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The Yellow House

(Above: Photo grabbed from Aark House IG account.)

My recent trip was one of the most memorable vacations I've had in Gangneung, mainly because of two people: the guesthouse owner and a cab driver. I arrived late at night, exhausted so I took a cab going to the guesthouse. I just wanted to avoid small talk. But it didn’t go as planned

After I told him where to go, he started talking about the pandemic and how it affected his livelihood. So, I pinched myself to stay awake. I was all ears. We talked more about COVID, Gangneung and tourism until we arrived at our destination.

The navigation system showed that we arrived but we didn't see the guesthouse. He asked me the phone number but I was lazy to Google it. I told him not to worry because I'll use Naver map to get there. I got off in a dark alley with my huge backpack. After a couple of minutes of going back and forth, I finally managed to reach the guesthouse. I met the owner upon check-in. She was explaining some rules when her phone rang. I swear I wasn't eavesdropping, it's just that their convo was so loud I can hear it. :)

It was my taxi driver!

He wanted to make sure that I got there safely. The landlady and I were surprised and touched for what he did. Not all cab drivers will do that! 😮😢

The next day~

Morning mirror selfie!

Aark House has a high rating at Booking.com.

Below: Reception counter and kitchen

Below: Looking at her shelf, the owner seems to be a book-lover.

Above: Her bird named Cider (사이다).

The next day, she prepared a healthy breakfast. We sat at the dining table for hours talking about everything under the sun: Gangneung, politics, COVID, Olympics, families, her children, my travels, her favorite series on Netflix (Money Heist), our health, etc. It was really fun talking with her but I had to leave early.

Before I left, she gave me a motherly bear hug and a book, Make Each Day Your Masterpiece by Michael Lynberg, and wrote:

To Mawi:

한국에서 열심히 살고 있는 마위, 앞으로도 좋은 일만 있기를 바랄께요! 건강 잘 챙기고, 여행하면서 좋은 사람들 많이 만나고, 나중에 기회 되면 우리 또 만나요! 만나서 반가웠어요.~

From: 옥주 Aark House in Gangneung Translated to...

To Mawi who's living diligently in Korea,

I hope only good things happen to you in the future. Take good care of your health. I hope you'll meet a lot of good people while you travel. Let's meet again when there's another chance. Nice meeting you!

From Ok-ju of Aark House in Gangneung