19-20 03 2014        Previous entry     Next entry

I will talk about money and the price level here in Korea. This was really something what I was trying to figure out before I came here. There’s lots of good sites telling some of the costs living here in Korea (like this one: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=South+Korea) but the thing what I was missing is how much the western marks, e.g Nivea, Gillette, Nescafe, Apple and so on, costs.

Here’s a small list of some items and their price on March 20th at the nearby supermarket E-Mart:

- Nivea, body lotion 400 ml 8,30 €
- Gillette, extra blades 4 pcs 19,30 €
- Nescafe, instant coffee 90 g 5,10 €
- A pair of Converses 35,90 €
- Axe, shower gel 400 ml 6,80 €
- Nutella, peanut butter 400 g 4,60 €
- Budweiser, 330 ml 0,85 €
- Apple, iPhone 5S, 32 Gb 689,70 € (price from downtown reseller, no iPhones at the E-Mart..)

As you can see, there are some western marks available, but the price is usually the same for example in Finland. Some exceptions exist, even in my list the iPhone 5S and Converses, which were pretty cheap compared to Finland. But to find these, you should definitely go to a super-super-market. I even found an Axe deodorant from this E-Mart, but there were no roll-ons..

Let’s continue talking around the money. Few facts about Korea: the taxi fee isn’t running when taxi isn’t moving, you should give and receive money with your both hands (the same applies with alcohol, ESPECIALLY if you’re younger than the other guy), the biggest note here is 50000 won (34,50 €), least valuable coin is 1 won (0,0007 €), if you pay with any card, the cashier is usually signing your ”signature” to the electrical sign-o-mat, and the thing I like here is that there is no tipping culture anywhere.

Yet another fact, that I’m a millionaire here, since the student loan warranted by Finnish Government is over 4 million in local currency..

Regards

Henri