9 April 2012 - Much ashamed of myself...Hur hur

I decided to take my jacket to the hotel laundry room for washing before going to the subway station. The laundry room was located on the 7th floor.  Yeah...just one jacket...I knew this is not being environmental friendly but I can only spare out one jacket to wash and I needed to have it wash.  

Coin exchange machine on the left and detergent machine on the right.

I thought there were two washing machines...You will know why I say this later on...

First of all, I must confess this was the first time in my whole life to use a washing machine.......

When I told Jihye and MK that I have never ever use a washing machine before, MK went "HUHHH!!!" and Jihye said, "Please enjoy this moment while you can!" Hahahaa...Ermm...Ya a bit ashamed of myself for making this confession! Hahahaa!!

I am very fortunate becos Mum does the washing for the whole family.  She always told me to learn but I never tried. If need to, I will only hand-wash my clothings but not machine wash.  I told Jihye that my mum will surely shake her head if she knew that her daughter finally know how to use a washing machine. Jihye said maybe my mum will want me to stay longer in Korea when she knew that I have learnt to use the washing machine!  

There was English instructions to use the washing machine but I also ask the laundry attendant how to use the washing machine..I did not have to use the entire packet of detergent. I kept the balance because I knew I will use the washing machine again!  Hahahaa...Yup!  You heard me right!

Its not expensive if you have more clothings of the same colour to wash.  It didn't occur to me that it will take quite a while to do the washing. I should have come here before I unpacked my luggage.  This shows that it was really my first time using a washing machine.... I still have 30 mins to go, what should I do while waiting?  

Kept myself occupied by taking pictures and going through the itineraries for the next few days...

The laundry attendant probably realised it was my first time using the washing machine based on all the silly questions that I have asked her....

I waited for about 42 mins to have a jacket washed. Really felt very guilty to waste so much water and electricity just for one jacket! Ermm...things didn't end here. My jacket will obviously be damped but I didn't see any clothes dryer around, except for one iron and one ironing board. No choice but to iron my jacket to make it dry, otherwise it would have an odour. I never thought I would spent my time washing and ironing a jacket on a holiday. 

I can finally step out the hotel after spending one hour in the laundry room. I took the subway from Euljiro 1(il)-ga station to Seoul station. Euljiro 1(il)-ga station was only 5 mins walk from Metro hotel.

This counter reminded me of my experience to buy the KR Pass in my previous trip. It was an unforgettable experience. Kinda phobia to approach the same counter again. I still went up to the same counter anyway but this time was to buy KTX ticket instead of KR pass.  I bought my KTX tickets for the return trips as well.  If you have read my post dated 6 November 2011, purchase of KR pass is not at these counters. 

I was relieved to be attended by a lady who can speak and understand English fairly well. I asked her what happened if I missed the train or if I wanted to change the timing after I purchased the ticket. She told me a penalty fee will be imposed if I wanted to change to a time later than my original departure time. I think it is also subject to seats availability.

Suddenly, I remembered I did not eat much for the whole day. No wonder I was very hungry and exhausted.  I needed food badly before I embarked on my shopping spree at Myeongdong!!

My dinner was the hot crispy chicken burger set at Lotteria. It was a new burger on their menu. Nope, it was not nice at all. I didn't know why the chicken was cold and there was a layer chicken skin which tasted soggy.  Not crispy at all.  Maybe this was the only one that failed their usual standard.  Well, I didn't finish the burger...

I asked the service crew if I could change my drink to mineral water. She nodded her head and told me to get my  water from this machine.  Hmmm...This is what I called trust and integrity. People can simply cheat and take more if they are not honest enough, isn't it??
It was not a satisfying dinner at all but I felt recharged. I spent the rest of the evening shopping for my facial products at Myeongdong and packing them into the box for postage on the following afternoon!