Here're some differences between Korea and Singapore, some bad and some good.

1. Towel Sizes 

Credit: mykoreanhusband

Bath towel in Korea = Face towel in Singapore Towels in Korea are TINY. I can never get used to to the size because it's not even big enough to cover Elise fully, much less myself. BYOT (bring your own towels) if you are heading to Korea.

2. Meals  

It's not lunch, but breakfast!

Korea: Rice is very much a staple at meals. Breakfast is usually rice with side dishes and soup. Side dishes are stored in the fridge and is served over several days. It is also common to order a bowl of rice after grilling meat to create fried rice (볶음밥), or cold noodles (냉면).

Adding rice and other ingredients to the grill after finishing the meat

Porridge is also made after finishing hotpots (shabu-shabu, one pot chicken 닭한마리 etc) by mixing in a bowl of white rice with seaweed and minced vegetables. It's probably to make sure nothing goes to waste.

Singapore: Breakfast is usually kaya toast with soft-boiled eggs and Milo and rice is typically eaten for lunch or dinner. Side dishes are consumed freshly on the same day and any leftovers are either kept for the next day or discarded. 

3. Recycling and reducing waste 

Korea: Household waste needs to be separated into different categories or the residents will have to pay fines of 100,000 won (~$125) and more. Trash won't be collected if it's not placed in the particular rubbish bag. 

At supermarkets, bags are not readily provided. If you don't have enough space to carry your purchases, you have to either pay 100 won to purchase a large paper bag or head outside where they provide cardboard boxes which you can tape up and carry around.

Even at cafes, you need to disassemble your plastic drink cups and recycle them accordingly. 

Credit: thedailykimchi

Singapore: As much as I'd hate to admit, Singapore is not big on recycling yet. Recycling bins are often misused as rubbish bins and very little people bother to separate their recyclables from their trash. 

Plastic bags are given out freely at supermarkets. There's a 10 cent discount for people who bring their own grocery bags, but the incentive is not strong enough to create a change. We do use the bags to line our rubbish bins but there are too many to ever finish using.

4. Gift Sets 

Korea: Ginseng concentrate beverages are to Koreans what Brands Essence of Chicken are to Singaporeans. You can't go wrong with them. However, cans of spam and olive oil are also perfectly legitimate gifts, and not cheap. It's just that I can't see Singaporeans gifting Ma Ling luncheon meat. 

Singapore: I guess foreigners find Singaporeans strange too when we gift bak kwa or moon cakes. 

5. Holding cutlery 

Korea: It is considered rude to use both chopsticks and spoon at the same time. So is lifting the rice bowl off from the table, or blowing your nose into tissue during a meal. 

Singapore: There are no specific rules or customs regarding cutlery holding, but sticking your chopsticks upright into your rice bowl may earn you a death stare from the elders because it resembles prayer offerings. 

6. Jjimjilbangs

Jjimjilbangs: The only place where you can wear a lamb-towel on your head without looking silly

Korea: Bathhouses are aplenty in Korea and are great places for family bonding. Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons take turns to scrub each others' backs. Baths are segregated by gender but young children can follow their parent of opposite gender into the communal baths. 

They have this dirt scrubbing service (때밀이) where you lie on a gurney, get splashed with water, scrubbed thoroughly like a fish with a rough towel until all your dirt comes out. There'll be rolls of dirt and you feel super clean. You also get a head and shoulder massage and moisturiser will be applied so you feel like a brand new person. 

Most bathhouses are attached to a communal space where there are steam rooms, ice rooms and other facilities like sleeping rooms, a restaurant and play areas. 

Singapore: I'm hoping for a jjimjilbang to be opened in Singapore. ㅠ_ㅠ Here's a detailed review on the whole jjimjilbang experience by a local mum. 

7. Alcohol 


Korea: Alcohol is a given at gatherings. In my two years of working at a Korean organisation in Singapore, I drank at least once a week. During my farewell "party", the management thought it would be funny to make me wasted. 

They succeeded and it was the worst night of my life. I puked in the train, into my bag, over my dress and slumped down beside a dirty squat toilet before a kind makcik helped me to the taxi queue. It's safe to say that incident was one of the lowest points in my life.  



According to my husband, Koreans find it easy to pour out their feelings and clear up misunderstandings after a drink (or many). Work grievances are often settled after a drinking session. 

This happens even at family gatherings. Well... I think that once you reach that high after drinking too much, you don't even remember your name. How can value be placed on words said by people who are utterly wasted? 

Singapore: The drinking culture is not as prevalent in Singapore as it is in Korea. Alcohol rarely ever appears during our family gatherings. It's also illegal to consume alcohol after 10:30pm in public places. Singapore is quite a nanny state!

8. Drinking Water 

Credit: kimchi-icecream

Korea: Koreans rarely drink tap water and rely on water dispensers or stock up on 1.5L bottles for drinking and cooking purposes. Drinking water is freely available at restaurants, food courts, eating places, departmental stores and small retail stores as well. At food courts, metal cups are stored in UV sterilisers beside water dispensers whereas eating places provide small tumblers of water. 

Singapore: Tap water is potable and doesn't have any distinctive taste after it has been boiled. More and more food establishments are charging 50 cents for a small cup of tap water. Here's a list of more than 100 restaurants which charge for water.

9. Job discrimination

Korea: Applying for a job in Korea? Be prepared to be judged. Every single bit of information about you matters. 

- Your looks 
Jobseekers have been known to undergo surgery just to improve their chances of finding a job

- Your age 
A large part of Korean society is still conservative, and these conservative Koreans find it difficult to manage subordinates older than them. Same goes towards reporting to superiors younger than them. Case in point: my husband was automatically disqualified from even applying for a job at a Korean company due to his age. 

- Your gender
Females are heavily discriminated against as companies believe that they will stop work after getting married and having babies. Laws have been put in place to stop companies from asking sensitive and personal questions, but the truth is that employers do mind.  

- Your family background 
In Korea, it is perfectly okay for companies to know everything about your family including their ages, their occupations and even their health situation. :O  
It was only recently that Korea banned the inclusion of family information in applications for law schools. 

Singapore: In Singapore, it seems that there are fair practices in hiring, but there are preconceived notions about certain groups of people which affect their employment chances adversely the moment the HR reads their resume. 

At least I never needed to provide my family information when applying for jobs. 

- Mental illnesses
Taboo topic which should not be. 

- Race
This is a touchy issue. I would like to think that this does not apply to most employers. Large, foreign firms have strict no-discrimination hiring policies. It depends on the person hiring as well as the management.