Chungmuro Residence in Seoul

Thought I would do a brief review in case there are anyone interested in this accommodation...


I was looking forward to our stay as the pictures shown on websites were that of a spacious, modern, clean and comfy apartment.  The recept was a young man who could speak a little English.  He told us we were early and the official check in time was 2 pm. I was grateful that he allowed us to check in early.  That would save us quite a bit of time, I thought.


We had booked a family room that comes with 2 double beds (one on the first level and the other in the loft at the second level) and 1 single, according to the pictures we saw on booking websites.  When we opened the door, we were "surprised" to find ourselves in a very tiny room.  The single bed was a few steps away from the main entrance.  We checked the bed upstairs and realised it was a single bed.  


DH went to check with the recept if he had made a mistake in room allocation and I waited with the kids.  While waiting, I had to keep telling the boys not to go upstairs.  DH came back with bad news: the recept told him we had booked the smaller family room for 4. He didn't charge us for 1 extra person (there were 5 of us) and even if we wanted the bigger room, it wouldn't be available that day.  In the past, I would insist shifting but this time round, I was surprised that I accepted the fact that we would be cooped up in the small apartment with a tiny toilet for 6 nights.  My priority was to get on with the itinerary and did not wish to waste anymore time on the accommodation issue.


Anyway, the apartment wasn't that clean.  The small kitchenette next to the bed was quite dirty and except for 4 mugs, a teaspoon and an electric kettle, there was nothing else.  There were no tables nor chairs.  There was a big fridge which we hardly use.  There was no daily housekeeping services.  They only changed the towels and emptied the trash daily.  


One good thing about the apartment was the washing machine.  We used it almost every night to wash the dirty clothes.  Sometimes, we used the timer function and when we came back at night, the laundry was done.  


The location was not bad. Chungmuro is in between Myeongdong and Dongdaemen which are linked to several subway lines.  The walk from Chungmuro station to the apartment is about 5 mins.  It can be quite tiring to walk back in the cold at night so we usually took taxis back to the apartment if we were out late.


There were about 2 7 elevens nearby so it was easy to grab something to eat in the morning.  However, breakfast items were very limited in choices.


For directions and how the apartment look like:
http://hotel.konest.com/hotel_detail.html?h_id=chungmuroresidence


Our room is the same one shown in room 404, except ours is on the 10th floor.

Arrival - Seoul (14 Dec 2011)

After a very comfortable 6 hrs ride on board Korean air, we arrived at incheon airport at 8.27am local time.

The first task on hand was to collect the rented iPhone 4 from the olleh booth. I had decided to rent a phone in case we need to call the helpline for help. The rental is 3000won per day. A fellow forum member in tripadvisor told me that the phone company offers 50% discount off the rental rate if we have the coupon. I found the coupon and therefore was able to enjoy the discount.

Next thing to do was to exchange some Singapore dollars to Korean won. To our dismay, the rate offered by the banks in the airport was lower than what we get at home. The rate was only 851 compared to the 855 we got back home. Later we found out that the rate offered outside by KE bank was 873! This rate was same as that offered by banks in Gimpo airport.

We had to get the T money card (similar to our ez link card) next. T money card was a must since we would be taking subways most of the time. We bought ours from 7 eleven near to the olleh phone booth.

With everything in place, we were ready to go to our hotel in Seoul! A man approached us near the international taxi booth. He offered to take us to our apartment at 60k won which was a discounted rate. We decided to go for it. He brought us to the carpark which was cold, good for us as we were finding the heated terminal to be unbearable with the layers of clothes we put on. It was a jumbo cab, perfect for us!

The roads were very foggy and there wasnt much scenery to look at.

It took us 1 hr to get to chungmuro residence, our accommodation for the 6 nights in Seoul. The cab driver didn't know where the place was and he used the gps to guide him.

I thought 60k was well spent as it took us right to the door step and in comfort too! It would have cost us 50k won if we took the airport limousine bus which would take 1.5 hr. It would not stop at the apartment too.