Gapyeong Marusan Pension

I hadn't expected much from the food at the pension's Ukuya restaurant, but it was delicious, so you should give it a try. The owner was so kind and helped make the trip wonderful.

We were eight friends looking forward to a long overdue outing, and I chose this pension for space rather than looks. The photos were misleading, though. The living room was cramped when all eight of us lay down. The floors felt sticky as soon as we arrived, and mopping didn't help. I felt like I washed my feet a thousand times that day. The bedding and towels smelled awful. There weren't towels provided, so I had to get some, and I ended up using foot towels and rags. We also had no toilet paper in the room. I had to go to the management office for it, and they only gave us two rolls for our two days and one night. The water was groundwater and seriously cold. We had no hot water, so we called the owner, who said he'd turn on the boiler, but we couldn't tell if he had. We kept calling, and he sounded annoyed and told us to wait. All eight of us had to wash in cold water for the whole stay, two days and one night. I thought I was going to freeze. When I complained later, he said the boiler turns off if you don't wash within two hours of turning it on. That made no sense to us, especially since we couldn't even tell when it was on. He kept repeating things like, "2 hours?" and saying things that didn't make sense. The kitchen was uncomfortable too. There were no dishes, the stove was gas rather than induction, and there was no microwave. The pool was another disappointment. I asked ahead of time if we could use it, and they said we'd freeze if we went in then. It was 29 degrees Celsius that day, so I brought a swimsuit just in case, but we couldn't swim. The pool water was full of bugs and other strange things floating in it, and it was so dirty I couldn't use it. There was no way to tell when it had last been cleaned. There were lots of problems, but I put up with them. When we returned the key, we mentioned all the inconveniences, especially the lack of hot water and how cold it was. The owner's attitude was the worst part. He seemed to ignore women, yelled that the pension was always like this and asked why we were making a fuss, pointed at us, and told us to call the police. He just shouted instead of talking things through. I didn't think he was worth dealing with, so I said nothing more and went home. Worst pension ever. Never go there.

The pickup was convenient, and the pension was close to the station. The room was clean and warm, the surroundings were nicely decorated, and the owner had such a good personality that I had a really pleasant stay.

The owner treated us badly when I brought up the problems as we were leaving, and I went home upset. We had come for a weekend get-together after a long time, and although the conditions were poor in many ways, we still had fun together. The water was groundwater, much colder than tap water, and there was no hot water. I had to call to get it turned on briefly, then it was turned off again. After that I washed my face and showered in groundwater, and thought I was going to have a heart attack. The bedding and towels smelled so bad I couldn't use them. I used my own towels and kept theirs for my feet. The floor stuck to my feet, and cleaning it again didn't help. I don't know when it was last mopped. The pension was supposed to have an induction cooktop, but there was a gas stove instead. There were no rice or soup bowls, and the cutlery was dirty, so I had to buy disposable utensils. I also wouldn't use the pool. I couldn't tell when the water had last been changed, and there was strange debris floating in it. It looked like I could get a skin disease from going in, and I didn't even want to put my hand in. I tried to overlook all the inconveniences. But when I said on the way out that only cold water came out, and that hot water had worked just once after I called twice, they seemed to look down on us because we were women. They pointed at us, yelled that this was just how their pension was and asked why we were complaining, then told us to call the police or do whatever we wanted. I felt there was no point saying more and was afraid I might be harassed if I stayed, so I went home. I'm still angry and stunned, and want anyone thinking of visiting to know what happened. I posted on the pension's bulletin board, but they deleted the message immediately rather than showing any intention to fix the problems. It seemed they didn't want other guests to see it. I'm writing here in the hope no one else goes through what we did.