from Cheonan Station. 

South Korea is a very organized country, people line up to get taxi and you stand up on your waiting slot by number. Parking inside the mall is directed by a parking attendant, so you don't have to worry in waiting where to go, which levels are full and they direct  you to go where the open spots are. These are just a few of my favorite examples how efficient and organized Koreans are. 

This is Pyeongtaek Station - ten minutes drive from our apartment. It is also adjacent to a mall, called AK Plaza, where we sometimes get our local vegetables and meat at their grocery. They have awesome cinemas (better than your average Regal Cinema/ AMC Cinema)  that plays in English but has NO Korean subtitles. They have Krispy Kreme, Baskin Robins, Bulgogi Brothers, and other Korean restaurants. They also have Gong Cha where I buy my favorite bubble tea. I plan to do an Ode to Pigging Out post about bubble tea since it is also just starting to get popular in America. 

At the station, where you also buy the ticket. KORAIL is the operator and if you are purchasing the ticket at the ticket counter, make sure to say fast train to Seoul. 

This is a bird's-eye view of Pyeongtaek City. The picture also shows the contrast of Pyeongtaek - the city and the farm lands. Pyeongtaek is also known for its rice fields. 

Yes, everywhere here in Korea especially in Seoul you will see "tacky" signs. For some odd reason, Asians love to over advertise, like in Hong Kong, Macau or Singapore. Walking around the AK Plaza area, you will see boutique stores with cute clothes, restaurants that cater to both Asian and Western tastes, street food and bigger stores like Nike, Adidas and etc.

Let us take you to our favorite spots in our nearby neighborhood in Anjeong-ri. Korean's love small and cute coffee shops - you see it everywhere here. They also love your typical neighborhood Korean barbecue place, Izakaya-like restaurants and Korean fried chicken place (Kyochon is popular in LA and parts of Asia - which we also love). I will do a post on Korean fried chicken soon - they have different flavors from garlic, spicy and just plain regular with different dipping sauces. 

I often get the question, where do Koreans live? Typically, Koreans live in high rise apartment complex. They are everywhere here, even in the remotest province you can think off. Surrounding the apartments, you can see convenience stores, restaurants, coffee shops and other boutiques. 

Another thing that we love about Korea is how much they like pastries and bread. This your typical neighborhood bakery. It's a chain bakery called Paris Baguette, everywhere we go, we see it. We get spoiled with good bakery items and absolutely loves it! As you can see, Brock already grabbed something, as usual, on our every visit! 

“For the two of us, home isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.” 
- Stephanie Perkins | Anna and the French Kiss

Not to be cheesy or anything, but probably in our case, Stephanie Perkins nailed it for us. That home isn't probably a place, but for us, it's being together and that's what matters. Currently, we are calling Pyeongtaek, South Korea - our home.  We truly believe and feel that home is what we make out of  and home is when we are both together (and our dogs). 

Probably, after reading this, the next inevitable question is: where to go next? or where are we settling down?  This is part and the choice of having our kind-of-nomadic/expat lifestyle that we have - that not knowing what's going to happen next and what's in store for the whole family is an inevitable part of our roller coaster adventure. But today we are thankful and pausing this moment, we are here and we are home for now.

Categories: Asia, South Korea