While planning for my trip to South Korea last October I was a bit overwhelmed because my group grew from 5 people to 10. The Guest House that we booked previously couldn't accommodate the increasing number so I had to find another place. I had no problem to find a decent but affordable hotel in Busan, but in Seoul it's not that easy.
Someone suggested me to check airbnb.com and finally I came across this very nice 3 bedroom apartment called Apartment in Insadong. Even though we found out later that it's not located at Insadong at all, staying at that place was definitely the best experience of my whole trip. Not only did I get to experience the Korean hospitality (that sadly, I didn't find many during my trip), but I also gained a new extended family in Mr. Kim In Chul.
The place actually only accommodate 8 but after our exchanging email he agreed to added some mattress so we all could fit in 1 place. The reviews from previous guests were nothing but 5 stars and it's what a relieved to find that (except for the location) everything was true according to the description. And these are the 3 rooms in the house, I stayed at the bunk-bedded room :)
From Incheon International Airport, we had to take a bus to Daerim Station for KRW 9.000, it took a little more than 1 hour. Before we got to Daerim Station, the owner of the apartment, Mr. In Chul asked us to call him to pick us up. When we got off, he's already waiting and greeted us warmly and drove us to the apartment, a couple of hundred meters from the station.
When we got to the apartment, his wife had been waiting with a smile to welcome us! We were tired from flying a red eye flight, but we felt a lot better after meeting the kind couple. Although Mrs. Kim didn't speak English at all, she's still tried to communicate with us, helped by Mr. Kim. They showed us around the small apartment and I fell in love with kitchen instantly! LOL It was neat and the cutlery was cute. The living room had a big LCD and he also provided a PC and wifi connection.
What really surprised us was that the couple also provided us with dozens of bottled water, lots of instant noodles, cooking oil, detergent for the washing machine and a hair dryer at the bathroom, also train and Seoul maps to get around! Basically everything that will make your trip easy.
After we rested and freshened up, we were ready for our first exploration in Seoul. How nice it was to find that Namguro Train Station was only 20 meters away from the apartment! Considering there were lots and lots of stairs in every station, and everytime we returned home most likely we were exhausted, having a nearby train station was totally convenient.Although it took around 30 - 40 mins from Namguro to get to Downtown, it didn't matter much for me cause I'm an early riser and we were not in a hurry to get around.
During our stay, Mr. & Mrs. Kim often dropped by our place just to say hello or asked where we had been, whether we enjoyed our stay or not. He's living in the 5th floor of the apartment while we're in the 1st floor, right by the entrance of the building. In the middle of our staying we went to Busan and other people stayed there. The night before was raining so our laundry wasn't dry enough. Mrs. Kim kindly asked us to move the laundry to be hung at the rooftop and let us left all our luggage at her home. 4 days later when we returned, our luggage was all ready with our laundry neatly folded in the living room!!
Even though Mr. & Mrs. Kim kindly invited us for a barbeque at the rooftop with their family, we sadly didn't get the chance to do it since we always got home late LOL And here are the kind Mr. & Mrs. Kim :)
On the day of our departure, we took a morning flight so we had to leave the apartment by 5am to catch the airport bus from Daerim Station. Mr. Kim kindly took 3 trips back and forth to get us all to the station. It was raining but he still waited with us until the the bus arrived. He hugged us all tightly in turn (until the bus driver had to honk us to hurry) and decided to call him Uncle In Chul. I sent him a Christmas card and a framed picture of us together.
About a week ago I installed KakaoTalk in my phone and suddenly he sent me pictures of Spring Flowers in Seoul with a message: I missed you and your friends so much. We exchanged texts and he asked me call him anytime when I have free time just to talk. Surely, we missed him and Aunty Kim as well and I hope that we will meet again in the near future.
So when you're traveling to Seoul, you might want to stay at his place, and more than just a memorable trip, you'll find other people to call family. Till we meet again, Uncle In Chul!
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