I had booked a hotel in Seoul for four nights – I’m not crazy enough to turn up in a capital city late on Saturday night without having a room booked. I turned up at the hotel and this arrogant little shit said he wanted the cash up front before doing anything.
I said I wanted to see the room before handing over a lot cash. He said No and after haggling with him – giving him different options, he would not show me the room and insisted on taking the cash.
So I said goodbye to him and started looking for another hotel. Trouble is, I couldn’t find a room of any description in any hotel. Several of the receptionists in the hotels suggested I go to a 24hr sauna and bath house in the basement of a shopping mall. I had no option other than to sleep on the streets so I sought out the sauna.
£10 gets you a night in a bunk bed in a bath house surrounded by about 40 other women crashing there too. We all had orange pyjamas on and there were hot baths, showers, whirlpools, waterfalls – all manner of ways to get yourself clean.
I opted for a shower and sat there as naked as the day I was born, washing away my anger.
There wasn’t much sleep to be had – no cover on the bed and a piece of foam for a pillow.
But it was warm and clean and smelled good. I emerged from the basement at 7:30am and decided then and there, that Seoul was not for me and I jumped on a train to Chuncheon.
I shalln’t be using N Hostel in Seoul again – or booking.com if they don’t refund the money the hotel took off my credit card for the four nights accomm.