The next morning we had to wake up at 7am to catch a taxi to the Apgujeong tour bus station. Thank you again Yeji for offering to take me this morning!! Not only did she have to wake up early but she had to wait with me in the pouring rain for the bus!! Because yes, of ALL DAYS, it chose to pour rain alllll dayyyyyy today. She found the right bus for me and talked to the driver. I would KILL to be able to speak Korean fluently these days, it makes my life downright difficult not being able to communicate. Yeji was my Korean Guardian Angel this trip haha, I don't know how I will ever repay her. I am so blessed in life to have good friends around me :) Once on the bus I felt calmer, but still anxious because I didn't know if I'd be able to recognize the stop and because of the enormous amount of luggage I had with me that I now had to carry alone. Everyone else on the bus was, of course, not international so they all had normal little duffel bags and such. Roughly 4 hours later, we arrived in Gangwon-do, a coastal province of Korea that is more countryside than city like Seoul. The change is extremely obvious; it was fascinating to watch the streets and signs morph into lush greenery and streams.
Still raining (unbelievable timing you tricksy Korea weather god), we pulled up to Seorak Beach Kensington Resort, the second to last stop for our bus. I was the only one who got off, so I pulled all my luggage along with me to the front doors. There were STEPS. God help me. I had to unload all my bags, drag each giant suitcase up the stairs one by one, then go back for my bags and put them back on the luggages. Checking in was quick, since Yeji had already checked me in by phone yesterday and all I had to do was show my guest certificate and get my room key. God bless you Yeji again haha, I would have been lost without you. Even when she's not physically with me she's still helping me. I LOVE THIS GIRL. Lugging all my things to my room was again, a chore in itself but once here I could finally relax and unwind. At least as much as I could, with my nerves complete on end and utterly frazzled. I didn't even feel like myself. I was extremely stressed, lonely, and confused. I wanted to go back to Gangnam and my comfortable Noblesse Yeoksam hotel. This feeling only intensified when I got inside my room and found out there was NO WIFI. SERIOUSLY?!?!?
My unit was very spacious and quite nice. The view is INCREDIBLE; I had luckily been given a room with an ocean side view and on my wide balcony I could see ALL the way up and down the beach and far out into the ocean. It was lovely, and one of the few things that calmed me down upon arrival. I also found out there there are no tissues here (they use rolls of toilet paper in Korea), no shampoo and conditioner (I had been spoiled by my stay at Noblesse, where they provided giant things of shampoo, conditioner, AND body wash for me everyday), and only one size of towel...hand towel. Good thing I'm short and don't have much body to dry off, or I'd be seriously screwed...
The unit itself has a nice little kitchenette with table for four, a living room with a giant TV (apparently bath towels and tissues are not necessary, but the giant flatscreens are always key here haha. Another difference in culture!). The bedroom is also really nice, with a separate sliding door to go to the balcony and a vanity set off to the side. The doors in here are really cool, like a double paned double sliding door (to keep the cold out of the bedroom I assume). Fancy! Also the sliding door in the living room boasts this cool little handle/locking mechanisms in one. If you pull the handle to the left and up around, it unlocks and opens. To relock the door, you simple close the door and pull the handle left and down around and it relocks. So efficient dude, why don't we have these?? No separate locks to deal with or fiddle with they get stuck! Yes, I'm looking at you Palm Desert Marriott Villas...
The showers here are something I touched on during my review of my room at Noblesse, but now more than ever I am realizing how Americanized Noblesse was (when I thought it was already super Asian and shocking to me lol). How naive of me. Due to space issues I presume, Korean bathrooms and showers are one and the same. There is a drain set in the center of bathrooms and the shower is usually not partitioned at all. You shower standing in front of your toilet. In this hotel, there is a small glass divider though. In Noblesse, there was a whole tub you stood in to take your shower, so the only real difference was that there was no shower curtain. That is why they give you shower sandals...because once you take your shower, the bathroom floor is now all wet and you can't go in without sandals on. I have not gotten used to this yet, although I really like the no curtain at Noblesse for some reason. It made the bathroom feel really big, light-filled, and less claustrophobic than with a curtain. I am just chalking this shower/bathroom thing up to a learning experience though, and treating it like an adventure -.- I don't know how to explain the weirdness, you cant really understand unless you are standing here and having to use it like me lol. It's REALLY REALLY STRANGE @.@ I don't mean that in an offensive way, it's just not what I'm used to haha.
By 4pm, I had not eaten since a muffin this morning and I was tired, irritable, and lonely. I figured the best thing to do was eat and go to sleep. There's two restaurants here but they look pricey, so I just dropped by the convenience store on the 1st floor and stocked up on snacks and tea. I ate, showered, and went to bed by 5pm.
By 4pm, I had not eaten since a muffin this morning and I was tired, irritable, and lonely. I figured the best thing to do was eat and go to sleep. There's two restaurants here but they look pricey, so I just dropped by the convenience store on the 1st floor and stocked up on snacks and tea. I ate, showered, and went to bed by 5pm.