I finally hailed a rather grumpy cab driver who I gave the hotel address ( I asked an information desk worker at the airport to write the address in Japanese so the driver could understand it. I'm learning from my frustrating experiences in Korea lol). At my hotel, they lock the sliding doors after a certain hour and you need a code on your room card to enter. This is great because it makes it more safe. Unfortunately I HAVEN'T CHECKED IN YET. I was panicking, locked outside the hotel with all my stuff, late at night. Miraculously though, there was another gentleman inside already (I don't know how he got in still) and he opened the door for me. He was waiting to check in too, and because of him I assume, a desk attendant was already on his way down to the lobby! As terrible as traveling is for me, I really do catch some lucky breaks /phew. The hote manager spoke almost no English but he was very kind and tried his hardest to explain everything to me and make sure I was comfortable and understood everything. He even walked me to my room helping me with my stuff and explained/showed me how to work everything in my room. Very courteous!
They give you shampoo and body wash here, just like in Gangnam. This sink is THE most complicated one I've encountered thus far, with three different knobs that turn both ways. I finally sorted out that one has temperature (in degrees), one is the force of the water, and the final one is to turn the water between the sink and shower. It's hard to manage though, I was fiddling with the temperature and force dials for awhile because it's so finicky.
Also, MY ROOM HAS A MICROWAVE! First time! Also a scale (needed for when I want to leave and weigh my baggage!) and refrigerator with freezer. They give me dish soap by the main sink AND a sponge too! To wash my dishes :) And once again, my bed is big haha. It had been progressively shrinking during my stay in Korea from King in Gangnam, to Queen in Seorak Beach, to Double in Myeongdong.
This place doesn't have daily room cleaning. They have what they call a linen rental service, so if you need bath towels, bath robes, hand towels (all provided in a big stack in my room already! Nice), there is a surcharge. However, since I am staying longer than a week it is all free for me! I just have to bring them to the front to exchange them when I want :) There is also a coin laundry in the back of the hotel, so I can properly wash my clothes for the first time all trip!! Washing in the shower is difficult and air-drying them is a pain with limited space lol.
They give you shampoo and body wash here, just like in Gangnam. This sink is THE most complicated one I've encountered thus far, with three different knobs that turn both ways. I finally sorted out that one has temperature (in degrees), one is the force of the water, and the final one is to turn the water between the sink and shower. It's hard to manage though, I was fiddling with the temperature and force dials for awhile because it's so finicky.
Also, MY ROOM HAS A MICROWAVE! First time! Also a scale (needed for when I want to leave and weigh my baggage!) and refrigerator with freezer. They give me dish soap by the main sink AND a sponge too! To wash my dishes :) And once again, my bed is big haha. It had been progressively shrinking during my stay in Korea from King in Gangnam, to Queen in Seorak Beach, to Double in Myeongdong.
This place doesn't have daily room cleaning. They have what they call a linen rental service, so if you need bath towels, bath robes, hand towels (all provided in a big stack in my room already! Nice), there is a surcharge. However, since I am staying longer than a week it is all free for me! I just have to bring them to the front to exchange them when I want :) There is also a coin laundry in the back of the hotel, so I can properly wash my clothes for the first time all trip!! Washing in the shower is difficult and air-drying them is a pain with limited space lol.
A side note: THIS LANGUAGE THING IS SO HARD. I'm instinctively replying in Korean and my brain is feeding me Korean words to everything, so I now draw a blank when I want to say simple things like yes, no, thank you, sorry, and excuse me @.@ It's awful, I feel like a retard because I can't even respond on English haha. I immediately start a Korean response then stop myself because I belatedly remember I'm in Japan now, then struggle to remember the Japanese equivalent all on like 2 seconds lol. So I just bow my head and smile for everything since I'm not fast enough -.- At least I'll be a polite retard.
As I had barely anything to eat all day (the airplane food was cute but tiny), I desperately needed food and even more desperately, water. I left my hotel in search of a convenience store somewhere in my neighborhood. I found one a block down that I first thought was 7-eleven. Like I posted about before, they are HUGELY prevalent in Korea. Although it had the same colored stripes outside and the same EXACT 7, it was called 7&i and seemed like a mini-Albertsons. They had a ton of products that were their own brand, and seemed more like a true "supermarket" than any I've seen in Korea (although it was still a corner store by American standards lol).
My mouth literally dropped when I got to the other side of the store and saw the wall sof pre-made refrigerated meals. THEY ALL LOOKED SO DELICIOUS! They had pastas, sushi, beef plates, katsus, curries, sandwiches, rice balls, seafood platters, mochi, salads, vegetable dishes, and more. It was unreal. Since they don't have street vendors here in Japan, I had been worried about what I'd eat in between eating-out meals...so THIS is why they don't have street vendors here in Japan haha.
I had already loaded up on dry soups, noodle & pasta bowls to try, as well as some milk tea, green tea ice cream cones (SO COOL THEY HAVE GREEN TEA ICE CREAM CONES HERE. In America the flavor of choice for pre-made ice cream cones is generally vanilla [Drumsticks]) and frozen yogurt. I just got a shrimp pasta dish (which they heat up right there for you! It smelled DIVINE) and some footballs to eat as a midnight snack, when I knew I'd be hungry again.
Belatedly I realized another cool part of my room. I had been sad about a lack of a vanity, where I usually set up my laptop and simultaneously get ready for the day. There was a weird double wood panel to the right of the desk set against one side of the wall. I pulled at it and it opened up into a mirror!!! Insta-mini vanity. Epic. I have no idea why this excited me so much, but I'm always excited by all the little things I find on my trip haha. They excite me more than the big things I think...they're all just so functional and cool and surprising and efficient!!