Lastly, there is the vanity with a rolling square seat and the window with these awesome shutters that black out ALL DISCERNABLE LIGHT. Seriously, the blackout curtains at the Venetian in Vegas have got NOTHING on these things. Which is nice when I am feeling super tired and sleepy at around 5PM because it is 1AM to my body, and I want a little nap. As an additional perk, they apparently change my towels daily, fluff my pillows and smooth my sheets, and leave me a free bottle of water everyday in addition to the ones already in the fridge. Take that you scheming Vegas hotels with a $5 price tag on a tiny palm sized bottle of water.
Seeing as I'm spending quite a lot of time in my room and its really pretty cool, I figure I should expand on it. You get this thick heavy card as your key and there are lit up sensors outside your door as the lock. Press the card to it and it opens. Nifty but we have those in Amerixa. However, when you walk in there is a small tiled area where you are to put your shoes and the light above is motion activated so it automatically lights up when you walk in. After this little area you step up and through a second door into my room. In the shoe area there a slot in the wall where you place your electronic card. Upon doing so, all the lights and electronics (tv, vanity light, bed lights, bathroom, etc.) will automatically turn on for you so you don't have to fumble in the dark for a needed (The bathroom has two separate switches for the fans and light though just in case). It's the coolest feeling ever to have everything turn on for you as you move forward like it's mind activated :D
With that said, you might be wondering how the hell you turn these lights off if they are so smart they practically have an IQ? Never fear, Asia always has the epitome of convenience (see: chopsticks, and how they are THE best and most effective eating utensil. Ever.) there is a remote control that effectively controls the lights, the television, and the air conditioning... all from the comfort of wherever you are sitting. There is also this high-tech space looking glass panel on the wall that I was convinced was the electronic security on my room or something when I first saw it :D if you press each number, it turns red or green respectively and turns off/on a light or appliance in the room. If you hit the center button, they all turn red/green and everything goes off/on. So if you happen to be too lazy to stick your card in the holder or reach over and grab the remote, you can just touch the glass and control your lights. Like holy moly, can they make it any cooler? :)
Aside from the lights I have a very nice and very big bed. The downside is that the bed is hard as a rock, which is probably because (as my mom pointed out) Koreans sleep on the floor in traditional houses. They must have something else in this rock of a bed too, because despite how hard it is, I haven't woken up with any stiffness, soreness, or hurts anywhere yet. And I am the kind of person who likes CLOUDS for a bed, and failing clouds, a very thick, soft and epically squishy temperpedic mattress pad. So any mattress that is not sinkable into, I usually wake up hurting somewhere. The pillows are very flat too, but they kindly gave me two extras so I just piled them on top of each other and its like a normal pillow lol. I know plenty of people who would love the firmer bed and flatter pillows, but unfortunately they do not include me.
The bathroom is really spacious for a hotel room, and an ASIAN hotel room t that. Space is a prime commodity in Asia, because everything is so tightly packed in. The biggest difference in this bathroom is that there is no shower curtain. Apparently this is normal in some Asian countries. The floor is meant to get all wet, the hotel provided shower slippers to wear in the bathroom (I bought my own yesterday for like 43 cents from Daiso). It was quite a novelty the first time I showered, but its actually really nice. There's no curtain so it feels like the whole bathroom is the shower and it gets steamy so it's like a spa. Strangely liberating.
There is a nice little fridge in here too, and the aforementioned giant flat screen. They provide indoor slippers to wear here (all slippers have the Noblesse Yeoksam Hotel logo on it, no less), but I also bought my own indoor slippers at Daiso. I am germophobic and squeamish enough to spend less than $2 on two new pairs of my own slippers, thanks :)
Lastly, there is the vanity with a rolling square seat and the window with these awesome shutters that black out ALL DISCERNABLE LIGHT. Seriously, the blackout curtains at the Venetian in Vegas have got NOTHING on these things. Which is nice when I am feeling super tired and sleepy at around 5PM because it is 1AM to my body, and I want a little nap. As an additional perk, they apparently change my towels daily, fluff my pillows and smooth my sheets, and leave me a free bottle of water everyday in addition to the ones already in the fridge. Take that you scheming Vegas hotels with a $5 price tag on a tiny palm sized bottle of water.
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Everyone please bear with me for all the typos, double-posts, and general mistakes on my blog. I'm using a mobile app to post from my iPhone and iPad, and the way it shows up on here is not like the way it shows up on my laptop/the actual website :/ My laptop is out of commission until I can locate a store to buy a charger adapter so my MacBook brick can charge in these funny looking Korean outlets. The good thing is that the voltage is like 100V higher than the US so my phone charges STUPID fast :) I bought a USB adapter yesterday from a convenience store so my phone and iPad at least can be charged.
I forgot to post it but I bought these cool little Jasmine flavored mints from a coffee shop I wandered into. They're so good!! Upon further scouting out my room I also discovered a nifty little electrical kettle. It's probably the coolest thing I've ever seen on my life. I can't believe the US hasn't jumped on this ship yet. You fill it up, place it back on its little plate, tap a button on its handle and it has like the entire kettle full of water hot and whistling in like 30 seconds! It is super- glued to the tabletop, otherwise I would totally steal it T.T Seeing as when my body thought it was 1AM in the morning, I was running around in the bright sunshine, hiking streets and asking the Asian workers in 7-eleven how to get to Gangnam Station, I was pretty tired by dinner time (They were ASIAN!!! I think this is a first in my whole life. Or is it only in the US that they are always Indian?).
Too tired to even go out to find somewhere yummy to eat (although I really wouldn't have to look farther than my doorstep). Figured I'd try one of the order-in delivery restaurants in the hotel room menu. Went downstairs so the receptionist could order it for me in Korean (I got tonkatsu, with seaweed soup, salad, and sides- one of the few things I could read on the all-Korean menu; FYI tonkatsu in Korean is 돈까스, or tonkassu. This seriously amused me for some reason, I've only ever seen language borrowing done with English words :D) and was told they would deliver it to my room. Imagine my shock when it came in a giant cooler 0.o I had heard they give you real silverware with takeout in Korea and then they just come pick everything up later, but this was seriously sick. The guy only charged me 10,000 won too, instead of the listed 12,000 won! I left a note of thanks and the leftover 2,000 won in the cooler on top of the dishes for when he came back. You don't tip in Korea (in most countries actually, the US is a greedy guts) and all my friends have discouraged me from ever doing so because its "weird", but this seemed to call for a tip anyway. Hey, the guy biked this huge cooler over, lugged it up to my room, then came back later and picked up my dirty dishes and lugged them back, and probably washed them. He deserves it :) Spent this afternoon soaking up some more Korean culture around the neighborhood. Also, all those things you heard about how dangerous the Korean streets are to pedestrians?...THEY ARE ALL TRUE. If you are ever crossing a street, path, alley, or crosswalk in Korea you must first look both ways before crossing...then, AS you are stepping off the curb LOOK BOTH WAYS AGAIN. Because chances are, a speeding car with a harassed angry old Asian man in it will come screeching around the corner just as you step off it- and you better haul ass and double-time it back up that curb or you will be a (insert name here) pancake in no time flat T.T I have never feared for my life so many times in 3 hours as I did today on my walk. How they don't all die daily is my question...they must be born with innate crazy driver senses we don't have. Although the drivers in Texas could give them a run for their money.
Needed some things to aid in my existence within my little Asian cave for the next month, so on my friend 다정's advice I set out for 다이소 (Daiso). Think the 99 cent store meets Ross. It was HEAVENLY. I had so much fun :))) Obviously, on my trek there I read my map wrong and took off in the OPPOSITE way where I wanted to go so I was going the wrong way for a good hour. No wonder all the Korean women are so skinny, the streets are all up and down and up and back down again. Its like straight hiking...with a 101's worth of whizzing cars flying by your side continuously. Bought some useful stuff like a washboard and a bar of legit detergent soap to wash my clothes (since there are no laundromats in Korea and there's no way I'm going to have my bras and undies dry-cleaned...). Also bought some less useful stuff, but still awesome! See: the heart stickers above. They're well, you know...I just REALLY LIKED THEM 0:)
I managed to spot a Korean Burger King and McDonalds as well on my hike/stroll/walk/evasion of speeding cars intent on flattening me. And this cool little place tucked in a little niche called Mad For Garlic! The entrance was this narrow walkway that sloped down so steeply that if you look in from the top, you can see the ceiling halfway down your field of vision. I didn't go in, but I WILL :) Another day. So many places, plenty of time ^^
After solving some hotel issues and playing linguistic twister with the helpful receptionist and very nice assistant, I've gone out to walk around my neighborhood and explore. Wona 선생님, if you are reading this thank you for all you taught me :) It's harder to use and remember when I'm speaking it here not with you, but I'm sure I'll get better. There are literally coffee shops every other store, it's unreal and awesome. I decided on a very chic and rather spacious one next to a market so I can go pick up some necessaries later that I didn't want to pack. I ordered a bulgogi panini (AWESOME. Only here. So. Awesome.) with a coffee and it was amazing. Also in case anyone was wondering, when I opened my windows this morning the air totally permanently smells deliciously like Korean BBQ. I might or might not be coming back to America.
Having too much fun with the new panorama upgrade to the iPhone camera. So I am situated at the Noblesse Yeoksam Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul. My body is in serious revolt; I slept about 4 hours and woke up at 2AM here, and haven't been able to sleep since. It is now 6:30AM and it feels like 2:30PM...which it is to my body lol. I need a cup of coffee and some breakfast -.-
For those of you who are texting me, STOP PLEASE. It's expensive...Facebook message me or email me at [email protected], I get them all on my phone whenever I have wifi. I can turn off data but its on for now because Verizon screwed up and suspended my calls. So after I landed, I was effectively stranded wandering around Incheon International looking for my friend who was picking me up. I finally found a free phone to call her with but still couldn't find her so hours later, I found an information booth that understood English and called her again from there. Dajeong if you are reading this YOU ARE AN ANGEL. She bought us bus tickets, found the right bus, rode it with me for an hour and a half helping me with my Korean and pointing out things in Seoul we were passing, and helped me find my hotel and check-in. By the time I managed to shower and get to bed, it was 6:30AM to me. Like the college all-nighters before a test...but without the satisfaction of getting to pass out after the final lol. I''d be lost without you girl! Had a pleasant and fun flight and a horrific landing once in Korea. More on this later, I haven't slept in 24 hours and I think I've aged 10 years from the last few hours -.- (nothing life threatening. Just had quite literally the longest day ever; when night was falling in CA, we were chasing the daylight of noon towards Asia so the sun has never stopped. Had dinner twice and time traveled forward a day. Nbd.
On the Flyaway bus to LAX. Note the awkward face- I am SO NERVOUS. Never flown by myself before; I didn't take this into account when I was all excited to fly before lol. ETA 1 hour to LAX and then the fun begins!
Stuck in traffic, so I took to people-watching from my high perch on this bus. Isn't it funny how everybody on the freeway is all going somewhere different, leading a different life, and caring about different things but all united in this same goddamn traffic? One day I will be one of these people drinking coffee, with early morning tunnel vision, on their way to yet another day of work, and I will see a flyaway bus and remember little 22-year old me who was flying across the world :) So after a long, stressful day of dealing with a hacker from Mexico screwing around with my email account, a last-minute flight itinierary change on me and a temporary freak-out because they hadn't sent me my plane ticket, and packing, re-packing, and re-re-packing my luggage and trying various carry-on bags so that it was within the weight and size limits, IAMREADYTOGO :) In exactly half a day and half an hour (12 hours and 30 minutes for you slow ones) I will be taking off from the United States! I do love flying. I don't think I've been flying since the family reunion in Washington at San Juan Island...and before that I'm pretty sure I only ever flew in my lifetime to Hawaii, Texas, or Kansas to visit family. First international trip; check that off my bucket list. Now if only I could take down skydiving and water-rafting Class 5 rapids...one at a time I suppose :)
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