Sokcho Motel

Because my plans to sleep in the mountains were disrupted by this whole national park resting and wildfire period of the year, I had to go find myself some lodging. I had already read a little about the various kinds of housing in Korea - from jimjilbangs (Korean usually 24 hour, sauna/bathhouse), minbaks (private homes renting rooms for additional income), to the Korean motel, which I think is also called Yeogwan.

Of the lot, jimjilbangs are the cheapest way to go, as theoretically one could stay in them all night, be given sauna clothes, take a shower, and sleep for around 7-10,000W ($5-7.14 at exchange rate of 1,440W/$1 USD). In Sokcho, this would have been fine, however, while there are lockers to store your shoes and valuables, they did not have lockers big enough for my 65L hiking bag. They said I could leave it at the front, but that made me nervous; I sat there for awhile thinking about it, because on the whole, it was unlikely someone else was going to take it, but, I just kept thinking how much it would suck if the bag disappeared, with my poles, clothes etc. (not $ and passport because I would obviously put those into the smaller locker) because I didn't spend an extra... whatever 10, 20 thousand won.

I don't like spending much on accomodation when I only need it for a bed for a night (hence my mountain stay which would've been 5,000W for the night) so I went on to see how much a motel would be.

Since this is the off season for hotels, motels, etc., bargaining is definitely an option. I wanted to see what they would quote me then haggle down.

The first place I went to said 30,000W, I asked for 20,000W, they said no. I said ok and left. There were so many motels that really, if I couldn't find one that would accept 20,000W, then the worst is that I would have to go back any of them and pay the 30,000W.

The next place I went to had flashing neon lights and I think mentioned something about Cinderella. I was skeptical, but went in. The ahjushi (the male equivalent of an ahjuhma) accepted my offer of 20,000W and gave me a key, muttering something about automation.

I went on up to the room, walked in, figured out I had to put the key chain of the key into this slot to "automation" aka: to turn on the electricity, thus the lights. Interestingly, I found that there was an area for me to take my shoes off (this is a motel), and that the "bedroom" and bathroom were separated (as in, I could lock myself into the bedroom area and not at all be able to get to the bathroom). Definitely a cultural difference in motels.

What I've learned about motels from this experience is that, lol, I think most people do use them for a little "private time", but they are on the whole pretty clean establishments (yes some are shadier than others). You can smell the detergent on the sheets and blankets, the floors are clean (especially since you don't wear shoes in them), they come with mini fridges with a beverage of some sort, and a water cooler. Oh and the best part, REALLY bad wall decor.