TRAVELLERS to South Korea who find Seoul hotels too rich for their blood - many top hotels in the Korean capital now charge as much as those in Tokyo - should consider the attractions of Korea's traditional inns, yogwans.
Korean yogwans offer spotlessly clean accommodation at bargain basement rates.
They are especially cozy during the icy cold Korean winters.
Reason: they all have the advantage of traditional ondol floors, an ingenious age-old Korean invention whereby the floor is warmed through heat ducts which honeycomb the floor.
When you check into a yogwan, you will be escorted to your room.
The hotel clerk will open a small wardrobe to unroll a Korean yo, a fluffy mattress you place on the floor.
On top of the yo, she will place another fluffy quilt called ibul. And, lastly, there is the pyogae (pillow).
